amazon-web-servicesamazon-ec2aws-ssm

Does AWS session manager allows connection to Ubuntu GUI?


I have EC2 instance with Ubuntu 22.04 AMI installed in it. How do I access via it's GUI.

Note: AWS marketplace is blocked inside my organization. Also we have only SSM to access instances.

I have found below tutorial on how install GUI for Ubuntu instance. https://ubuntu.com/tutorials/ubuntu-desktop-aws#2-setting-up-tightvnc-on-aws

Does SSM allow to access after performing above configurations?


Solution

  • Since you have AWS System Manager Session Manager available, you could take advantage of Port Forwarding Using AWS System Manager Session Manager | AWS News Blog.

    TightVNC typically runs on port 5900, so you could forward port 5900 when connecting to the Ubuntu instance using Session Manager.

    Just make sure the AWS System Manager agent is installed on the instance and the instance has the AmazonSSMManagedInstanceCore IAM role assigned so it is able to connect back to the AWS SSM service.