Introduction to Amazon WorkSpaces for Virtual Desktops

Amazon WorkSpaces is a fully managed, secure desktop-as-a-service solution that runs in the AWS cloud. With Amazon WorkSpaces, companies can provide their users instant access to cloud-based Windows or Linux desktops from any supported device. This eliminates the need for organizations to procure and maintain complex and expensive on-premises virtual desktop infrastructure.

WorkSpaces offers a fast and simple setup process to deploy cloud-based virtual desktops in just a few clicks. IT administrators can choose from various WorkSpace bundles that provide different combinations of CPU, memory, storage and Windows operating systems. Built-in integration with Microsoft Active Directory allows seamless access using existing user accounts and credentials. Users can access their personal virtual desktop from PCs, Macs, Chromebooks, iPads, Fire tablets, Android tablets or even web browsers. This provides flexibility to work from anywhere while maintaining access to all their apps, data and settings.

WorkSpaces handles all the undifferentiated infrastructure heavy lifting, from managing the virtual machine instances to handling OS patches, updates and security in the background. User documents and preferences are stored separately from the virtual desktop instances, providing persistent storage that follows users across new desktops. WorkSpaces uses cutting edge security features like encryption of data, VPC, and advanced identity and access controls to keep user data safe.

With its simple administrative console, WorkSpaces makes it easy to deploy, scale, and manage virtual desktops while only paying for the capacity used. This can lead to significant savings compared to traditional on-prem VDI solutions requiring upfront capital expenditure. In summary, Amazon WorkSpaces provides a fully managed DaaS offering to deliver simple, secure and cost effective virtual desktop experiences to your distributed workforce.

Overview of Amazon WorkSpaces

Amazon WorkSpaces is a fully managed desktop-as-a-service (DaaS) solution from AWS that provides users instant access to cloud-based virtual desktops from any supported device. With Amazon WorkSpaces, you can easily deploy Windows or Linux virtual desktops in minutes and securely deliver high quality desktop experiences to your end users.

One of the key benefits of Amazon WorkSpaces is that it is a fully managed service, with AWS handling all the undifferentiated heavy lifting involved in setting up and managing virtual desktop infrastructure. This includes deploying and configuring the virtual desktop instances, handling load balancing, scaling and infrastructure maintenance. AWS also keeps the WorkSpaces desktop environment up-to-date by performing regular patches and updates in the background. This helps organizations eliminate the overhead of managing VDI infrastructure themselves.

Another useful capability of WorkSpaces is flexible access. Users can access their cloud-based virtual desktop from a wide range of endpoints including Windows and macOS PCs, Chromebooks, iPads, Fire tablets, Android tablets or even web browsers. This enables employees to stay productive while working remotely. Persistent user storage is handled separately from the virtual desktop instances in WorkSpaces. Each user gets a personal storage space which stores their files, preferences and Windows user profile. If a desktop needs to be rebuilt or reconstructed, the user storage is reused with the new instance so that users have access to their data.

Security is built into the core of Amazon WorkSpaces, leveraging other AWS services. WorkSpaces data is encrypted both at rest and in transit for security. Granular access controls can be applied using AWS Identity and Access Management. The WorkSpaces service is tightly integrated with AWS Directory Service so that Active Directory users, groups and permissions can easily be utilized to manage access. WorkSpaces desktops can also be deployed within your VPC for isolation.

The pay as you go pricing model is another benefit, allowing you to pay only for the configured WorkSpaces and their monthly usage. This can lead to significant cost savings compared to traditional on-prem VDI deployments. Overall, with features like fully managed infrastructure, flexible access, persistent storage, enterprise security and pay as you go pricing, Amazon WorkSpaces provides a complete DaaS solution for delivering virtual desktops.

