Adopt existing AWS instances

Studio discovers EC2 instances in the AWS Region configured for the self-hosted environment. Use AWS tags to set the name shown in Studio and the connection method available to operators.

Apply Tags

Tag keys and values are case-sensitive.

Name tag

Use the Name tag to set the instance name shown in Instance Manager.

Tag key	Value	What it means
Name	Any descriptive name	Sets the instance name shown in Instance Manager. If this tag is absent, Studio shows the instance without a name.

access tag

Choose exactly one access value

Create one access tag and set it to exactly one of the values below. Do not add multiple access tags or combine choices in one value.

For example, use access=sessionManager or access=none—not access=sessionManager,dcv.

The selected value controls the connection option Studio presents to operators. It does not install remote-access software or open security-group ports.

Tag key	Choose one value	What it means
access	sessionManager	Connects through the CLOUDflex session broker. Use this for a Windows instance configured with the CLOUDflex onboarding script. This is the default when the access tag is absent.
access	dcv	Opens a direct NICE DCV connection to the instance on port 8443. The instance must already have NICE DCV and the required network access configured.
access	http:<port>	Opens the service on the instance's private IP address over HTTP at the specified port, for example http:8080. The operator must have network access to the private address.
access	https:<port>	Opens the service through the instance's CLOUDflex connection hostname over HTTPS at the specified port, for example https:443. The service, certificate, DNS path, and network access must already be configured.
access	none	Does not show a connection control. Studio can still display, start, stop, restart, resize, and otherwise manage the instance when the environment's AWS permissions allow those actions.

Check the default before adoption

If access is missing, Studio treats the instance as sessionManager. Add access=none when an instance should not offer an operator connection.

Tags Created by Studio

Instances and EBS volumes created through Studio can have additional tags. You do not need to add these tags when adopting an existing instance:

Tag key	Applied to	What it means
deployment-id	EC2 instance	Links a Studio-created instance to the deployment record that created it.
instance-id	EBS volume	Records which EC2 instance a Studio-created data volume was created for.

The Type tag values FlowManager and Discovery are not used by the current AWS instance discovery path. Do not add them to adopted instances.

Configure Windows Remote Access

Run the CLOUDflex onboarding script on the Windows instance to configure its Studio connection. Review scripts according to your organization’s security process before running them, and test with a non-critical instance first.