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Managing servers and virtual machines

The Servers screen lets you configure the multi-session and single-session servers that are used to host your desktop applications and applications. 

Use the information in this guide to learn how to:

You may also view a glossary of important server-related terms.

View the server pool list

To view the server pool list, follow the steps below.

  1. Log in to the system using your credentials.
  2. Click servers or the  icon in the navigation panel.
  3. The list of multi-session servers will display by default. You may filter the list or adjust the displayed columns to locate records. See the article on working with lists for more information.

Manage multi-session servers

Desktop applications that allow for concurrent user sessions are supported by multi-session server connections. In this section, you can learn how to view the server pools and edit the server pools and servers configured for multi-session use.

Create a server pool

A Server pool is a group of servers who share an image and will work as a group to deliver virtual desktops to end users. Note: Before a server pool can be created, it is important to have a resource group available in the same region as the server pool.

The table below shows the values that make up a server pool profile.

Field Datatype Required? Notes
Name String Yes A user friendly name
Description String Yes Any meaningful description
Resource group Lookup value Yes List of all resource groups in the system available to the user
Server pool type Lookup value Yes
  • Unknown
  • Shared – Used for cloud multi-session server pools with pre-deployed servers 
  • Autoscale – Used for cloud multi-session server pools with dynamically created servers based on load
  • Hybrid – Used for on-premise multi-session server pools with pre-deployed servers 
Load balancer listener port String Yes Each multi-user RDP server farm is assigned a dedicated listener port on the load-balancer. Use this field to specify the listener port of the RDP server pool.
Hyperstream proxy secret String No For on-premise or custom deployments, this value is used to authenticate to the region’s capacity API. It is primarily used for the cloud bursting feature to determine when a server pool is at maximum capacity.
Active Boolean Yes

To create a new server pool, follow the steps below.

  1. From the Servers page, click on the “multi-session” tab to access the server pools list. This tab will display by default when the page first loads.
  2. From the top of the list, click create server pool to trigger the Create server pool screen.
  3. Enter the appropriate values, and then click save changes to submit.
  4. The new server pool will now appear in the list.

Edit a server pool

A server pool is a group of servers that share configuration information. In the list, server pools are left-justified and the servers within those pools are indented below them.

To edit a server pool, follow the steps below.

  1. From the Servers page, click on the “multi-session” tab to access the server pools list. This tab will display by default when the page first loads.
  2. From the list, click edit on a server pool row to edit that record. To make it easier to locate the appropriate server pool, you may adjust the visible columns or filter or search through the list. See the article on working with lists for more information.
  3. The system will direct you to the Edit server pool screen.

  4. Update any necessary values, and then click save changes to submit. See the section above on creating a server pool for information on each field.

Additional features in this section:

  • Show/hide hyperstream proxy secret – This allows you to toggle between clear text and masking.
  • HTTP key refresh – This refreshes the API key used by the hyperstream session to communicate back to the control plane.  All on-premise deployments should have a custom key created.  If the API key has leaked at some time, use this feature to reset the API key.

Remove a server pool

To remove a server pool, follow the steps below.

  1. From the “multi-session” tab of the Servers page, click remove on a server pool row. This will trigger the Delete server pool pop-up screen.

  2. Click confirm to complete removal of the server pool. This will remove both the server pool and all related servers. 

Note: Deleting a server pool will not remove the server instances. 

Create a server

Once a server pool has been created, you can add one or multiple servers to it.

The table below shows the values that make up a server profile.

Field Datatype Required? Notes
Name String Yes
IP address String No The IP Address of the RDP server instance.  Typically used when DNS is not set up for server instance.
FQDN String No The fully qualified domain name of the RDP server instance.
RDP port String No The RDP Service listening port.  Typically always 3389
Maximum number of concurrent users Integer No Value used to specify the maximum number of RDP users this server instance can support concurrently.
Operating system (OS) Lookup value No
  • Linux
  • Mac
  • Windows

To create a server, follow the steps below.

  1. From the Servers page, click on the “multi-session” tab to access the list. This tab will display by default when the page first loads.
  2. From the list, click create server on a server pool row to trigger the Create server pop-up screen. To make it easier to locate the appropriate server pool, you may adjust the visible columns or filter or search through the list. See the article on working with lists for more information.
  3. Enter the appropriate values, and then click add server to submit.
  4. The new server will now appear in the list.

Edit a server

A server is an individual host system within a server pool. In the list, servers are indented under server pools.

To edit a server, follow the steps below.

