Windows VM in the cloud
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Need to run a "cloud" VM (o/s 2012 R2 w RDS)
What is the preferred cloud service? (see image -
There is no single preferred cloud platform. It depends on many factors. That you need Windows heavily filters the options. That means basically Amazon, Azure, Rackspace and Vultr are the options to even start with. Digital Ocean, Linode and many others don't support Windows at all.
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@scottalanmiller That's kind of what I thought, just wanted to check & make sure I wasn't missing any other available options
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Vultr would be my starting point. AWS and Azure are exclusively for people doing DevOps with large farms. If you aren't doing DevOps, take them off your list immediately.
For normal VMs, Vultr and Rackspace are your players.
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Ok, no DevOps...
Will look at Vultr, I believe they have an option where you can bring your own license?
Will compare the cost of BYOL vs using Vultr's -
@FATeknollogee said in Windows VM in the cloud:
Will look at Vultr, I believe they have an option where you can bring your own license?
I don't think that they would, how would that work? Cloud computing and "bring your own license" are fundamentally opposed.
https://mangolassi.it/topic/4842/why-you-cannot-effectively-run-windows-on-cloudatcost
This is from the CloudatCost days, but the licensing issues are the same. You would have to license every node in their cloud to be able to bring your own. Potentially millions and millions of dollars of Windows licensing.
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You CAN load your own Windows ISO and Vultr has no way to know what you are running. But Microsoft offers no license that you can use in this case, so that would always be unlicensed no matter how you tried to do it. So while it is physically possible, it's never allowed. But Vultr doesn't care because the violation is between you and Microsoft.
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@scottalanmiller said in Windows VM in the cloud:
You CAN load your own Windows ISO and Vultr has no way to know what you are running. But Microsoft offers no license that you can use in this case, so that would always be unlicensed no matter how you tried to do it. So while it is physically possible, it's never allowed. But Vultr doesn't care because the violation is between you and Microsoft.
My bad, I was thinking of the load your own ISO option.
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@FATeknollogee said in Windows VM in the cloud:
@scottalanmiller said in Windows VM in the cloud:
You CAN load your own Windows ISO and Vultr has no way to know what you are running. But Microsoft offers no license that you can use in this case, so that would always be unlicensed no matter how you tried to do it. So while it is physically possible, it's never allowed. But Vultr doesn't care because the violation is between you and Microsoft.
My bad, I was thinking of the load your own ISO option.
The obvious thing to try to do is to move away from Windows. We do that for basically every workload, the cost of Windows is staggering when you look at cloud because you have the "double" cost of the VM because you need so much more CPU, RAM and storage for the simplest tasks and then you have the $16/mo or whatever Windows tax on top of that. It adds up really quickly. But if you are doing RDS, I'm guessing you have no options?
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Unfortunately, this LOB is Windows only, hence the need for RDS.
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@FATeknollogee said in Windows VM in the cloud:
Unfortunately, this LOB is Windows only, hence the need for RDS.
Why would it require RDS for a Windows LOB software solution? Is it from the 1990s and doesn't have a web interface or some other way to access it without RDS?
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surely If you want to use Remote Desktop Services, then you are going to need more then 1 VM?, if you want to setup a session based RDS desktop solution you will need a connection broker,RD web Access,licence server and session host that your users will use? also have you thought about licencing etc?
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@scottalanmiller said in Windows VM in the cloud:
@FATeknollogee said in Windows VM in the cloud:
Unfortunately, this LOB is Windows only, hence the need for RDS.
Why would it require RDS for a Windows LOB software solution? Is it from the 1990s and doesn't have a web interface or some other way to access it without RDS?
Unfortunately, the only options are "Fat client" or "Thin client aka RDS"
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@StuartJordan said in Windows VM in the cloud:
surely If you want to use Remote Desktop Services, then you are going to need more then 1 VM?, if you want to setup a session based RDS desktop solution you will need a connection broker,RD web Access,licence server and session host that your users will use? also have you thought about licencing etc?
This VM is just for offshore workers to connect back "home"
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you mentioned RDS? will you not be using Remote Desktop Services?
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@StuartJordan said in Windows VM in the cloud:
surely If you want to use Remote Desktop Services, then you are going to need more then 1 VM?, if you want to setup a session based RDS desktop solution you will need a connection broker,RD web Access,licence server and session host that your users will use? also have you thought about licencing etc?
Only one is needed, all those services run on a single VM.
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@FATeknollogee said in Windows VM in the cloud:
@scottalanmiller said in Windows VM in the cloud:
@FATeknollogee said in Windows VM in the cloud:
Unfortunately, this LOB is Windows only, hence the need for RDS.
Why would it require RDS for a Windows LOB software solution? Is it from the 1990s and doesn't have a web interface or some other way to access it without RDS?
Unfortunately, the only options are "Fat client" or "Thin client aka RDS"
I, personally, use that as a reason to heavily question why the business is depending on an application that has such a limitation. What possible reason would their be for important software to require a fat client on a Windows desktop (or any desktop.) There can be reasons, but they are rare. Sounds, most likely, that it is bad software that is not fully maintained for the last decade or so? That's the stuff I worry about. If they don't have a post-1990s interface and haven't freed themselves of desktop entanglements, do they have any support left?
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@StuartJordan said in Windows VM in the cloud:
you mentioned RDS? will you not be using Remote Desktop Services?
RDS = Remote Desktop Services. One is just the initials of the other.
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@scottalanmiller - I understand the abbreviation, what I was meaning is, if he is using RDS session based desktops he will probably want more then 1 VM. if he is not using RDS then fair enough.