Creating WorkSpaces

To get started with Amazon WorkSpaces, you first need to launch WorkSpaces for your users. The key steps are:

1. Choose a WorkSpace bundle — Bundles include the Windows OS version, CPU, memory and storage. Choose based on your workload requirements.
2. Assign users — Use your Active Directory or AWS Directory Service to assign user access to the WorkSpaces.
3. Customize WorkSpace — Add applications, security groups, networking configuration etc.
4. Deploy WorkSpaces — Use the WorkSpaces console or APIs to deploy virtual desktops for your users.

Once deployed, users can download client applications on their devices, login and access their cloud desktop.

Managing WorkSpaces

Ongoing management and monitoring of your WorkSpaces deployment is critical to ensure a high quality desktop experience for end users. The Amazon WorkSpaces console provides tools to monitor the health and usage of your WorkSpaces. Key metrics like CPU utilization, memory usage, available disk space, connectivity etc can be tracked for each WorkSpace. CloudWatch alarms can be set up for proactive notifications on issues. The WorkSpaces logs give detailed insights into activities happening across your WorkSpaces fleet.

Keeping the WorkSpaces up-to-date with the latest patches, updates and software is an important maintenance task. Amazon WorkSpaces allows you to create custom Software Bundles that can include applications, software, security patches etc. These bundles can then be deployed to WorkSpaces as needed by rebuilding them. This helps standardize the WorkSpace environment and keep it updated.

Since WorkSpace demand can fluctuate, the environment needs to be scaled up and down accordingly. The Amazon WorkSpaces console makes it easy to scale up your WorkSpaces fleet by just specifying the additional capacity needed. WorkSpaces performs load balancing and provides additional compute resources automatically. Similarly, you can reduce capacity during lulls and control costs.

Periodically backing up important user data from WorkSpaces is also recommended. WorkSpace snapshots can be used to take backups of user volumes and store them in Amazon S3 for durability. These snapshots can then be restored in case primary data is corrupted or lost, acting as a recovery mechanism.

For hybrid environments, Amazon WorkSpaces supports integrating multiple directories like Active Directory or AWS Directory Service. This enables you to have a unified management experience across on-prem and cloud-based virtual desktops.

Overall, Amazon WorkSpaces provides customizable tools and capabilities to automate, monitor and simplify the management of virtual desktop infrastructure. This frees IT teams from time consuming maintenance tasks so they can focus on broader strategic initiatives.

AWS CLI Commands for Amazon WorkSpaces

Here are some common AWS CLI commands for managing Amazon WorkSpaces:

Create a WorkSpace:

List WorkSpaces:

Rebuild a WorkSpace:

Delete a WorkSpace:

Create a WorkSpace snapshot:

Describe snapshots for a WorkSpace:

Restore snapshot to new WorkSpace:

Modify WorkSpace properties:

Describe WorkSpaces connection status:

The AWS CLI provides extensive control over WorkSpaces fleet to automate and manage workloads at scale.

Conclusion

Amazon WorkSpaces provides a highly flexible and easy to use desktop-as-a-service solution to deploy cloud-based virtual desktops. With its ability to quickly setup Windows or Linux desktop environments in the cloud, WorkSpaces enables organizations to provide secure and reliable access to apps and data for their distributed workforce.

The fully managed service takes care of infrastructure management, OS updates, patching, and administrative overhead. Features like persistent user storage, flexible access from multiple devices, and integrated identity management ensure a seamless experience for employees. WorkSpaces leverages AWS security capabilities to keep user data safe and compliant.

The pay-as-you-go pricing allows businesses to scale up and down based on real usage patterns, avoiding costly overprovisioning. The administrative console and APIs make it simple to deploy, configure, monitor and manage your virtual desktop fleet. Backups and recovery mechanisms give peace of mind against data loss.

Overall, Amazon WorkSpaces removes the burden of maintaining complex VDI infrastructure while delivering simplified management and lower TCO. With its enterprise-grade capabilities and tight AWS integration, WorkSpaces has become the de facto DaaS solution for organizations looking to quickly empower remote and mobile workers with secure access to cloud desktops.