  1. From the Servers page, click on the “multi-session” tab to access the list. This tab will display by default when the page first loads.
  2. From the list, click edit on an indented server row to edit that record. You may need to expand a server pool to see its child servers. To make it easier to locate the appropriate server, you may adjust the visible columns or filter or search through the list. See the article on working with lists for more information.
  3. The system will trigger the Edit server pop-up screen.

  4. Update any necessary values, and then click update server to submit. See the section above on creating a server for information on each field.

Remove a server

To remove an unwanted server, follow the steps below.

  1. From the “multi-session” tab on the Servers page, click remove on a server row. This will trigger the Delete server pop-up.

  2. Click confirm to complete deletion. The server will no longer appear in the list.

Start a server

Before being able to connect to a server, it must be running.

To start a server, follow the steps below.

  1. Manual start
    1. From the “multi-session” tab on the Servers page, locate a stopped server. To make it easier to locate the appropriate server, you may adjust the visible columns or filter or search through the list. See the article on working with lists for more information.
    2. Click start to start the server. It may take a few minutes to begin running.
    3. Once the server is running, the connect option appears.
  2. Scheduled – For information on how to schedule a server start event, see the article on managing calendar events.

Connect to a server

When a server is running, you can connect to it.

To connect to a server, follow the steps below.

  1. From the “multi-session” tab on the Servers page, locate a running server. To make it easier to locate the appropriate server, you may adjust the visible columns or filter or search through the list. See the article on working with lists for more information.
  2. Click connect to connect to the server.

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Manage a server image

For cloud hosting (e.g., AWS and Azure servers), an Apporto administrator will create the initial server image. After a server has been imaged for the first time, additional imaging options become available. Admins may create additional images and deploy, back up, or restore existing images.

For on-premises implementations, Apporto customers will need to manage servers independently. Apporto NextGen will only be able to start and connect to these servers.

Create image

To create a new image, follow the steps below.

  1. From the “multi-session” tab on the Servers page, locate a base server image. To make it easier to locate the appropriate server, you may adjust the visible columns or filter or search through the list. See the article on working with lists for more information.
  2. Click manage image to view server image options.
  3. Click create image to trigger the Create image confirmation pop-up.
  4. Click confirm to complete image creation. The process may take up to 2 hours.
  5. After the new image is created, it will replace the previous base image.

Deploy image

After creating an image, you may deploy (replicate) it to all production servers in the server pool. Deployment typically takes 30 minutes to 1 hour, depending on the size of the server pool.

To deploy a server image, follow the steps below.

  1. Manual deployment
    1. From the “multi-session” tab on the Servers page, locate a base server image. To make it easier to locate the appropriate server, you may adjust the visible columns or filter or search through the list. See the article on working with lists for more information.
    2. Click manage image to view server image options.
    3. Click deploy image to trigger the Deploy image confirmation pop-up.
    4. Click confirm to complete image deployment. The image will deploy through all related servers, 5 servers at a time.
  2. Scheduled – For information on how to schedule an image deployment event, see the article on managing calendar events.

Backup image

At times, you may want to create a backup of a base server image. This is useful for future image restoration.

To create a server image backup, follow the steps below.

  1. From the “multi-session” tab on the Servers page, locate a base server image. To make it easier to locate the appropriate server, you may adjust the visible columns or filter or search through the list. See the article on working with lists for more information.
  2. Click manage image to view server image options.
  3. Click backup image to trigger the Backup image confirmation pop-up.
  4. Click confirm to complete image backup. The process may take up to 2 hours.
  5. After the backup is created, it can be restored.

Restore image

If a server image has been backed up, it can be restored.

To restore a server image, follow the steps below.

  1. From the “multi-session” tab on the Servers page, locate a base server image. To make it easier to locate the appropriate server, you may adjust the visible columns or filter or search through the list. See the article on working with lists for more information.
  2. Click manage image to view server image options.
  3. Click restore image to trigger the Restore image confirmation pop-up.
  4. Click confirm to restore the most recent image backup. The process may take up to 2 hours.

Manage single-session servers

A Server pool is a group of servers who share an image and will work as a group to deliver virtual desktops or applications to end users. In the case of single session servers, the end users will have a dedicated OS, CPU, RAM etc and will not be sharing those with any other users. If desired the users can have administrative privileges to their servers.  

To view the multi-session server pool list, follow the steps below.

