Xrdp

xrpd provides graphical remote access to servers.

Internal

systems with xrdp listen on the default rdp port 3389.

For linux clients, something like

xfreerdp +clipboard /u:USERNAME /size:1680x1050 +fonts /v:TARGETHOST

(depending on your client you might need additional flags +glyph-cache and /relax-order-checks)

For windows use the builtin remote desktop connection.

External

A ssh tunnel via lx-pool is required.

For linux clients, something like

ssh -L 3000:TARGETSYSTEM.acc.gsi.de:3389 CORE-IT-USERNAME@lx-pool.gsi.de

and then connect to localhost:3000.

xfreerdp +clipboard /u:USERNAME /size:1680x1050 +fonts /v:localhost:3000

For windows use putty, see https://www.gsi.de/work/administration/cit/service/remote_access/ssh_tunnel_win Or the ssh client included in newer windows 10 versions.

It is sufficient to create the tunnel to lx-pool. Double tunneling directly to an asl75x node increases the latency of rdp. Enabling compression on the ssh tunnel is not increasing the performance as rdp already does bitmap compression.

FAQ

what is my login?

it is your ACC account. Your rdp client might prefill the login dialog with the wrong username. For example if you connect from a core-it managed device it possibly uses "CAMPUS\username" which is not working, change it to "username"

unable to log in

please check if you can log in using ssh and check for errors. A misconfigured profile/bash_profile/group_profile will prevent a graphical login.

kill session

need to kill an existing session? ssh into the system. get all your session with loginctl. Get session details (including all processes) with loginctl session-status SESSION_ID and terminate it using loginctl terminate-session SESSION_ID.
Or kill all your processes (including your ssh connection) with loginctl terminate-user $USER

Limitations

• no sound.
• number of sessions per user and system is limited. As of writing one session.
• idle time is limited. If no input is received sessions are automaticly disconnected. As of writing 20h.
• disconnect time is limited. Disconnected sessions will be terminated. As of writing 20h.
  • in summary if you don't do anything after a total of 40h your programs are terminated. This should be enough during the week. It will intentional not last over the weekend.
• if you have trouble with dynamic display resolution you need to reconnect: Detach session and reconnect with a new resolution.