Tag Archives: Amazon AppStream

Catching Up on Some Recent AWS Launches and Publications

Post Syndicated from Jeff Barr original https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/catching-up-on-some-recent-aws-launches-and-publications/

As I have noted in the past, the AWS Blog Team is working hard to make sure that you know about as many AWS launches and publications as possible, without totally burying you in content! As part of our balancing act, we will occasionally publish catch-up posts to clear our queues and to bring more information to your attention. Here’s what I have in store for you today:

  • Monitoring for Cross-Region Replication of S3 Objects
  • Tags for Spot Fleet Instances
  • PCI DSS Compliance for 12 More Services
  • HIPAA Eligibility for WorkDocs
  • VPC Resizing
  • AppStream 2.0 Graphics Design Instances
  • AMS Connector App for ServiceNow
  • Regtech in the Cloud
  • New & Revised Quick Starts

Let’s jump right in!

Monitoring for Cross-Region Replication of S3 Objects
I told you about cross-region replication for S3 a couple of years ago. As I showed you at the time, you simply enable versioning for the source bucket and then choose a destination region and bucket. You can check the replication status manually, or you can create an inventory (daily or weekly) of the source and destination buckets.

The Cross-Region Replication Monitor (CRR Monitor for short) solution checks the replication status of objects across regions and gives you metrics and failure notifications in near real-time.

To learn more, read the CRR Monitor Implementation Guide and then use the AWS CloudFormation template to Deploy the CRR Monitor.

Tags for Spot Instances
Spot Instances and Spot Fleets (collections of Spot Instances) give you access to spare compute capacity. We recently gave you the ability to enter tags (key/value pairs) as part of your spot requests and to have those tags applied to the EC2 instances launched to fulfill the request:

To learn more, read Tag Your Spot Fleet EC2 Instances.

PCI DSS Compliance for 12 More Services
As first announced on the AWS Security Blog, we recently added 12 more services to our PCI DSS compliance program, raising the total number of in-scope services to 42. To learn more, check out our Compliance Resources.

HIPAA Eligibility for WorkDocs
In other compliance news, we announced that Amazon WorkDocs has achieved HIPAA eligibility and PCI DSS compliance in all AWS Regions where WorkDocs is available.

VPC Resizing
This feature allows you to extend an existing Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) by adding additional blocks of addresses. This gives you more flexibility and should help you to deal with growth. You can add up to four secondary /16 CIDRs per VPC. You can also edit the secondary CIDRs by deleting them and adding new ones. Simply select the VPC and choose Edit CIDRs from the menu:

Then add or remove CIDR blocks as desired:

To learn more, read about VPCs and Subnets.

AppStream 2.0 Graphics Design Instances
Powered by AMD FirePro S7150x2 Server GPUs and equipped with AMD Multiuser GPU technology, the new Graphics Design instances for Amazon AppStream 2.0 will let you run and stream graphics applications more cost-effectively than ever. The instances are available in four sizes, with 2-16 vCPUs and 7.5 GB to 61 GB of memory.

To learn more, read Introducing Amazon AppStream 2.0 Graphics Design, a New Lower Costs Instance Type for Streaming Graphics Applications.

AMS Connector App for ServiceNow
AWS Managed Services (AMS) provides Infrastructure Operations Management for the Enterprise. Designed to accelerate cloud adoption, it automates common operations such as change requests, patch management, security and backup.

The new AMS integration App for ServiceNow lets you interact with AMS from within ServiceNow, with no need for any custom development or API integration.

To learn more, read Cloud Management Made Easier: AWS Managed Services Now Integrates with ServiceNow.

Regtech in the Cloud
Regtech (as I learned while writing this), is short for regulatory technology, and is all about using innovative technology such as cloud computing, analytics, and machine learning to address regulatory challenges.

Working together with APN Consulting Partner Cognizant, TABB Group recently published a thought leadership paper that explains why regulations and compliance pose huge challenges for our customers in the financial services, and shows how AWS can help!

New & Revised Quick Starts
Our Quick Starts team has been cranking out new solutions and making significant updates to the existing ones. Here’s a roster:

Alfresco Content Services (v2) Atlassian Confluence Confluent Platform Data Lake
Datastax Enterprise GitHub Enterprise Hashicorp Nomad HIPAA
Hybrid Data Lake with Wandisco Fusion IBM MQ IBM Spectrum Scale Informatica EIC
Magento (v2) Linux Bastion (v2) Modern Data Warehouse with Tableau MongoDB (v2)
NetApp ONTAP NGINX (v2) RD Gateway Red Hat Openshift
SAS Grid SIOS Datakeeper StorReduce SQL Server (v2)

And that’s all I have for today!

— Jeff;

Delivering Graphics Apps with Amazon AppStream 2.0

Post Syndicated from Deepak Suryanarayanan original https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/compute/delivering-graphics-apps-with-amazon-appstream-2-0/

Sahil Bahri, Sr. Product Manager, Amazon AppStream 2.0

Do you need to provide a workstation class experience for users who run graphics apps? With Amazon AppStream 2.0, you can stream graphics apps from AWS to a web browser running on any supported device. AppStream 2.0 offers a choice of GPU instance types. The range includes the newly launched Graphics Design instance, which allows you to offer a fast, fluid user experience at a fraction of the cost of using a graphics workstation, without upfront investments or long-term commitments.

In this post, I discuss the Graphics Design instance type in detail, and how you can use it to deliver a graphics application such as Siemens NX―a popular CAD/CAM application that we have been testing on AppStream 2.0 with engineers from Siemens PLM.

Graphics Instance Types on AppStream 2.0

First, a quick recap on the GPU instance types available with AppStream 2.0. In July, 2017, we launched graphics support for AppStream 2.0 with two new instance types that Jeff Barr discussed on the AWS Blog:

  • Graphics Desktop
  • Graphics Pro

Many customers in industries such as engineering, media, entertainment, and oil and gas are using these instances to deliver high-performance graphics applications to their users. These instance types are based on dedicated NVIDIA GPUs and can run the most demanding graphics applications, including those that rely on CUDA graphics API libraries.

