Kasm Workspaces Requirements

Kasm Workspaces can be installed in a single server or multi server setup.

Operating System

Kasm Services and end user sessions are Docker containers. Access to the Docker registry is required for installation.

Installation is supported on the following operating systems:

Supported Operating Systems

Ubuntu 20.04 / 22.04 (amd64/arm64)

Debian 10 / 11 / 12 (amd64/arm64)

CentOS 7 / 8 / 9 (amd64/arm64)

Oracle Linux 7 / 8 / 9 (amd64/arm64)

Raspberry Pi OS (Debian) 10 / 11 / 12 (arm64)

Other

Note

Not all published Workspaces Docker Images are available on all architectures. Please see Default Images for the support matrix.

Resource Requirements

Minimum Requirements

CPU

2 cores

Memory

4GB

Storage

50GB (SSD)

Tip

Kasm provides a Sizing and Deployment Guide to aid in determining hardware specifications for large scale deployments.

Although the requirements for the Kasm services are quite modest, provisioning each end-user session requires additional compute resources as specified in the Workspace configuration. The default Kasm Workspaces are configured to require 2768MB of memory and 2 cores. Sessions will not be provisioned if the minimum resources requirements on the Agent are not met. Storage requirements are related directly to using the default set of Workspaces optionally downloaded during installation. If not enough space is available in Docker’s storage directory (default /var/lib/docker) this can potentially block the entire installation and lead to undesired behavior. Please review the partition layout for the host operating system and ensure this requirement is met. When using a custom set of Workspaces this storage requirement can vary.

Swap Partition

Administrators can configure sessions to provision with any amount of cpu or memory allocations by editing the in the Kasm Workspace Settings. However, even a host with more than enough system memory can run into stability issues without enabling a swap partition. For this reason, the Kasm installation recommends a swap partition to be present.

Warning

Install Swap partition for best stability of end user sessions. For additional details on docker resource constraints see the following link: Docker Resource Constraints

Creating a Swap Partition

During installation users will be prompted to create a swap partition if none are present. Following this menu a swap partition of any size can be defined depending on the needs of the deployment.

To skip this check pass the --no-swap-check installation flag. To automate this process the --swap-size installation flag can be passed with a number in megabytes for the resulting swap partition. Example:

sudo bash kasm_release/install.sh --accept-eula --swap-size 8192

This will create an 8 gigabyte swap partition during Kasm Workspaces installation and assuming the installation is unattended bypass the License prompt.

For general information on swap partitions check out the Ubuntu Documentation

Docker and Docker Compose

During the installation, the installer will install known compatible versions of docker and docker compose if the programs do not already exist on the machine. However, if the programs already exist, the installer will not replace them.

It is recommended that you install Kasm on a single-purpose machine and let the installer install the docker and docker compose programs. Below are the minimum requirements.

Minimum Version Requirements

docker

> 18.06

docker compose

> 2.1.1

Run the following commands to check the versions of the programs if installed.

sudo docker --version
sudo docker info | grep "Docker Compose"

End User Requirements

End-users access the Kasm Workspaces via the web ui. Most modern browsers are supported.

Browsers

Chrome 72+

Edge 80+

Firefox 75+

Safari 14+

Caveats

  • Audio is not supported on mobile browsers.

  • Seamless Clipboard ( Copying and Pasting without using the control panel ) is only supported on Chrome and Chromium-based client browsers.