AVD Host Pools at a Glance: Which Ones Are Validation Host Pools?

When working with Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD), it is important to quickly identify which Host Pools are configured as Validation Host Pools and which do not receive Validation Agents. This distinction is especially relevant when it comes to deploying new AVD agent versions, as Microsoft initially rolls them out to Validation Host Pools before making them generally available.

In this post, I will show you how to easily get an overview using PowerShell and the Azure Portal. This way, you can quickly check whether your Host Pools are designated for testing or are part of your production environment.

PowerShell

The following script can be copied, the subscription customized and executed in the cloud shell:

# This script will change the subscription to the one specified in the $subscriptionId variable
# Then it will list all the host pools in the subscription and print the important information, including the validation environment
# Script is optimized to use it over Azure Cloud Shell

# Change the subscription ID to the one you want to switch to
$subscriptionId =  '<Subscription Id>'

# Change the subscription
$null = Set-AzContext -SubscriptionId $subscriptionId

# List the host pools in the subscription and print the important information, including the validation environment
Get-AzWvdHostPool -SubscriptionId $subscriptionId | Select-Object FriendlyName,ResourceGroupName,Location,HostPoolType,ValidationEnvironment | Format-Table

# This script will change the subscription to the one specified in the $subscriptionId variable

# Then it will list all the host pools in the subscription and print the important information, including the validation environment

# Script is optimized to use it over Azure Cloud Shell

# Change the subscription ID to the one you want to switch to

$subscriptionId = '<Subscription Id>'

# Change the subscription

$null = Set-AzContext -SubscriptionId $subscriptionId

# List the host pools in the subscription and print the important information, including the validation environment

Get-AzWvdHostPool -SubscriptionId $subscriptionId | Select-Object FriendlyName,ResourceGroupName,Location,HostPoolType,ValidationEnvironment | Format-Table

Azure Portal

In the Azure Portal, we first switch to the Azure Virtual Desktop blade. There, under Host Pools, we customize the view:

We add another column:

We use the display of the rings for the new column:

As soon as this has been saved, we can now see in the overview which ring has been configured on which host pool:

Ring 0 = Validation AVD Agent
Ring 1 = Productive AVD Agent

Abschluss

With the methods shown, you can quickly and easily determine which AVD Host Pools are configured as Validation Host Pools and which do not receive Validation Agents. Whether using the Azure Portal or PowerShell, you now have the necessary tools to efficiently check your environment and ensure that updates are targeted to the right pools.

PowerShell

Azure Portal

Abschluss

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