What role does Azure Bastion play in Azure Virtual Desktop?

Azure Bastion plays a critical role in enhancing the security of remote access to Azure Virtual Desktop environments by providing secure RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) and SSH (Secure Shell) access to virtual machines. When using Azure Bastion, users can connect to their virtual machines directly through the Azure portal without needing a public IP address on those VMs. This greatly reduces the surface area for potential attacks, as the VMs are not exposed to the public internet.

By routing all traffic through Azure Bastion, organizations can utilize secure tunneling, which ensures that data being transmitted is encrypted and safe from interception. This approach also simplifies the management of network security as there is no need to manage inbound NAT rules or public IPs for the VMs, thereby streamlining the configuration and reducing the risk of misconfigured security settings.

The other options do not accurately represent the function of Azure Bastion. It is neither responsible for SSL termination, nor does it handle backup management or scale session hosts based on demand. Instead, its main feature revolves around providing a secure and efficient way to manage remote desktop connections without exposing VMs to the risks associated with public access.