Last week, we added a new lower-cost instance type: Graphics Design. This instance type is a great fit for engineers, 3D modelers, and designers who use graphics applications that rely on the hardware acceleration of DirectX, OpenGL, or OpenCL APIs, such as Siemens NX, Autodesk AutoCAD, or Adobe Photoshop. The Graphics Design instance is based on AMD’s FirePro S7150x2 Server GPUs and equipped with AMD Multiuser GPU technology. The instance type uses virtualized GPUs to achieve lower costs, and is available in four instance sizes to scale and match the requirements of your applications.

Instance vCPUs Instance RAM (GiB) GPU Memory (GiB)
stream.graphics-design.large 2 7.5 GiB 1
stream.graphics-design.xlarge 4 15.3 GiB 2
stream.graphics-design.2xlarge 8 30.5 GiB 4
stream.graphics-design.4xlarge 16 61 GiB 8

The following table compares all three graphics instance types on AppStream 2.0, along with example applications you could use with each.

  Graphics Design Graphics Desktop Graphics Pro
Number of instance sizes 4 1 3
GPU memory range
 1–8 GiB 4 GiB 8–32 GiB
vCPU range 2–16 8 16–32
Memory range 7.5–61 GiB 15 GiB 122–488 GiB
Graphics libraries supported AMD FirePro S7150x2 NVIDIA GRID K520 NVIDIA Tesla M60
Price range (N. Virginia AWS Region) $0.25 – $2.00/hour $0.5/hour $2.05 – $8.20/hour
Example applications Adobe Premiere Pro, AutoDesk Revit, Siemens NX AVEVA E3D, SOLIDWORKS AutoDesk Maya, Landmark DecisionSpace, Schlumberger Petrel

Example graphics instance set up with Siemens NX

In the section, I walk through setting up Siemens NX with Graphics Design instances on AppStream 2.0. After set up is complete, users can able to access NX from within their browser and also access their design files from a file share. You can also use these steps to set up and test your own graphics applications on AppStream 2.0. Here’s the workflow:

  1. Create a file share to load and save design files.
  2. Create an AppStream 2.0 image with Siemens NX installed.
  3. Create an AppStream 2.0 fleet and stack.
  4. Invite users to access Siemens NX through a browser.
  5. Validate the setup.

To learn more about AppStream 2.0 concepts and set up, see the previous post Scaling Your Desktop Application Streams with Amazon AppStream 2.0. For a deeper review of all the setup and maintenance steps, see Amazon AppStream 2.0 Developer Guide.

Step 1: Create a file share to load and save design files

To launch and configure the file server

  1. Open the EC2 console and choose Launch Instance.
  2. Scroll to the Microsoft Windows Server 2016 Base Image and choose Select.
  3. Choose an instance type and size for your file server (I chose the general purpose m4.large instance). Choose Next: Configure Instance Details.
  4. Select a VPC and subnet. You launch AppStream 2.0 resources in the same VPC. Choose Next: Add Storage.
  5. If necessary, adjust the size of your EBS volume. Choose Review and Launch, Launch.
  6. On the Instances page, give your file server a name, such as My File Server.
  7. Ensure that the security group associated with the file server instance allows for incoming traffic from the security group that you select for your AppStream 2.0 fleets or image builders. You can use the default security group and select the same group while creating the image builder and fleet in later steps.

Log in to the file server using a remote access client such as Microsoft Remote Desktop. For more information about connecting to an EC2 Windows instance, see Connect to Your Windows Instance.

To enable file sharing

  1. Create a new folder (such as C:\My Graphics Files) and upload the shared files to make available to your users.
  2. From the Windows control panel, enable network discovery.
  3. Choose Server Manager, File and Storage Services, Volumes.
  4. Scroll to Shares and choose Start the Add Roles and Features Wizard. Go through the wizard to install the File Server and Share role.
  5. From the left navigation menu, choose Shares.
  6. Choose Start the New Share Wizard to set up your folder as a file share.
  7. Open the context (right-click) menu on the share and choose Properties, Permissions, Customize Permissions.
  8. Choose Permissions, Add. Add Read and Execute permissions for everyone on the network.

Step 2:  Create an AppStream 2.0 image with Siemens NX installed

To connect to the image builder and install applications

  1. Open the AppStream 2.0 management console and choose Images, Image Builder, Launch Image Builder.
  2. Create a graphics design image builder in the same VPC as your file server.
  3. From the Image builder tab, select your image builder and choose Connect. This opens a new browser tab and display a desktop to log in to.
  4. Log in to your image builder as ImageBuilderAdmin.
  5. Launch the Image Assistant.
  6. Download and install Siemens NX and other applications on the image builder. I added Blender and Firefox, but you could replace these with your own applications.
  7. To verify the user experience, you can test the application performance on the instance.

Before you finish creating the image, you must mount the file share by enabling a few Microsoft Windows services.

To mount the file share

  1. Open services.msc and check the following services:
  • DNS Client
  • Function Discovery Resource Publication
  • SSDP Discovery
  • UPnP Device H
  1. If any of the preceding services have Startup Type set to Manual, open the context (right-click) menu on the service and choose Start. Otherwise, open the context (right-click) menu on the service and choose Properties. For Startup Type, choose Manual, Apply. To start the service, choose Start.
  2. From the Windows control panel, enable network discovery.
  3. Create a batch script that mounts a file share from the storage server set up earlier. The file share is mounted automatically when a user connects to the AppStream 2.0 environment.

Logon Script Location: C:\Users\Public\logon.bat

Script Contents:

:loop

net use H: \\path\to\network\share 

PING localhost -n 30 >NUL

IF NOT EXIST H:\ GOTO loop

  1. Open gpedit.msc and choose User Configuration, Windows Settings, Scripts. Set logon.bat as the user logon script.
  2. Next, create a batch script that makes the mounted drive visible to the user.

Logon Script Location: C:\Users\Public\startup.bat

Script Contents:
REG DELETE “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer” /v “NoDrives” /f

  1. Open Task Scheduler and choose Create Task.
  2. Choose General, provide a task name, and then choose Change User or Group.
  3. For Enter the object name to select, enter SYSTEM and choose Check Names, OK.
  4. Choose Triggers, New. For Begin the task, choose At startup. Under Advanced Settings, change Delay task for to 5 minutes. Choose OK.
  5. Choose Actions, New. Under Settings, for Program/script, enter C:\Users\Public\startup.bat. Choose OK.
  6. Choose Conditions. Under Power, clear the Start the task only if the computer is on AC power Choose OK.
  7. To view your scheduled task, choose Task Scheduler Library. Close Task Scheduler when you are done.

