[X2Go-User] Python3-x2go

[Stefan Baur]

Am 01.03.2017 um 18:30 schrieb Seth Galitzer:
> Long story short: In my thin client lab, we use an RDP client to connect
> to Windows Remote Desktop Servers and have been using XDMCP to connect
> to Linux X desktops. I want to use X2go for the superior performance,
> reliability, and security over XDMCP, but am unable to do so due to
> limitations by the thin client platform vendor. The hardware is
> apparently ordinary x86 so I'm working on rolling my own minimal image
> to accomplish this.

Save for that vendor's lock-in stupidity, it sounds straightforward enough.


> With the current platform, we have desktop shortcuts that to run the
> RDP/XDMCP clients to various hosts. I'd like to try and duplicate that
> with my new image so I don't have to retrain my users.

Well, it depends how bad that "retraining" would be.
X2Go in TCE mode can serve as a frontend to xfreerdp for RDP and also to
Xephyr for XDMCP (that feature isn't in the stable release yet, but an
image based on a recent nightly build is available).

That way, when starting X2GoClient in fullscreen mode (as is the default
with TCE) there's just a few white tiles on the right that list the
various connections. No matter if they're X2Go, RDP, or XDMCP - all
share the same look.

You can deploy configuration (i.e. which tiles appear and which not)
either static via HTTP(S)/FTP, or using a simple server-side script for
TTP(S), or you can use the full-fledged session broker, which allows you
to define tile/session visibility depending on user name, group
membership, and IP range (plus the broker also does load balancing).

However, this frontend-only mode doesn't involve X2GoServer at all for
RDP and XDMCP connections, so there's no performance increase for these.

If you want to accelerate things for RDP and XDMCP, you need an
X2GoServer inbetween.

You could proceed just as described above, with individual tiles for
each remote server (now using the X2GoServer as an accelerating proxy
instead of connecting directly), or offer a minimal desktop (say, LXDE
or XFCE, or a trimmed-down MATE) from the X2GoServer machine, with the
desired connections as desktop shortcuts.


> I'm scripting
> freerdp-x11 for RDP connections (with NLA). After trying various ways to
> script x2goclient, I finally discovered pyhoca-cli and it works exactly
> the way I want it to.
> 
> So that's why I hope it stays available in some form for a while. If
> there's a better way to run x2goclient completely "headless" or
> transparent to the user, I'd be happy to hear it. I've been searching
> through documentation and haven't found a way yet to do it the way that
> I want.

To get started, use a regular Linux machine (not a ThinClient), install
X2GoClient, configure a session. Make sure to use Public Key
authentication, run an SSH-agent, load your keyfile into it (don't
specify the actual keyfile in the session configuration, just check the
box that X2GoClient should attempt auto-login via SSH-Agent or Key). Try
if it works (clicking on the tile should then connect you to your
server, without asking for credentials).
If that works, log out of the session again. If you now see a login box
that prompts for username and password, click cancel. If not, just read on.
Look at the tile of the session you just configured. Depending on which
X2GoClient version you use, there's either a small grey
downward-pointing triangle or a "hamburger icon" like on an Android
smartphone in the lower left corner of the tile. Click "Create Session
Icon on Desktop". Note the little checkbox in the lower left corner of
that message.

If you examine the desktop link afterwards, you will see that X2GoClient
is called with
--hide --sessionid=20110913020213584
and optionally --tray-icon as well, if you checked the box mentioned
earlier. The sessionid number corresponds to the session in your
sessions file.  You can also use --session=SessionName instead.

(Double-)Click that desktop link and see if it does what you are looking
for - it should.

Now that you've got a working setup, you can deploy the sessions config
file and the "--"parameters to your clients.


> I already have my PXE server setup, but haven't decided yet if I'm going
> to boot from a network image, or push the image down to the clients to
> pre-load for booting. My minimal debian image with all necessary tools
> is currently just over 2GB uncompressed.

Our TCE image - which does nothing more than fire up X2GoClient in
fullscreen mode, and some background stuff for audio and removable media
automounting - is currently about 200 Megabytes in size, rather than
2GB.  It uncompresses into a RAM disk when booting over the network.
With local storage, you don't need to load the entire image into RAM.


> I'm not opposed to TCE, but I'd like to be able to at least customize the skin with our own branding.

Well, with a fullscreen X2GoClient, there isn't much "skin" to brand -
you'd brand the desktop on the X2GoServer instead.


> I'd love to hear anyone's thoughts on this. I'm relatively new to X2go,
> so I'm sure there are ways to use it to help with this project I haven't
> thought of yet.

If all of the above still didn't convince you and you'd still prefer a
minimal desktop environment running directly on the ThinClient (again, I
would recommend against this as it means *zero* performance increase if
you run RDP or XDMCP sessions from desktop shortcuts starting xfreerdp
or "Xephyr -query", rather than through an X2GoServer acting as a proxy)
- "stay tuned".  We're working on reviving Mike#1's "minidesktop" for
X2Go-TCE. Currently, that's only a hobby project of mine, but hey, Linus
Torvalds wrote something similar when he started working on Linux, so
who knows. ;-)

As always, if you have a budget for X2Go deployment, we can speed up
development by working on it during office hours, rather than in our
free time.

<shameless plug>
X2Go also has a commercial side, where various companies - including
my own - offer support contracts with guaranteed response times as
well as consultancy and paid-for development work if someone wants to
see a bug fixed or a new feature added in a certain time frame.

What makes my company special is, IMHO:
1) I'm the current X2Go Project/Community Coordinator, so the
   development lead and the developers tend to listen to me.
2) As far as I know, we are the only company providing X2Go support
   that isn't a one-man-show.  Oh, and we already have US customers.
3) We sub-contract other developers from the X2Go community on demand,
   so you only have one person you need to talk to - me - and you will
   only receive one invoice, even if the task involved several freelance
   or part-time X2Go developers.

Our hourly rate for consultancy work and fixing issues outside of a
support contract is 110 EUR.
With a support contract, you get guaranteed response times (starting at
400 EUR/month for 24h response time during business hours in the
CET/CEST time zone from Monday to Friday, German holidays excluded)
and lower hourly rates if you buy a certain amount of hours in advance.
</shameless plug>

Kind Regards,
Stefan Baur

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