Alibaba Cloud Elastic Desktop Service (EDS) is upgraded after it incorporates the technology of WUYING. EDS provides a cloud desktop service that is secure, efficient, and easy to use. You can use EDS to quickly create and manage cloud desktops and build a secure, flexible office system.

Architecture

EDS users are classified into the following types based on their jobs and requirements:
  • Administrators: O&M administrators. Administrators can manage cloud desktops, workspaces, policies, images, networks, and storage in a centralized manner.
  • End users: users that use cloud desktops. End users can use WUYING clients to connect to cloud desktops.
The following figure shows the EDS architecture. Figure - Architecture

Why Alibaba Cloud EDS?

EDS provides cloud desktops that work as office tools oriented to the digital economy. You can use cloud desktops to work anytime and anywhere. Cloud desktops can unleash mass computing power to run diverse applications. In addition, the Alibaba Cloud protection system ensures business data security on cloud desktops. To ensure user experience, EDS provides a secure and efficient office system that is easy to use.

Benefits
  • Flexible configuration and billing: EDS provides abundant cloud desktops with different specifications of vCPUs and GPUs in multiple regions. You can access cloud desktops from various types of WUYING clients. You can flexibly configure and quickly purchase cloud desktops based on your business requirements. Cloud desktops are immediately usable with a few clicks upon purchase.
  • Centralized management and efficient O&M: You can use the Alibaba Cloud Management Console to manage and maintain cloud desktops in a centralized manner.
  • Easy network access and data protection: Cloud desktops rely on powerful Alibaba Cloud infrastructure to ensure easy network access. Security gateways are used to isolate cloud desktop networks from the Internet to ensure network security. Combined with a variety of security policies and audit features, the fine-grained management of permissions and account systems are used to ensure auditable and traceable operations. This way, data security is worry-free.
  • Integrated with enterprise Active Directory (AD) systems: Cloud desktops can be connected to the verification systems of enterprises to provide enterprise-grade management. You can use cloud desktops to communicate with your colleagues across networks and regions. This helps manage multiple branches of enterprises in a centralized manner.
For more information, see Benefits and Common scenarios.

Comparison between EDS and ECS

ItemEDSECS
TermEDS is a computing-based Desktop as a Service (DaaS) that is offered by Alibaba Cloud. EDS is easy to use and highly secure, and allows you to manage your cloud desktops in an efficient manner. Elastic Compute Service (ECS) is a high-performance, stable, reliable, and scalable Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) service that is provided by Alibaba Cloud.
Sample scenario
  • Remote office
  • Multi-branch collaboration
  • Secure OA
  • Short-term usage
  • Graphic design
  • Real-time rendering for cloud games
  • Real-time rendering artificial intelligence (AI) for augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) applications
  • Enterprise websites and lightweight web applications
  • Multimedia and high-concurrency applications or websites
  • Startup websites that have low traffic and require only a low-configuration ECS instance to run web applications such as Apache and NGINX, host databases, and store files
  • Databases that have high I/O requirements, such as Online Transaction Processing (OLTP) and NoSQL databases
  • Applications or websites that may experience sharp traffic fluctuations, such as snatcher bots, coupon applications, e-commerce websites, and ticket-grabbing websites
  • Big data and real-time online and offline analysis
  • AI applications, such as applications of machine learning and deep learning
Support for hosting self-built websites on serversNo Yes
Support for Internet accessYes, you can access the Internet only from cloud desktops. Yes
Security group control
  • Security group: EDS allows you to configure a security group to control inbound and outbound access to cloud desktops. This improves the network security of cloud desktops.
  • Security group rule: A security group rule consists of attributes, such as the rule direction, priority, CIDR block, protocol type, port range, and authorization policy. For more information, see Configure a security group.
  • Rule direction: You can set the Rule Direction parameter to Inbound or Outbound to control inbound and outbound access to cloud desktops.
    Note By default, cloud desktops allow all outbound access requests. For inbound access requests, the following rules apply:
    • Cloud desktops deny all inbound access requests from the Internet.
    • By default, cloud desktops deny all inbound access requests from an enterprise private network. However, you can create inbound rules and add the rules to your security group to allow inbound access requests from specific IP addresses.
    • Inbound: controls whether to allow requests that are destined for cloud desktops.
    • Outbound: controls whether to allow requests that originate from cloud desktops.
  • Security group: A security group acts as a virtual firewall to control inbound and outbound traffic of ECS instances that are associated with the security group to improve security.
  • Security group rule: A security group rule consists of attributes, such as the access rule, priority, CIDR block, protocol type, port range, and authorization policy. For more information, see Overview.
  • Access rule: You can associate inbound and outbound rules with ECS instances to control inbound and outbound access to the ECS instances.
    Note By default, ECS instances allow all outbound access requests.
    • Inbound: controls whether to allow requests that are destined for ECS instances.
    • Outbound: controls whether to allow requests that originate from ECS instances.