Parallels RAS: Working with templates, versioning, tags, and scheduled recreations
Channel: Parallels
Date: 2023-10-17

00:00 Introduction 
01:15 Template version overview 
01:57 Create a new template version  
03:06 Update the template image VM 
04:35 Leave maintenance mode  
03:36 Recreation of session host servers 
05:05 Periodic scheduled recreation of session hosts and host pools 
05:52 Assign multiple versions of templates to multiple host pools 
06:29 Perform customization on tag names


Administrators can ensure seamless operations by creating multiple versions of the same RAS template which is used as a “Golden Image” for provisioning users’ virtual machines (VMs) for RD Session Hosts, VDIs, and Azure Virtual Desktop environments. 

The versioning capability allows for validating new versions before implementing them in production, ease of rollback to previous versions, and the ability to assign distinct versions to different host pools for different user personas. 

Version tags are used as a logical representation of the exact versions. Version tags such as production, pre-production, and custom tags (editable names) can be set to reduce manual configurations when promoting new versions for session hosts to be used by end-users facilitating image lifecycle management. 

The same RAS template version can be assigned to different host pools. This facilitates the use of validation host pools for dev/test prior to roll-out to production and reduces hardware footprint with a lower number of RAS templates which can be used for different business units or user personas. 

Once the RAS template is updated, IT admins can now decide to begin the recreation of clones at a specific time. This allows IT admins to update the RAS Template image during normal working hours while scheduling the clones to be recreated during off-peak hours. 

Ready to try it yourself? Get your full-featured free trial now! https://www.parallels.com/products/ras/try