NICE DCV integration

How to use a native NICE DCV client

NICE DCV is integrated within ParallelCluster to work only with a Web Browser client. To use a native client there are some alternatives listed below.

1. Connect to the session created by ParallelCluster

• 1.Execute the pcluster dcv connect clustername command with the --show-url flag and copy the authToken value and the session-id from the output:

  $ pcluster dcv connect clustername --key-path key.pem --show-url
  https://head-node-public-ip:8443?authToken=TOKEN-ID#session-id
  

• 2a. (Windows client only) Open a Command Prompt and execute the following command, within 30 seconds:

  dcvviewer https://head-node-public-ip:8443#session-id --auth-token=TOKEN-ID
  

• 2b. (Mac and Linux client) Create a connection.dcv file with the following content:

  [version]
  format=1.0
  
  [connect]
  host=head-node-public-ip
  port=8443
  sessionid=session-id
  authtoken=TOKEN-ID
  

  Open a shell and execute the following command, within 30 seconds:

  dcvviewer connection.dcv
  

2. Skip ParallelCluster integration

It is possible to skip ParallelCluster integration and use NICE DCV with a custom authentication. To change the NICE DCV server's authentication method, you must configure the authentication parameter in the dcv.conf file and comment the auth-token-verifier one.

1. Connect to the head node instance with the pcluster ssh clustername command.
2. Navigate to /etc/dcv/ and open the dcv.conf with your preferred text editor.
3. Locate the authentication parameter in the [security] section, replace the existing value with either system or none, according to the official documentation and comment the auth-token-verifier one:

   [security] 
   authentication=method
   ...
   #auth-token-verifier="https://localhost:8444"
   

4. Save and close the file.
5. Restart the dcvserver service. NOTE: all the running sessions will be automatically closed.

From this moment it's possible to use NICE DCV without the involvement of ParallelCluster.

1. Connect to the head node instance with the pcluster ssh clustername command.
2. Start a new session: dcv create-session new-session-id
3. Open the native client and specify head-node-public-ip:8443 in the connection dialog.