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BILLETKnowledge Base

Add an Amazon DCV desktop

Bring a Windows or Linux machine running Amazon DCV under Billet, so people sign in through Billet and connect with the DCV client.

For
Administrators
Applies to
Billet 1.0
Updated

The portal can broker desktops that run Amazon DCV (formerly NICE DCV), on Windows or Linux. People sign in to Billet as usual, and Billet sends their DCV client through your DCV Connection Gateway to the right machine. The machine runs the Billet Stats Agent, not Billet Host.

Before you start

  • Outside AWS, DCV Server needs its own license from Amazon's license server; see Amazon's documentation for DCV licensing.
  • Your DCV Connection Gateway can reach the machine on its private address.
  • On Windows: Amazon DCV Server is installed, with its GPU driver, and a user is signed in at the console (or one signs in automatically), because on Windows DCV serves the console session. You have the installer, Billet-Stats-Agent-<version>-windows-x64-setup.exe.
  • On Linux: see Set up a Linux Amazon DCV desktop. The installer puts DCV Server on for you.

1. Give the tenant its DCV address

Each tenant has one address a DCV desktop checks a session at. DCV Server asks it whether a connecting person holds a session Billet made.

  1. In the console, open Settings for the tenant and find Amazon DCV.
  2. Choose Create the address. The console never shows it, because it holds a secret: each DCV desktop's agent in this tenant collects it at check-in. It needs BILLET_DCV_PUBLIC_URL set on the portal; see The portal's DCV listener.
  3. Optionally fill in License file: where the DCV server on the desktop finds its license, as DCV expects it (for example 5053@license.example.com).

Replace it... closes the old address at once, which is how a leaked one is closed. Every DCV desktop in the tenant then needs the new one before it can check a session again, which its agent collects at its next check-in.

2. Register the desktop

In the console, open Desktops, Register a desktop, and choose Connects with: Amazon DCV. Fill in DCV server address: the address your gateway reaches this machine at. Then make its enrollment token. See Register a desktop and create an enrollment token.

3. Install the agent

On Windows

  1. Run Billet-Stats-Agent-<version>-windows-x64-setup.exe as an administrator.
  2. For What kind of desktop is this?, choose An Amazon DCV desktop (the DCV gateway connects to it).
  3. Fill in the portal's address, the enrollment token, and the address the DCV gateway reaches this desktop at.
  4. Press Install.

Without prompts:

Billet-Stats-Agent-1.0.0-windows-x64-setup.exe /VERYSILENT /SUPPRESSMSGBOXES `
  /PORTAL=https://portal.example.com /TOKEN=<token> /KIND=dcv /DCVHOST=10.0.0.5

The agent runs as the Billet stats agent service.

On Linux

Your portal serves a one-command installer that adds DCV Server and the agent, and enrolls the machine. Follow Set up a Linux Amazon DCV desktop from its step 2.

What the agent does

On either system, the agent reports the machine's health to the portal, keeps DCV Server's settings in line with the tenant's (the session check address, and the license file if you gave one), and prepares a DCV session for the assigned account at its next check-in, so the first connect works. The desktop shows in the console's Desktops within a minute of enrolling.

4. Assign it

Assign the desktop to its owner. Account on the desktop is the Windows or Linux account DCV runs their session as.

The gateway

Your DCV Connection Gateway finds which machine a session belongs to by asking the portal, then connects to the machine on TCP and UDP 8443. The ports, the portal's DCV listener and the gateway's resolver setting are in Networking: the DCV gateway and the Billet relay.