Step 3:  Create an AppStream 2.0 fleet and stack

To create a fleet and stack

  1. In the AppStream 2.0 management console, choose Fleets, Create Fleet.
  2. Give the fleet a name, such as Graphics-Demo-Fleet, that uses the newly created image and the same VPC as your file server.
  3. Choose Stacks, Create Stack. Give the stack a name, such as Graphics-Demo-Stack.
  4. After the stack is created, select it and choose Actions, Associate Fleet. Associate the stack with the fleet you created in step 1.

Step 4:  Invite users to access Siemens NX through a browser

To invite users

  1. Choose User Pools, Create User to create users.
  2. Enter a name and email address for each user.
  3. Select the users just created, and choose Actions, Assign Stack to provide access to the stack created in step 2. You can also provide access using SAML 2.0 and connect to your Active Directory if necessary. For more information, see the Enabling Identity Federation with AD FS 3.0 and Amazon AppStream 2.0 post.

Your user receives an email invitation to set up an account and use a web portal to access the applications that you have included in your stack.

Step 5:  Validate the setup

Time for a test drive with Siemens NX on AppStream 2.0!

  1. Open the link for the AppStream 2.0 web portal shared through the email invitation. The web portal opens in your default browser. You must sign in with the temporary password and set a new password. After that, you get taken to your app catalog.
  2. Launch Siemens NX and interact with it using the demo files available in the shared storage folder – My Graphics Files. 

After I launched NX, I captured the screenshot below. The Siemens PLM team also recorded a video with NX running on AppStream 2.0.

Summary

In this post, I discussed the GPU instances available for delivering rich graphics applications to users in a web browser. While I demonstrated a simple setup, you can scale this out to launch a production environment with users signing in using Active Directory credentials,  accessing persistent storage with Amazon S3, and using other commonly requested features reviewed in the Amazon AppStream 2.0 Launch Recap – Domain Join, Simple Network Setup, and Lots More post.

To learn more about AppStream 2.0 and capabilities added this year, see Amazon AppStream 2.0 Resources.

Amazon AppStream 2.0 Launch Recap – Domain Join, Simple Network Setup, and Lots More

Post Syndicated from Jeff Barr original https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/amazon-appstream-2-0-launch-recap-domain-join-simple-network-setup-and-lots-more/

We (the AWS Blog Team) work to maintain a delicate balance between coverage and volume! On the one hand, we want to make sure that you are aware of as many features as possible. On the other, we don’t want to bury you in blog posts. As a happy medium between these two extremes we sometimes let interesting new features pile up for a couple of weeks and then pull them together in the form of a recap post such as this one.

Today I would like to tell you about the latest and greatest additions to Amazon AppStream 2.0, our application streaming service (read Amazon AppStream 2.0 – Stream Desktop Apps from AWS to learn more). We launched GPU-powered streaming instances just a month ago and have been adding features rapidly; here are some recent launches that did not get covered in individual posts at launch time:

  • Microsoft Active Directory Domains – Connect AppStream 2.0 streaming instances to your Microsoft Active Directory domain.
  • User Management & Web Portal – Create and manage users from within the AppStream 2.0 management console.
  • Persistent Storage for User Files – Use persistent, S3-backed storage for user home folders.
  • Simple Network Setup – Enable Internet access for image builder and instance fleets more easily.
  • Custom VPC Security Groups – Use VPC security groups to control network traffic.
  • Audio-In – Use microphones with your streaming applications.

These features were prioritized based on early feedback from AWS customers who are using or are considering the use of AppStream 2.0 in their enterprises. Let’s take a quick look at each one.

Domain Join
This much-requested feature allows you to connect your AppStream 2.0 streaming instances to your Microsoft Active Directory (AD) domain. After you do this you can apply existing policies to your streaming instances, and provide your users with single sign-on access to intranet resources such as web sites, printers, and file shares. Your users are authenticated using the SAML 2.0 provider of your choice, and can access applications that require a connection to your AD domain.

To get started, visit the AppStream 2.0 Console, create and store a Directory Configuration:

Newly created image builders and newly launched fleets can then use the stored Directory Configuration to join the AD domain in an Organizational Unit (OU) that you provide:

To learn more, read Using Active Directory Domains with AppStream 2.0 and follow the Setting Up the Active Directory tutorial. You can also learn more in the What’s New.

User Management & Web Portal
This feature makes it easier for you to give new users access to the applications that you are streaming with AppStream 2.0 if you are not using the Domain Join feature that I described earlier.

You can create and manage users, give them access to applications through a web portal, and send them welcome emails, all with a couple of clicks:

AppStream 2.0 sends each new user a welcome email that directs them to a web portal where they will be prompted to create a permanent password. Once they are logged in they are able to access the applications that have been assigned to them.

To learn more, read Using the AppStream 2.0 User Pool and the What’s New.

Persistent Storage
This feature allows users of streaming applications to store files for use in later AppStream 2.0 sessions. Each user is given a home folder which is stored in Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) between sessions. The folder is made available to the streaming instance at the start of the session and changed files are periodically synced back to S3. To enable this feature, simply check Enable Home Folders when you create your next fleet:

All folders (and the files within) are stored in an S3 bucket that is automatically created within your account when the feature is enabled. There is no limit on total file storage but we recommend that individual files be limited to 5 gigabytes.

Regular S3 pricing applies; to learn more about this feature read about Persistent Storage with AppStream 2.0 Home Folders and check out the What’s New.

Simple Network Setup
Setting up Internet access for your image builder and your streaming instances was once a multi-step process. You had to create a Network Address Translation (NAT) gateway in a public subnet of one of your VPCs and configure traffic routing rules.

Now, you can do this by marking the image builder or the fleet for Internet access, selecting a VPC that has at least one public subnet, and choosing the public subnet(s), all from the AppStream 2.0 Console:

To learn more, read Network Settings for Fleet and Image Builder Instances and Enabling Internet Access Using a Public Subnet and check out the What’s New.

Custom VPC Security Groups
You can create VPC security groups and associate them with your image builders and your fleets. This gives you fine-grained control over inbound and outbound traffic to databases, license servers, file shares, and application servers. Read the What’s New to learn more.

