Simple, Secure VPN Connection from Remote Desktop Client - Not 3389

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1

I am curious if there is a simple way to get an RDP connection to Azure. I demo’d Bastion, but it seems like a browser window connection is what they are good at.

Likewise, I am fine setting up Open VPN or something like that on the OS, but I was hoping for something simple and secure external to the OS rather than relying on RDP on port 3389.

The Network Gateway setup seems a bit overly complex, for me only to try to reach one machine on a secure connection.

Any suggestions? Any other hosts that pre-configure the VPN or RD Gateway?

2

Bastion is the answer, and you can connect to it from the native RDP client instead of a web browser if that’s your concern: Configure Bastion for native client connections - Azure Bastion | Microsoft Learn

3

The Paperspace App (Digital Ocean & Intel) so far in my research seems like the cheapest Plug & Play Pay per Use machine.

But still open to Azure and other options.

4

Azure Virtual Desktop could be an option (as a steppingstone to the environment). This uses TCP 443

And the other option indeed Azure Bastion as you mentioned. Quite secure as you don’t need any public IP assigned to the resource.

5

AVD can work for you.

6

Consider using Azure Point-to-Site (P2S) VPN. It lets you create a secure connection from your desktop to your Azure VM. After setting it up, you’d VPN into Azure, and then RDP to the internal IP of your VM. This keeps things off 3389 and is more secure. Plus, it’s simpler than setting up an entire VPN server or a full-blown network gateway for a single machine. Once connected to the VPN, it’s like you’re on the Azure network, and you can RDP directly to the VM’s private IP.

7

I came here to say this. Bastion is your best option when using normal VM’s in azure. I think you need the standard tier. And you need to have azure CLI on your pc. But then go for the native client solution.

8

Azure Virtual Desktops. That looks impressive and perhaps cheaper than Windows 365 at $10.
Would they consider a single user? It seems like their examples show 1000 users.

9

Yes, this really seems like the best choice. It appears like there is a continuous charge for the VPN? In other words, it is not included at no additional charge.

10

Yes you can do a single user or multi-session. It’s basically a traditional remote desktop service with the gateway and broker handled by MS.