Clone a WS to Another Region

Question

We have members that use multiple workspaces in N.Virginia (us-east-1) region. The base configuration includes Simple AD. Initially, workspaces were created in this region, yet staff can be working from other regions. This leads to performance/lag problems.

I'd like to clone workspaces to other regions (both preserving the installed apps and user profile on D drive). I've followed the best practices to create an image. Image Checker did not report any problems.

Then I used this image, and copied it to another region (Let's say eu-west-1). I created a new bundle with the image.
So far no errors. Then, attempting to launch a new WS by using the bundle, I am prompted to create a new directory. If I create a new directory, I'm required to create a new user. (Because directories are different original user is not listed in Show All Users section).

Upon launching the new WS using the settings above, indeed I see an emtpy/fresh Workspace with both installed apps lost and user profile does not retain changes in the image.

Based on the info above, what could be wrong?
Do I need to switch to Active Directory setup?
Do we have to use external tools to make a true clone? Please kindly share your knowledge. Thank you for reading. If needed I can provide additional information.

Accepted Answer

First, yes you can copy the image, but images are generalized and do not include user persona data, so you must decouple the user persona from the WorkSpace in order to address both the image copy and user persona. Additonally, having disparate identities is not an acceptable user experience, so I would recommend a full Microsoft Active Directory, and not Simple AD. With full Microsoft Active Directory, you can:
* Maintain the unique user identity across regions
* Utilize Group Policy to redirect user persona folder (e.g. Documents, Desktop, etc.) to a File Server
* Replicate File Server through DFS-Replication partner across regions

Clone a WS to Another Region

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