Audio-In
You can use analog and USB microphones, mixing consoles, and other audio input devices with your streaming applications. Simply click on Enable Microphone in the AppStream 2.0 toolbar to get started. Read the What’s New to learn more.

Available Now
All of these features are available now and you can start using them today in all AWS Regions where Amazon AppStream 2.0 is available.

— Jeff;

PS – If you are new to AppStream 2.0, try out some pre-installed applications. No setup needed and you’ll get to experience the power of streaming applications first-hand.

New – GPU-Powered Streaming Instances for Amazon AppStream 2.0

Post Syndicated from Jeff Barr original https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/new-gpu-powered-streaming-instances-for-amazon-appstream-2-0/

We launched Amazon AppStream 2.0 at re:Invent 2016. This application streaming service allows you to deliver Windows applications to a desktop browser.

AppStream 2.0 is fully managed and provides consistent, scalable performance by running applications on general purpose, compute optimized, and memory optimized streaming instances, with delivery via NICE DCV – a secure, high-fidelity streaming protocol. Our enterprise and public sector customers have started using AppStream 2.0 in place of legacy application streaming environments that are installed on-premises. They use AppStream 2.0 to deliver both commercial and line of business applications to a desktop browser. Our ISV customers are using AppStream 2.0 to move their applications to the cloud as-is, with no changes to their code. These customers focus on demos, workshops, and commercial SaaS subscriptions.

We are getting great feedback on AppStream 2.0 and have been adding new features very quickly (even by AWS standards). So far this year we have added an image builder, federated access via SAML 2.0, CloudWatch monitoring, Fleet Auto Scaling, Simple Network Setup, persistent storage for user files (backed by Amazon S3), support for VPC security groups, and built-in user management including web portals for users.

New GPU-Powered Streaming Instances
Many of our customers have told us that they want to use AppStream 2.0 to deliver specialized design, engineering, HPC, and media applications to their users. These applications are generally graphically intensive and are designed to run on expensive, high-end PCs in conjunction with a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit). Due to the hardware requirements of these applications, cost considerations have traditionally kept them out of situations where part-time or occasional access would otherwise make sense. Recently, another requirement has come to the forefront. These applications almost always need shared, read-write access to large amounts of sensitive data that is best stored, processed, and secured in the cloud. In order to meet the needs of these users and applications, we are launching two new types of streaming instances today:

Graphics Desktop – Based on the G2 instance type, Graphics Desktop instances are designed for desktop applications that use the CUDA, DirectX, or OpenGL for rendering. These instances are equipped with 15 GiB of memory and 8 vCPUs. You can select this instance family when you build an AppStream image or configure an AppStream fleet:

Graphics Pro – Based on the brand-new G3 instance type, Graphics Pro instances are designed for high-end, high-performance applications that can use the NVIDIA APIs and/or need access to large amounts of memory. These instances are available in three sizes, with 122 to 488 GiB of memory and 16 to 64 vCPUs. Again, you can select this instance family when you configure an AppStream fleet:

To learn more about how to launch, run, and scale a streaming application environment, read Scaling Your Desktop Application Streams with Amazon AppStream 2.0.

As I noted earlier, you can use either of these two instance types to build an AppStream image. This will allow you to test and fine tune your applications and to see the instances in action.

Streaming Instances in Action
We’ve been working with several customers during a private beta program for the new instance types. Here are a few stories (and some cool screen shots) to show you some of the applications that they are streaming via AppStream 2.0:

AVEVA is a world leading provider of engineering design and information management software solutions for the marine, power, plant, offshore and oil & gas industries. As part of their work on massive capital projects, their customers need to bring many groups of specialist engineers together to collaborate on the creation of digital assets. In order to support this requirement, AVEVA is building SaaS solutions that combine the streamed delivery of engineering applications with access to a scalable project data environment that is shared between engineers across the globe. The new instances will allow AVEVA to deliver their engineering design software in SaaS form while maximizing quality and performance. Here’s a screen shot of their Everything 3D app being streamed from AppStream:

Nissan, a Japanese multinational automobile manufacturer, trains its automotive specialists using 3D simulation software running on expensive graphics workstations. The training software, developed by The DiSti Corporation, allows its specialists to simulate maintenance processes by interacting with realistic 3D models of the vehicles they work on. AppStream 2.0’s new graphics capability now allows Nissan to deliver these training tools in real time, with up to date content, to a desktop browser running on low-cost commodity PCs. Their specialists can now interact with highly realistic renderings of a vehicle that allows them to train for and plan maintenance operations with higher efficiency.

Cornell University is an American private Ivy League and land-grant doctoral university located in Ithaca, New York. They deliver advanced 3D tools such as AutoDesk AutoCAD and Inventor to students and faculty to support their course work, teaching, and research. Until now, these tools could only be used on GPU-powered workstations in a lab or classroom. AppStream 2.0 allows them to deliver the applications to a web browser running on any desktop, where they run as if they were on a local workstation. Their users are no longer limited by available workstations in labs and classrooms, and can bring their own devices and have access to their course software. This increased flexibility also means that faculty members no longer need to take lab availability into account when they build course schedules. Here’s a copy of Autodesk Inventor Professional running on AppStream at Cornell:

Now Available
Both of the graphics streaming instance families are available in the US East (Northern Virginia), US West (Oregon), EU (Ireland), and Asia Pacific (Tokyo) Regions and you can start streaming from them today. Your applications must run in a Windows 2012 R2 environment, and can make use of DirectX, OpenGL, CUDA, OpenCL, and Vulkan.

With prices in the US East (Northern Virginia) Region starting at $0.50 per hour for Graphics Desktop instances and $2.05 per hour for Graphics Pro instances, you can now run your simulation, visualization, and HPC workloads in the AWS Cloud on an economical, pay-by-the-hour basis. You can also take advantage of fast, low-latency access to Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3), AWS Lambda, Amazon Redshift, and other AWS services to build processing workflows that handle pre- and post-processing of your data.

— Jeff;

 

Scaling Your Desktop Application Streams with Amazon AppStream 2.0

Post Syndicated from Bryan Liston original https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/compute/scaling-your-desktop-application-streams-with-amazon-appstream-2-0/

Want to stream desktop applications to a web browser, without rewriting them? Amazon AppStream 2.0 is a fully managed, secure, application streaming service. An easy way to learn what the service does is to try out the end-user experience, at no cost.

