2021-W33 Update from anDREa

2021-W33 Update from anDREa

This should be the first of many where we will update you on released and upcoming features, things that are happening at anDREa, etc.

Recently added features/improvements

Type
Description
Bug
Daily snapshot missing on some of the new and migrated Workspaces. (1115)
Bug
Missing Azure Hybrid Benefit switch in create Workspace dialog (1789)
Microsoft has for certain customers the ability to have Windows VMs at a reduced rate.
Improvement
If costs cannot be displayed directly in myDRE, then they can now be viewed in portal.azure.com by pressing a link (1877)
Though anDREa offers a method to directly display costs in myDRE.org a billing API key is needed. As long as anDREa does not have this, the best thing we can do is to easily direct you to the costs for your Workspace.
Security
Resource locks on Workspace Storage Accounts (1225)

Ready for Production

Items here, usually will be pushed to production within the next one or two weeks.
Type
Description
Security
Windows Update for VMs reconfigured (217)
Windows VMs to be updated with latest Windows Updates and Windows Defender Updates. The recommended mechanism in a network isolated environment like DRE for this is using Windows Server Update Service (WSUS).
Back-end
Consolidation repositories and cleanup yaml pipelines (1352)
The house cleaning we need to do from time-to-time


On Acceptance

Items here have past the testing stage and are now tested and reviewed on acceptance. Take into account that some findings can push the items here back to the devs; in potential all the way back to the drawing board. So no indication as to when these will hit production.
Type
Description
Bug
Starting or stopping VM shows an invalid login page (2067)
Bug
Updating some coding to improved/changed Azure APIs (collection of items)
This is also the type of house cleaning we need to do from time-to-time


Some of the items in the pipeline

anDREa developers are working continuously to improve myDRE. Some of the things that are in the pipeline:

Informing users

On the login page, important announcements can be displayed that will lead you to support.mydre.org for more information. This for instance would have been very handy to inform those who got the email from Radboudumc, or heard about. The challenge here was:
  1. Keep it robust - it must also work when for instance MFA is not working
  2. Keep it simple - it must be easy to use by anDREa Support without the need of developers

RDP over HTML

Now you need to download an RDP file. Linux users must even go through a Windows VM as a stepping stone. With RDP over HTML, we are using Guacomole for this, this will be a thing of the past. Directly access your VM, be it Windows or Linux, from within your browser. Less clicks for one.





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