You can run full graphical remote desktop inside container using NX technology. This is handy for when you work from home and you wish to run a web browser on your work's internal network to access local resources. You can use NX client to connect to remote NX server.
Contents
Fedora
- Use fedora template to create new container and install desktop of your choice:
GNOME:
yum groupinstall "GNOME Desktop Environment"
KDE:
yum groupinstall "KDE (K Desktop Environment)"
XFce:
yum groupinstall "XFCE"
- You may need to install additional package audiofile:
yum install audiofile
- Download installation RPM packages for server from site www.nomachine.com. Choose right architecture i386 or x86_64.
Example:
wget http://64.34.161.181/download/3.4.0/Linux/nxclient-3.4.0-5.i386.rpm wget http://64.34.161.181/download/3.4.0/Linux/nxnode-3.4.0-6.i386.rpm wget http://64.34.161.181/download/3.4.0/Linux/FE/nxserver-3.4.0-8.i386.rpm
- Do simple manual installation of RPM packages.
Example:
rpm -ivh nxclient-3.4.0-5.i386.rpm rpm -ivh nxnode-3.4.0-6.i386.rpm rpm -ivh nxserver-3.4.0-8.i386.rpm
- Done. You can now connect from NX client to your server.
Ubuntu
Installation
Create a new container using the gutsy template. Edit /etc/apt/sources.list and enable the "multiverse" repository. Install X and XDM
apt-get install xorg xdm
Then add this 3rd party repo to sources.list
deb http://www.datakeylive.com/ubuntu gutsy main deb-src http://www.datakeylive.com/ubuntu gutsy main
Install the repo keys and update:
wget http://www.datakeylive.com/ubuntu/dists/gutsy/wjeremy.key -O - | apt-key add - wget http://www.datakeylive.com/ubuntu/dists/gutsy/alivesoftware.key -O - | apt-key add - sudo apt-get update
Install FreeNX (*)
apt-get install expect openssh-server tcl8.4 libxcomp2 libxcompext2 libxcompshad nxlibs nxagent nxproxy nxclient freenx openssl
For Ubuntu 8.04 :
apt-get install expect openssh-server tcl8.4 libxcomp3 libxcompext3 libxcompshad nxlibs nxagent nxproxy nxclient freenx-server openssl
Finally install XFCE
apt-get install xfce4
Configuration
Configuring X
In /etc/X11/xdm/xdm-config, comment out the line where it says DisplayManager.requestPort: 0
In /etc/X11/xdm/Xservers, comment out the line :0 local /usr/bin/X :0 vt7 (this starts a local X server, which will fail)
In /etc/X11/xdm/Xaccess, uncomment the line with * #any host can get a login window (Please keep in mind the security implications by the above line. Read the comments found in the file and set it appropriately)
Configure NX Server
Edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf. Ensure that the files section looks similar to this:
Section "Files"
# path to defoma fonts
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/misc"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi"
EndSection
Now create a local user account:
useradd -m <username>
Now add this user to nxserver:
nxserver --adduser <username>
Configure NX client
Setup the Host/Port. In the desktop section select Unix and Custom. In Settings, select "Run the default X client script on server" and select "New virtual Desktop".
Now try to connect. You should get the XFCE desktop.
Thanks to dantalizing for the feedback.
Troubleshooting
(*) If you get any errors like:
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/libxcomp3_3.1.0-6-2_i386.deb (--unpack): trying to overwrite `/usr/lib/libXcomp.so.3.1.0', which is also in package libxcomp2
while installing the libxcomp package, just force-install the libxcomp package:
# cd /var/cache/apt/archives # dpkg --force-all -i libxcomp3_3.1.0-6-2_i386.deb # apt-get -f install
You can't print from VE to client PC easily because printing in NX is realized via samba-mount of shared client's printer and CIFS isn't virtualized yet.