AWS HPC Blog

Migration options for NICE EnginFrame Views customers

In September, AWS announced the discontinuation of NICE EnginFrame, which included EnginFrame Views. In this post, I cover some of the migration options for EnginFrame Views customers.

EnginFrame provided a centralized approach for High Performance Computing (HPC) environments. Along with integrating with popular job schedulers, EnginFrame Views provided a consolidated portal for users to seamlessly connect to visualization nodes within their environment. To securely visualize nodes, EnginFrame Views used Amazon DCV.

DCV is high-performance display protocol that provides secure access over varying network conditions. There are several options that deliver the value of EnginFrame Views by utilizing DCV. These options provide a comprehensive interface for users to connect to their machines and configurations to minimize the administrative overhead of managing the workload.

NI SP EF Portal

For customers looking to continue using their EnginFrame environment, they can migrate to NI SP EF Portal. NI SP worked with AWS to develop the NI SP branded solution to replace EnginFrame and EnginFrame Views, with enhanced usability and new features. NI SP offers support for EF Portal and professional services to make migration a straightforward experience. NI SP also offers EF Views Portal as a drop-in replacement for EnginFrame Views. To learn more, you may request a trial on the NI SP contact page.

Figure 1 - NI SP worked with AWS to develop the NI SP branded solution to replace EnginFrame and EnginFrame Views, with enhanced usability and new features. It's as close to a drop-in replacement for EnginFrame as you can get.

Figure 1 – NI SP worked with AWS to develop the NI SP branded solution to replace EnginFrame and EnginFrame Views, with enhanced usability and new features. It’s as close to a drop-in replacement for EnginFrame as you can get.

Amazon DCV Access Console

The DCV Access Console is a web application that helps administrators and end users manage their DCV sessions. While the DCV Access Console does not directly integrate with HPC infrastructure, it does provide a flexible and lightweight replacement for EnginFrame Views. The web portal depends on DCV components, including DCV Session Manager, DCV server, and, optionally, DCV Connection Gateway. All of these components are free to use on AWS. To get started, follow the Setting Up instructions in the DCV Access Console Administrator Guide. Alternatively, to quickly get started, you can launch the Cloud Development Kits hosted in dcv-samples.

DCV Access Console is a supported AWS product you can integrate to build your own solution.

Figure 2 – DCV Access Console is a supported AWS product you can integrate to build your own solution.

Research and Engineering Studio

Research and Engineering Studio (RES) is an AWS supported, open-source product that provides a single pane of glass for users to launch and connect to secure virtual desktops. This product provides a feature rich solution for HPC customers that want a one-click environment. RES is available at no additional charge, and you pay only for the AWS resources needed to run your applications. Similar to DCV Access Console, RES delivers visualization through the use of the same DCV components. To get started, see the Deploy the product section of the RES User Guide.

Figure 3 - Research and Engineering Studio (RES) is an AWS supported, open-source product that provides a single pane of glass for users to launch and connect to secure virtual desktops.

Figure 3 – Research and Engineering Studio (RES) is an AWS supported, open-source product that provides a single pane of glass for users to launch and connect to secure virtual desktops.

Leostream

Leostream provides a Remote Desktop Access Platform to manage Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI). The Leostream platform consolidates the IT management of VDI, as well as prioritizes the security posture of your deployment. Through its interface, end users visualize their resources with DCV. Whether you need to visualize a HPC node or a general desktop, Leostream offers many differentiated features to improve both the administrator and end user experience. Leostream offers a trial for their platform and quick starts to guide your deployment.

Leostream provides a Remote Desktop Access Platform to manage Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)

Figure 4 – Leostream provides a Remote Desktop Access Platform to manage Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)

Conclusion

EnginFrame customers have several migration options to evaluate. All of the covered options utilize DCV to deliver a high performance, local like experience to end users. Additionally, customers looking to consolidate their general VDI and visual HPC workloads can do so with any of the mentioned options. With these options and the release of the AWS Parallel Computing Service (AWS PCS), customers can streamline their HPC operations.