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Thread: 100% Linux Terminal Services Server / Clients - Is This Possible?

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    Jay
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    100% Linux Terminal Services Server / Clients - Is This Possible?

    Has anyone here ever used a 100% linux setup for either Terminal Services or Roaming Profiles?

    I am thinking that Terminal Services would be easier than roaming profiles but I am wondering if anyone here has ever done this?

    If you are wonding why, its becuase a client will not pay £6,000 for 9 new PCs with 17" LCDs, XP Pro,Office Business and a new Server with 10 Cals and 2003 Server.

    Sounds like good money to me to be honest but I suppose its up to them.
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    Re: 100% Linux Terminal Services Server / Clients - Is This Possible?

    Linux can run the RDP client , so you could possibly use them in a thin client perspective.

    of that 6k I imagine 2k absolutle max for software ?

    I'd look for a different client.
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    Jay
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    Re: 100% Linux Terminal Services Server / Clients - Is This Possible?

    yes, its about 2K for the software. To be honest I think its a fantastic deal! As I am not going to be here much longer I am not going to push it.
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    Re: 100% Linux Terminal Services Server / Clients - Is This Possible?

    I'm mildly confused by the question. They want Linux clients, and Linux servers, but to pretend to be Windows at both ends to use Windows-centric protocols & designs? Is that it?

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    Re: 100% Linux Terminal Services Server / Clients - Is This Possible?

    no, they don't want to spend any money. (the boss wants to spend it on his boats, yes, I did say boats)

    They have built a new building, fitted the new room out, I have run CAT5 in the walls, new desks etc etc and when it comes to putting new PCs in they said no. They currently have this setup in the old room but the PCs are dead (pre 2000) and the server is terrible (some old desktop PC)

    I looked at the current setup and priced them for new hardware and software that will set them up for the next 5 years + and they said they wanted to use the old stuff.

    I explained that I was not prepared to use the old suff for many reasons I won't go into here and then some one said what about Linux? I told them that, yes, it is "free" to use but there is no real support for roaming profiles (I know I could probably script it) and the guy who is going to be running the room has no Linux experience at all. So at the moment its my way or they get nothing, its harsh but its the only way to go. You also have to bare in mind that the people I meet with are the company directors so I can't go any higher to get this sorted!

    Its a strange place here and I think I am employed so they can argue with me! I think Moby knows a bit about where I work and the situation I am in. Anyway this is getting MILES off the subject. I have seen a Terminal Service setup for Linux but I am just wondering, before I VM it, if anyone here has even tried it before.
    Last edited by Jay; 11-11-2008 at 02:38 PM.
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    Re: 100% Linux Terminal Services Server / Clients - Is This Possible?

    In that case dont worry aobut it , they can suffer in their own stupidity
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    Re: 100% Linux Terminal Services Server / Clients - Is This Possible?

    Quote Originally Posted by Moby-Dick View Post
    In that case dont worry aobut it , they can suffer in their own stupidity

    ha ha ha.... so so true.

    When I worked for Rezidor it was different, I had a meeting, I took my paperwork and presentation, I then put forward to proposal. Once this was finished I was asked questions about cost implications, where we could make saving, if the budget was enough to do the job and if it was worth spending more or not.

    At the end of the meeting I would put the costs to the financial controller to be signed off and he would pass it to the GM to sign off then the project would go ahead. That was a fantastic place to work and they understood that some times adding a few more £$£ to a budget can meant the overall cost to performance is actually reduced. It was always a 3 or 4 year costing plan as well.

    Plus I got to support end users if they where celebs. I have done work for people like David Beckham, David James (A really really nice guy, spent loads of time just chatting about his football and England etc) and my all time favorite Rachel Stevens, she is tiny but lovely.

    so yes, I have been in Rachel Stevens bedroom, just me and her. (She needed help getting on the wreless internet)
    Last edited by Jay; 11-11-2008 at 02:57 PM.
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    Re: 100% Linux Terminal Services Server / Clients - Is This Possible?

    What software are they trying/needing to run? Linux Terminal Server Project (LTSP) is great but it depends what they need to be able to do...

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    Re: 100% Linux Terminal Services Server / Clients - Is This Possible?

    open office I suppose.
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    Re: 100% Linux Terminal Services Server / Clients - Is This Possible?

    Roaming profiles is easy enough. There are two components you'll need:

    1. Remote authentication - look at NIS, kerberos or LDAP.
    2. A mechanism to share profiles - NFS or SMB if Windows clients are involved.

    For terminal services on *nix I'd just use ssh. For X applications, forward X over ssh. Unix is the original "terminal services" operating system and has been supporting this since 1970. Use rdesktop for terminal services to Windows machines.

    TBH though, given you say the in house guy has no Linux experience at all, I think it would probably be more cost effective for them to either stick with what they know or sack the in house guy and recruit someone with *nix sysadmin experience instead. They're probably looking at one days consultancy rates to set it up which will most likely chew into half of what they'd save on purchasing a Windows-based solution.

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    Re: 100% Linux Terminal Services Server / Clients - Is This Possible?

    In a purely unix network, using 'profiles' remotely is a simple matter of using NFS to export /home on the server to /home on the clients (the advantage of having a hierarchical virtual filesystem). Then you only need NIS or LDAP, optionally with mit-krb4/5 for SSO, since pam supports both, or just about any scheme you could imagine for authentication. You don't have to think about user profiles, you don't have to muck around with wizard voodoo, or joining machines to a tree huggers member club, etc to get SSO working, just configure the client, the user can log in, done.

    As for terminal servers, that's easier still, zero client setup apart from setting netboot in the client machines BIOS, but configuring the server is a bit more involving. But you can read up about the Linux Terminal Server Project, whatever distro you use will have documentation on specific server configuration details.
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