Azure Cloud Service - Enable Remote Desktop Using Classic Management Portal

This article is a part of a series of articles related to one of the Azure Compute options “Cloud Services”.

• Azure Cloud Service Introduction
  
• Azure Cloud Services - Create Hello World Cloud Service Using Visual Studio
  
• Azure Cloud Service Examine Files
  
• Azure Cloud Service – Add existing Web Application to Cloud Service
  
• Azure Cloud Service – Compute Emulator
  
• Azure Cloud Service - Create Package using Visual Studio
  
• Azure Cloud Service – Create a new Cloud Service using Azure Management Portal
  
• Azure Cloud Service – Deploy Cloud Service using Azure Management Portal
  
• Azure Cloud Service – Create Staging Slot using Azure Management Portal
  
• Azure Cloud Service – VIP Swap using Azure Management Portal
  
• Azure Cloud Service – Delete Slot using Azure Management Portal.
  
• Azure Cloud Service – Scale up Instance Size
  
• Azure Cloud Service – Scale Out Instances using Visual Studio
• Azure Cloud Service – Enable Remote Desktop using Visual Studio

 

In our previous articles, we have learned how to create, deploy, and Scale up the size of the required VMs.

In this article, we will learn how to log into the VMs that are created within the Cloud Service, using Remote Desktop.

Below is the screen capture that provides the details of the Virtual Machines being created after we deployed the application to the Cloud Service. For more details on how to deploy the Cloud Service to Azure, please read more in Azure Cloud Service – Deploy Cloud Service using Azure Management Portal.



Let’s say, you would like to log into these Virtual Machines to perform some additional configuration (you can install third party components as well into these Virtual Machines). By default, you cannot do anything as the Remote Desktop is disabled for these VMs.

Let’s see how to enable Remote Desktop for these VMs of the Cloud Service.

Log into the Classic Azure Management portal and navigate to the Cloud Service, as shown below.



In the Cloud Service dashboard, click on “Instances”, as shown below.



Clicking on the “Instances” will display the roles.



In the above screen, if you notice, the “connect” button is disabled. It’s the default behavior. Let’s configure the “Remote Desktop” by clicking on the “Configure” button.



Please make sure you select the required Slot. For this example, I selected “Production” slot. Once you select the slot, click on the “Remote” button available in the Command Bar, as shown above. Clicking on the “Remote” button will open the following window.



Please note the following default options.

• (All) is selected in the “role” dropdown. If you want to configure Remote Desktop for an individual role, you need to select the required role in the “Role” dropdown.
  
• Enable Remote Desktop option is disabled. You need to check the “Enable Remote Desktop” checkbox to enabled.

Let’s go-ahead and check the “Enable Remote Desktop” checkbox.


After this, all the controls will be enabled and you need to provide the username and password. Please note these credentials somewhere. You will use them to log into the Virtual Machine.

Also, let the Azure Management Portal create a new certificate by selecting “Create a new certificate” in the “Certificate” dropdown.

Once you provide all the details, submit the page by clicking on the tick mark highlighted in the above screenshot. You will see something as shown below, the  Processing status.



After few seconds,

• A new certificate will be created.
• The Remote Desktop option will be enabled for all the roles of the Cloud Service.
  
  
  

Now, go back to the “Instances” menu item, as shown below, and select any of the Roles.



Click on “Connect” button to download the Remote Desktop file.





Provide the password in the above window and click on “OK” button. That’s it. You can successfully connect to the Remote Machine now.



Summary

You have learned how to enable Remote Desktop to the Cloud Service Virtual Machine instances. Hope you enjoyed reading the article. Your feedback is appreciated.