Desktop and Application Streaming

Category: Amazon AppStream 2.0

Using AppStream 2.0 as a hardened and auto-scaled bastion host

Our colleague Chaim Landau at the AWS Security Blog recently published a blog on how to use Amazon AppStream 2.0 to reduce your bastion host attack surface. Read his post to learn how AppStream 2.0 helps expose only the necessary tools system administrators need, and minimizes internet exposure for your bastion host. – Murali Rathinasamy, […]

How to automate Amazon AppStream 2.0 image deployment

In a previous blog, we looked at how to schedule managed image updates for Amazon AppStream 2.0 using AWS serverless services. In this blog, we describe how to automate the deployment of AppStream 2.0 images to existing fleets. By creating the automated deployment workflow, we can schedule the update of the fleets during off hours, […]

AWS announces Availability of Amazon AppStream 2.0 in the Europe (London) Region

Amazon AppStream 2.0 is now generally available in the AWS Europe (London) Region. AppStream 2.0 is a fully managed, non-persistent desktop and application virtualization service that runs on AWS. AppStream 2.0 helps you securely stream applications and data online across the globe without acquiring, provisioning, and operating infrastructure. You can scale your desktops and applications on […]

Integrating Dropbox for persistent user data storage in Amazon AppStream 2.0

Amazon AppStream 2.0 is a fully managed, non-persistent application and desktop streaming service. Each time you launch an AppStream 2.0 session, a freshly built, pre-provisioned instance is provided, using a prebuilt image. As soon as you close your session and the disconnect timeout period is reached, the instance is terminated. Amazon AppStream 2.0 users can […]

Active Directory Group Membership Based AppStream 2.0 Application Targeting

The default behavior of an Amazon AppStream 2.0 Stack is to present all the applications to the end user that were added to the application catalog by the administrator creating the image. Customers accustomed to targeting individual applications to end users based on Active Directory group membership can also continue to do so using the […]

Enabling Federation with SimpleSAMLphp and Amazon AppStream 2.0

SimpleSAMLphp is an open-source project written in native PHP that deals with authentication for SAML 2.0 as a Service Provider and as an Identity Provider. You can use single sign-on with Amazon AppStream 2.0 with many identity services that are compliant with Security Assertion Markup Language 2.0 (SAML 2.0). This post explains how to configure federated user […]

Scheduling managed image updates for AppStream 2.0

Amazon AppStream 2.0 has released the Managed Image updates feature. This feature applies the AppStream 2.0 component and Windows updates to your existing AppStream 2.0 images with a single operation. Our previous blog covers the feature details. Customers ask, how can we schedule this? In this blog, we describe how to schedule your AppStream 2.0 […]

Reduce image maintenance overhead with Managed Image Updates for Amazon AppStream 2.0

Amazon AppStream 2.0 recently added a new feature called Managed Image Updates, which significantly reduces the effort required for customers to keep their images up to date. Software patching is critical for the security and performance of compute resources. Frequent patching is listed as a best practice in the Security Pillar of the Well-Architected Framework. […]

Web application redirection options for the AppStream 2.0 Client

The Amazon AppStream 2.0 client is powerful tool for extending the capabilities of AppStream 2.0 beyond what an HTML5 web browser can provide. Many features, such as local printer redirection, USB redirection and file system redirection are only available via the AppStream 2.0 client. Customers using the AppStream 2.0 streaming URL connection method often ask […]

DataScientist or data analyst connects to a custom URL. URL takes them to identity provider, which challenges them with multi-factor authentication. Once authenticated, they assume a role in AWS which grants them access to AppStream 2.0. Once they connect to AppStream 2.0, they launch their streaming application. And finally, the application gives them access to tools that they use to access the data in the isolated environment.

How Amazon Uses Amazon AppStream 2.0 to Provide Data Scientists and Analysts with Access to Sensitive Data

The Challenge On February 28th 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Amazon announced that we had taken steps to protect the health of our employees and communities. This included canceling large events, moving stakeholder meetings online, and pausing tours of fulfillment centers. As of this post, Amazon has continued to invest more than $8 billion […]