In this post, I describe how you can scale your AppStream 2.0 environment, and achieve some cost optimizations. I also add some setup and monitoring tips.

AppStream 2.0 workflow

You import your applications into AppStream 2.0 using an image builder. The image builder allows you to connect to a desktop experience from within the AWS Management Console, and then install and test your apps. Then, create an image that is a snapshot of the image builder.

After you have an image containing your applications, select an instance type and launch a fleet of streaming instances. Each instance in the fleet is used by only one user, and you match the instance type used in the fleet to match the needed application performance. Finally, attach the fleet to a stack to set up user access. The following diagram shows the role of each resource in the workflow.

Figure 1: Describing an AppStream 2.0 workflow

appstreamscaling_1.png

Setting up AppStream 2.0

To get started, set up an example AppStream 2.0 stack or use the Quick Links on the console. For this example, I named my stack ds-sample, selected a sample image, and chose the stream.standard.medium instance type. You can explore the resources that you set up in the AWS console, or use the describe-stacks and describe-fleets commands as follows:

Figure 2: Describing an AppStream 2.0 stack

appstreamscaling_1.png

Figure 3: Describing an AppStream 2.0 fleet

appstreamscaling_2.43%20AM

To set up user access to your streaming environment, you can use your existing SAML 2.0 compliant directory. Your users can then use their existing credentials to log in. Alternatively, to quickly test a streaming connection, or to start a streaming session from your own website, you can create a streaming URL. In the console, choose Stacks, Actions, Create URL, or call create-streaming-url as follows:

Figure 4: Creating a streaming URL

appstreamscaling_3.png

You can paste the streaming URL into a browser, and open any of the displayed applications.

appstreamscaling_4.30%20PM

Now that you have a sample environment set up, here are a few tips on scaling.

Scaling and cost optimization for AppStream 2.0

To provide an instant-on streaming connection, the instances in an AppStream 2.0 fleet are always running. You are charged for running instances, and each running instance can serve exactly one user at any time. To optimize your costs, match the number of running instances to the number of users who want to stream apps concurrently. This section walks through three options for doing this:

  • Fleet Auto Scaling
  • Fixed fleets based on a schedule
  • Fleet Auto Scaling with schedules

Fleet Auto Scaling

To dynamically update the number of running instances, you can use Fleet Auto Scaling. This feature allows you to scale the size of the fleet automatically between a minimum and maximum value based on demand. This is useful if you have user demand that changes constantly, and you want to scale your fleet automatically to match this demand. For examples about setting up and managing scaling policies, see Fleet Auto Scaling.

You can trigger changes to the fleet through the available Amazon CloudWatch metrics:

  • CapacityUtilization – the percentage of running instances already used.
  • AvailableCapacity – the number of instances that are unused and can receive connections from users.
  • InsufficientCapacityError – an error that is triggered when there is no available running instance to match a user’s request.

You can create and attach scaling policies using the AWS SDK or AWS Management Console. I find it convenient to set up the policies using the console. Use the following steps:

  1. In the AWS Management Console, open AppStream 2.0.
  2. Choose Fleets, select a fleet, and choose Scaling Policies.
  3. For Minimum capacity and Maximum capacity, enter values for the fleet.

Figure 5: Fleets tab for setting scaling policies

appstreamscaling_5.png

  1. Create scale out and scale in policies by choosing Add Policy in each section.

Figure 6: Adding a scale out policy

appstreamscaling_6.png

Figure 7: Adding a scale in policy

appstreamscaling_7.png

After you create the policies, they are displayed as part of your fleet details.

appstreamscaling_8.png

The scaling policies are triggered by CloudWatch alarms. These alarms are automatically created on your behalf when you create the scaling policies using the console. You can view and modify the alarms via the CloudWatch console.

Figure 8: CloudWatch alarms for triggering fleet scaling

appstreamscaling_9.png

Fixed fleets based on a schedule

An alternative option to optimize costs and respond to predictable demand is to fix the number of running instances based on the time of day or day of the week. This is useful if you have a fixed number of users signing in at different times of the day― scenarios such as a training classes, call center shifts, or school computer labs. You can easily set the number of instances that are running using the AppStream 2.0 update-fleet command. Update the Desired value for the compute capacity of your fleet. The number of Running instances changes to match the Desired value that you set, as follows:

Figure 9: Updating desired capacity for your fleet

appstreamscaling_10.png

Set up a Lambda function to update your fleet size automatically. Follow the example below to set up your own functions. If you haven’t used Lambda before, see Step 2: Create a HelloWorld Lambda Function and Explore the Console.

To create a function to change the fleet size

  1. In the Lambda console, choose Create a Lambda function.
  2. Choose the Blank Function blueprint. This gives you an empty blueprint to which you can add your code.
  3. Skip the trigger section for now. Later on, you can add a trigger based on time, or any other input.
  4. In the Configure function section:
    1. Provide a name and description.
    2. For Runtime, choose Node.js 4.3.
    3. Under Lambda function handler and role, choose Create a custom role.
    4. In the IAM wizard, enter a role name, for example Lambda-AppStream-Admin. Leave the defaults as is.
    5. After the IAM role is created, attach an AppStream 2.0 managed policy “AmazonAppStreamFullAccess” to the role. For more information, see Working with Managed Policies. This allows Lambda to call the AppStream 2.0 API on your behalf. You can edit and attach your own IAM policy, to limit access to only actions you would like to permit. To learn more, see Controlling Access to Amazon AppStream 2.0.
    6. Leave the default values for the rest of the fields, and choose Next, Create function.
  5. To change the AppStream 2.0 fleet size, choose Code and add some sample code, as follows: 
    'use strict';

/**
This AppStream2 Update-Fleet blueprint sets up a schedule for a streaming fleet
**/

const AWS = require('aws-sdk');
const appstream = new AWS.AppStream();
const fleetParams = {
  Name: 'ds-sample-fleet', /* required */
  ComputeCapacity: {
    DesiredInstances: 1 /* required */

  }
};

exports.handler = (event, context, callback) => {
    console.log('Received event:', JSON.stringify(event, null, 2));

    var resource = event.resources[0];
    var increase = resource.includes('weekday-9am-increase-capacity')

    try {
        if (increase) {
            fleetParams.ComputeCapacity.DesiredInstances = 3
        } else {
            fleetParams.ComputeCapacity.DesiredInstances = 1
        }
        appstream.updateFleet(fleetParams, (error, data) => {
            if (error) {
                console.log(error, error.stack);
                return callback(error);
            }
            console.log(data);
            return callback(null, data);
        });
    } catch (error) {
        console.log('Caught Error: ', error);
        callback(error);
    }
};

  6. Test the code. Choose Test and use the “Hello World” test template. The first time you do this, choose Save and Test. Create a test input like the following to trigger the scaling update.

    appstreamscaling_11.png

  7. You see output text showing the result of the update-fleet call. You can also use the CLI to check the effect of executing the Lambda function.

