This article guides you through configuring Global Pools: creating a Global Pool, organizing host pools into Pool Groups, creating an Assignment Policy to distribute users automatically, and setting up a Failover Policy to redirect users between Pool Groups. For background on how Global Pools works, see the Global Pools feature overview.
Before you create a Global Pool, make sure the following are in place:
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Global Pools is enabled for your Nerdio Manager (NME) tenant. The feature is currently available in Public Preview.
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At least one Entra ID group to define who is eligible for the Global Pool.
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An Entra ID group to use in Assignment Policies.
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Standard Azure Virtual Desktop host pool prerequisites (workspace, resource group, identity/AD join method) for host pools you plan to create inside a Pool Group.
No additional preparatory work is required beyond the prerequisites above. If you plan to have Nerdio Manager auto-create the Entra ID groups attached to your host pools for you, ensure the account has the elevated Azure/Entra permissions noted in the feature overview; otherwise, pre-create the Entra ID groups you want to use before you begin.
Note
It is recommended for Nerdio Manager to create these Entra ID groups for you.
A Global Pool is the top-level container for Pool Groups and host pools. Create one before you create Pool Groups or Assignment Policies. Global Pools introduces a hierarchy above your existing host pools: each Global Pool contains one or more Pool Groups, each Pool Group contains one or more host pools, and each host pool contains its session hosts as usual. This section of the document details how to create a Global Pool.
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In Nerdio Manager, navigate to Cloud Desktops > Global Pools.
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Select New Global Pool.
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On the Basics step, enter a Name for the Global Pool.
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For Desktop experience, select the type of session this Global Pool will deliver:
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AVD multi-session desktop (pooled): delivers a full multi-session desktop
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AVD multi-session RemoteApp (pooled): delivers published RemoteApps instead of a full desktop
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For Tenant, select the identity tenant this Global Pool should use.
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For Entra ID group, select or create the group that defines who is eligible for this Global Pool.
Note
This Entra ID group only grants eligibility -- being a member doesn't by itself assign a user to a host pool. An Assignment Policy determines which Pool Group an eligible user will have access to.
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Select Next.
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On the Profiles step, select an Active directory profile.
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Optionally, select a Virtual machines profile.
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Optionally, select an RDP profile.
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For FSLogix, select OFF to disable FSLogix, Default to use Nerdio Manager's default profile, or choose a specific profile (listed under Profiles) to apply to host pools in this Global Pool.
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Optionally, for Scripted actions, select a Scripted actions profile to deploy for the host pools in this Global Pool.
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Select Submit.
Note
Not all host pool profiles available for standard host pools are available for Global Pools yet. See the Global Pools feature overview for the current list of available profiles.
A Pool Group combines one or more host pools and defines how users are distributed across them.
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Open the Global Pool you created.
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Select New Pool Group.
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Enter a Name for the Pool Group.
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Select a Distribution Mode: Depth-first fills one host pool before moving to the next; Breadth-first spreads users evenly across host pools.
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Select Save.
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Open the Pool Group.
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Select New host pool.
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Enter a Name for the host pool.
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Optionally, enter a Description.
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Select a Resource group.
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Select a Workspace.
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Optionally, for Entra ID group, start typing to search for and select an existing group. If you leave this field blank, Nerdio Manager creates one automatically.
Note
This Entra ID group is the assignment group Nerdio Manager uses to grant users access to this specific host pool and its published Desktops or RemoteApps.
It is recommended to leave this field blank and have Nerdio create these Entra ID groups for you.
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For User limit, enter the maximum number of users who can be assigned to this host pool (defaults to 1000).
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Configure the remaining host pool settings the same way you would for a standalone host pool.
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Select Create.
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Repeat for each additional host pool you want in this Pool Group.
An Assignment Policy automatically assigns or reassigns eligible users to a Pool Group based on their Entra ID group membership.
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Open the Global Pool and select the Policies tab.
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Select New Policy.
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For Policy type, select Attribute. This is currently the only available policy type for now.
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For each Pool Group, select the Entra ID group whose members this policy item should evaluate and be assigned to this Pool Group.
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Set a Priority (a whole number). See Understanding policy priority below.
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Select Save. New policies are disabled by default.
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Repeat these steps to add additional policy items, for example to target a different Entra ID group and Pool Group combination.
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When you're ready to apply the policy, activate it. Nerdio Manager syncs eligible users to their target Pool Groups automatically every 15 minutes once a policy is active or select Sync now to apply changes on-demand.
An Attribute policy item evaluates Entra ID group membership: for each user in the Global Pool's eligibility group, Nerdio Manager checks whether they're also a member of the Entra ID group specified in the policy item. If they are, that policy item matches, and the user is assigned to the policy item's target Pool Group -- specifically, to an available host pool within that Pool Group, selected according to the Pool Group's Distribution Mode.
Priority only comes into play when a user is a member of more than one Entra ID group that maps to different Pool Groups within an assignment policy. If a user matches only one policy item, that item's target Pool Group applies and priority is irrelevant.
When a user matches multiple policy items, the item with the lowest numeric priority value wins. For example:
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Policy item A: Entra ID group "Finance", target Pool Group East, priority 10
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Policy item B: Entra ID group "Executives", target Pool Group West, priority 1
If a user is a member of both the Finance and Executives groups, they're assigned to Pool Group West, because priority 1 is lower than priority 10.
A Failover Policy redirects users from one Pool Group to another -- for example, during planned maintenance or an outage.
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Open the Global Pool and select the Failover Policies tab.
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Select New Failover Policy.
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Select a Source Group and a Target Group.
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Select Save. New failover policies are disabled by default.
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When you're ready to fail over, activate the policy. Nerdio Manager reassigns users from the source Pool Group to the target Pool Group on the next sync.
Nerdio Manager synchronizes active policies automatically every 15 minutes.
This synchronization includes the following actions:
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Evaluates active policies
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Checks which users are eligible
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Finds users who should be processed and reassigned
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Applies Failover policies, if any are active
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Removes users from host pool Entra ID assignment groups, if necessary
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Assigns users to the new host pool Entra ID assignment groups, if necessary
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Rebalance users inside pool groups
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Validates Host Pool assignment access
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Deploys and updates RemoteApps to host pools
To have a synchronization engage on-demand instead of waiting for the next automatic sync:
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Open the Global Pool.
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Select Sync.
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Monitor progress under Tasks.
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