We are looking to move our current hosted solution to Azure.
Our current solution in the cloud consists of three Windows 2008 R2 VM’s in a workgroup One SQL Server VM – heavily dependent on SQL Database Mail and SQL Scheduled Jobs , One Web Server VM, One RDP server that uses RemoteApp to distribute a Windows Client application after connecting to a VPN. We also use the RDP server to run several windows applications (windows service and scheduled task). I had originally posted to the Azure VM forum and was referred to this forum for RDP issues.
With Windows 2008 R2 server I was easily able to create RemoteApp. .rdp files (without RDWeb) for our Windows application and use those .rdp files to distribute to our customers. The user accounts were created using Computer Management / Local Users / Groups.
From my understanding is that the functionality changed with Windows 2012 R2 and later. To be able to set up RemoteApp, the machine must be joined to a domain as this give you a setup UI to publish your application(RDWeb to create rdp file). This would mean two additional servers (domain controllers) and incur additional costs. The user accounts would then have to be created on the Azure DC Active directory. Is RemoteApp supported on a Windows 2016 workgroup VM in Azure without using RDWeb to publish the application? I found an article on the forum that talks about creating / editing your own rdp file and registry entries in lieu of a UI. I also found a third party application (RemoteApp Tool) which creates a .rdp file. Could we use those methods and still be supported by Microsoft? I also see there was a RemoteApp Service on Azure that is been now discontinued. It has been replaced with Citrix Virtual App Essentials. From my understanding, this too would require domain controllers at additional cost. Are there any better solutions to achieve our goal? Will we be able to set up a VPN connection for our customers to the RDP (RemoteApp) server on Azure with any of the solutions?
Thanks,