Executive Summary

This white paper compares the operational efficiency of the Nerdio Manager console versus the native Microsoft Azure console. The test method for measuring efficiency and System Administrator Experience (SAX) consists of recorded example scenarios for the creation, modification or deletion of Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) resources. Screen videos and administrative activities collected during each test run are visualized, compared and analyzed using the EUC Score Sync Player. The benchmarking results show a clear indication that AVD management from the Nerdio Manager for Enterprise console is more efficient.

This white paper was made possible through the support and the sponsorship of Nerdio. The content, views, and opinions expressed in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Nerdio.

Introduction

The role of system administrators has become increasingly complex and demanding. The advent of cloud-based management consoles has revolutionized the way system administrators work, offering a centralized, scalable, and efficient solution for overseeing diverse and complex environments. As organizations strive for greater efficiency and security, the management consoles and their interfaces play a crucial role in their daily operations. One such console is the Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) management portal, which serves as the central hub for monitoring, configuring, and maintaining AVD infrastructure.

This white paper aims to explore the various dimensions of system administrator experience (SAX) while using two different AVD management consoles - the native Microsoft Azure portal and the Nerdio Manager for Enterprise. By measuring and analyzing key aspects such as usability and performance, we can gain valuable insights into how these two consoles impact the productivity and effectiveness of system administrators. Through a combination of quantitative metrics, this study seeks to identify best practices and areas for improvement, ultimately contributing to the development of more intuitive and efficient AVD management consoles.

The findings presented in this white paper will be of interest to IT professionals, software developers, and organizational leaders who are committed to enhancing the system administrator experience and operational efficiency of their IT teams. By understanding the factors that influence system administrator experience, stakeholders can make informed decisions about tool selection, training, and process optimization, leading to more resilient and responsive IT environments. The intention is to use the findings in this white paper to create an efficiency calculator in the Nerdio Manager console.

Test Methodology

The goal is to record common administrator scenarios in the Microsoft Azure portal and the Nerdio Manager portal to compare the effort required across both portals (i.e. manual tasks in both). This includes a video of each scenario and all the inputs (keyboard and mouse) so that this data can be used to measure the differences in effort and for the data to be independently verified.

Scenarios are recorded using the EUC Score toolset which captures keyboard and mouse input (this enables counting the total number of inputs), including timings for each input and location on screen. Additionally, each scenario is recorded to demonstrate the scenario and to allow external 3rd party validation of the approach.

Example scenarios include:

• Add Custom Image: Create a custom image template including customizations and tags.
• Add Session Hosts to Pooled Host Pool: Select an existing pooled host pool and add multiple session hosts.
• Delete Multi Hosts from Pooled: Select an existing pooled host pool and remove multiple session hosts in Microsoft Azure, Intune, and Entra ID.
• New Pooled Multi Host Pool: Create a new pooled host pool and configure auto-scale to dynamically add new multi-session hosts.
• Reimage Session Hosts in a Host Pool: Drain session hosts and remove them from host pool, Intune and Entra ID. Then add new session hosts with a different image to the host pool.
• Resize Session Hosts: Select an existing host pool with multiple session hosts and initiate a change of the VM type for all session hosts.
• Update Custom Image: Delete a custom image template and recreate it with updated settings.

 

The recorded scenarios will become the basis for how long the tasks take in the Microsoft Azure portal. The comparative actions in the Nerdio Manager portal are queried and require additional recording of the same tasks.

In the context of this white paper, each scenario is recorded both in the Microsoft Azure portal and in the Nerdio Manager portal. Each recording is associated with the following files and data points:

• An MP4 screen video file, typically in full HD resolution and with 60 frames per second.
• Start time, end time and duration of the screen video.
• An activity file that includes keyboard and mouse inputs with exact time stamps.

 

The screenshot below shows an example of a side-by-side comparison visualized in the EUC Score Sync Player, with two screen videos in the top quadrants and the respective time-stamped administrative activities under each video.

 

Test Results

The table below shows the results of the seven selected scenarios. If you want to see the side-by-side comparisons, select and click on a scenario link. In the EUC Score Sync Player, click the zoom button on the right side above a video to enlarge it. The 4x links behind the scenario names lead to non-interactive comparison videos that run at four times the speed.

Scenarios	AVD Time (Mouse | Keyboard)	Nerdio Manager Time (Mouse | Keyboard)
Add-CustomImage [4x]	3:23s (132 clicks | 3 input fields)	1:31s (30 clicks | 4 input fields)
Add-SessionHosts-PooledHostPool [4x]	2:38s (66 clicks | 5 input fields)	0:52s (10 clicks | 2 input fields)
Delete-Hosts-Pooled-Multi [4x]	1:32s (36 clicks | 1 input field)	0:28s (7 clicks | 1 input field)
New-Pooled-Multi-HostPool [4x]	7:51s (111 clicks | 7 input fields)	2:55s (43 clicks | 4 input fields)
Reimage-SessionHosts-HostPool [4x]	4:50s (90 clicks | 6 input fields)	044s (10 clicks | 1 input field)
Resize-SessionHosts [4x]	1:34s (22 clicks | 0 input fields)	1:43s (6 clicks | 2 input fields)
Update-CustomImage [4x]	5:09s (146 clicks | 3 input fields)	0:37s (13 clicks | 1 input field)

 

For all scenarios except one using the Nerdio Manager for Enterprise console is faster and requires fewer mouse clicks if compared to the Azure Virtual Desktop native console. This doesn't come as a big surprise. While the Microsoft Azure portal was not specifically designed for the management of virtual desktops, this is exactly the opposite for the Nerdio Manager console. Therefore, it is easier for Nerdio to optimize the sequence of administrative actions for AVD environments.

