AWS Installation

This portion of the guide will show you how to create a virtual machine in the AWS EC2 Cloud.

From the AWS Management Console select EC2 under the Compute services section.

Click the orange Launch instance button then click Launch instance.

Scroll through the server OS options and select the Microsoft Windows Server 2019 Base image.

Note: VCOM can be run on all modern Windows Operating Systems. You may use a different version than what is show above.

You will now select the hardware specifications for your EC2 instance. System hardware requirements are dependent on the number of concurrent users that will be accessing the system. Please refer to the VCOM Virtual Matrix Intercom System Requirements document for more information. For the purpose of this guide of this guide I have selected the t2.medium specifications featuring 2 processor cores and 4 Gb of RAM.

After reviewing your EC2 server options click the Launch button on the bottom right to create and start the server.

AWS Security Group (firewall) Configuration

VCOM Virtual Matrix uses a variety of ports which will need to be open for the software to function properly. This portion of the guide will show you how to create to configure an AWS Security Group for VCOM Virtual Matrix.

From the left-hand site of the AWS EC2 Management Console click the Security Groups option under the Network & Security section.

On the top right click Create security group.

Enter a Security group name and Description (other options can be left default). Scroll down and under the Inbound rules section click Add rule. A list of ports used by VCOM Virtual Matrix is available in the Network Requirements section of our documentation. Add a rule for every required port.

Note: If you do not add an inbound rule for port 3389 TCP & UDP you will not be able to connect to the server via RDP.

Navigate back to the Instances page and select your new server instance. From the Actions menu at the top go to the Networking section and select Change Security Groups.

Deselect the default Security Group assigned to the instance and select the Security Group you just created. Finally, click Assign Security Groups to complete the process.

Static IP Address Configuration (recommended)

From the left side menu select Elastic IPs

Click Allocate Elastic IP address on the top right. Leave all options as default and click Allocate.

Ensure that the IP address you were just given is selected on the list and then from the Actions menu select Associate Elastic IP address.

Select your EC2 instance from the list and then click Associate. All other options can be left default.

Connecting to the EC2 Instance

Select your server from the list and click the Connect button at the top.

The options you select from this menu will vary depending on if you have an existing key pair you want to use or wish to continue without a key pair. For the purposes of this guide I have chosen to create a new key pair. If you create a new key pair, you will need to enter a name and then download the key pair. After completing these steps click Launch Instances

Click the button to Download Remote Desktop File and then Click the Get Password button. Save the Remote Desktop File and remember its location as you will need it in the next section of this guide.

Click the Choose File button and then navigate to your saved key pair file to upload it. Then, click the Decrypt Password button and copy your password. It is recommended to save the password somewhere so you can connect to the server in the next section.

Configuring the EC2 Instance

Disabling Internet Explorer Enhanced Security
By default, IE does not downloading files from the internet. This portion of the guide will show you how to disable IE Enhanced Security. This step is necessary only if you are using Windows Server and plan to download VCOM Virtual Matrix from the internet. You can skip this portion of the guide if you plan to transfer the VCOM Virtual Matrix installer to the server using RDP.

To connect to your server double click the Remote Desktop File and paste in your password when prompted. If you select the Remember me option, then you will not need to renter the credentials in the future. By default, Windows Server will have IE Enhanced Security enabled. With this setting turned on you will not be able to download the VCOM Virtual Matrix software via the internet. To disable it, launch the Server Manager application and then select Local Server from the left. On the right, click the On button next to the line that says IE Enhanced Security Configuration.

Disable the IE Enhanced Security Configuration as show above then click Ok. You will now be able to download the VCOM Virtual Matrix Software from our website.

Windows Firewall Configuration
You will need to either disable the Windows firewall entirely or configure Inbound Rules for all of the ports required by VCOM Virtual Matrix. To create an Inbound Rule launch the Control Panel > Firewall > Advanced Settings. Click Inbound Rules and then click New Rule. A list of ports used by VCOM Virtual Matrix is available in the Network Requirements section of our documentation. Add a rule for every required port.

Software Installation and Licensing
Please follow the VCOM Virtual Matrix Software Installation and Licensing documentation to complete the setup.