  1. Log in to the system using your credentials.
  2. Click servers or the  icon in the navigation panel.
  3. Click on the “single-session” tab to display the list of servers. You may filter the list or adjust the displayed columns to locate records. See the article on working with lists for more information.

Create a server pool

A Server pool is a group of servers who share an image and will work as a group to deliver virtual desktops to end users. Note: Before a server pool can be created, it is important to have a resource group available in the same region as the server pool.

The table below shows the values that make up a server pool profile.

Field Datatype Required? Notes
Name String Yes
Description String Yes
Resource group Lookup value Yes List of all resource groups in the system available to the user
Server pool type Lookup value Yes
  • Unknown
  • Personal
  • Cyber security
  • Pooled
  • AD synced
Active Boolean Yes

To create a new server pool, follow the steps below.

  1. From the Servers page, click on the “single-session” tab to access the server pools list.
  2. From the top of the list, click create Server pool to trigger the Create Server pool screen.
  3. Enter the appropriate values, and then click save changes to submit.
  4. The new server pool will now appear in the list.

Edit a server pool

A server pool is a group of servers that share an image and configuration. In the list, server pools are left-justified and the servers within those pools are indented below them.

To edit a server pool, follow the steps below.

  1. From the Servers page, click on the “single-session” tab to access the server pools list.
  2. From the list, click edit on a server pool row to edit that record. To make it easier to locate the appropriate server pool, you may adjust the visible columns or filter or search through the list. See the article on working with lists for more information.
  3. The system will direct you to the Edit Server pool screen.

  4. Update any values, and then click Update Server pool to submit.

Remove a server pool

To remove a server pool, follow the steps below.

  1. From the “single-session” tab of the Servers page, click remove on a Server pool row. This will trigger the Delete Server pool pop-up screen.

  2. Click confirm to complete removal of the server pool. This will remove the server pool. 

Create a server

Once a server pool has been created, you can add one or multiple servers to it.

The table below shows the values that make up a server profile.

Field Datatype Required? Notes
Name String Yes
FQDN or IP address String No Fully qualified domain name or IP Address of the RDP server instance

This is typically used when DNS is not set up for server instance.
RDP port String No RDP Service listening port

The value for this is usually 3389.
Maximum number of concurrent users Integer Disabled Single session servers will be set to 1 concurrent user. This field is not editable.
Operating system (OS) Lookup value No
  • Linux
  • Mac
  • Windows

To create a server, follow the steps below.

  1. From the Servers page, click on the “single-session” tab to access the list.
  2. From the list, click create server on a server pool row to trigger the Create server pop-up screen. To make it easier to locate the appropriate server pool, you may adjust the visible columns or filter or search through the list. See the article on working with lists for more information.
  3. Enter the appropriate values, and then click add server to submit.
  4. The new server will now appear in the list.

Remove a server

To remove a server, follow the steps below.

  1. From the “single-session” tab on the Servers page, click remove on a server row. This will trigger the Delete server pop-up.

  2. Click confirm to complete deletion. The server will no longer appear in the list.

Manage a server

Servers within a server pool have multiple options. 

Back up an image

At times, you may want to create a backup image from a server.

To create a server backup image, follow the steps below.

  1. From the “single-session” tab on the Servers page, locate a server. To make it easier to locate the appropriate server, you may adjust the visible columns or filter or search through the list. See the article on working with lists for more information.
  2. Click manage server to view server options.
  3. Click backup image to trigger the Backup image confirmation pop-up.
  4. Click confirm to complete creation of the backup image. The process may take up to 2 hours.
  5. After the backup is created, it can be restored.

Restore image

If a server has had a backup image created, it can be restored.

To restore a server backup image, follow the steps below.

  1. From the “single-session” tab on the Servers page, locate a server. To make it easier to locate the appropriate server, you may adjust the visible columns or filter or search through the list. See the article on working with lists for more information.
  2. Click manage server to view server options.
  3. Click restore image to trigger the Restore image confirmation pop-up.
  4. Click confirm to restore the most recent image backup. The process may take up to 2 hours.

Re-image

At times, you may wish to create a new base image from a single server and deploy it to all servers in the pool

To re-image a server, follow the steps below.

  1. From the “single-session” tab on the Servers page, locate a server. To make it easier to locate the appropriate server, you may adjust the visible columns or filter or search through the list. See the article on working with lists for more information.
  2. Click manage server to view server options.
  3. Click re-image to trigger the Re-image persistent virtual machine confirmation pop-up.
  4. Click confirm to reimage the server. The new image will be deployed throughout the server pool.