For scenarios like "Delete Hosts Pooled Multi", you even need to leave the AVD portal to perform required actions in the Intune and Entra ID portals. This isn't necessary in the Nerdio Manager console, providing significantly better experience for the administrator.

An important finding of the first test runs presented here is that an administrative task is defined as finished when all necessary configuration entries have been made and only one more administrative trigger action is necessary to start the resource creation, modification or destruction process. This is due to the fact that resource modifications can take different times in different Microsoft Azure datacenter locations or at different times of the day.

But there are other administrative actions that may have an impact on overall efficiency and cannot yet be conclusively assessed. It is clear that they must be taken into account in subsequent test runs.

• How do scrolling, searching and clipboard usage contribute to the measurement of user interaction?
• How can one adequately take into account the administrator's familiarity with a particular console, such as the Microsoft Azure portal?
• How should the use of templates, policies and script actions be included when measuring the task duration?

 

Risk Mitigation

Nerdio Manager reduces the accumulation of risk or technical debt in a Microsoft Azure environment, by reducing the chance of actions that are inconsistent with the target environment or do not align to defined standards. Nerdio Manager includes features such as Tag Groups that enable the administrator to select from a set of preconfigured tags, or automatic scaling and session host image refresh that completely replace manual tasks that would need to be completed in the Microsoft Azure portal.

Typically, an organisation needs to build and maintain their own automation solution to manage Microsoft Azure resources and avoid these manual tasks. This is a time-consuming and expensive task, for which Nerdio Manager has already been purpose built.

As a result, Nerdio Manager helps you to mitigate risks associated with the administration of Azure Virtual Desktop, including the following:

• Naming conventions and tags: Established Azure naming conventions are not followed, or tags / value pairs are incorrectly applied (or not applied at all).
• Regions and resource groups: The administrator could select the wrong region or resource group, requiring resources to be moved, or deleted and re-deployed. By managing the deployment of AVD resources, Nerdio Manager will deploy only into preselected regions.
• Resource clean-up: when resources such as session host virtual machines are removed or replaced, virtual machines, disks and network cards, along with device records in Entra ID, Microsoft Intune, and third-party systems need to be removed, often in separate consoles. Nerdio Manager manages all the resource clean-up on behalf of the administrator.
• File shares: Microsoft Azure File shares can be increased in size introducing the chance an administrator may not reduce the capacity when no longer needed. Nerdio Manger automatically reduces file share capacity based on active storage requirements.
• RBAC roles: Nerdio Manager simplifies managing access to Azure Virtual Desktop resources, particularly in larger, more complex deployments. Additionally, Nerdio Manager can assign end-users access to resources in a single action, avoiding situations where the administrator may miss Azure Virtual Desktop, Azure and Entra ID assignments.
• Scaling: Scaling plans and settings may be inconsistently configured across host pools. Nerdio Manager includes auto-scale profiles that simplify the scaling of multiple host pools via a single object.
• Monitoring: Microsoft Azure Virtual Desktop Insights requires additional configuration, leading to host pools and session hosts being unconfigured or misconfigured. Nerdio Manager ensures session hosts are configured to send metrics to Microsoft Azure Monitor in a single action.

 

Findings

This white paper explores the transformative impact of cloud-based Azure Virtual Desktop management consoles on the system administrator experience. By selecting the console that is best suited for the daily operational tasks, system administrators can streamline operations, enhance security, and improve overall productivity. Below are the percentages showing the differences between the Azure Virtual Desktop native console and the Nerdio Manager console.

• Add-CustomImage: 75% less administrative inputs and 55% shorter task duration with the Nerdio Manager.
• Add-SessionHosts-PooledHostPool: 83% less administrative inputs and 67% shorter task duration with the Nerdio Manager.
• Delete-Hosts-Pooled-Multi: 78% less administrative inputs and 70% shorter task duration with the Nerdio Manager.
• New-Pooled-Multi-HostPool: 60% less administrative inputs and 63% shorter task duration with the Nerdio Manager.
• Reimage-SessionHosts-HostPool: 89% less administrative inputs and 85% shorter task duration with the Nerdio Manager.
• Resize-SessionHosts: 55% less administrative inputs with the Nerdio Manager and 10% shorter task duration with the native AVD console.
• Update-CustomImage: 91% less administrative inputs and 88% shorter task duration with the Nerdio Manager.

 

The current SAX benchmarking results show a clear indication that AVD management from the Nerdio Manager for Enterprise console is more efficient for most of the operational tasks. The VDI-specific layout and its integration of templates, policies and scripts give the Nerdio Manager for Enterprise console an advantage over the more generic Microsoft Azure portal.