This coming Thursday (the 4th of March) the team is pushing an update that has a couple noteworthy improvements. In-Line Script Editor First, the Scripted Events UI now includes an in-line text editor to make changes to script files directly in the UI. Previously you'd need to download, edit and then re-upload the script file. Simply editing the text of the script in the UI is much faster. We've also added some language specific formatting functionality for Python, PowerShell and batch scripts to make it that much easier. Script Editor Screenshot: Metadata Location Second, we're adding the option to configure the Azure region in which the WVD Metadata will be stored. This give organizations with data sovereignty concerns more control over their data. Metadata Location Screenshot RDP Properties Finally, we've added simple control over many common RDP properties at the WVD host pool level. Primarily this is used to enable/disable redirection of local devices, services and peripherals to the WVD session. Examples include disk access, COM port redirection, the clipboard sharing, printers, smart cards, audio input/output and enabling/disabling full screen mode. RDP Properties Screenshot There are many more changes this week, the full listing of release notes is listed here: Virtual Desktop Service – v5.4 Release Notes | NetApp Cloud Docs
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Forcing users to change their password too frequently is an administrative burden and can lead to insecure practices. Is there a way to set the Maximum Password Age to something longer than 110 days? Please note these references from both Microsoft and Google: MS Security Baseline "Dropping the password expiration policies.** There’s no question that the state of password security is problematic and has been for a long time. When humans pick their own passwords, too often they are easy to guess or predict. When humans are assigned or forced to create passwords that are hard to remember, too often they’ll write them down where others can see them. When humans are forced to change their passwords, too often they’ll make a small and predictable alteration to their existing passwords, and/or forget their new passwords. When passwords or their corresponding hashes are stolen, it can be difficult at best to detect or restrict their unauthorized use. Recent scientific research calls into question the value of many long-standing password-security practices such as password expiration policies, and points instead to better alternatives..." Google Workspace Password Expiration "Password expiration is turned off by default because research has shown little positive impact on security."
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NetApp VDS has functionality to run scripts in virtual desktop environments using our existing security context and to trigger those based on a variety of events. This functionality allows VDS administrators to build their best practices into automation that can be triggered as appropriate. Some examples include: Zipping up and archiving a user profile as part of the "delete user" function Automatically running session host optimization changes when a new session host VM is built Automated application install when the app is assigned to a client Until now, the script library shipped empty, requiring a VDS admin to build and test all scripts they wished to implement. With the release of Global Scripts the product now includes a handful of common scripts that can be used as-is or used as a starting point for custom automation. The first batch of scripts include install and uninstall actions for the following applications: Adobe Reader DC AMD Radeon Instinct Drivers Ezeep Print App Google Chrome Microsoft Edge Chromium Microsoft Office 365 (without One Drive and Teams, to allow for stand alone installs below) Microsoft One Drive Microsoft Teams Microsoft Teams (Optimized for WVD) Nvidia CUDA Drivers Nvidia GRID Drivers NetApp has also dedicate resources to ongoing development of additional scripts. We already have a good list of items in the queue but please don't hesitate to add a comment for ideas you'd find useful while managing your VDS environments. Screenshots: A new filter to only show Global Scripts: A new filter to only show Global Scripts: Added a "Documentation URL" and corresponding documentation on the docs.netapp.com site: Added a "Documentation URL" and corresponding documentation on the docs.netapp.com site: Added the "Download" action to allow the administrator to download the script file used in this script. For both audit and re-use purposes: Added the "Download" action to allow the administrator to download the script file used in this script. For both audit and re-use purposes:
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Hello World! To begin our Virtual Desktop Service (VDS) forum, I figured I'd share some basic info about VDS and some links to relevant resources. VDS is a SaaS product that deploys, manages and optimizes Remote Desktop Services (RDS) and Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) environments. These environments can be managed from a single web portal while running in Azure, Google Compute Platform, AWS and/or HCI with VMware vSphere. More information on the product is found on the NetApp product page at: https://cloud.netapp.com/virtual-desktop-service We've built out product documentation for VDS which is found at: https://docs.netapp.com/us-en/virtual-desktop-service/ The product itself is accessible at: https://manage.vds.netapp.com The product team for VDS is active and wants to participate in the conversation, please don't hesitate to ping us with the @ function to get our attention. @Toby_vanRoojen , @SDingemanse , @DougPetrole Welcome!
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