In This Article |
This article covers guidance and best practices for using Microsoft Teams in a virtual environment with the goal of establishing the best end-user experience.
Microsoft Teams is available for use in a Web Browser, as a Mobile App (Android & iOS), and as a Desktop App (Windows, Mac OS, & Linux). This provides a large amount of flexibility for using Microsoft Teams. The following are the most common deployment options:
Microsoft Teams is an application layer on top of Microsoft's online services including the Office apps, Exchange, SharePoint, and Skype for Business.
When rolling out MS Teams to your organization, you will want to make sure your virtual environment can handle the increased loads that come with each set of use cases.
Teams Use Case | Microsoft's Online Technologies | Estimated Load |
---|---|---|
File Collaboration & Sharing |
| Medium Compute Load Medium Network Load |
Instant Messaging (Chat) |
| Minimal Compute Load Minimal Network Load |
Teams Calendar |
| Minimal Compute Load |
3rd Party Apps & Bots |
| Minimal to medium load depending on the app |
Audio/Video Calls & Meetings |
| Heavy Compute Load Heavy Network Load |
Here are some considerations and possible feature limitations when running MS Teams in a virtual desktop:
Microsoft's guide for running MS Teams in a Virtualized Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) environment is very comprehensive, and it should be your starting point for understanding the ins and outs of running MS Teams in your virtual environment. Pay close attention to the following parts of the guide:
Currently, Microsoft has only certified Citrix virtual environments for an "optimized" audio/video experience with MS Teams. All other virtual environments, including Windows Virtual Desktops (WVD) in Azure, are considered "unoptimized". VMware will support MS Teams RTAV (Real Time Audio & Video) provided the correct agents are installed inside the guest / desktop image,
If you're running Citrix for your virtual environment, make sure you follow their Optimization Guide for Microsoft Teams, which is fully certified to run MS Teams in its optimized mode.
In VMware environments, MS Teams will run in its unoptimized mode. However, VMware is working to certify with Microsoft and release their own optimization pack. Currently, VMware recommends a virtual desktop with a minimum 4 vCPU and 4 GB of RAM (8 GB of RAM is recommended). VMware also has a guide for configuring MS Teams for real-time audio/video.
Microsoft has a short article for running MS Teams in WVD. Keep in mind that you'll be running MS Teams in its unoptimized mode, and therefore, will be consuming more compute resources (CPU & RAM) than MS Teams in its optimized mode.
Before installing MS Teams in your virtual environment, make sure you review and plan for the MS Teams hardware requirements, and virtualization requirements, especially if you plan to allow audio/video calls and meetings.
Also, consider turning off MS Teams features by changing global policy settings in the Teams Admin Center. After turning off features, you can create custom policies that allow the features to be turned on and used by a pilot group of users. This will ensure you have sized your virtual desktops and hypervisor servers to support your use cases.
Here are some suggestions:
Microsoft Teams certified headsets with built-in echo cancellation.
Skype for Business certified peripherals are compatible with Microsoft Teams too.
Running MS Teams in a virtual environment has a lot of moving parts, all of which can be difficult to troubleshoot. Keep in mind that voice & video quality issues are going to be attributed to your virtual environment and your network. Therefore, we strongly recommend consulting with Microsoft and your virtualization vendor for support.
If Evolve IP is your voice provider for Teams Direct Routing, we may be able to assist with your troubleshooting, but we can only troubleshoot our own voice infrastructure. Unfortunately, we do not have any means to troubleshoot Microsoft's voice infrastructure or your virtual infrastructure.
If Evolve IP is your Desktop / Workspace provider, Evolve IP will support the following scenarios:
The results of QA testing on different endpoint and seat combinations for the major components of Teams:
Metric | DaaS Standard/Premium (Windows 10 Endpoint) | DaaS Standard/Premium (Dell Wyse 5070) | Workspace Elite (Windows 10 Endpoint) |
---|---|---|---|
Outbound Video Quality | 3/5 | 1/5 | 4/5 |
Inbound Video Quality | 5/5 | 5/5 | 5/5 |
Audio Quality (In/Out) | 5/5 | 5/5 | 5/5 |
Screen Sharing | Supported | Supported | Supported |
File Sharing | Supported | Supported | Supported |
Chat | Supported | Supported | Supported |