by Brian Mullan (bmullan.mail@gmail.com)
Installation time is approx 15 minutes.
I am happy to introduce CIAB v6.5 of the CIAB Remote Desktop System. I think you will really like the changes !
With CIAB v6.5 the project now has two use-cases supported to enable End-User access to CIAB container Desktop Environments, Local or Remote:
Use-Case (A) - CLI direct access only to any of the CIAB Container Desktop Environments (DE)
Use-Case (B) - Adds HTML5 Browser HTTPS access using Guacamole, Tomcat, NGINX, PostgreSQL as a Web based Portal to Use-Case (A).
- Create a temporary "work" directory on your server/VM/Cloud-Instance owner and group should be your UserID
$ sudo mkdir /opt/ciab
$ sudo chown $USER:$USER /opt/ciab
$ sudo chmod 766 /opt/ciab
$ cd /opt/ciab/
- Download the CIAB scripts from the Github Repository
$ wget https://github.com/bmullan/CIAB_Remote_Desktop_System-v6.5/archive/refs/heads/main.zip
- *$ unzip unzip .zip
- now begin the process to create a CIAB LXD Desktop Container
$ mk.sh*
- This will execute the script "mk-ciab-desktop-container.sh".
The User installing a CIAB Desktop Container will be asked for a name for the new Desktop Container.
During installation the CIAB Installer can choose from many different Desktop Environments (DE) including:
- KDE
- LXDE
- Budgie
- Gnome
- MATE
- XFCE
- KDE Plasma
- Cinnamon
CIAB installs each DE in a separate "unprivileged" LXD container whose name is entered by the CIAB Installer during installation. For each DE selected & installed the CIAB Installing User will automatically be configuured with a User Account in that Desktop Container.
The CIAB Installer's Desktop container account will also be given "sudo" privileges in the Desktop container so they can provide adminstrative duties such as adding/removing applications/users. etc.
NOTE: It may be useful to name the container with some indication of what Desktop Environment will be installed in it.
Example: if the intent is to create a MATE Desktop Container... perhaps name the LXD Container "mate-desktop" etc.
Next the selected DE will be installed & configured in the Desktop Container.
The installation will also download source code for the very latest release of xRDP from NeutrinoLabs
The source code will be compiled w/support for Audio and Drive "redirection" enabled and then installed in the Desktop Container.
The last step the installation does is create a startup bash script with a highly customized xfreerdp command line pre-built to connect via RDP to the associated Desktop Container's DE. This created script will be placed in the installing UserID's Host "Home" Directory and also copied to "/usr/bin/"
NOTE: if the CIAB Container Desktop created was called mate-desktop then the above "startup bash script" would be
named "*mate-desktop.sh"
At this point the selected Container Desktop Environment (DE) has been created and can be used from the CLI using the created startup Bash script !
So anyone with a User Account in that LXD Desktop Container (using our mate-desktop example) would just execute:
$ mate-desktop.sh
A login menu will pop-up and the user only needs to enter their Container Desktop Password which will bring up the Mate-Desktop in this example.
is a server application that integrates and extends the Apache Guacamole clientless remote desktop gateway on a Ubuntu 20.04 LTS host with all applications running in LXD System Containers.
Using only a web browser that supports HTML5, users can connect to a CIAB System installed either locally or remotely on Cloud, VM or Physical Server.
Earlier all of the CIAB installation files were copied to /opt/ciab/ so open a terminal and chancge to that directory:
$ cd /opt/ciab
Execute the script "setup-ciab-guac.sh" which will:
- Create an additonal LXD container called "ciab-guac" and enable "nesting" within the ciab-guac container.
- Install a Dockerized Guacamole, NGINX, Tomcat, PostgreSQL container "nested" insude the LXD "ciab-guac" container.
The scripts/files in this repository include all the installation Bash Scripts and associated files required to create CIAB LXD container Desktop Systems.
We configure Guacamole/NGINX etc with a "self-signed" certificate to allow support for using HTTPS.
This means the connection from a User to the Remote Desktop is encrypted.
NOTE With CIAB-Guacamole for user "Connections" you can configure CIAB-Guacamole to also connect to Windows Servers !
To configure the Guacamole front-end Proxy follow the Installation Diagrams & Information in the
CIAB Remote Desktop System Installation Guide.PDF