Public Preview: Nimble Studio introduces faster startup times with volume persistence

Today, Amazon Nimble Studio announces preview availability of faster workstation startup times and simplified workstation management for administrators with persistent volumes.

While customers enjoy Nimble Studio for its fast deployment, many have asked for faster login times and the ability to save changes made to the root volume. As of today, this is now possible. With this release, Nimble Studio adds the ability for artists to stop and start their instances. When using this feature, the artist can start the workstation from a previous instance, saving significant startup/login time. Stopping an instance maintains volume state for up to 96 hours between logins. In addition, administrators can now use tools such as Windows Update to patch the workstation on the fly, rebooting as necessary, without fear of losing these changes.

It is recommended this feature be enabled for all current and future customers, but requires a few changes to workstation management. Today, the only way to keep all workstations up to date is to update the base Amazon Machine Image (AMI). Moving forward, management comprises a mix of updating the base AMI as needed and leveraging other tools for managing each workstation. The benefit of this approach is that you can use many of the same tools for physical workstations that you use for Nimble Studio workstations. While updating the base AMI is still a best practice and continued requirement to install new applications, today’s release means it is no longer necessary to update the base AMI for smaller updates and patching.

There will be no additional cost to use this feature during the three-month preview period.

This preview is available immediately in the Asia Pacific (Sydney) region, and will roll out in all regions where Nimble Studio is available by November 5. To learn more, please read the documentation.