What Is Amazon DCV? - Amazon DCV
How Amazon DCV WorksFeaturesPricing

What Is Amazon DCV?

Note

Amazon DCV was previously known as NICE DCV.

Amazon DCV is a high-performance remote display protocol. It lets you securely deliver remote desktops and application streaming from any cloud or data center to any device, over varying network conditions. By using Amazon DCV with Amazon EC2, you can run graphics-intensive applications remotely on Amazon EC2 instances. You can then stream the results to more modest client machines, which eliminates the need for expensive dedicated workstations.

How Amazon DCV Works

To use Amazon DCV, install the Amazon DCV server software on a server. The Amazon DCV server software is used to create a secure session. You install and run your applications on the server. The server uses its hardware to perform the high-performance processing that the installed applications require. Your users access the application by remotely connecting to the session using a Amazon DCV client application. When the connection is established, the Amazon DCV server software compresses the visual output of the application and streams it back to the client application in an encrypted pixel stream. The client application receives the compressed pixel stream, decrypts it, and then outputs it to the local display.

Features of Amazon DCV

Amazon DCV offers the following features:

  • Shares the entire desktop — Uses the high-performance Amazon DCV protocol to share full control of the entire remote desktop.

  • Transport images only — Transports rendered images as pixels instead of geometry and scene information. This provides an additional layer of security as no proprietary customer information is sent over the network.

  • Supports H.264-based encoding — Uses H.264-based video compression and encoding to reduce bandwidth consumption.

  • Supports lossless quality video compression - Supports lossless quality video compression when the network and processor conditions allow.

  • Matches display layouts — Automatically adapts the server's screen resolution and display layout to match the size of the client window.

  • Supports multi-screen — Lets you expand the session desktop across up to four monitors. High pixel density monitors are supported with native clients for Windows and macOS.

  • Adapts compression levels — Automatically adapts the video compression levels based on the network's available bandwidth and latency.

  • Enables collaboration — Provides dynamic sessions that support multiple collaborative clients. Clients can connect and disconnect at any time during the session.

  • Supports multiple sessions per server (Linux Amazon DCV servers only) — Supports multiple virtual sessions per Linux Amazon DCV server to maximize cost savings.

  • Supports GPU sharing (Linux Amazon DCV servers only) — Lets you share one or more physical GPUs between multiple virtual sessions running on a Linux Amazon DCV server.

  • Supports touch input, stylus input, and gamepads — Lets you use you interact with a remote Amazon DCV session using input devices attached to your local computer.

  • Supports WebAuthn, Smart Card, stylus, and USB remotization — Lets you use your peripherals in a Amazon DCV session just like you would on your local computer.

  • Supports audio in and out, printing, and copy and paste — Lets you perform these key actions between the session and your local computer.

  • Supports file transfer — Lets you transfer files between the session and your local computer.

  • Provides an HTML5 client - Offers an HTML5 client that can be used with any modern web browser on Windows and Linux.

  • Supports modern Linux desktop environments — Supports modern Linux desktops, such as Gnome 3 on RHEL 8.

Amazon DCV Pricing

There is no additional charge for using the Amazon DCV server on an Amazon EC2 instance. You pay the standard rates for the instance and other Amazon EC2 features that you use.

Otherwise a license is required. For more information, see Step 2: License the Amazon DCV Server.