# Sessions


A session is a span of time when the Amazon DCV server is able to accept connections from a client. Each session has a specified owner and set of permissions. 

Before your clients can connect to a Amazon DCV session, you must create a Amazon DCV session on the Amazon DCV server. When you create a Amazon DCV session, you change the state of the server to accept connections from a client. Amazon DCV supports both console and virtual sessions.

On the **Sessions** page, you can view sessions that you created yourself, and the detailed session information. If there are no available sessions, you must choose **Create session** to begin.

**Note**  
If you experience issues accessing the sessions created outside of the console, you may need to debug that or delete that session.

You can configure the visible fields in the top navigation bar by selecting the gear icon. To view more details in a split panel view, use the picker to select a session. Then select the caret (^) icon at the bottom-right corner of the page.

By default, sessions that have been closed are hidden with a filter. You can remove the filter to see previously closed sessions.

![\[Sessions management interface showing three available virtual desktop sessions with status and owner details.\]](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/dcv/latest/access-console/images/console-dashboard.png)


## Session details


This includes the session parameters themselves. For more information, see [DescribeSessions](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/dcv/latest/sm-dev/DescribeSessions.html). The details also include the Amazon DCV server information that the session is placed on. For more information, see [DescribeServers](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/dcv/latest/sm-dev/DescribeServers.html).

![\[Session details showing status, specifications, and connection information for a Linux instance.\]](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/dcv/latest/access-console/images/session-details.png)



| Property | Description | 
| --- | --- | 
|  Session name  |  The session name. This field can't be changed after creation (`Name` in the [DescribeSessions](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/dcv/latest/sm-dev/DescribeSessions.html) API).  | 
|  Level of access  |  The level of access for a particular session.  | 
|  Status  |  A session has four states associated with it. [\[See the AWS documentation website for more details\]](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/dcv/latest/access-console/sessions.html)  | 
|  Session owner  |  The name of the session owner (`Owner` is in the [DescribeSessions API](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/dcv/latest/sm-dev/DescribeSessions.html)).  | 
|  Session ID  |  The unique ID of the session (`Id` is in the [DescribeSessions API](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/dcv/latest/sm-dev/DescribeSessions.html)).  | 
|  Hostname  |  The hostname of the host server that the Amazon DCV server is running on (`Servers.Hostname` in the [DescribeServers API](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/dcv/latest/sm-dev/DescribeServers.html)).  | 
|  Host IP address  |  The unique IP of the Amazon DCV server (`Servers.ID` in the [DescribeServers API](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/dcv/latest/sm-dev/DescribeServers.html)).  | 
|  Operating systems  |  The name of the host server operating system that the Amazon DCV server is running on (`Host.OS.Family` in the [DescribeServers](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/dcv/latest/sm-dev/DescribeServers.html) API).  | 
|  CPU  |  Information about the host server’s CPU that the Amazon DCV server is running on (`Host.CpuInfo.ModelName` in the [DescribeServers](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/dcv/latest/sm-dev/DescribeServers.html) API).  | 
|  GPU  |  Information about the host server’s GPU that the Amazon DCV server is running on (`ModelName` in the [DescribeServers](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/dcv/latest/sm-dev/DescribeServers.html) API).  | 
|  Memory  |  Information about the host server’s memory, in gigabytes. This information is displayed as [Used GB/Total GB] (`Memory.UsedBytes/Memory/TotalBytes` in the [DescribeServers](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/dcv/latest/sm-dev/DescribeServers.html) API).  | 
|  Last time connected  |  The last time a user connected to this session (`LastDisconnectionTime` in the [DescribeSessions](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/dcv/latest/sm-dev/DescribeSessions.html) API).  | 
|  Number of people connected  |  The number of people currently connected to this session (`NumOfConnections` in the [DescribeSessions](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/dcv/latest/sm-dev/DescribeSessions.html) API).  | 
|  Created at  |  The time that the session was created at (`CreationTime` in the [DescribeSessions](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/dcv/latest/sm-dev/DescribeSessions.html) API).  | 

**Topics**
+ [

## Session details
](#session-details)
+ [

# Creating a session
](creating-session.md)
+ [

# Connecting to a session
](connecting-session.md)
+ [

# Closing a session
](closing-session.md)

# Creating a session


To use this console, you must create a session. A session is a span of time when the Amazon DCV server can accept connections from a client. By creating a new session, your default level of access is **owner**, which gives you admin permissions.

To create a new session, you must select a template already provided by the administrator. Session templates are specified parameters that you can create a session with. If there are no templates available to choose from, contact the administrator to create a template and assign it to you.

1. Select **Sessions** under the **Session management** tab.

1. Select the **Create session** button.  
![\[Sessions management interface showing available virtual desktop sessions and options.\]](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/dcv/latest/access-console/images/console-dashboard-create-button.png)

1. In **Display name**, enter a user friendly name for your session.
**Note**  
 After you create a session, you can't edit this name.

1. Select a **Session template**.

1. Select the **Create session** button.  
![\[Create session interface with display name field and session template options.\]](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/dcv/latest/access-console/images/create-seesion-1.png)

The newly created session will appear in the Sessions dashboard. It may take a few minutes to create the session. In that time, you won't be able to connect to or close the session.

![\[Sessions dashboard showing three available virtual desktop sessions with their names and owners.\]](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/dcv/latest/access-console/images/create-seesion-2.png)


# Connecting to a session


You can connect to a session after it has been created. You can connect to a session from either the DCV web client, or a native Windows or macOS client application.

1. Select the **Actions** button in the session window that you want to view.  
![\[Sessions interface showing available virtual desktop sessions with Actions, Connect, and Create session buttons.\]](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/dcv/latest/access-console/images/session-action.png)

1. Select **Connect using** from the menu.

1. Choose from one of the following options:
   + **Web browser**— Connects to your session using a web browser.
   + **Windows client**— Connects to your session using the Windows client with the Amazon DCV app. If you don't have the appropriate local Amazon DCV Viewer application downloaded, you will be directed to the [Amazon DCV download site](http://download.amazondcv.com) where you can download the latest viewer.
   + **macOS client**— Connects to your session using the macOS client with the Amazon DCV app. If you don't have the appropriate local Amazon DCV Viewer application downloaded, you will be directed to the [Amazon DCV download site](http://download.amazondcv.com) where you can download the latest viewer.

# Closing a session


After you’re completely done with your work, you can **Close** a session and release the underlying resource back to the host server.

**Note**  
Closing a session can't be undone. All locally saved work will be lost. Closing a session doesn't shut down the underlying host server.

1. Go to the **Sessions** page.

1. Select the session that you want to close.

1. Click the **Actions** button in the session window.

1. Select **Close** from the menu.  
![\[Sessions management interface showing available virtual desktop sessions and action options.\]](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/dcv/latest/access-console/images/close-session.png)

1. Select **Close** from the window that appears.