Next, to set up a time-based schedule, set a trigger for invoking the Lambda function.

To set a trigger for the Lambda function

  1. Choose Triggers, Add trigger.
  2. Choose CloudWatch Events – Schedule.
  3. Enter a rule name, such as “weekday-9am-increase-capacity”, and a description. For Schedule expression, choose cron. You can edit the value for the cron later.
  4. After the trigger is created, open the event weekday-9am-increase-capacity.
  5. In the CloudWatch console, edit the event details. To scale out the fleet at 9 am on a weekday, you can adjust the time to be: 00 17 ? * MON-FRI *. (If you’re not in Seattle (Pacific Time Zone), change this to another specific time zone).
  6. You can also add another event that triggers at the end of a weekday.

appstreamscaling_12.png

This setup now triggers scale-out and scale-in automatically, based on the time schedule that you set.

Fleet Auto Scaling with schedules

You can choose to combine both the fleet scaling and time-based schedule approaches to manage more complex scenarios. This is useful to manage the number of running instances based on business and non-business hours, and still respond to changes in demand. You could programmatically change the minimum and maximum sizes for your fleet based on time of day or day of week, and apply the default scale-out or scale-in policies. This allows you to respond to predictable minimum demand based on a schedule.

For example, at the start of a work day, you might expect a certain number of users to request streaming connections at one time. You wouldn’t want to wait for the fleet to scale out and meet this requirement. However, during the course of the day, you might expect the demand to scale in or out, and would want to match the fleet size to this demand.

To achieve this, set up the scaling polices via the console, and create a Lambda function to trigger changes to the minimum, maximum, and desired capacity for your fleet based on a schedule. Replace the code for the Lambda function that you created earlier with the following code:

'use strict';

/**
This AppStream2 Update-Fleet function sets up a schedule for a streaming fleet
**/

const AWS = require('aws-sdk');
const appstream = new AWS.AppStream();
const applicationAutoScaling = new AWS.ApplicationAutoScaling();

const fleetParams = {
  Name: 'ds-sample-fleet', /* required */
  ComputeCapacity: {
    DesiredInstances: 1 /* required */
  }
};

var scalingParams = {
  ResourceId: 'fleet/ds-sample-fleet', /* required - fleet name*/
  ScalableDimension: 'appstream:fleet:DesiredCapacity', /* required */
  ServiceNamespace: 'appstream', /* required */
  MaxCapacity: 1,
  MinCapacity: 6,
  RoleARN: 'arn:aws:iam::659382443255:role/service-role/ApplicationAutoScalingForAmazonAppStreamAccess'
};

exports.handler = (event, context, callback) => {
    
    console.log('Received this event now:', JSON.stringify(event, null, 2));
    
    var resource = event.resources[0];
    var increase = resource.includes('weekday-9am-increase-capacity')

    try {
        if (increase) {
            //usage during business hours - start at capacity of 10 and scale
            //if required. This implies at least 10 users can connect instantly. 
            //More users can connect as the scaling policy triggers addition of
            //more instances. Maximum cap is 20 instances - fleet will not scale
            //beyond 20. This is the cap for number of users.
            fleetParams.ComputeCapacity.DesiredInstances = 10
            scalingParams.MinCapacity = 10
            scalingParams.MaxCapacity = 20
        } else {
            //usage during non-business hours - start at capacity of 1 and scale
            //if required. This implies only 1 user can connect instantly. 
            //More users can connect as the scaling policy triggers addition of
            //more instances. 
            fleetParams.ComputeCapacity.DesiredInstances = 1
            scalingParams.MinCapacity = 1
            scalingParams.MaxCapacity = 10
        }
        
        //Update minimum and maximum capacity used by the scaling policies
        applicationAutoScaling.registerScalableTarget(scalingParams, (error, data) => {
             if (error) console.log(error, error.stack); 
             else console.log(data);                     
            });
            
        //Update the desired capacity for the fleet. This sets 
        //the number of running instances to desired number of instances
        appstream.updateFleet(fleetParams, (error, data) => {
            if (error) {
                console.log(error, error.stack);
                return callback(error);
            }

            console.log(data);
            return callback(null, data);
        });
            
    } catch (error) {
        console.log('Caught Error: ', error);
        callback(error);
    }
};

Note: To successfully execute this code, you need to add IAM policies to the role used by the Lambda function. The policies allow Lambda to call the Application Auto Scaling service on your behalf.

Figure 10: Inline policies for using Application Auto Scaling with Lambda

{
"Version": "2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
   {
      "Effect": "Allow", 
         "Action": [
            "iam:PassRole"
         ],
         "Resource": "*"
   }
]
}
{
"Version": "2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
   {
      "Effect": "Allow", 
         "Action": [
            "application-autoscaling:*"
         ],
         "Resource": "*"
   }
]
}

Monitoring usage

After you have set up scaling for your fleet, you can use CloudWatch metrics with AppStream 2.0, and create a dashboard for monitoring. This helps optimize your scaling policies over time based on the amount of usage that you see.

For example, if you were very conservative with your initial set up and over-provisioned resources, you might see long periods of low fleet utilization. On the other hand, if you set the fleet size too low, you would see high utilization or errors from insufficient capacity, which would block users’ connections. You can view CloudWatch metrics for up to 15 months, and drive adjustments to your fleet scaling policy.

