Adding an AppStream Environment

Overview

AppsAnywhere has the ability to link to any AppStream environment in order to deliver remote resources to end users. Once you link AppsAnywhere to an AppStream environment you will then be able to reference AppStream applications as delivery methods and make them available to your users. In this article, we will discover how to create a new connection to an AppStream environment.

Creating the environment

1. From the AppsAnywhere admin portal, search for AppStream, or go to Connectors > AppStream in the navigation menu

2. Click on the Add environment button in the top right of the page

Enter the details of your AppStream environment

Enter the details of your AWS Access Key

AWS Policies

The AWS access key used for the environment will require a specific set of policies in order for AppsAnywhere to retrieve the relevant information for your AppStream Stacks, Fleets and Applications and also generate the streaming URLs. These statements are provided on the Environment create and edit screens by expanding the Essential information - how to configure AWS policies section at the bottom of each page. There are also static policy references below this paragraph.

These statements may want to be refined in order to target specific resources you wish to make available - otherwise the use of the * wildcard will allow access to all resources listed.

The second policy detailing the DescribeApplicationFleetAssociations action however, must use the * wildcard due to a limitation with AppStream functionality. This cannot be changed.

The policy statements listed in AppsAnywhere contain placeholder values for your AWS account ID and region; filling out this information in the form will change these placeholder values dynamically, allowing you to copy the policies without the need to manually replace them.

If you are using Elastic Fleets, AppsAnywhere will need an additional AWS policy to be able to access app icons from AppStream. This is not mandatory, and is only used to display an icon beside the selected app when creating or editing an AppStream delivery method, but can help ensure that the correct app is selected. For this S3 policy, buckets must be specified explicitly as you may not want to give full access to all buckets. If access to more than one bucket is required, add new lines under "Resource", with a comma between each.

{
    "Version": "2012-10-17",
    "Statement": [
        {
            "Sid": "AppsAnywhereAppStreamAccess1",
            "Action": [
                "appstream:CreateStreamingURL",
                "appstream:DescribeApplications",
                "appstream:DescribeFleets",
                "appstream:DescribeImages",
                "appstream:DescribeStacks",
                "appstream:ListAssociatedFleets"
            ],
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Resource": [
                "arn:aws:appstream:{REGION}:{ACCOUNT_ID}:stack/*",
                "arn:aws:appstream:{REGION}:{ACCOUNT_ID}:fleet/*",
                "arn:aws:appstream:{REGION}:{ACCOUNT_ID}:application/*",
                "arn:aws:appstream:{REGION}:{ACCOUNT_ID}:image/*"
            ]
        },
        {
            "Sid": "AppsAnywhereAppStreamAccess2",
            "Action": [
                "appstream:DescribeApplicationFleetAssociations"
            ],
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Resource": [
                "*"
            ]
        }
    ]
}

{
	"Version": "2012-10-17",
	"Statement": [
		{
			"Sid": "AppsAnywhereS3Access",
			"Action": [
				"s3:GetObject"
			],
			"Effect": "Allow",
			"Resource": [
				"arn:aws:s3:::YOUR-BUCKET/*"
			]
		}
	]
}

Testing an environment

A separate “Test connection” button is available next to the “Save” button on the form, which can be used to help you determine whether working details have been entered or not. The details in the form will not be saved when this button is used, allowing you to make sure the entered details are correct before committing to anything.

More information about this connection test can be found on the Status dashboard page.