Two Kinds of Disaster Recovery Pool
"PC DR," covered here, which gives users newly imaged replacement desktops. This is typically used for non-persistent pools, where users don't have a customized desktop.
"Regional DR," covered in Regional Disaster Recovery Pools creates replacement desktops from a recent backup image. This is used with persistent desktop pools, where preserving the individual users' customized desktops is important.
PC Disaster Recovery Pools
Workspot allows you to create PC DR disaster recovery pools. As the name implies, you would use disaster recovery pools when your users lose their normal access to their desktop devices, such as when a corporate office loses power or network connectivity or has to be closed or evacuated.
Disaster recovery pools are turned off under ordinary circumstances and turned on only when needed.
Disaster recovery pools:
Always use Azure-based desktops.
Usually consists of non-persistent desktops.
If you specify persistent desktops, the users get fresh desktops, not their old desktops. Regional Disaster Recovery Pools are recommended for persistent desktops.
Use an existing non-persistent desktop pool on Azure as a parent pool template. A DR pool can be created only in the same Azure region as the parent pool.
Require a Workspot subscription that includes DR pools. (See your Workspot representative if you are interested in DR pools.)
Creating a Disaster Recovery Pool
Log into Workspot Control using an account with Administrator privileges.
On the Dashboard page, verify that your subscription allows DR pools:
Go to Resources > VDI Pools. You will create your DR pool using a existing non-persistent pool as a template.
Note: Currently, Workspot templates are region-specific. A DR pool that uses a different region from any of your current templates needs a new template. Contact Workspot for assistance.
Identify an appropriate non-persistent pool to use as a template.
If you don't have an appropriate non-persistent pool, create one using the Add Pool button.
On the Actions menu for the selected pool, select Configure DR Pool:
Once you've selected Configure DR Pool, the Configure DR Virtual Desktop page appears. Fill in its fields as with any desktop pool:
DR pools can be either persistent or non-persistent (even though the parent pool is always non-persistent).
The DR Pool Name must consist of alphanumeric characters only.
The maximum available number of desktops is displayed under the Desktop Name section (not the Number of Desktops section).
The other fields are the same as for any desktop pool.
Click Save. This opens the Manage DR Virtual Desktops page.
The list of desktops on this page will be blank. This is expected.
Return to Resources > VDI Pools. Your new DR Pool should be listed in the Mange DR Virtual Desktop Pools table at the bottom of the page, with a status of Inactive.
Your old, non-persistent pool will be listed, unchanged, in the Manage Virtual Desktop Pools table.
Activating a Disaster Recovery Pool
On the Resources > VDI Pools page, find your DR Pool.
On the Actions menu, select Activate DR and click OK on the confirmation popup.
The Resources > VDI Pools page will announce "Disaster Recovery activated successfully" and the status indicator for the pool will show the "initializing" symbol.
This symbol may not be replaced with the "active" symbol until you refresh the screen manually.
Assigning Users to Disaster Recovery Pools
Users are assigned to desktops in a disaster recovery pool as with any other Workspot pool, either one by one or by using (or creating) a group containing the affected users and assigning the DR desktop pool to the group on the Users > Groups > group name > Group Info page.
Users who are not yet registered with Workspot Control will need to download the Workspot Client and go through the registration process.
Shutting Down a Disaster Recovery Pool
Deactivating an Disaster Recover pool immediately deletes all its virtual machines, so migrate your users elsewhere before shutting down the pool.
On the Resources > VDI page, find the DR Pool. On the Actions menu, select "Deactivate DR."
Click "OK" on the confirmation popup.