Guacamole is an open-source remote desktop gateway developed by Apache that allows users to connect to their desktops from anywhere using just a web-browser. In this tutorial, we will show you how to install and configure Guacamole on Elementary OS.
Before proceeding, you'll need the following:
Before installing any packages, it's always best to update the current package list available in the system.
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
Guacamole requires several dependencies to be installed on your system. To install them, you can run the following command:
sudo apt install -y libcairo2-dev libjpeg-turbo8-dev libpng-dev libossp-uuid-dev libavcodec-dev libavutil-dev libswscale-dev libfreerdp-dev libpango1.0-dev libssh2-1-dev libtelnet-dev libvncserver-dev libpulse-dev libssl-dev libvorbis-dev tomcat9 tomcat9-admin tomcat9-common tomcat9-user
During the installation, you'll be prompted to set a password for the Tomcat admin user. Make sure to remember this password as you'll need it later during the configuration process.
Next, let's install the Guacamole server on our system. We'll need to download the Guacamole server package from the official Apache Guacamole website:
cd ~
wget https://downloads.apache.org/guacamole/1.3.0/source/guacamole-server-1.3.0.tar.gz
tar -xzf guacamole-server-1.3.0.tar.gz
cd guacamole-server-1.3.0
Next, we'll compile the source code and install the package:
./configure --with-systemd-dir=/usr/lib/systemd/system
make
sudo make install
sudo ldconfig
Now that we have installed the Guacamole server, let's configure it. We'll start by creating a symbolic link for the Guacamole library configuration:
sudo ln -s /usr/local/lib/freerdp/guacdr.so /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/freerdp/
Next, we'll create the necessary Tomcat directories:
sudo mkdir /usr/share/tomcat9/.guacamole
sudo chmod 775 /usr/share/tomcat9/.guacamole
sudo chown tomcat9:tomcat9 /usr/share/tomcat9/.guacamole
We'll then create a new file named guacamole.properties inside the /etc/guacamole/ directory:
sudo nano /etc/guacamole/guacamole.properties
And add the following configuration options:
guacd-hostname: localhost
guacd-port: 4822
user-mapping: /etc/guacamole/user-mapping.xml
auth-provider: net.sourceforge.guacamole.net.basic.BasicFileAuthenticationProvider
basic-user-mapping: /etc/guacamole/user-mapping.xml
Save the file and exit the editor.
Next, we'll create a new file named user-mapping.xml inside the /etc/guacamole/ directory:
sudo nano /etc/guacamole/user-mapping.xml
And add the following XML configuration:
<user-mapping>
<authorize username="[USERNAME]" password="[SECRETPASSWORD]">
<protocol>rdp</protocol>
<param name="hostname">localhost</param>
<param name="port">3389</param>
</authorize>
</user-mapping>
Here, replace [USERNAME] and [SECRETPASSWORD] with your desired username and password.
Save the file and exit the editor.
Next, we'll configure Tomcat to use Guacamole. We'll start by editing the GUACAMOLE_HOME environment variable:
sudo nano /etc/default/tomcat9
And add the following line at the end of the file:
GUACAMOLE_HOME=/usr/share/tomcat9/.guacamole
Save the file and exit the editor.
Next, we'll edit the guacamole.war file to add the required configuration options:
cd /var/lib/tomcat9/webapps/
sudo mkdir guacamole
sudo cp guacamole.war guacamole/
sudo cd guacamole
sudo unzip guacamole.war
sudo rm -rf guacamole.war
sudo nano guacamole/WEB-INF/classes/guacamole.properties
And add the following configuration options:
guacd-hostname: localhost
guacd-port: 4822
user-mapping: /etc/guacamole/user-mapping.xml
Save the file and exit the editor.
Finally, let's restart the Apache Tomcat service to apply the changes:
sudo systemctl restart tomcat9
You can now access your Guacamole server by visiting the following URL:
http://[YOUR_SERVER_IP]/guacamole/
Use the username and password that you specified in the guacamole.properties and user-mapping.xml files.
Congratulations, you have successfully installed and configured Guacamole on your Elementary OS system!
If you want to self-host in an easy, hands free way, need an external IP address, or simply want your data in your own hands, give IPv6.rs a try!
Alternatively, for the best virtual desktop, try Shells!
