Hello folks,
In Part, I of this series we covered the service deployment prerequisites for Scale-Out and Scale-In Remote Desktop Services (RDS) as a Service, Part II This post is dedicated to designing and constructing the service template. I know it’s a long series of blog posts, but I want to make sure that we covered all the aspects of the required upfront in order to have a successful RDS deployment.
Prerequisites Recap: If you recall from the previous blog post, the following items have been created/gathered in support of the RDS service template and deployment. Many of these will be utilized throughout this process:
1. Virtual Hard Disk with Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard fully updated generalized and ready for deployment.
2. Virtual Hard Disk with Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard fully updated including Office 2013 generalized and ready for deployment.
3. VM Template for each VHDX.
4. Guest OS Profiles including necessary information for the deployment.
5. Hardware Profiles including necessary information for the deployment.
6. Application Profiles including the commands/scripts required for creating the RDS deployment.
So without further ado, let’s start creating step by step the service template:
Browse to the Library workspace, Templates and click on Create Service Template:
You name it with a descriptive name: RDS Scale-Out & Scale-In Service
I prefer to select a Blank Pattern, so I have the most flexibility in creating the machine tiers.
And because of the dependencies… we are actually going to create three different machine tiers as the following:
1- Tier One (RDSH) Remote Desktop Session Host
2- Tier Two (RDWA) Remote Desktop Web Access
3- Tier Three (RDCB) Remote Desktop Connection Broker
1- Tier One (RDSH) VM:
As I mentioned in the previous post, the Remote Desktop Session Host (RDSH) VM will be Scaled-Out and Scaled-In, so it’s a good idea to have this role with its own machine tier.
I will start by creating the first tier by clicking Add Machine Tier from the ribbon.
I will select Customize a copy of an existing VM template.
I will select the RDSH-VM template that includes Office 2013 fully updated.
Give it a descriptive Name: RDSH Scale-Out & Scale-In Tier
Now pay attention, this part is important.
Preferred deployment order: 1
This machine tier can be scaled-out: 1 –> 5
Create an availability set for the tier: YES
The deployment order is 1, we need to configure this tier indeed for Scale-Out, so we start by default instance count 1, maximum instance count 5, minimum instance count 1, and finally create an availability set for the tier.
The availability set allows us to ensure that when we are going through patching and updating cycles, then we make sure that the service is up and operational by only rebooting/putting machines in a maintenance mode at the incorrect time, so there are always enough machines available to support the workload.
Click Next,
Select the Hardware Profile that we created earlier, I will choose High VM Hardware Profile for this tier because this role will have all users connected to it.
Note: Make sure you select the appropriate VM Network and Static IP Pool before you move to the next section.
Click Next,
Now we move to the Operating System Configuration.
Again we will select the appropriate OS Profile, in my case will be: RDSH WS2012R2 Standard Guest OS Profile
Then make sure to change the computer name in Identity Information to RDS##
If you recall from the previous post, the ## sign is for creating auto-incremental series of RDSH VMs from 01, 02, 03, up to 99!
As you can see in the below figure, the correct Roles are included as well in the Guest OS Profile (Remote Desktop Service and Remote Desktop Session Host).
Click Next,
The last part is the Application Configuration.
We will select the Application Profile that has all the corresponding PowerShell scripts for this tier to be Scaled-Out and Scaled-In.
Click Next,
Nothing to do with SQL Server Configuration for this service template, leave it blank.
Click Next,
Here is a quick summary for this tier before it gets created…
Click Create,
Here is the design that you will see in the Service Template Designer view.
2- Tier Two (RDWA) VM:
Now we will do the same process again for the second machine Tier (Remote Desktop Web Access).
We will select the second VM template, Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard fully updated.
Give it a descriptive Name: RDS Web Services Tier
Here are the things that get a little bit different
Preferred deployment order: 2
This machine tier can be scaled-out: N/A
Create an availability set for the tier: N/A
Click Next,
Select the appropriate Hardware Profile, I will choose Medium VM Hardware Profile for this tier.
Next, make sure you selected the corresponding VM Network and Static IP Pool before you move to Guest OS Profile.
Click Next,
Now we move to the Operating System Configuration.
Again we will select the appropriate OS Profile, in my case will be: RDWA WS2012R2 Standard Guest OS Profile
Then make sure to change the computer name in Identity Information to @RDWA@
If you recall from the previous post, the @RDWA@ sign is a variable, so later on when we go to deploy this service template, I can choose the name of the Remote Desktop Web Access with an actual hostname.
Click Next,
The last part is the Application Configuration.
We will select the appropriate Application Profile that we created previously.
Click Next,
Quick summary for this tier before it gets created…
Click Create,
Here is an updated design that you will see in the Service Template Designer view (two machine tiers).
3- Tier Three (RDCB) VM:
Last but not least, we will do the same process again for the third machine Tier (Remote Desktop Connection Broker).
We will select the second VM template, Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard fully updated.
Give it a descriptive Name: RDS Connection Broker Tier
The Preferred deployment order will be 3.
Click Next,
Select the appropriate Hardware Profile, I will choose Small VM Hardware Profile for this tier.
Next, make sure you selected the corresponding VM Network and Static IP Pool before you move to Guest OS Profile.
Click Next,
Now we move to the Operating System Configuration.
Again we will select the appropriate OS Profile, in my case will be: RDCB WS2012R2 Standard Guest OS Profile
Then make sure to change the computer name in Identity Information to @RDCB@
As I mentioned above, the @RDCB@ sign is a variable, so later on, when we go to deploy this service template, I can choose the name of the Remote Desktop Connection Broker with an actual hostname.
Click Next,
The last part is the Application Configuration.
We will select the Application Profile that has all the building blocks of PowerShell scripts in order to interconnect the three RDS instances.
Click Next,
Here is a quick summary for this tier before it gets created…
Click Create,
The final beautiful design that you will see in the Service Template Designer view, full RDS service.
Thanks for reading.
See you in the final Part III where we will deploy this service, If you have any questions or feedback, please feel free to leave a comment below:
Until then… enjoy your day!
Cheers,
/Charbel
