@Stephen Stetler, if we are using Citrix MCS Core Managed Instances, is it still a requirement to do the "Enable BYOL" checkbox in the Workspaces console? Also, is the workspace_defaultrole required? It states "before you can register a directory using the API, verify a role named workspace_DefaultRole exists." Since we're not using Quickdeploy, is that even needed?

AFAIK , yes. As to use Workspaces Core at all for the ser service in the first place. that has to be enabled on your account. BYOL a requirement either way

No, it's not a requirement for Managed Instances. The Directory is not necessary either. Only pre-requisites is the service linked role https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-daas/install-configure/connections/connection-amazon-wsc#create-a-service-linked-role

Managed Instances is still using Workspaces Core service and is abiding by those rules with BYOL. So I guess for me per any Workspaces Core deployment (ignoring Citrix or not/same with Omnissa), there is still those rules for Client OS to abide by technically (whether you do it on the Citrix side or not is not really what I worry about). Im pretty sure the Workspaces Core documentation in general will call it out for complying with that and then enabling it for your account? So yeah, i was more talking about needing the licensing requirement for doing it

@langsbr Let me start with, I understand the question because even after Citrix supported Server OS (after launching as BYOL-only), they didn't alter the logic for the Core Bundle Quick Start to require that checkbox for dedicated directory. Now, Core Managed Instances does not require a directory, full stop, so that logic is not part of the MCS configuration. Server OS was supported by MCS at launch, and to add to that, Core Managed Instances does not require a directory configuration like Core Bundles do. Lastly, even though a directory is not part of the architecture of Core Managed Instances, Citrix does require Active Directory at this time for their MCS support.

No @Oz Zy. You need to understand that, despite being named Workspaces Core, Managed Instance is actually a passthrough to interact with EC2 API. The instances you create with Managed Instances appear under EC2, not in Workspace. Thus, the technical pre-requisites are different.

I guess the part I don't understand fully from the discussion - there is a checkbox in Workspaces to "enable BYOL." It appears that this allows you to use your own ISOs in the native Workspaces, but has nothing to do with CMI, since CMI is managed EC2 instances. I know we don't need the Directory, but do need Active Directory, but the cloud connector handles that function on the Citrix side, since we're using Citrix MCS to do the machine creation and not Workspaces. Isn't the license compliance for BYOL simply that it's a 'managed instance' and not native EC2? That and dedicated tenancy on a VM would be all we need isn't it? Or is a dedicated tenancy VM even needed if we're using CMI, since they are managed instances? I'm sure a shared tenancy VM is a good bit cheaper than the dedicated ones, so I'd like to get that savings if available. Edit: this is all for single session Win11 VDi

If you're using the Desktop OS - Windows 11, then you must BYOL. That's Microsoft terms, and as far as Tenancy - I understand you want to save cost, but you're bound by MIcrosoft's terms on that.

I get that we have to 'bring our own licenses' but is it a requirement with CMI to check the box in Workspaces to "enable BYOL." It used to be a support ticket, now it's a checkbox. We're 'doing' BYOL, i.e. we have licenses and we're using a VM we put into AWS, but do we have to click that button or is that only related to Quick Deploy and native workspaces? Good to know on the tenancy - that was what I thought, but wasn't sure if being a managed instance if that avoided it.

Core Managed Instances are NOT on the WorkSpaces dataplane, so architecturally that's not how it works

NOW it makes sense why that button is there! Thank you! Good to know we can avoid it with CMI. I thought it was kinda weird that neither AWS nor Citrix had a guardrail on BYOL for making sure the provisioned VMs used dedicated tenancy.

I think now that MCS supports persistent desktops with Core Managed Instances, there's less reason than ever to pursue Core Bundles. I would always recommend customers that are comfortable to managing their deployment directly - stick with one methodology and just use MCS.