Microsoft Entra and Identity Strategies for Azure Virtual Desktops

A key enterprise use for the Entra identity suite is the role it plays in enabling and managing Azure Virtual Desktops.

In this presentation Matt McSpirit explains how to configure Azure Virtual Desktop with the enterprise-grade configurations you’ll want in place for secure authentication, improved connectivity, flexible user data, and service resiliency.

• Your options using Azure Active Directory to achieve single sign on and passwordless authentication.
• The newest experiences for using Web Authentication (WebAuthn) to redirect additional authentication factors to local devices.
• RDP Shortpath to optimize connectivity to remote hosts.
• Your options for using FSLogix to manage profile containers.
• Architecting your Azure Virtual Desktop configuration for resiliency, and
• Using Confidential Computing virtual machines to meet even the highest security requirements

Documentation

As the documentation describes Azure Virtual Desktop uses Azure AD for identity and access management. Azure AD integration applies Azure AD security features, such as conditional access, multifactor authentication, and Intelligent Security Graph, and it helps maintain app compatibility in domain-joined VMs.

Azure Virtual Desktop supports different types of identities depending on which configuration you choose, and uses Azure role-based access control (RBAC) to control access to resources.