Install Boundary Desktop

HCP Boundary end-users can use the Boundary Desktop app to connect to a running HCP Boundary instance to easily:

• Browse available targets
• Connect to targets
• Manage active sessions

Security administrators use the Boundary CLI and API to automate infrastructure access management, but the Desktop app makes Boundary accessible to low-code and no-code users. Users that establish sessions with targets frequently will also find the browse, connect, and manage functionality convenient for day-to-day operations.

In this tutorial, you will install the Boundary Desktop app and connect to a running target.

Prerequisites

• Access to an HCP Boundary instance.
• Completed the previous quick start tutorials.
• A publicly accessible Ubuntu instance used in the Connect to Your First Target tutorial.
• A ssh key-pair for authenticating with the Ubuntu instance.

Install Boundary Desktop

Boundary Desktop can be installed on MacOS, Windows, or Linux systems. Select the tab for your preferred OS.

$ brew tap hashicorp/tap

$ brew install hashicorp-boundary-desktop

Authenticate with Boundary Desktop

Next you will launch the Boundary Desktop app and connect it to the running controller.

1. Open the Boundary Desktop app installed earlier.

2. Enter the Boundary server Cluster URL and click Submit.

   You can retrieve this from the HCP Portal or run echo $BOUNDARY_ADDR from your terminal session.

3. Click Choose a different scope and select the Global scope.

4. Enter the administrator account in the Login Name field you selected when creating the HCP Boundary instance.

5. Enter the password you selected for the administrator account in the Password field.

6. Click Sign In.

   You are presented with the Targets view, which contains the targets created in the Connect to Your First Target tutorial.

Connect to a target

Next you will connect to the default target using the Desktop app.

1. Establish a connection

   Click on Connect next to the default target.

   You will be presented with a screen that displays the target's connection info. You can copy the connection details to your clipboard by clicking the buttons to the right of the Address & port or SSH fields.

   

1. Copy the target's connection details

   In this example, we are using SSH to connect. On the Details tab, select SSH and then click the copy button.

   

2. View the pending connection

   Navigate to the Sessions view using the sidebar on the left. Notice that the status for the Generated target has been updated to Pending.

   

3. Start an SSH session

   Select the ID of the target, and then select the >_ Shell tab. Paste the information you copied into the shell and run it. Enter your local administrator password when prompted to connect to the localhost target.

   

4. Once connected, return to the Boundary Desktop and the Sessions view should show the Generated target's status has been updated to Active.

   

5. Terminate the connection

   You can close the active session directly from the Boundary Desktop app.

   Under the Sessions view, click Cancel to the right of the status for the Generated target. The status will update to Canceling and a confirmation dialog should appear to verify the successful session termination.

   

Next steps

You have completed the quick start series for HCP Boundary. Next, take a deeper dive into the various resources you created during this series such as scopes, targets, and host groups in the HCP Administration series.