Workflow of App Volumes for Amazon AppStream 2.0

Using the AWS CloudFormation console, you can create a stack which deploys an Amazon EC2 instance in which App Volumes Manager is automatically installed and partially configured. This workflow also helps you to install App Volumes agent in the Amazon AppStream 2.0 service and deliver applications for Amazon AppStream 2.0 users.

You must perform the rest of the App Volumes Manager configuration using the App Volumes Manager admin UI.

The resources which can be automatically deployed as part of the AWS CloudFormation service are as follows: Amazon EC2 instance, Amazon FSx FileSystem, Amazon EC2 Security Group, and Elastic IP address. For more information about these resources, see Resources used in App Volumes Deployment on Amazon AppStream 2.0.

Note: Amazon EC2 instance and Amazon EC2 Security Group are always deployed whereas Amazon FSx FileSystem and Elastic IP address are deployed only if you have opted for the AWS CloudFormation service to provision these resources.

The rest of the components required for delivering App Volumes applications is as follows: subnet, VPC, DHCP option set, Active Directory, App Volumes agent, and SQL server database.

At the end of the deployment, to create and manage applications and packages, you can use App Volumes workflows as described in the App Volumes documentation.

App Volumes documentation is available at VMware Docs.

Note: When using any of the AWS services mentioned in this workflow, see the relevant AWS documentation.

Prerequisites

• Ensure that you already have all the setup as mentioned in Preparing for App Volumes for Amazon AppStream 2.0.
• You can use the default administrator user to log into the virtual machine (Amazon EC2 instance) where App Volumes Manager is installed with VM key pair. Ensure that you create and have access to such a VM key pair.

  VM key pair can be created using Amazon EC2.

• Ensure that you have already created a VPC (virtual private network) and a subnet in the VPC using the AWS service.

Procedure

1. Log into the AWS account.
2. Go to the App Volumes marketplace listing.
3. Click Continue to Subscribe.
4. In the Subscribe to this software page, click Accept Terms.
5. After the terms and conditions are accepted, the Continue to Configuration button is enabled.
6. Click Continue to Configuration.
7. In the Configure this software page, enter the following:
   1. Select the Fulfillment option as App Volumes deployment using CloudFormation.
   2. Select the Software version.
   3. Select the Region of your choice where you intend to deploy the App Volumes stack.
8. Click Continue to Launch.
9. In the Launch this software page, navigate to the Choose Action drop-down box and select Launch CloudFormation.
10. Click Launch.
    The CloudFormation Create Stack page is displayed with a template already selected.
11. Click Next.
12. In the Specify stack details page, provide the following information:
    1. Enter the Stack name.
    2. In the Parameters section, enter the following information for an instance:
       1. In the Computer name field, enter the name of the virtual machine in which the App Volumes Manager is installed.
       2. To create a local admin account, enter the Admin Username and Admin Password.

          This admin account can be used to log into the virtual machine and access App Volumes Manager using the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP).

       3. Confirm the Admin Password.
       4. Select the size of the virtual machine.

          m4.xlarge is the default value.

       5. To log into the virtual machine using the default administrator account, select the VM Key pair.
          Note: When logging into the Amazon EC2 instance, you can either use the local admin account or the default administrator account.
       6. If you want to create an Elastic IP address for App Volumes Manager, select Yes.

          By default, the value is No.

          Elastic IP address is a static IP address assigned to the Amazon EC2.

       7. To access App Volumes Manager (Amazon EC2 instance) using RDP or HTTPS, specify the CIDR range.
          This field can have the following values:

          • x.x.x.x/32 - Allows a specific IP address to access App Volumes Manager using RDP or HTTPS
          • 0.0.0.0/0 - Allows any IP address to access App Volumes Manager using RDP or HTTPS
    3. In the Configure Virtual Networks section, perform the following:
       1. Select a VPC (virtual private cloud).
       2. Select a private subnet.
          Note: The Active Directory, RDS (Relational Database Service), and file share must belong to the same subnet so that they can communicate with each other.
    4. In the App Volumes configuration section, select a database location.
       Note: If you use a remote database installed on an Amazon EC2 instance, then ensure that you use a public IPv4 address as the database host name.

       Options	Procedure
       Local SQL Server Express database	This database option is automatically provisioned by the AWS CloudFormation service in the virtual machine where App Volumes Manager is installed. Note: This option is not recommended for production use cases. No further action required. Ignore the rest of the fields.
       Remote SQL Server database	Enter the following information from the SQL Server database that you have already created: Remote database host name Database name Username and Password for the database.

    5. In the Fileshare configuration section, select an option and perform the corresponding procedure:

       Options	Procedure
       Deploy a new Fileshare	This is the default option. AWS CloudFormation service deploys a new file share based on the following information that you provide: Enter the storage capacity. The values are in GB. The minimum value is 32 GB and the maximum value is 65536 GB. From the previously created Active Directory, enter the following information: AWS Managed Active Directory Service ID Active Directory NetBIOS name Active Directory Service account name for Fileshare Active Directory Service account password for Fileshare Active Directory DNS address 1 Active Directory DNS address 2
       Yes, configure an existing Fileshare	Ignore the rest of the file share configuration fields. After the AWS CloudFormation service deploys App Volumes Manager, you must configure the storage using App Volumes Manager admin UI. The procedure to configure storage using App Volumes Manager admin UI is described in this workflow.

