NICE DCV is now Amazon DCV with 2024.0 launch

As we speak, NICE DCV has a brand new identify. So lengthy NICE DCV, welcome Amazon DCV. As we speak, with the 2024.0 launch, together with enhancements and bug fixes, NICE DCV is rebranded to Amazon DCV.

The brand new identify is now additionally used to persistently confer with the DCV protocol powering AWS managed providers similar to Amazon AppStream 2.0 and Amazon WorkSpaces.

What’s Amazon DCV
Amazon DCV is a high-performance distant show protocol. It allows you to securely ship distant desktops and software streaming from any cloud or information middle to any gadget, over various community situations. Through the use of Amazon DCV with Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2), you’ll be able to run graphics-intensive functions remotely on EC2 cases. You may then stream the outcomes to extra modest consumer machines, which eliminates the necessity for costly devoted workstations.

Amazon DCV helps each Home windows and main flavors of Linux working programs on the server facet, offering you flexibility to suit your group’s wants. The client-side that receives the desktops and software streamings could possibly be the native DCV consumer for Home windows, Linux, or macOS or net browsers. The DCV distant server and consumer switch solely encrypted pixels, not information, so no confidential information is downloaded from the DCV server. While you select to make use of Amazon DCV on Amazon Internet Providers (AWS) with EC2 cases, you’ll be able to reap the benefits of the AWS 108 Availability Zones throughout the 33 geographic Areas and 31 native zones, permitting your distant streaming providers to scale globally.

Since Amazon acquired NICE 8 years in the past, we’ve witnessed a various vary of consumers adopting DCV. From general-purpose customers visualizing enterprise functions to industry-specific professionals, DCV has confirmed to be versatile. As an example, artists have employed DCV to entry highly effective cloud workstations for his or her digital content material creation and rendering duties. Within the healthcare sector, medical imaging professionals have used DCV for distant visualization and evaluation of affected person information. Geoscientists have used DCV to research reservoir simulation outcomes, whereas engineers in manufacturing have used it to visualise computational fluid dynamics experiments. The training and IT help industries have benefited from collaborative periods in DCV, during which a number of customers can share a single desktop.

Notable clients embrace Quantic Dream, an award-winning sport growth studio that has harnessed DCV to create high-resolution, low-latency streaming providers for his or her artists and builders. Tally Options, an enterprise useful resource planning (ERP) providers supplier, has employed DCV to securely stream its ERP software program to 1000’s of consumers. Volkswagen has used DCV to supply distant entry to computer-aided engineering (CAE) functions for over 1,000 automotive engineers. Amazon Kuiper, an initiative to carry broadband connectivity to underserved communities, has used DCV for designing advanced chips.

Inside AWS, DCV has been adopted by a number of providers to supply managed options to clients. For instance, AppStream 2.0 makes use of DCV to supply safe, dependable, and scalable software streaming. Moreover, since 2020, Amazon WorkSpaces Streaming Protocol (WSP), which is constructed on DCV and optimized for prime efficiency, is accessible for Amazon WorkSpaces clients. As we speak, we’re additionally phasing out the WSP identify and changing it with DCV. Going ahead, you should have DCV as a major protocol selection in Amazon WorkSpaces.

What’s new with model 2024.0
Amazon DCV 2024.0 introduces a number of fixes and enhancements for improved efficiency, safety, and ease of use. The 2024.0 launch now helps the newest Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, bringing the newest safety updates and prolonged long-term help to simplify system upkeep. The DCV consumer on Ubuntu 24.04 has inbuilt help for Wayland, providing higher graphical rendering effectivity and enhanced software isolation. Moreover, DCV 2024.0 now permits the QUIC UDP protocol by default, permitting shoppers to learn from an optimized streaming expertise. The discharge additionally introduces the potential to clean the Linux host display screen when a distant consumer is linked, stopping native entry and interplay with the distant session.

The best way to get began
The simplest approach to check DCV is to spin up a WorkSpaces occasion from the WorkSpaces console, choosing one of many DCV-powered bundles, or creating an AppStream session. For this demo nonetheless, I wish to present you set up DCV server on an EC2 occasion.

I put in DCV server on two servers operating on Amazon EC2, one operating Home windows Server 2022 and one operating Ubuntu 24.04. I additionally put in the consumer on my macOS laptop computer. The consumer and server packages can be found to obtain on our web site. For each servers, make sure that the safety group authorizes inbound connection on UDP or TCP port 8443, the default port DCV makes use of.

The Home windows set up is simple: begin the msi file, choose Subsequent at every step and voilà. It was put in in much less time than it took me to jot down this sentence.

The set up on Linux deserves a bit extra care. Amazon Machine Photos (AMI) for EC2 servers don’t embrace any desktop or graphical elements. As a prerequisite, I needed to set up the X Window System and a window supervisor, and configure X to let customers join and begin a graphical consumer interface session on the server. Happily, all these steps are effectively documented. Here’s a abstract of the instructions I used.

# set up desktop packages 
$ sudo apt set up ubuntu-desktop

# set up a desktop supervisor 
$ sudo apt set up gdm3

# reboot
$ sudo reboot

After the reboot, I put in the DCV server bundle

# Set up the server 
$ sudo apt set up ./nice-dcv-server_2024.0.17794-1_amd64.ubuntu2404.deb
$ sudo apt set up ./nice-xdcv_2024.0.625-1_amd64.ubuntu2404.deb

# (elective) set up the DCV net viewer to permit shoppers to attach from an online browser
$ sudo apt set up ./nice-dcv-web-viewer_2024.0.17794-1_amd64.ubuntu2404.deb

As a result of my server had no GPU, I additionally adopted these steps to put in X11 Dummy driver and configure X11 to make use of it.

Then, I began the service:

$ sudo systemctl allow dcvserver.service 
$ sudo systemctl begin dcvserver.service 
$ sudo systemctl standing dcvserver.service 

I created a consumer on the working system stage and assigned a password and a house listing. Then, I checked my setup on the server earlier than attempting to attach from the server.

$ sudo dcv list-sessions
There aren't any periods out there.

$ sudo dcv create-session console --type digital --owner seb

$ sudo dcv list-sessions
Session: 'console' (proprietor:seb kind:digital)

As soon as my server configuration was prepared, I began the DCV consumer on my laptop computer. I solely needed to enter the IP handle of the server and the username and password of the consumer to provoke a session.

On my laptop computer, I opened a brand new DCV consumer window and linked to the opposite EC2 server. After a number of seconds, I used to be in a position to remotely work with the Home windows and the Ubuntu machine operating within the cloud.

On this instance, I deal with putting in Amazon DCV on a single EC2 occasion. Nevertheless, when constructing your individual service infrastructure, you could wish to discover the opposite elements which might be a part of the DCV providing: Amazon DCV Session Supervisor, Amazon DCV Entry Console, and Amazon DCV Connection Gateway.

Pricing and availability
Amazon DCV is freed from costs when used on AWS. You solely pay for the utilization of AWS assets or providers, similar to EC2 cases, Amazon Workspace desktops, or Amazon App Stream 2.0. For those who plan to make use of DCV with on-premises servers, verify the listing of license resellers on our web site.

Now go construct your individual servers with DCV.

— seb