Figure 11: Dashboard with custom Amazon CloudWatch metrics

appstreamscaling_13.53%20PM

Summary

These are just a few ideas for scaling AppStream 2.0 and optimizing your costs. Let us know if these are useful, and if you would like to see similar posts. If you have comments about the service, please post your feedback on the AWS forum for AppStream 2.0.

New Amazon AppStream 2.0 Features – Fleet Auto Scaling, Image Builder, SAML, Metrics, and Fleet Management

Post Syndicated from Jeff Barr original https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/new-amazon-appstream-2-0-features-fleet-auto-scaling-image-builder-saml-metrics-and-fleet-management/

My colleague Gene Farrell introduced you to Amazon AppStream 2.0 late last year. In his guest post, Gene explained how AppStream 2.0 lets you run desktop applications securely on any device, from within the comfort of an HTML5 web browser (read the entire post to learn more). For example, I used the AppStream 2.0 Try it Now page to launch and then immediately start using Siemens Solid Edge. I simply chose the desired application from the Try it Now page:

I was running Solid Edge a few seconds later, no installation or setup needed:

By Popular Request – New Features for Enterprises, SMBs, and ISVs
Since that re:Invent launch, we have been fine-tuning AppStream 2.0, adding in some features that our customers have been asking for. These features will allow our customers to more easily deploy, access, manage and track the applications that they make available for use through AppStream. We’ve rolled most of these out without individual blog posts, and today I’d like to let you know what we’ve been up to. Here are the newest features:

Fleet Auto Scaling – This brand-new feature allows you to use the CloudWatch metrics to scale your fleet up and down in response to changes in demand. This allows you to deliver applications as economically as possible, while still providing instant access.

Image Builder – You can build your own AppStream 2.0 images that contain your choice of applications.

SAML 2.0 Authentication – You can use your existing SAML 2.0 compliant directory with AppStream 2.0. Your users can use their existing credentials to log in.

Fleet Management – You have additional management options for the instances that run your applications.

CloudWatch Metrics – You can observe and monitor seven Amazon CloudWatch metrics, including the size and overall utilization of your fleets.

Let’s take a look at each one!

Fleet Auto Scaling
This feature is brand new, and is powered by the new CloudWatch metrics! You can now associate scaling policies with each of your fleets and use them to meet varying levels of user demand and to control costs. If you are using AppStream 2.0 to deliver productivity applications to your users, you can use the scaling policies to ensure that capacity comes online as needed during office hours, and goes away in the evening when your users are done for the day. Here is a fleet with scale out (add capacity) and scale in (remove capacity) policies:

In order to take advantage of this feature, you set the minimum and maximum capacity when you create the fleet:

This will create the default policies, which you can later edit, add, or remove (you can have up to 50 policies per fleet). To learn more, read about AppStream Fleet Auto Scaling.

Image Builder
This feature allows you to create custom images that contain your choice of commercial or proprietary applications. In order to do this, you launch an instance called an image builder. Then you log in to the instance, install and configure the applications as desired, and capture the state of the instance as an image. The entire login and customization process takes place within your web browser; you don’t have to download any keys or remember any passwords. The application appears in the Image Registry and is available to your users.

I can launch an image builder from the AppStream 2.0 Console:

Next, I choose the starting point (an existing image):

Then I configure the builder by giving it a name, choosing an instance size, and setting up the VPC:

I click on Review, confirm my settings, and then wait for the builder to launch:

Then I can connect to the image builder, set up the apps, and create an image. I have my choice of two identities when I connect, Admin and Test:

I select ImageBuildAdmin and (when prompted for a password), click on Log me in in the Admin Commands menu:

After logging in, I launch the Image Assistant app and use it to install and test my apps:

To learn more, read about Image Builders and follow the Using an AppStream 2.0 Image Builder Tutorial.

SAML 2.0 Authentication
This feature allows you to use any external identity provider that supports SAML 2.0 including Active Directory Federation Services, PingFederate Server, Okta, or Shibboleth:

After you follow the directions in Setting Up SAML, your users can log in to AppStream 2.0 using their existing identity and credentials. You can manage users and groups, control access to applications based on the identity or location of the user, and use Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA). To learn more, read Enabling Single Sign-on Access to AppStream 2.0 Using SAML 2.0. If you have already set up federated access to the AWS Management Console, much of what you already know will apply.

Fleet Management
This feature gives me additional control over my fleets (groups of instances that are running applications for users). I can see all of my fleets on a single screen:

I can select a fleet and then act on it:

Some properties of a fleet can be edited at any time. Others, including the VPC properties, can only be edited after the fleet has been stopped. To learn more, read about Stacks and Fleets.

CloudWatch Metrics
AppStream publishes eight metrics to CloudWatch for each fleet:

  • RunningCapacity – Number of instances running.
  • InUseCapacity – Number of instances in use.
  • DesiredCapacity – Number of instances that are either running or pending.
  • AvailableCapacity – Number of idle instances available for use.
  • PendingCapacity – Number of instances being provisioned.
  • CapacityUtilization – Percentage of fleet being used.
  • InsufficientCapacityError – Number of sessions rejected due to lack of capacity.

You can see these metrics from within the AppStream 2.0 Console:

These metrics will help you to measure overall usage to to fine tune the size of your fleet. As is the case with every CloudWatch metric, you can generate alerts and raise alarms when a metric is outside of the desired range. You could also use AWS Lambda functions to make changes to your environment or to generate specialized notifications. To learn more, read about Monitoring Amazon AppStream 2.0 Resources.

Available Now
All of these features are available now and you can start using them today!

— Jeff;

AWS Week in Review – March 6, 2017

Post Syndicated from Jeff Barr original https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/aws-week-in-review-march-6-2017/

This edition includes all of our announcements, content from all of our blogs, and as much community-generated AWS content as I had time for!

Monday

March 6
Tuesday

March 7
Wednesday

March 8
Thursday

March 9
Friday

March 10
Saturday

March 11
Sunday

March 12

— Jeff;

 

AWS Webinars – January 2017 (Bonus: December Recap)

Post Syndicated from Jeff Barr original https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/aws-webinars-january-2017-bonus-december-recap/

Have you had time to digest all of the announcements that we made at AWS re:Invent? Are you ready to debug with AWS X-Ray, analyze with Amazon QuickSight, or build conversational interfaces using Amazon Lex? Do you want to learn more about AWS Lambda, set up CI/CD with AWS CodeBuild, or use Polly to give your applications a voice?

