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Hardening DNS Resolution for Amazon WorkSpaces Personal

Desktop & Application Streaming Blog



This article discusses how to harden DNS resolution for Amazon WorkSpaces Personal, a managed Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS) solution. It explains that WorkSpaces have two network interfaces: one in the service-owned Management Network and one in the customer-owned VPC. Due to Windows' Smart Multi-Homed Name Resolution (SMHNR), DNS queries from WorkSpaces may be sent to resolvers in the Management Network, which could raise security concerns for customers.

Specifically, the article covers:

  • The architecture of WorkSpaces with two network interfaces
  • The role of SMHNR in causing DNS queries to the Management Network
  • Solution 1: Using Windows Defender Firewall to block DNS traffic to the Management Network
  • Solution 2: Deploying a Name Resolution Policy rule to route all DNS queries to the customer's network
  • Steps to configure both solutions using Group Policy Objects
  • Cleanup steps to remove the configured rules and GPOs


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