Linux Terminal Server Project

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Linux Terminal Server Project

Tested by : C.V. UDAYASANKAR mail id: [email protected]

The Linux Terminal Server Project adds thin client support to Linux servers. It allows you to set up a diskless workstation environment with not much effort. LTSP is a flexible, cost effective solution that is empowering schools, businesses, and organizations all over the world to easily install and deploy thin clients.

Requirements:

• Ubuntu Linux 11.04/11.10/12.04 /13.04 machine with two or one network adaptors to act as your main LTSP server.

• Network switch / hub

• Router with internet connection

• Thin client computer.

Change your available network adaptor IP to a fixed entry.

• Most local network already use the 192.168.0.xx range of IP addresses, but the default install of LTSP relies on this range being available. In this tutorial we will set up the LTSP network on the 192.168.1.xx range.

• You also need a separate network adaptor with internet access during the install process.

• The LTSP server install wants to install it's own DHCP server, so if you have a router with it's own DHCP server it could cause conflicts if in the same network IP range.

• So what to do is change your unused LAN port's IP address to a fixed IP in another IP range. For example my setup has a router with a DHCP server running on 192.168.0.1, and

provides the Internet access on the system. I changed my other LAN adaptor's IP to 192.168.1.1 , this will be used for the LTSP network.

• NOTE: For some reason the DHCP server does not want to start correctly on system startup if the network adaptor's IP is not set in the network interfaces config file. (see 1d. below)

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1a. Go to Network Connections and select the LAN network adaptor you intend

to use for your thin client network and click edit.

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1b. Change your adaptor to use Manual IP and set a new fixed IP for the

adaptor and save.

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1c. Set the fixed IP for the network adaptor the classic way to ensure the DHCP

server starts correctly.

• Add the information for your network adaptor that you selected in 1c. as shown below.

• We added eth0 with a static IP of 192.168.1.111

• Open the Terminal Window and enter :

sudo gedit /etc/network/interfaces

# interfaces(5) file used by ifup(8) and ifdown(8) auto eth0

iface eth0 inet static

address 192.168.1.111 netmask 255.255.255.0 network 192.168.1.0 broadcast 192.168.1.255 gateway 192.168.1.1 dns-nameservers 192.168.1.1 dns-search

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1d. Change the Network Manager config file to allow control of your network

adaptor with fixed IP.

• For some mysterious reason if you enter the IP manually in the interfaces file, Network Manager ignores them and you cannot use the Network Manager to control the adaptor any more. So we have to enable it.

• Change the "managed=false" to "managed=true" as seen below.

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2. Install the LTSP server.

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3. Edit the DHCP configuration for your LTSP server to match

your chosen IP range.

• In this case 192.168.0.xx changes to 192.168.1.xx.

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4. Select the network interface/s for the DHCP server

• Add the network devices you would like the DHCP server to run on. In this case we changed the value of INTERFACES to include eth0

sudo gedit /etc/default/isc-dhcp-server

5. Restart the DHCP server

sudo /etc/init.d/isc-dhcp-server restart

6 Build the i386 (32bit) LTSP Thin/Client

• This step builds the 32bit Thin Client Ubuntu 11.04 image needed to boot the thin clients on the network.

• This step downloads and installs all the 32bit Ubuntu client elements. Could take a while.

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7 Reboot your new LTSP server to complete LTSP server

install

• At this point your Ubuntu LTSP server should be up and running.

• You should be able to boot a Thin Client via the network.

After reboot make sure that the DHCP is running correctly. Open a Terminal Window and enter:

sudo /etc/init.d/isc-dhcp-server status

Tip: If after this point you change your IP address on the LTSP server you need to enter the

following :

sudo ltsp-update-sshkeys sudo ltsp-update-image --arch i386

8. Set up Thin Client Admin user

• Replace the adminname with your admin user name.

sudo -s -H

chroot /opt/ltsp/i386

useradd -m adminname -G sudo passwd adminname

exit exit

• Lock the admin account's password

sudo chroot /opt/ltsp/i386 passwd -l adminname

• Update the client image

sudo ltsp-update-image --arch i386

9. Set up a Thin Client User Account

9a. Open Users and Groups

• Make sure you have gnome system tools installed as this has been removed in Ubuntu 12.04.

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• In Ubuntu 12.04 search for Users and Groups under applications after installation.

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9c. Add new username details

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10. Boot your Thin Client from the Ubuntu LTSP server

• Connect your Thin Client computer or Virtual Machine to your LTSP network Switch/Hub.

• Alter the Thin Client Machine BIOS Boot settings to boot from LAN / Network.

• Boot the machine.

• If all is set up correctly you should see the following Ubuntu LDM login screen on your Thin Client.