# Introduction and prerequisites

### **Introduction**

Organizations using or interested in using Microsoft Azure can provision, scale, and manage VDI and RD Session Host workloads directly from the Parallels RAS console and deploy onto Microsoft Azure using Azure Resource Manager (ARM). Parallels RAS uses a service principal with required permissions on relevant Azure resources (subscription and resource groups) to authenticate, provision, and manage the resources.

### **Prerequisites**

To use Microsoft Azure as a Provider, you need the following:

* An existing Microsoft Azure account and subscription.
* The necessary Microsoft Azure providers must be enabled, including Microsoft.ResourceGraph, Microsoft.Resources, Microsoft.Compute, Microsoft.Network.
* An ARM virtual network and subnet in your preferred region with connectivity to AD services. Microsoft Entra ID with Active Directory Domain Services (AADDS), Domain Controller in Azure IAAS or hybrid with connectivity to an on-premises domain can be used.
* Site-to-site VPN or ExpressRoute is required if a hybrid RAS deployment is used.
* A configured VM to be used for VDI or RD Session Host as a template.
* Effective March 31, 2026, Microsoft will have/has retired default outbound access. The Subnet and VNet you use must explicitly allow outbound connectivity. For more information, see [Azure’s outbound connectivity methods](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/ip-services/default-outbound-access#outbound-connectivity-methods) for the most commonly used approaches.

Adding Microsoft Azure as a Provider is a two-step process:

1. First, you need to create an application in Microsoft Azure to access the resources in your subscription. This step is described in the [**Create a Microsoft Entra ID application**](/landing/ras-admin-guide/parallels-ras-21-administrators-guide/virtual-desktop-infrastructure-vdi/add-a-provider/add-a-cloud-provider/microsoft-azure/create-microsoft-entra-id-application.md) section.
2. Once the application is created and registered, you can add Microsoft Azure as a Provider in the Parallels RAS Console. This step is described in [**Add Microsoft Azure as a Provider**](/landing/ras-admin-guide/parallels-ras-21-administrators-guide/virtual-desktop-infrastructure-vdi/add-a-provider/add-a-cloud-provider/microsoft-azure/add-microsoft-azure-as-a-provider.md).

Read on to learn how to perform the steps above.


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