Create Software Stack for Windows/Linux

By default, SOCA only provide base DCV image for Linux/Windows, meaning no applications are pre-installed. Customers can create their own bundle (called Software Stacks) using Amazon Images (AMI) and let their user choose what type of software they want to see pre-installed on their graphical sessions

Prepare the machine

Important

An image is a complete snapshot of your EC2 host. Make sure you do not have any confidential data hosted on it before creating the image

First, launch a Windows or Linux Virtual Desktop and install some applications. In this example, I have installed Creo

That's all, your Virtual Desktop is ready, can now move to the Register the Software Stack on SOCA Web Interface section.

Register the Software Stack on SOCA Web Interface

First, locate the instance_id associated to your virtual desktop. Click the View Details button in the dropdown menu:

And locate the instance_id section:

Open your EC2 console and select your instance. Click Actions -> Image -> Create Image

Choose a name and a description, make sure to have unchecked 'Reboot Instance' checkbox then click Create Image

Navigate to the AMI tab and wait until your image status is available.

My Image is taking forever to be created

To check the progress of your image, navigate to "Snapshots" section and refer to the Progress column for all EBS volumes created by your image

Info

You will not be able to use your image until the status is available.

Creating an AMI may take a couple of hours depending the size of the image

AMI is region specific

AMI has 3 syllabes and is pronounced "Ay-Em-I".

Once your AMI is ready, login to your SOCA web interface and go to Admin Section > Virtual Desktops > Software Stacks

Fill out the form (specify the AMI ID, operating system, minimum storage requirement as well as pick a friendly label).

What is root disk size?

Root disk size is the minimum storage required for your AMI to boot up. In other words, if you created your AMI with 150GB root disk, then you won't be able to launch any instance based on this AMI unless the associated EBS disk is greater or equal than the base storage. SOCA will automatically honor the minimum storage required by the image if users choose a lower value.

Once done, click Register Software Stack, you will get a success message if everything is configured correctly

By default, new Software Stack are not visible to users. Add your newly created Software Stack to a SOCA Project first (I'm using default Project in this example).

Now go back to Virtual Desktop section. You should be able to see your newly create image:

Browse Software Stacks

Standard Launch

You can now launch your session with a pre-configured image.