The estate
What they were running
About 3,500 concurrent student and staff sessions across teaching and exam host pools.
The problem
Why the queue filled up
Term start and exam weeks filled the queue with frozen sessions. Faculty logged tickets and waited. Analysts either waited for a small Azure admin team or were given Desktop Virtualization Contributor on their own accounts. Both options were slow or too wide.
What they set up
The same four moves, scoped to this estate.
- 01
Connect one Entra app owned by the university, with Reader and Contributor on the AVD subscription only.
- 02
Select teaching and exam host pools. Leave research pools out of help desk view.
- 03
Give first line the help desk role on teaching pools. Give a faculty contact the same role on their own lab pool so they can act without a ticket.
- 04
Keep log off with session admins. Keep owners and admins on MFA. Review audit at the end of each exam window.
What that gives them
A clearer way to act.
- First line and selected faculty can clear a stuck session without opening the Azure Portal.
- A lab owner does not wait on the ticket queue for their own pool.
- Every disconnect and message has an actor, user, and pool on the audit page.
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