Unassign a server

If a user mapping has been applied to a server, the association between the user and the server can be removed.

To remove a user association, follow the steps below.

  1. From the “single-session” tab on the Servers page, locate a server. To make it easier to locate the appropriate server, you may adjust the visible columns or filter or search through the list. See the article on working with lists for more information.
  2. Click manage server to view server options.
  3. Click unassign to trigger the Remove association confirmation pop-up.
  4. Click confirm to complete the association removal.

Start a virtual machine (server)

Before being able to connect to a server, it must be running.

To start a server, follow the steps below.

  1. Manual start
    1. From the “single-session” tab on the Servers page, locate a stopped server. To make it easier to locate the appropriate server, you may adjust the visible columns or filter or search through the list. See the article on working with lists for more information.
    2. Click start to start the server. It may take a few minutes to begin running.
    3. Once the server is running, the connect option appears.
  2. Scheduled – For information on how to schedule a server start event, see the article on managing calendar events.

Connect to a virtual machine (server)

When a server is running, you can connect to it.

To connect to a server, follow the steps below.

  1. From the “single-session” tab on the Servers page, locate a running server. To make it easier to locate the appropriate server, you may adjust the visible columns or filter or search through the list. See the article on working with lists for more information.
  2. Click connect to connect to the server.
  3. If the server you selected is in the cloud, you may see the following message while the connection is being established: “Please wait while we start your cloud computer.”

Import server pools

To import pool and server relationships, follow the steps below.

  1. Prepare a CSV file to map users to servers in the server pool. The CSV can have either named or unnamed column headings, but it should contain at least the following data: “Server Pool Name”, “VM Name”, “VM FQDN”, and “VM Port Number”. During the import process, you will have the opportunity to select which source column will be matched to these fields.
  2. From the “single-session” tab on the Servers page, click import server pools to trigger the Import server pools pop-up screen.
  3. By default, the “new import” tab will display. This is the first step of the import wizard.

  4. Drag and drop a file from local storage or click on the pop-up to trigger the file manager and select a file. The name of the selected file will display on the screen.

  5. Click next to move on to field matching in step 2. Use the dropdowns to select fields to match to the columns in your file.

  6. Expand the “options” accordion section to adjust whether your file has a first line of header values.

  7. Expand the “attribute handling” accordion section to configure whether the server pool and server values should append to or update any existing values.

  8. Click upload to complete the import. The system will display alerts for the import process.

  9. After the import has successfully completed, any new server pools or servers will appear in the list. Some configuration values may be missing.

    1. Newly created server pools will not be assigned to a resource group by default, and their pool type will be set to AD Synced. To assign a server pool to a resource group or to change its pool type, click the edit button on the newly created server pool. 
    2. To update a new server’s configuration, you can either use the edit button next to the server or you can reupload a new CSV file using the import server pools button at the top of the page. 
  10. To view completed imports, click import server pools again and select the “past imports” tab of the Import server pools screen. To make it easier to locate specific imports, you may adjust the visible columns or filter or search through the list. See the article on working with lists for more information.

  11. For any import that contained errors, click the error count link in the import row to trigger the Import errors screen.

Import user server mappings

To simplify the process of relating users to specific VMs, you may wish to import user mappings.

To import a VM user mapping, follow the steps below.

  1. Prepare a CSV file to map users to servers in the server pool.  The CSV can have either named or unnamed column headings, but should contain at least the following data: “Server Pool Name”, “VM Name”, “User Login Name”.   During the import process, you will have the opportunity to select which source column will be matched to these fields.
  2. From the “single-session” tab on the Servers page, click import user VM assignments to trigger the Import user VM mapping pop-up screen.
  3. By default, the “new import” tab will display with a disclaimer message. If all necessary prerequisites are complete, click continue to proceed to step 2 of the wizard. If any other items are needed, exit the pop-up.

  4. Step 2 prompts you to select a file to import. Drag and drop a file from local storage or click on the pop-up to trigger the file manager and select a file.

  5. The name of the selected file will display on the screen. Click next to move on to field matching in step 3.

  6. Use the dropdowns to select fields to match to the columns in your file.

  7. Expand the “options” accordion section to adjust whether your file has a first line of header values.

  8. Expand the “attribute handling” accordion section to configure whether the user mappings should append to or update any existing values.

  9. Click upload to complete the import. The system will display alerts for the import process.

  10. To view completed imports, click import user VM assignments again and select the “past imports” tab of the Import user VM mapping pop-up screen. To make it easier to locate specific imports, you may adjust the visible columns or filter or search through the list. See the article on working with lists for more information.

