# Introduction and prerequisites ## **Introduction** Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a leading cloud platform provider offering over 200 fully featured services from data centers globally. Parallels RAS 19 provides the ability to integrate, configure, maintain, support, and access Amazon EC2 workloads on top of the existing capabilities of Parallels RAS. Support is targeted at multi-session (RDSH), single session (server-based VDI) server operating systems, and other Microsoft operating systems, if your organization holds licenses for them. For more information about using Microsoft operating systems with AWS, see [https://aws.amazon.com/windows/faq/](https://aws.amazon.com/windows/resources/licensing/%20and%20https://aws.amazon.com/windows/faq/). Parallels RAS Console allows you to do the following: * Manage Amazon EC2 instances * Create and manage templates * Create and manage instance pools * Configure autoscaling * Enable, reboot, start up and shut down instances via schedules * Configure image optimization * Use FSLogix Profile Container and MSIX app attach * Change instance types and storage types ## **Prerequisites** * An AWS account. If you do not already have an account, you can create it for free at aws.amazon.com/ec2/. * A working Microsoft Active Directory environment to join the Amazon EC2 cloned instances to your domain. * A preconfigured Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) as your virtual network and security groups that act as a virtual firewall for your EC2 instances. * A preconfigured Amazon EC2 instance, which will be used later as a Parallels RAS template, running on Windows Server 2012 up to Windows Server 2022. --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://docs.parallels.com/landing/ras-admin-guide/v19-en-us/parallels-ras-19-administrators-guide/virtual-desktop-infrastructure-vdi/add-a-provider/add-a-cloud-provider/amazon-web-services/introduction-and-prerequisites.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.