Thursday, May 7, 2020

AWS Linux WorkSpaces Creation Failure

With a quick setup of WorkSpaces and AD Connector, Windows WorkSpaces could be created without too much hassle. However Linux WorkSpaces creation may fail, or has very high failure rate. Out of ten attempts, I only got one successful. Each attempt took two hours. After spent some time, I figured it out.

  1. The AD directory service account must be a member of Domain Admins group or with equivalent permissions in managing domain computers. Using a basic AD account, Windows WorksSpaces can be joined into domain, but Liunx WorkSpace can not be joined. When it fails, WorkSpaces console displays an error message about lack of permission of AD account.
  2. The subnets of WorkSpaces must be present in AD Site and Service's Subnet list. Again, Windows can join AD without correct subnet setup, Linux can not. When Linux WorkSpaces fails to join domain, WorkSpaces console just show a generic error and suggest contacting Amazon Support if it keeps failing.