Xrdp Installation
Starting on SLES11-SP2, the xrdp rpm is included in the software distribution; the software installation is very easy. I will go over the high level steps on how to install and test the xrdp software first and then go into the details of customization steps.
To install the software:
- Just install xrdp by running
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You need to open the firewall port for the xrdp.
- Start the firewall tool by running
- # yast2 firewall
- On the “Yast Firewall Configuration” screen select “Allowed Services” on the left panel,
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On the “Service to Allow” drop down menu, select add the “Remote Desktop Protocol” service. Click on the “Add” button
- Click “Next” and then “Finish”
- Lastly, make sure the external firewall/router does not block the xrdp port TCP 3389 traffic to the SLES box running xrdp.
Testing the Xrdp
Testing the xrdp is simple
- On the SLES host, start the xrdp service
# rcxrdp start |
- Go to your Window desktop machine and start the RDP client software by running “mstsc.exe” or Start -> All Programes -> Accessories -> Remote Desktop Connections
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The Remote Desktop Connection screen will come up. To connect to the remote SLES host, enter the computer name/IP and then click on the “Connect” button.
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Once connected, the xrdp login screen will come up. To login, enter the login ID, password and click on the “connect” button.
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The default GNOME X11 window comes up
Xrdp Login Screen Customization
The default xrdp configuration is not perfect, for example, the xrdp screen has couple incorrect references:
We need to change the bitmap files in xrdp login screen, these graphics files are stored under the /usr/share/xrdp directory
We are only interest on the rdc256.bmp and opensuse256.bmp file.
The opensuse256.bmp file is the bitmap on left upper corner. I changed it to a warning message that is required by the corporate security. Following is an example of the opensuse256.bmp file with 528×256 pixels:
The rdc256.bmp is the graphic used in the login panel. I modified it and make it look like the following:
After the bitmap files are created, copy them to /usr/share/xrdp and run the following command to restart xrdp
# rcxrdp restart |
Now, you will see the new xrdp login screen look like the following:
Make IceWM as the Default Window Manager
The default Window Manager of xrdp login is GNOME on my installation. I would like to change it to IceWM, it is because IceWM is fast and much easier to customize.
Following is the instruction:
- Create desktop control files
# mkdir /etc/xrdp/icewm-xsessions # cp /usr/share/xsessions/icewm.desktop /etc/xrdp/icewm-xsessions # mkdir /etc/xrdp/gnome-xsessions # cp /usr/share/xsessions/gnome.desktop /etc/xrdp/gnome-xsessions |
- Edit the /etc/xrdp/xrdp.ini file and change the following session
To
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Restart xrdp by running “rcxrdp restart” and you will see the IceWM becomes the default Windows manager
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The “GNOME” is the 2nd option from the Session’s drop down menu
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The IceWM windows interface looks like the following after you login. In my next post, I will show you how to customize the IceWM Window Manager.
Configure the PAM for xrdp
By default, the xrdp login sessions does not read the /etc/security/limits.conf file. To change this behavior,
- Edit the /etc/pam.d/xrdp.sesman file
- Add “session required pam_limits.so” at the end of the file
Following is what the modified /etc/pam.d/xrdp.sesman looks like:
Start Xrdp during System Boot
By default, if you turn on the xrdp service, it will start on level 5
To start xrdp on level 3, run the following command
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