Publishing Remote Desktop Gateway with Azure App Proxy – The Easy Way

After reading that Azure can support Application Proxy, I began to think of ways I could use this to expand the configuration of my lab. My lab is hosted in my closet and brought to the Internet via AT&T fiber. So I only have a single IP which limits what I can do/publish externally. So my remote access (via Remote Desktop Gateway) was using the sole IP address.

What I have now is depicted below:

The key items to note here:

• Single Server – hosting ALL RDS Roles(Gateway Role, WebApp Role, Session Host, Connection Broker)
• RDS Server ALSO hosts Application Proxy Connector
• DNS name pointing to Azure (not using “xxxx.cloudapp.net”)
• Need TWO Published Applications
  • One for RDWEB (webapp page)
  • One for RPC (for RDP or HTTPS)

Step-by-step:

On Prem-

1. Install Windows Server 2016
2. Add RDS – I used “Quick Start”….give collection and external name
   “rds.yourdomain.com”
3. Import certificate and configure RDS

Azure

1. Create new application – select Azure AD/Enterprise Applications/ + New Application/All/On-Premise Application

   Configure like below (note the ending of url “/rdweb/”):

   

1. Create new application (again) – select Azure AD/Enterprise Applications/ + New Application/All/On-Premise Application

   Configure like below (note the ending of url “/rpc/”):

   

Other items to note:

• You’ll need at least ONE user with an Azure Active Directory Basic license to publish an application ($1 per month)