13. Click Next.
14. In the Configure stack options page, follow the UI prompts.
15. Click Next.
16. Review the information and click Submit.
    The CloudFormation stack is created. Depending on your choices, the stack resources are created.
17. Connect to the Amazon EC2 instance and configure App Volumes Manager using the App Volumes Manager admin UI.
    1. To configure Active Directory in the App Volumes Manager admin UI, see the Configuring App Volumes Manager section in the VMware App Volumes 4 Administration Guide at VMware Docs.
       Note: Ensure that you use the same Active Directory which is used by the AWS CloudFormation service when deploying the file share.
    2. To assign built-in or custom roles to Active Directory groups in App Volumes Manager, see the Assign a Role to an Active Directory Group section in the VMware App Volumes 4 Administration Guide.
       For more information about built-in roles and custom roles, see the Managing Admin Roles section in the VMware App Volumes 4 Administration Guide.
    3. If you have chosen to configure an existing file share, then you must manually add the file share to App Volumes Manager using the admin UI.

       Follow the steps as mentioned in the Configure and Register Machine Manager section in the VMware App Volumes 4 Administration Guide for the [VHD] In-Guest Services machine manager type.

       If you opted for the automatic provision of file share, you can see the file share configured in the Storage page in the App Volumes Manager admin UI.

    4. In the Upload Templates page, you can perform one of the actions:
       • If you are fine with the templates that are uploaded to the storage account then click Skip.
       • If you want to upload your own templates, then see the Upload Templates section in the VMware App Volumes 4 Administration Guide.
    5. In the Settings page, click Save.
    6. (Optional) You can either import an existing application or create an application right away or later after completing the entire workflow.
       • If you already have .vhd application packages, you can upload them to your file share. In the App Volumes Manager admin UI, on the Applications page, click Import to bring them into the Inventory tab.

         For more information about importing application packages, see the Import an Application to App Volumes section.

       • To create an application, see the Create an Application section in the VMware App Volumes 4 Administration Guide.
18. Install App Volumes agent in an Amazon EC2 instance.
    For the install procedure, see Install App Volumes Agent section in the VMware App Volumes 4 Installation Guide at VMware Docs.
19. Assign the previously created security group to App Volumes Manager and App Volumes agent.
20. For packaging, assigning, and testing the captured application, take snapshots of the App Volumes agent EC2 instance.
    The snapshots allow you to revert between application captures.
21. Install App Volumes agent in the AppStream 2.0 service.
    1. To create a Windows instance bound to the AWS Managed Microsoft AD, use the image builder in the AppStream 2.0 service.
    2. Associate the previously created security group with this Windows instance.
       The security group allows the HTTPS traffic on port 443.
    3. Connect to the Windows instance.
    4. Install App Volumes agent.
    5. In the machine where App Volumes agent is installed, configure the following parameters:
       1. To use the Connect button in the AppStream 2.0 service console and connect to the image, navigate to HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\svdriver\Parameters and add *\start-amazon-cloudwatch-agent.exe||* to the HookInjectionWhitelist parameter.

          For information about this svdriver parameter, see Configuration of svdriver in the VMware App Volumes 4 Administration Guide at VMware Docs.

       2. To ensure that applications are virtualized after the end user enters the login credentials, navigate to HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\svservice\Parameters and set the value of DelayVirtualizationType parameter to 1.

          For information about this svservice parameter, see Configuration of svservice in the VMware App Volumes 4 Administration Guide at VMware Docs.

       3. (Optional) To turn off reporting the App Volumes applications to the AppStream 2.0 application catalog, navigate to HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\svservice\Parameters and set the value of EnableReportToAppStream parameter to 0.

          The parameter is of type REG_DWORD.

          The default value of this parameter is 1 and applications are reported to the AppStream 2.0 application catalog.

    6. Install PowerShell 7 and add PowerShell 7 to the PATH environment variable.
    7. Restart the Windows instance.
22. To enable dynamic app providers, perform the following steps:
    1. Connect to the Windows instance created in the previous step.
    2. Navigate to C:\ProgramData\Amazon\AppStream\AppCatalogHelper\DynamicAppCatalog\ and open the Agents.json configuration file.
    3. Update the DisplayName to App Volumes Agent.
    4. Update the path to the location where App Volumes agent is installed in the previous step.
       The default installation location is C:\\Program Files (x86)\\CloudVolumes\\Agent.
    5. Open AppStream 2.0 Image Assistant on the desktop.
    6. Select Enable dynamic app providers.
    7. To complete the image creation, proceed through the remaining steps in the AppStream 2.0 Image Assistant.
23. In the AppStream 2.0 service, use the image created from the previous step and create a fleet.
24. Create a stack and associate the fleet with the stack.
25. Set up SAML 2.0 to allow domain users to access the AppStream 2.0 stack.
    To set up SAML 2.0, see User Authentication > SAML 2.0 Integration > Setting up SAML in the Amazon AppStream 2.0 Administration Guide.
    App Volumes is ready to deliver and manage applications.
26. To validate the application delivery and launch flow, perform the following steps:
    1. Connect to App Volumes Manager and assign applications to the domain user.
       To assign an application, see the Assign an Application to an Entity section in the VMware App Volumes 4 Administration Guide.
    2. Log into the AppStream 2.0 stack as the domain user.
       Application icons are updated in the AppStream 2.0 application catalog.
    3. To launch an application, click an icon.

What to do next

To perform other tasks in App Volumes Manager admin UI, see the VMware App Volumes 4 Administration Guide.