Windows Azure remote desktop

Question

Does Azure allow to "Host" a Windows server which I can access and manage via Remote Desktop ?

Answer 1

You can do this with the VM Role...here's a doc from MSDN

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg443832.aspx

r/
john

 

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John Wildes | Senior Enterprise Architect | United Airlines | Desktop Engineering

Answer 2

thanks, but -

can't I just create a windows instance and get an RDP access to it, as enabled in "Amazon EC2"?

Do I have to download visual studio and create an Azure project?

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Liron

Answer 3

You would have to provide your own Virtual Machine...you can do this through the VM ROLE...that would be the instance that you would use.  The other instances are very specific configurations for running service applications.  If you wanted a plain vanilla windows instance you would have to use your own VHD file and upload it to Azure...

To do the VM Role, you more than likely won't need to have VS, and create an Azure Project...

Someone correct me here if I'm wrong, but that's my understanding of the VM Role.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsazure/compute/default.aspx

"VM Role:

The VM role functionality is being introduced to make the process of migrating existing Windows Server applications to Windows Azure easier and faster. This is especially true for the migration of Windows Server applications that have long, non-scriptable or fragile installation steps. While the VM role offers additional control and flexibility, the Windows Azure Web and Worker roles offer additional benefits over the VM role. Developers focus primarily on their application, and not the underlying operating system. In particular, Visual Studio is optimized for creating, testing, and deploying Web and worker roles – all in a matter of minutes. Also, because developers work at a higher level of abstraction with Web and worker roles, Windows Azure can automatically update the underlying operating system. "

r/
john

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John Wildes | Senior Enterprise Architect | United Airlines | Desktop Engineering

Answer 4

To do the VM Role, you more than likely won't need to have VS, and create an Azure Project...

You still need to create the service model for a VM Role. The easiest way to do this is by using the Azure tooling provided for Visual Studio.

Windows Azure is a platform-as-a-service cloud offering while Amazon EC2 is an infrastructure-as-a-service cloud offering. The difference is that Windows Azure provides a hosting enviornment for applications not an hosting envioronment for operating systems. Admittedly, a VM role leads Windows Azure somewhat in the direction of an IaaS offering.

With a VM role, you can indeed create a VHD with a Windows Server 2008 R2 Guest OS, install Azure management stuff, and sysprep it before uploading and deploying it. However, all roles in Windows Azure are stateless so any change to the VM following deployment will be lost if the VM is reimaged or moved to a new server.

Answer 5

Maybe what you have in mind is a different use case not so suited for Azure.

If I understand correctly what you want is having a "remote computer" in which you can log in (through a remote desktop) and do whatever, ex installing Adobe Reader and reading Sophocles´ tragedies, or installing and playing Halo.

In fact, when we started looking at some cloud providers, we were not aware on whether this was possible with Azure or not. I realize now that Azure is not for this, at least, judging from what I have learned until now.

You may like to check this 5min video:

http://www.microsoft.com/events/series/azure.aspx?tab=Videos&seriesid=155&webcastid=12986

 

good journey,

Elias Hortas