  11. For any import that contained errors, click the error count link in the import row to trigger the Import errors screen.

Manage a server image

After a server has been imaged for the first time, additional imaging options become available. Admins may create additional images and deploy, back up, or restore existing images. They may also re-image selected servers.

Create image

To create a new image, follow the steps below.

  1. From the “single-session” tab on the Servers page, locate a base server image. To make it easier to locate the appropriate image, you may adjust the visible columns or filter or search through the list. See the article on working with lists for more information.
  2. Click manage image to view server image options.
  3. Click create image to trigger the Create image confirmation pop-up.
  4. Click confirm to complete image creation. The process may take up to 2 hours.
  5. After the new image is created, it will replace the previous base image.

Deploy image

After creating an image, you may deploy (replicate) it to production. Deployment typically takes 30 minutes to 1 hour. The base image is replicated to 5 servers at a time.

To deploy a server image, follow the steps below.

  1. Manual deployment
    1. From the “single-session” tab on the Servers page, locate a base server image. To make it easier to locate the appropriate server, you may adjust the visible columns or filter or search through the list. See the article on working with lists for more information.
    2. Click manage image to view server image options.
    3. Click deploy image to trigger the Deploy image confirmation pop-up.
    4. Click confirm to complete image deployment. The image will deploy through all related servers, 5 servers at a time.
  2. Scheduled – For information on how to schedule an image deployment event, see the article on managing calendar events.

Re-image selected servers

At times, you may wish to replace a server’s current image with the base image.

To re-image a server, follow the steps below.

  1. From the “single-session” tab on the Servers page, locate a server and select the corresponding checkbox to the left. To make it easier to locate the appropriate image, you may adjust the visible columns or filter or search through the list. See the article on working with lists for more information.
  2. Click manage image to view server image options.
  3. Click re-image selected servers to trigger the Re-image persistent virtual machines confirmation pop-up.
  4. Click confirm to reimage the server. The new image will be deployed throughout the server pool.

Back up an image

At times, you may want to create a backup of a base server image. This is useful for future image restoration.

To create a server image backup, follow the steps below.

  1. From the “single-session” tab on the Servers page, locate a base server image. To make it easier to locate the appropriate image, you may adjust the visible columns or filter or search through the list. See the article on working with lists for more information.
  2. Click manage image to view server image options.
  3. Click backup image to trigger the Backup image confirmation pop-up.
  4. Click confirm to complete image backup. The process may take up to 2 hours.
  5. After the backup is created, it can be restored.

Restore image

If a server image has been backed up, it can be restored.

To restore a server image, follow the steps below.

  1. From the “single-session” tab on the Servers page, locate a base server image. To make it easier to locate the appropriate image, you may adjust the visible columns or filter or search through the list. See the article on working with lists for more information.
  2. Click manage image to view server image options.
  3. Click restore image to trigger the Restore image confirmation pop-up.
  4. Click confirm to restore the most recent image backup. The process may take up to 2 hours.
  5. To view completed imports, click import user server assignments again and select the “past imports” tab of the Import user server mapping pop-up screen. To make it easier to locate specific imports, you may adjust the visible columns or filter or search through the list. See the article on working with lists for more information.

Glossary

Key terms in this section include the following.

Term Meaning Use
Server or VM  System that provides applications and services.  Host one or more desktops and/or applications
Server pool or VM Pool  Group of servers with shared images and configurations in one region.  Host one more desktops and/or applications. A server pool will orchestrate the servers who are members of the pool.
Virtual Desktop Virtualized desktop which can be accessed remotely from any device.  Enable users to remotely access applications, data or resources. 
Virtual Desktop Pool Group of Server pools with shared images and configurations in multiple regions. Host one or more desktops and/or applications across multiple server pools and regions. Enable cloud bursting. A desktop pool will orchestrate the server pools who are members of this pool. 
Multi-session Server or server pool that supports concurrent sessions from multiple users Allow users to share resources  (operating system, CPU, RAM etc) on a server. 
Single-session Server or server pool that serves individual users.  Users do not share resources of a server. Typically users can modify the operating system. 
Image Disk image that is created from an existing server configuration Propagate a server’s configurations and applications to other servers. 
Mapping Relate one or more users to a virtual machine Specify which desktop users will access a server
On-premises Privately owned and controlled servers Customers may have a preference to use on-prem servers to reduce network latency or to ensure data security.