Guacamole is an open-source remote desktop gateway that provides easy access to your servers and desktops with just a web browser. In this tutorial, we will guide you through the process of installing Guacamole on POP! OS Latest.
Before proceeding with the installation, you need to have the following:
Before we install any new software on our system, it is always a good practice to update the system packages using the following command:
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
Guacamole requires Apache Tomcat to run, so we will install it using the following command:
sudo apt install tomcat9 tomcat9-admin
Next, we will install the MySQL server by running the following command:
sudo apt install mysql-server
During the installation, you will be prompted to set a password for the MySQL root user.
Once MySQL is installed, log in to the MySQL shell as the root user by running the following command:
sudo mysql -u root -p
Enter the MySQL root password when prompted.
Create a new database for Guacamole by running the following command:
CREATE DATABASE guacamole_db CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_general_ci;
Create a new user and grant it access to the Guacamole database:
CREATE USER 'guacamole_user'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'your_password_here';
GRANT SELECT,INSERT,UPDATE,DELETE ON guacamole_db.* TO 'guacamole_user'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
Replace your_password_here with a strong password of your choice.
Exit the MySQL shell by running:
exit
Download the latest version of Guacamole by running the following command:
wget https://downloads.apache.org/guacamole/1.3.0/binary/guacamole-1.3.0.war -O /var/lib/tomcat9/webapps/guacamole.war
Edit the Guacamole configuration file located at /etc/guacamole/guacamole.properties using your favorite text editor:
sudo nano /etc/guacamole/guacamole.properties
Add the following lines to the end of the file:
guacd-hostname: localhost
guacd-port: 4822
mysql-hostname: localhost
mysql-port: 3306
mysql-database: guacamole_db
mysql-username: guacamole_user
mysql-password: your_password_here
Replace your_password_here with the password you set for the Guacamole MySQL user.
Create a file called guacamole_user.xml with the following contents:
<user-mapping>
<authorize username="your_username_here" password="your_password_here">
<connection name="your_connection_name_here">
<protocol>vnc</protocol>
<param name="hostname">localhost</param>
<param name="port">5901</param>
<param name="password">your_vnc_password_here</param>
</connection>
</authorize>
</user-mapping>
Replace your_username_here, your_password_here, your_connection_name_here, and your_vnc_password_here with your desired values.
Save the file to /etc/guacamole/user-mapping.xml using the following command:
sudo mv guacamole_user.xml /etc/guacamole/user-mapping.xml
Restart the Tomcat service by running the following command:
sudo systemctl restart tomcat9
You can now access Guacamole by navigating to http://your_server_ip_address:8080/guacamole/.
Login with the username and password you specified in guacamole_user.xml.
Congratulations, you have successfully installed and configured Guacamole on your POP! OS Latest 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!
