User profile

User profile is a collection of settings and application data associated with a specific user. In a non-persistent remote environment, such as Parallels RAS, user profiles must be maintained to provide consistent user experience. This is achieved by storing user profile data in a network location to minimize sign in times and optimize file I/O between host, client, and the profile storage.

Parallels RAS supports the following technologies to manage user profiles:

• User profile disk: [RD Session Hosts only] These are virtual hard disks that store user application data on a dedicated file share. This disk is mounted to the user session as soon as the user signs in to a session host. The disk is unmounted when the user logs out.
• FSLogix Profile Container: A remote profile solution for non-persistent environments. FSLogix Profile Container redirects the entire user profile to a remote location and maintains user context in non-persistent environments, minimizing sign-in times and providing native profile experience eliminating compatibility issues. FSLogix Profile Container is the preferred profile management solution as the successor of Roaming Profiles and User Profile Disks.

User profiles can be configured for the following:

• RD Session Hosts
• VDI
• Azure Virtual Desktop

User profile settings are configured for the above on the Site level (Site defaults) and can also be configured for individual components if the RAS administrator decides to use custom settings for a given component.

To configure user profile on the Site level, navigate to Farm > Site, click the Tasks > Site defaults menu and choose one of the following:

• RD Session Host
• VDI
• AVD multi-session hosts
• AVD single-session hosts

In a Site defaults dialog that opens, select the User profile tab. The user interface for configuring optimization is the same for all of the above. Please note that the User profile disk option is not available for VDI and Azure Virtual Desktop due to obsolescence.

The subsequent sections describe in detail how to configure the user profile functionality.