Imaging NICE DCV Server

After customizing an Amazon EC2 instance, you can capture those changes as an Amazon Machine Image (AMI). This feature allows you to launch multiple instances from a single AMI, all with the same configuration, when needed. When you have a requirement to securely stream with a high-performance remote display protocol, you can add NICE DCV to your operating system before taking an image of the Amazon EC2 instance. The NICE DCV configuration is included in your image, allowing you to separate business units at the image level or set specific DCV configurations on a deployed instance.

For example, if you are deploying several Amazon EC2 instances from a single AMI, you can use automatic console creation for a local user account and delegate NICE DCV permissions to the end users. Alternatively, you can also use a Broker, like NICE DCV Session Manager, to manage NICE DCV session creation at scale.

Creating a NICE DCV AMI can be performed in one of the following two ways:

Building a NICE DCV image

First, you must have NICE DCV installed on your system. If you do not, ensure your system is supported by NICE DCV then follow the Installing instructions. Once NICE DCV is installed and configured, take an AMI of the instance.

Alternatively, if you have the NICE DCV prerequisites met for Windows or Linux, you can run the Amazon-managed Image Builder NICE DCV component to install and configure NICE DCV. The component can be retrieved by performing the following:

1. Navigate to the components page within the Amazon EC2 Image Builder console.

2. Select the Filter owner drop-down menu and select Quick start (Amazon-managed).

3. Use the filter textbox to search for dcv-server-windows or dcv-server-linux.

4. Select the component’s hyperlink.

5. On the NICE DCV component page, retrieve the component contents from the Content section.

6. Use the AWS Task Orchestrator and Executor (AWSTOE) to run the component locally on the instance.

   Note

   For more information, see Get started with AWSTOE.

For parameter usage within the components, see the section below.

Adding NICE DCV to an Image Pipeline

An EC2 Image Builder recipe defines the base image to use as a starting point to create a new image, along with the set of components that you add to customize the image and verify that everything works as expected. Within this recipe, select the dcv-server-windows or dcv-server-linux component to automate the installation of NICE DCV within your pipeline. When selecting one of these components, you can fine tune the parameters to meet your requirements.

Note

For Linux, all prerequisites need to be met. This can be done on the base AMI or in preceding Image Builder components.

Parameters

Windows

• sessionOwner—Sets the default owner of the automatically created session. If not specified, automatic console creation will be disabled. For more information, see the Enabling Automatic Console Sessions in the NICE DCV Administration Guide.

• dcvPermissions—Sets the NICE DCV permissions of your session. For more information, see Working with permissions files in the DCV Administration Guide.

Linux

• SessionOwner—Sets the default owner of the automatically created session. If not specified, automatic console creation will be disabled. For more information, see the Enabling Automatic Console Sessions in the NICE DCV Administration Guide.

• Packages—Defines the NICE DCV packages that will be installed. If empty, all available NICE DCV packages are installed. For more information, see the Install the NICE DCV Server on Linux in the NICE DCV Administration Guide.

If you would like to modify the component, you may create a new component version.