The Horizon Cloud Service on Microsoft Azure system architecture includes the standard Horizon Cloud Service components, as well as unique components and integrations that provide additional capabilities.

Figure 1: Basic Horizon Cloud Service on Microsoft Azure System Architecture

Figure 1 demonstrates the automated provisioning of a Horizon Cloud Service pod on your Microsoft Azure capacity. Note: Deployments into Microsoft Azure were previously referred to as nodes. (For a more detailed diagram, see VMware Horizon Cloud Service on Microsoft Azure Requirements Checklist For New Pod Deployments - Updated for the March 2020 Service Release, under Reference Architecture.)

1. Your Microsoft Azure infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) provides capacity.
2. Your VMware Horizon Cloud Service control plane is granted permission to create and manage resources with the use of a service principal in Microsoft Azure.
3. You provide additional prerequisites such as Active Directory, as well as optional components such as Deployment Engine, Workspace ONE Connector, and RDS license, from either Microsoft Azure or Horizon Cloud on premises.
4. The Horizon Cloud Service control plane initiates the deployment of the Horizon Cloud Service pod, VMware Unified Access Gateway™ appliances for secure remote access, and other infrastructure components that assist with the configuration and management of the Horizon Cloud Service infrastructure.
5. After the Horizon Cloud Service pod is deployed, you can connect the pod to your own corporate AD infrastructure or create a new AD configuration in your Microsoft Azure subscription. You deploy VMs from the Microsoft Azure marketplace, which are sealed into images, and can be used in RD Session Host farms.
6. With the VDI functionality, you can also create Windows 10 assignments of both dedicated and floating desktops.