Before you add a host
What a host is, what a Windows or Linux machine needs before Billet Host goes on it, and the two kinds of desktop the portal can broker.
- For
- Administrators
- Applies to
- Billet 1.0
- Updated
A host is a machine people connect to. Each host appears in the portal as a desktop, and you assign each desktop to the person who uses it.
Two kinds of desktop
| Billet desktop | Amazon DCV desktop | |
|---|---|---|
| People connect with | The Billet app, or a browser tab | The Amazon DCV client, through your DCV Connection Gateway |
| Runs on | Windows or Linux | Windows or Linux |
| On the machine | Billet Host, which also installs the Billet Stats Agent | Amazon DCV Server, plus the Billet Stats Agent |
| Set up with | Install Billet Host on Windows, or Billet Host on Linux | Add an Amazon DCV desktop, or on Linux Set up a Linux Amazon DCV desktop |
The rest of this section is about Billet desktops unless it says otherwise.
What a Billet desktop needs
On Windows
- Windows 10 version 1809 or later, or Windows Server 2019 or later, 64-bit.
- An administrator account to install with.
- Outbound HTTPS to your portal's address. Nothing has to reach the machine from outside for relayed sessions.
- The GPU driver, installed and working, if the machine has a GPU. With a hardware video encoder, Billet uses AV1, H.265 or H.264; without one, it encodes VP8 in software.
- Nothing else already capturing the screen for remote access, such as another remote desktop agent that takes over the console. Two capture agents on one machine compete for the screen.
Billet Host on Linux
- 64-bit x86 Linux with systemd.
- A Wayland desktop for Billet to stream: GNOME, or one of Hyprland, sway, Wayfire, river and labwc. Billet starts it without a monitor attached, and keeps it running with nobody signed in at the machine. GNOME is used when more than one is installed.
- PipeWire, for sound, and for the picture on GNOME.
- Outbound HTTPS to your portal's address, as on Windows.
- An NVIDIA GPU and its driver, for hardware video encoding. Without one, Billet encodes VP8 in software.
The Linux host has no installer guide here yet. Ask Billet for its release files and how to install them.
What you need from the portal
- The portal's public address, for example
https://portal.example.com. - A host enrollment token, made in the console. It works once and expires after a short time, so make it just before you install. See Register a desktop and create an enrollment token.
Direct or relayed
Decide whether people may connect to this host directly, or only through your relay. A direct connection needs the person's computer to reach the host on UDP port 4455. See Direct and relayed connections.
What people can do once it is installed
Billet Host runs as a Windows service from the moment the machine starts, so a person can connect before anybody has signed in to Windows, and keeps working through the Windows sign-in screen, the lock screen and permission prompts.