AWS Windows 10 Workspaces not functional? - amazon-web-services

Noob here with AWS workspaces. Brand new AWS account, went through full tutorial to set up a Windows workspace as per this video (twice). Both times, I can sign in but trying to connect to the Workspace is unsuccessful via the AWS client or their web client. When trying to use their web client I get "Connecting..." for about 10 minutes, and then an error (see image below). Note that I can connect just fine using RDP to the Workspace windows desktop, using Remmina (I'm on ubuntu) so I know these hosts are spun up and working just fine. But the AWS clients aren't working. I've tried all troubleshooting steps provided by AWS including verifying that the right processes are running on the host with Powershell as Administrator.
Anybody else running into this? It seems pretty weak of Amazon to release this offering that doesn't work "out of the box" with pretty much default choices for everything including their own Windows image.

Related

Automate an RDP connection right after Windows instance turns on in GCP

I am performing some UI Automation on GCP using a Windows Server.
The process is as follows:
=> Machine Switches on at a defined time
=> RDP Connection to Machine
=> UI Interaction Script Runs on Startup
=> Process Ends
=> Machine Switches off at a defined time
All the components have been fulfilled except for automating the RDP connection in some way or other. I referred to this link but didn't find much insights or documentations.
Does anyone know a way to Automate an RDP connection right after instance turns on in GCP?
There is a windows application called IAP Desktop, using that you can manage multiple remote Desktop connection to Windows VM. While connecting to the VM you can save the credentials which will allow you to access the Windows VM using RDP just after boot on.
Also to automate the Windows password generation here is the documentation related to 1, inside of that document there are both options available automate or manually.
How are you deploying your startup script?
During the boot sequence, a script will either run before, after or during the boot process. By declaring Windows-specific metadata keys, you can run startup scripts after the instance turns on.
If that doesn't work, there is a paid Cloud Automation service that sounds like it will meet your requirements.
Tried using startup-scripts but no luck IAP Desktop didn't work due to scheduling as well. Finally Managed to solve it via using Windows 10 Auto login settings. This skips login screen and the best part was that out of all the users, it allows you to login via user of your choice. After I Login to the system, I added a startup a bat file by running shell:startup and it worked great.

Port mapping in Windows Server 2016 - Docker

I have been trying to setup Docker in Windows Server 2016 in an AWS instance to run an IIS program.
From this question,
Cannot access an IIS container from browser - Docker, IIS has been setup inside a container and it is accessible from the host without port mapping.
However, if I want to allow other users from the Internet/Intranet to access the website, after Google-ing it, I guess we do need port mapping...
The error I have encountered in port mapping is given in the above question so... I guess using nat is not the correct option. Therefore, my team and I tried to create another network (custom/bridge) following instructions from
https://docs.docker.com/v17.09/engine/userguide/networking/#user-defined-networks
However, we cannot create a network as follows:
; Googled answer:
https://github.com/docker/for-win/issues/1960
My team guessed maybe its because AWS blocked that option, if anyone can confirm me, please do.
Another thing that I notice is: when we create an ECS instance in AWS,
So... only default = NAT network mode is accepted in Windows server?
Our objective: put the container hosted IIS application to Internet/Intranet in Windows Server 2016...
If anyone has any suggestion/advice, please tell me, many thanks.

Google Cloud RDP not Working (User name & Password didn't work)

I just created a VM instance on Google Cloud for the very first time,
4 vCPUs
15GB Ram
Windows Server 2016 Datacenter
SSD 50gb
Access scopes - Allow default access
Firewall - Allowed bot http/https
Created
After that when am trying to connect thru RDP
(downloaded the rdp file and put the created password)
its saying
"The user name and password that were used to connect to the remote PC didn't work. Try a different account."
[am using Microsoft Remote Desktop on Mac]
I already tried creating new account & password... still no good..
Please help what could be the issues or solution.
Am using Google Cloud for the first time..
Thanks in advance
After you create a Windows Instance, you will first need to generate a password. Once you generate the password, paste it to a text editor. From here, you will need to install the RDP client for Mac. From here, you can follow these instructions which will explain how to connect to the Windows Instance using the RDP client you just installed.

Can Not Connect Debian 8 VNC Server Google Cloud Compute

I've used the following guide in order to connect to a Debian 8 Server with GUI using a DigitalOcean server:
https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-set-up-vnc-server-on-debian-8
I know this works, however under Azure and now Google's Cloud Compute I am unable to connect. I think there should be some setting on Google's side that is blocking outside connections through VNC to the Debian 8 instance.
I only have the free support level, and I don't want to upgrade just to resolve this issue alone. Here is a screenshot from my console that perhaps has some relevant information:
Console Screenshot
I'd appreciate any input anybody could give me. I've tried trouble shooting this before under Azure, but after getting it to work on DigitalOcean, I know the problem isn't from my end.
The resolution was simple. I just had to allow the port tcp:5901 through Google's firewall in order to connect to my VNC server.

Installing AD and MSExchange 2016 in AWS EC2

I am trying to install an MSExchange 2016 in an EC2 instance from scratch without success. By from scratch, I mean I start from a new EC2 instance without any AD yet installed.
I am not very familial with Windows Server. I got a lot of problem during the installation. By digging the web, I fixed a lot of them, but I think there is something I miss to succeed in my installation. Any help would be greatly appreciated
Here is the procedure I followed:
I created an EC2 Windows Server 2012RC2 instance
I created a simple Active Directory in AWS.
I provided the AD DNS to my Windows Server (via Network and Sharing Center, properties of Internet Protocol v4)
I joined the server into that AD (Via Control Panel > System and Security > System, change computer workgroup to the domain defined in my AWS Simple AD)
Restart computer
Log into the server as Administrator, with the AD domain
Download Exchange from here
Set-up the active directory, as in this procedure: https://judeperera.wordpress.com/2015/07/24/step-by-step-guide-for-installing-exchange-server-2016-preview/
The Step 4.1. of that procedure indicates to execute the following code
Setup.exe /PrepareSchema /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms
When I execute it, I get the following error:
I do not understand what I need to do/fix to continue the installation.
Thanks in advance for your help!
The issue you are encountering is that Simple Directory is not an Active Directory product, it is powered by Samba v4. What you need is to setup a Microsoft Active Directory (Enterprise Edition) or Microsoft AD, which is powered by Windows Server 2012 R2. The Simple AD is powered by Samba v4 and is simply Active Directory compatible but does not support the added schema features which are needed by Exchange Server 2016.
The other option is to back away from hosting your own instance of Exchange server and instead take a look at AWS WorkMail. It is an exchange like service which supports active sync with Outlook 2007+ and all current mobile smart devices such as Android and iOS. I currently use this and it took a lot of the headache out of managing my own mail server as the complexities are offloaded to the AWS environment and all you need to do it add mail accounts and group addresses.
Either option should solve your issue.