I'm considering implementing AWS Workspaces for our agency of about 100 people. Currently, we use a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) approach, but we're aiming for SOC2 compliance, which I doubt we can achieve with BYOD alone.
I've come across some older discussions regarding Workspaces that show mixed opinions. Personally, my limited experience has brought me frustrations like recurring errors saying 'We could not sign you in; if you continue, your data may not be saved.' It seems to be a profile mapping issue, as signing in and out or rebuilding the workspace hasn't helped. I often end up having to nuke my workspace entirely. Is this user error on my part? I've encountered this issue within a day of launching a new Workspace created from a custom image with basic software.
Our team is quite diverse and has a demanding workload, which includes:
- Google Workspace usage by 40-60 account managers,
- Over half of their time on Google Meet calls (with occasional Zoom or Teams),
- Slack for communication,
- Heavy use of Chrome with many tabs (around 10-15 each), and working with Tableau dashboards and Google Sheets, managing large client accounts through web portals.
There are also some analysts doing light Excel and SQL work, along with a smaller group of about 10 engineers who need to run WSL and VSCode.
I'm especially worried whether the Performance machines (with 2 vCPUs) will meet our needs, considering what we do daily, along with potential network delays. The 4 vCPUs option seems pricey for what we are getting. Will Workspaces handle a diverse workload like this effectively, especially since these are skilled workers needing persistent environments? Additionally, we no longer have an AWS Solutions Architect involved, and our Account Manager is directing us to an AWS Services Partner for support despite our $15K monthly spending.
I'd love to hear from others who have had experiences with Workspaces in similar situations or if there are any cost-effective alternatives.
3 Answers
Workspaces doesn’t support nested virtualization, which could be tricky for your engineers needing WSL. As for finding the right bundles, testing with your full setup installed is crucial. The documentation provides guidance on which bundle suits different user profiles, but be wary; performance bundles might not be sufficient for tasks that involve video conferencing.
Be aware that Workspaces can be pricier compared to managing devices with something like Intune or other mobile device management solutions. VDI costs can add up quickly, so be sure to think about your overall budget before jumping in.
We've been quite satisfied with Workspaces since 2019! The Performance options work well for most people handling regular office tasks, and we switch to the Power ones for users who need more processing power. Stability hasn't been an issue for us, plus we utilize Managed AD for authentication. One downside is that you can't assign IAM roles like in EC2, which makes access to other AWS services a bit clunky.
Also, keep in mind that we have been more successful with the PCoIP option over WSP; it's been a while since we looked at WSP, and they may have changed their features.
Just a note, you can consider AWS SSO with SAML for CLI access to tackle that IAM role problem.