Deployment

After confirming all prerequisites as outlined in Before you start are complete, click on the link of the private offer you received or visit the Azure Marketplace to deploy a public offer.

Log on with your Azure account that has access to the Azure Subscription where you want to deploy Parallels RAS.

On the Overview tab:

1. Select the plan. In most cases, this will be Pay as you go.

2. Click Create to start the deployment.

In each of the tabs, provide the required information.

On the Basics tab:

1. Select the subscription where you want to deploy Parallels RAS.

2. Select the name of the Resource Group where the Managed Application Resource will be created. This can be an existing or new Resource Group.

3. Select the Azure location where you want to deploy the resources.

4. Specify a name for the managed application, for example, ParallelsRASApp. This name needs to be unique.

5. Select the name of the resource group for Parallels RAS infrastructure resources. The Azure Marketplace requires this to be a new Resource group.

6. Click Next to continue.

Note: The Azure Marketplace deployment will create two different Resource Groups. The Resource Group specified under Project details will only contain the Managed Application resource. This resource is used for reporting and billing purposes. The Resource Group specified under Managed Application Details will contain all Parallels RAS infrastructure components such as Virtual Machines, Load Balancers, Key vault, etc.

On the VM Credentials tab:

1. Provide a username for the local administrator to create on the Parallels RAS infrastructure Virtual Machines.

2. Provide and confirm the password for the local administrator to create on the Parallels RAS infrastructure Virtual Machines.

3. Click Next to continue.

Note: The Azure Marketplace deployment will create several Virtual Machines that will host the Parallels RAS infrastructure roles. The account you specify on this tab is the local administrator account that will be created. The password is securely stored in an Azure Key Vault. You can specify the Azure Key Vault details later on in the Azure Key Vault Settings tab.

On the Connection Broker settings tab:

1. Specify the number of Connection Broker servers to create.

2. Specify the naming convention for the Connection Broker servers. A - sign followed by an index will be added for each instance. For example, ras-cb will result in ras-cb-01, ras-cb-02, et cetera.

3. Select the VM size for the Connection Broker servers.

4. Select an existing VNet you want to use.

5. Select an existing subnet you want to use.

6. Specify the operating system for the Connection Broker servers.

7. Click Next to continue.

Note: The Azure Marketplace deployment can deploy a specific number of Connection Broker servers. On this tab, you can define how many, the naming convention, the type of VM, the network settings, and the operating system to use. These Connection Broker servers will be added to the existing VNet, subnet, and Active Directory (specified later). Note that the VNet you select needs to have DNS properly configured and pointing to your Active Directory Domain Controllers. Make sure the VM name prefix you specify here results in unique host names in your existing Active Directory.

Note: Although the wizard allows you to create a new VNet and subnet, the marketplace deployment does not currently support this.

On the Secure Gateway settings tab:

1. Specify the number of Secure Gateway servers to create.

2. Specify the naming convention for the Secure Gateway servers. A - sign followed by an index will be added for each instance. For example, ras-gw will result in ras-gw-1, ras-gw-2, et cetera.

3. Specify the VM size for the Secure Gateway servers.

4. Specify if you want to use the same virtual network settings (VNet and subnet) you specified for the Connection Broker in the previous section, or if you want to specify different virtual network settings.

5. If Specify virtual network settings was selected, select an existing VNet you want to use.

6. If Specify virtual network settings was selected, select an existing subnet you want to use.

7. Specify the operating system for the Secure Gateway servers.

8. Specify the internal name of the Azure Loadbalancer resource to create.

9. Click Next to continue.

Note: The Azure Marketplace deployment can deploy a defined number of Secure Gateway servers. On this tab, you can define how many, the naming convention, the type of VM, the network settings, and the operating system to use. These Secure Gateway servers will be added to the existing VNet, subnet, and Active Directory (specified later). Note that the VNet you select needs to have DNS properly configured and pointing to your Active Directory Domain Controllers. Make sure the VM name prefix you specify here results in unique host names in your Active Directory. An Azure load balancer is also deployed, on this tab you can define the internal load balancer name. Make sure this load balancer name is unique in the Azure Subscriptions region you are deploying in.

Note: Although the wizard allows you to create a new VNet and subnet, the marketplace deployment does not currently support this.

On the Provider settings tab:

1. Specify the type of provider you want to create.

2. Specify the provider name used internally in Parallels RAS.

3. Specify the app registration name.

4. Specify if you want to use the same virtual network settings (VNet and subnet) you specified for the Connection Broker in a previous section, or if you want to specify different virtual network settings. These network settings are used to deploy the session host server after the initial deployment.

