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Using a smart card - Amazon DCV
Connecting a smart cardUsing a smart card on Linux serversReleasing a smart cardSmart card data caching (optional)

Using a smart card

You can use Amazon DCV to use one or more smart cards that's connected to your client computer. You can do this using the standard Personal Computer/Smart Card (PC/SC) interface, in a Amazon DCV session. For each session, only one connected client can connect a smart card at a time. This is especially important in environments where multiple clients connect to the same session.

Note

Smart card access is supported only with the Windows, Linux, and macOS clients. It's not supported with the web browser client.

Important

Only one client can connect a smart card at a time. While your smart card is connected, no other clients who are connected to the session can connect a smart card.

After you're done using the smart card in the Amazon DCV session, release it. After it's released, other clients who are connected to the session can connect a smart card. The smart card is automatically released when you disconnect from the session.

You must be authorized to use this feature. If you are not authorized, the functionality is not available in the client. For more information, see Configuring Amazon DCV Authorization in the Amazon DCV Administrator Guide.

Note

Smart card access in a Amazon DCV session operates at the PC/SC interface level. This means that applications using the PC/SC interface can interact with smart cards connected to the client computer. However, these smart cards will not be visible to server host components that interact directly with smart card devices. Most notably, the smart card devices will not appear in Windows Device Manager.

Connecting a smart card

Launch the client and connect to the Amazon DCV session. The steps depend on the client used.

Windows

  1. Choose the Settings icon.

  2. Select Removable Devices from the drop-down list.

  3. Enable the Smart Card toggle.

    Settings button located in the top-left corner of the interface.
macOS

  1. Choose the Devices toolbar button.

  2. Toggle Smartcard on.

    Devices toolbar showing the Smartcard toggle.
Tip

You can also toggle this setting from the menu bar. Choose the Connection menu, then select Devices, Smartcard.

Linux

  1. Click on the Devices menu icon from the toolbar at the top.

  2. Turn on the Smartcard toggle.

    Devices menu showing the Smartcard toggle alongside Speaker, Microphone, and Camera options.

Using a smart card on Linux servers

  • Open a terminal and launch the application using the dcvscrun command followed by the application name and arguments.

    Example

    For example, to launch firefox with smart card support, use the following command: 

    $  dcvscrun firefox
    Important

    If you enabled smart card caching, run the following command in the same terminal that you set and exported the DCV_PCSC_ENABLE_CACHE environment variable in.

Releasing a smart card

The steps depend on the client used.

Windows

  1. Choose the Settings icon.

  2. Select Removable Devices from the drop-down list.

  3. Disable the Smart Card toggle.

macOS

  1. Choose the Devices toolbar button.

  2. Toggle Smartcard off.

Tip

You can also toggle this setting from the menu bar. Choose the Connection menu, then select Devices, Smartcard.

Linux

  1. Choose the Settings icon.

  2. Select the General tab in the Preferences window.

  3. Uncheck the Redirect smartcard devices checkbox.

Smart card data caching (optional)

To have the Amazon DCV server cache smart card data, you will need to enable the smart card caching feature. By default, smart card caching is disabled. With smart card caching enabled, the server caches the results of recent calls to the client's smart card. This helps to reduce the amount of traffic that is transferred between the client and the server and improves performance.

You cannot enable smart card caching if it's disabled on the server. For more information, see Configuring Smart Card Caching in the Amazon DCV Administrator Guide

Enabling smart card caching on Windows servers

  1. Launch the client and connect to the Amazon DCV session.

  2. Open a terminal window.

  3. Run one of the following commands:

    • To enable smart card caching for the current terminal window:

      C:\> set DCV_PCSC_ENABLE_CACHE=1

    • To enable smart card caching permanently for all applications on the server:

      C:\> setx DCV_PCSC_ENABLE_CACHE 1
Enabling smart card caching on Linux servers

  1. Launch the client and connect to the Amazon DCV session.

    Note

    Make sure to run the following command in the same terminal that you intend to launch the application.

  2. Open a terminal window where you ran the applicaiton with dcvscrun.

  3. Export the DCV_PCSC_ENABLE_CACHE with the value 1.

    Example

    For example, you might run the command:

    $  DCV_PCSC_ENABLE_CACHE=1 dcvscrun APPLICATION

    or

    $  DCV_PCSC_ENABLE_CACHE=1
$  dcvscrun APPLICATION