Azure AD direct join for the win! - The Spot by NetApp Blog

Virtual desktops solutions - including Spot PC, Windows 365 , Azure Virtual Desktop - rely on directory services to authenticate users and provide access to assigned resources. For many years, traditional Active Directory instances have provided these services. With modern cloud based virtual desktops this configuration has created complexity and challenges, most related to the fact that Active Directory originated on-premise and contained many configuration options over the years.

Fortunately, Microsoft announced a public preview for Azure Active Directory to provide directory services for both user and session virtual machine management. This approach works for both Windows 365 and Azure Virtual Desktop.

So where can we use this deployment choice? For customers that have moved to cloud-based applications and data an Azure AD only approach makes sense. All users, virtual machines, and policy, and security configurations are created and managed in a single Azure Activity Directory instance. This choice simplifies management and improves the security posture by centralizing configuration in one place.

On the other end of the spectrum, large organizations can utilize this approach to segment virtual desktop management away from on-premises or hybrid configurations. When virtual desktops are hosted in Azure, setting up appropriate network and security access to on-premises resources can be complex and inefficient. By contrast, hosting Azure AD joined virtual desktops means the based configuration only depends on Azure resources and Azure AD. Further access to additional applications and data can be built out as an add-on for the users that need it.

Spot by NetApp is announcing Preview access for Azure Active Directory joined Spot PC desktops. By now, many partners and customers are familiar with Spot PC workflows, so it won't be surprising that we closely mirror the deployment steps for Azure Virtual Desktop and Windows 365 Azure AD joined instances. The steps include:

1. During Spot PC Onboarding, choose Azure Active Directory as the directory type.
2. You are done. Spot PC automation takes care of the rest of the configuration steps so you can go off and doing something more productive (see Kris Gillette's helpful blog post here).

Support for Windows 365 Azure Active Directory direct join will follow shortly as part of General Availability for this feature.

Interesting in learning more about Spot PC? Request a demo today.