This Guidance helps customers build an Amazon AppStream 2.0 environment to deploy and stream Autodesk AutoCAD. Amazon AppStream 2.0 is a fully managed AWS end user computing (EUC) service that provides secure access to applications and virtual desktops to users. AutoCAD is a leading 2D and 3D computer aided design (CAD) drafting software created by Autodesk. By leveraging this Guidance, customers can accelerate the deployment of a high-performance and on-demand virtual desktop while spending less on expensive high-performance workstations and standardizing software and collaboration efforts.

Please note: [Disclaimer]

Architecture Diagram

Download the architecture diagram PDF 

Well-Architected Pillars

The AWS Well-Architected Framework helps you understand the pros and cons of the decisions you make when building systems in the cloud. The six pillars of the Framework allow you to learn architectural best practices for designing and operating reliable, secure, efficient, cost-effective, and sustainable systems. Using the AWS Well-Architected Tool, available at no charge in the AWS Management Console, you can review your workloads against these best practices by answering a set of questions for each pillar.

The architecture diagram above is an example of a Solution created with Well-Architected best practices in mind. To be fully Well-Architected, you should follow as many Well-Architected best practices as possible.

  • Amazon CloudWatch captures metrics for the managed services in this architecture. You can monitor these metrics for errors. 

    Read the Operational Excellence whitepaper 

  • This Guidance provides a way to secure Amazon EC2 resources using public and private subnets and security groups to restrict traffic to the Bastion host. AppStream 2.0 provides built-in authentication capabilities. Review Amazon AppStream 2.0 Integration with SAML 2.0 and Using Active Directory with AppStream 2.0 for information on setting up authentication with AppStream 2.0.

    Read the Security whitepaper 

  • AppStream 2.0 offers two available fleet types. Always-On or On-Demand fleets automatically match the supply of available instances to user demand. Because one user requires one fleet instance, the size of your fleet determines the number of users who can stream concurrently. You can define scaling policies that adjust the size of your fleet automatically based on a variety of utilization metrics, and you can optimize the number of available instances to match user demand. This will need to be done in conjunction with the AutoCAD network license manager (NLM) license maximum allowed.

    Read the Reliability whitepaper 

  • AppStream 2.0 is built to support desktop software application workloads. Based on the application, AutoCAD user persona, and rendered file sizes, you can experiment with larger or smaller instance sizes to match the best performance and price for your workloads.

    Read the Performance Efficiency whitepaper 

  • This Guidance uses AWS managed services that scale to match demand. Most of the services are also serverless, which reduces infrastructure management and idle resources so you don’t end up paying for resource you don’t use. The AutoCAD NLM does not provide a way to scale out on Amazon EC2 and will need to be manually handled using the Guidance’s recommendation of setting up an NLM and configuring the host file.

    Read the Cost Optimization whitepaper 

  • AppStream 2.0 is designed for on-demand usage of the application and is graphics hardware-dependent. Because the service can be provisioned on demand, resources are consumed only when needed, minimizing hardware usage. The Guidance uses only the minimal Amazon EC2 resources required for operations and to support AppStream 2.0 application license usage.  

    Read the Sustainability whitepaper 

Implementation Resources

A detailed guide is provided to experiment and use within your AWS account. Each stage of building the Guidance, including deployment, usage, and cleanup, is examined to prepare it for deployment.

The sample code is a starting point. It is industry validated, prescriptive but not definitive, and a peek under the hood to help you begin.

Open implementation guide
Open sample code on GitHub

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Disclaimer

The sample code; software libraries; command line tools; proofs of concept; templates; or other related technology (including any of the foregoing that are provided by our personnel) is provided to you as AWS Content under the AWS Customer Agreement, or the relevant written agreement between you and AWS (whichever applies). You should not use this AWS Content in your production accounts, or on production or other critical data. You are responsible for testing, securing, and optimizing the AWS Content, such as sample code, as appropriate for production grade use based on your specific quality control practices and standards. Deploying AWS Content may incur AWS charges for creating or using AWS chargeable resources, such as running Amazon EC2 instances or using Amazon S3 storage.

References to third-party services or organizations in this Guidance do not imply an endorsement, sponsorship, or affiliation between Amazon or AWS and the third party. Guidance from AWS is a technical starting point, and you can customize your integration with third-party services when you deploy the architecture.

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