Plus2: AVD Disconnects

Issue

When using Plus2 through Gladstone Cloud it unexpectedly closes, freezes or disconnects requiring you to shut down the Remote Desktop client and, in some cases, reboot your computer so Plus2 and all attached peripherals (i.e. scanners, printers etc) work correctly.

Solution

We have worked extensively with Microsoft on this issue as Gladstone Cloud uses Azure Virtual Desktops (AVD) to provide access to Plus2. AVD requires a consistent and 'clean' network connection and this can be affected with the path this data takes through your network. We have seen particular issues with proxy and web filters - most notably Smoothwall. To ensure the network connection is as clean as possible the devices that connect to AVD and Plus2 need to be exempt and routed around these devices and solution where possible. This will minimise the risk of any disconnects.

Further steps you can take is to make sure any web address that AVD use are whitelisted on your network firewalls. We recommend you allowlist the web addresses rather than IP addresses as the latter will change over time. You can find more details here under the 'End user devices' section:

Required FQDNs and endpoints for Azure Virtual Desktop

If you can only allowlist IP addresses then you can find details on the IP addresses Microsoft Azure uses here:

Azure IP Ranges and Service Tags – Public Cloud

You can download the information you need in a JSON file. The Service Tag with the IP addresses needed are windowsVirtualDesktop.UKSouth and WindowsVirtualDesktop.UKWest