5. If Specify virtual network settings was selected, select an existing VNet you want to use.

6. If Specify virtual network settings was selected, select an existing subnet you want to use.

7. Click Next to continue.

Note: The Azure Marketplace deployment can automatically preconfigure an Azure or Azure Virtual Desktop provider in Parallels RAS as a post-deployment action. On this tab, you can define the provider name, which is an internal name. You can also specify the name of the app registration that is needed in Entra ID to allow the Parallels RAS provider to communicate with Azure. If you choose to create a provider at this stage, the post-deployment actions will also configure other prerequisites that are required. You can also select Do not create a provider and perform these steps later from the Parallels RAS Console.

On the Management settings tab:

1. Specify the name of the Management Server to create.

2. Specify the VM size for the Management Server.

3. Specify if you want to use the same virtual network settings (VNet and subnet) you specified for the Connection Broker in a previous section, or if you want to specify different virtual network settings.

4. If Specify virtual network settings was selected, select an existing VNet you want to use.

5. If Specify virtual network settings was selected, select an existing subnet you want to use.

6. Specify the operating system for the Management Server.

7. Specify the name of an existing Active Directory group you want to assign administrator permissions to in Parallels RAS.

8. Click Next to continue.

Note: The Azure Marketplace deployment can automatically deploy a Management Server. On this server, Parallels RAS Console and PowerShell module will be installed. On this tab, you can define the hostname, the type of VM, the network settings, and the operating system to use. The Management Server will be added to the existing VNet, subnet, and Active Directory (specified later). Note that the VNet you select needs to have DNS properly configured and pointing to your Active Directory Domain Controllers. Make sure the VM name you specify here does not exist yet in your Active Directory.

On the Managed identity details tab:

1. Add the existing user-assigned managed identity that has contributor access assigned to all VNets you selected to use throughout this process.

2. Click Next to continue.

Note: To allow the Azure Marketplace deployment to add Virtual Machines to your existing VNets (specified in previous tabs), a user-assigned managed identity needs contributor permissions on these VNets. On this tab, you can specify the user-assigned managed identity you created as part of the requirements.

On the Active Directory Domain Services tab:

1. Specify the existing domain user that has permission to join servers to the existing domain.

2. Specify the password of the domain user that has permission to join servers to the existing domain.

3. Specify the existing domain to join the Parallels RAS servers to.

4. Specify the distinguished name of the organizational unit you want to add the Parallels RAS servers to.

5. Click Next to continue.

Note: To allow the Azure Marketplace deployment to add Virtual Machines to your Active Directory, you need to provide an account that has permission to perform the domain join action, the domain to join, and the organizational unit you want to add the Virtual Machines to. For more details see the requirements chapter.

On the Key Vault settings tab:

1. Specify the name of the Azure Key Vault where credentials will be stored.

2. Specify the Object ID of the Entra ID admin user you want to authorize Key Vault permissions to.

3. Click Next to continue.

Note: The Azure Marketplace deployment securely stores credentials and IDs that are used inside an Azure Key Vault. On this tab, you can define the name of that Azure Key Vault. Make sure the Key Vault name does not exist yet and does not exist in your list of deleted Key Vaults that are not purged yet. To make sure you have access to the Key Vault that gets created, specify the object ID of your Azure Admin Account. Typically, this is the same account you used to log on to the Azure Marketplace to start this deployment. During the post-deployment phase, make sure to use the same account again.

On the Review + create tab:

1. Review the details, the price, and the terms of use.

2. Click Create to make the purchase and start the deployment.

Note: Make sure to closely review the details. Ensure that all data is correct and that the names you provided for Virtual Machines, Load Balancers, Key Vault, etc., are unique. Review the price details and terms at this point as well.

In each of the two resource groups, confirm that deployments are visible.

In the Managed Resource group:

1. Notice a new deployment in the MRG with GUID as the name. It will finish within a few seconds.

2. Notice a new deployment in the MRG with the name of the managed app you specified. It will take 10 minutes to complete.

In the Managed Application Resource group:

1. Notice a new deployment in the managed App resource group. It will finish once the other deployments are successful.

Wait for these deployments to complete before you continue.

Note: The marketplace deployment typically takes about 10 minutes to complete. You can watch the process using the deployments section in each resource group.

Once complete, click on the deployment to view the resources that were created in the MRG.

The number of resources will vary depending on the options you provided.