January Webinars
In our continued quest to provide you with training and education resources, I am pleased to share the webinars that we have set up for January. These are free, but they do fill up and you should definitely register ahead of time. All times are PT and each webinar runs for one hour:

January 16:

January 17:

January 18::

January 19:

January 20

December Webinar Recap
The December webinar series is already complete; here’s a quick recap with links to the recordings:

December 12:

December 13:

December 14:

December 15:

— Jeff;

PS – If you want to get a jump start on your 2017 learning objectives, the re:Invent 2016 Presentations and re:Invent 2016 Videos are just a click or two away.

Amazon AppStream 2.0 – Stream Desktop Apps from AWS

Post Syndicated from Jeff Barr original https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/amazon-appstream-2-0-stream-desktop-apps-from-aws/

My colleague Gene Farrell wrote the guest post below to tell you how the original vision for Amazon AppStream evolved in the face of customer feedback.

— Jeff;

At AWS, helping our customers solve problems and serve their customers with technology is our mission. It drives our thinking, and it’s at the center of how we innovate. Our customers use services from AWS to build next-generation mobile apps, create delightful web experiences, and even run their core IT workloads, all at global scale.

While we have seen tremendous innovation and transformation in mobile, web, and core IT, relatively little has changed with desktops and desktop applications. End users don’t yet enjoy freedom in where and how they work; IT is stuck with rigid and expensive systems to manage desktops, applications, and a myriad of devices; and securing company information is harder than ever. In many ways, the cloud seems to have bypassed this aspect of IT.

Our customers want to change that. They want the same benefits of flexibility, scale, security, performance, and cost for desktops and applications as they’re seeing with mobile, web, and core IT. A little over two years ago, we introduced Amazon WorkSpaces, a fully managed, secure cloud desktop service that provides a persistent desktop running on AWS. Today, I am excited to introduce you to Amazon AppStream 2.0, a fully managed, secure application streaming service for delivering your desktop apps to web browsers.

Customers have told us that they have many traditional desktop applications that need to work on multiple platforms. Maintaining these applications is complicated and expensive, and customers are looking for a better solution. With AppStream 2.0, you can provide instant access to desktop applications using a web browser on any device, by streaming them from AWS. You don’t need to rewrite your applications for the cloud, and you only need to maintain a single version. Your applications and data remain secure on AWS, and the application stream is encrypted end to end.

Looking back at the original AppStream
Before I get into more details about AppStream 2.0, it’s worth looking at the history of the original Amazon AppStream service. We launched AppStream in 2013 as an SDK-based service that customers could use to build streaming experiences for their desktop apps, and move these apps to the cloud. We believed that the SDK approach would enable customers to integrate application streaming into their products. We thought game developers and graphics ISVs would embrace this development model, but it turns out it was more work than we anticipated, and required significant engineering investment to get started. Those who did try it, found that the feature set did not meet their needs. For example, AppStream only offered a single instance type based on the g2.2xlarge EC2 instance. This limited the service to high-end applications where performance would justify the cost. However, the economics didn’t make sense for a large number of applications.

With AppStream, we set out to solve a significant customer problem, but failed to get the solution right. This is a risk that we are willing to take at Amazon. We want to move quickly, explore areas where we can help customers, but be prepared for failure. When we fail, we learn and iterate fast. In this case, we continued to hear from customers that they needed a better solution for desktop applications, so we went back to the drawing board. The result is AppStream 2.0.

Benefits of AppStream 2.0
AppStream 2.0 addresses many of the concerns we heard from customers who tried the original AppStream service. Here are a few of the benefits:

  • Run desktop applications securely on any device in an HTML5 web browser on Windows and Linux PCs, Macs, and Chromebooks.
  • Instant-on access to desktop applications from wherever users are. There are no delays, no large files to download, and no time-consuming installations. Users get a responsive, fluid experience that is just like running natively installed apps.
  • Simple end user interface so users can run in full screen mode, open multiple applications within a browser tab, and easily switch and interact between them. You can upload files to a session, access and edit them, and download them when you’re done. You can also print, listen to audio, and adjust bandwidth to optimize for your network conditions.
  • Secure applications and data that remain on AWS – only encrypted pixels are streamed to end users. Application streams and user input flow through a secure streaming gateway on AWS over HTTPS, making them firewall friendly. Applications can run inside your own virtual private cloud (VPC), and you can use Amazon VPC security features to control access. AppStream 2.0 supports identity federation, which allows your users to access their applications using their corporate credentials.
  • Fully managed service, so you don’t need to plan, deploy, manage, or upgrade any application streaming infrastructure. AppStream 2.0 manages the AWS resources required to host and run your applications, scales automatically, and provides access to your end users on demand.
  • Consistent, scalable performance on AWS, with access to compute capabilities not typically available on local devices. You can instantly scale locally and globally, and ensure that your users always get a low-latency experience.
  • Multiple streaming instance types to run your applications. You can use instance types from the General Purpose, Compute Optimized, and Memory Optimized instance families to optimize application performance and reduce your overall costs.
  • NICE DCV for high-performance streaming provides secure, high-performance access to applications. NICE DCV delivers a fluid interactive experience, and automatically adjusts to network conditions.

Pricing & availability
With AppStream 2.0, you pay only for the streaming instances that you use, and a small monthly fee per authorized user. The charge for streaming instances depends on the instance type that you select, and the maximum number of concurrent users that will access their applications.

A user fee is charged per unique authorized user accessing applications in a region in any given month.  The user fee covers the Microsoft RDS SAL license, and may be waived if you bring your own RDS CAL licenses via Microsoft’s license mobility program. AppStream 2.0 offers a Free Tier, which provides an admin experience for getting started. The Free Tier includes 40 hours per month, for up to two months. For more information, see this page.

AppStream 2.0 is available today in US East (N. Virginia), US West (Oregon), Europe (Ireland), and AP-Northeast (Tokyo) Regions. You can try the AppStream 2.0 end user experience for free today, with no setup required, by accessing sample applications already installed on AppStream 2.0 To access the Try It Now experience, log in with your AWS account and choose an app to get started.

To learn more about AppStream 2.0, visit the AppStream page.

— Gene Farrell, Vice President, AWS Enterprise Applications & EC2 Windows