VMware View Client with PCoIP support and USB for Linux on Linux
As you may have guessed from the topic of the post today we will talk about installing VMware View Client (not VMware View Open Client) with PCoIP support and USB forwarding support on Linux. I would immediately like to warn you that this decision is not an official one; moreover, I don’t know how legal it is, because it uses HP binary packages that are officially intended for HP ThinPro thin clients . And so, everyone who is not confused by my warning, please under the cat.
So, we have installed and configured vCenter, one or more ESXi servers, VMware View Connection Server (more information about this can be found here or here , well, or here ). I have several old PCs (Celeron 1.7 / 128MB / 20Gb / 100Mbit) running Debian 6.0.3 i386 as client workstations (although you can use any Linux, but it’s preferable to use debian-like distributions) in a minimal installation. I suspect that older PCs can also be used (running in a virtual machine with a processor frequency limit of 400Mhz and 64Mb RAM, but the performance of a modern server hardware with a physical 7-10 years old cannot be done), and there wasn’t such an experiment to hand.
So let's get down to setting up a client workstation. To begin with, we install Debian 6.0.3 in the minimum configuration at the last stage, choosing, in addition to the standard system utilities, only the ssh server (for remote control of the workstation). Next, we put "X's" and additional dependencies of the VMware View Client:
And now we proceed to the installation of the client itself. Download the necessary packages from the HP ftp server:
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Unfortunately, there are currently no packages for version 5, but client version 4.6 is free to work with server version 5, with the exception of new features that are available in VMware View Client 5.0. I think you have noticed that the hptc-rdesktop package is not downloaded from the directory in which the other files are located, even though it is there, and also a newer version. The fact is that the new version is compiled with the support of the libao2 library, but only the libao4 is available in the Debian Squeezze repository. libao2 is available in Debian Lenny. If you have libao2 in your distribution, you can use a more recent hptc-rdesktop package.
Install them in the following sequence:
Create a symlink for correct USB forwarding:
And we try to start the client with the following command:
If the launch occurred without error, you can open the first beer bottle.
Now you need to bring all this stuff into a digestible form for the end user. During the OS installation, a user view was created under which the VMware View Client will be launched. To begin with, we will configure the automatic launch of the “X” when the system is loaded under the user view. To do this, edit the rc.local file by adding the following line before the final exit 0 line:
Reboot to make sure that the “X's” started successfully. If everything is ok, the last step is to configure the automatic start of the VMware View Client when starting the “X” and shutting down the PC after it is closed. To do this, in the home directory of the user create a .xinitrc file with the following content:
Create a vmwareview.sh script:
And we edit the sudoers file, allowing the view user to turn off the PC:
Once again we are overloaded and make sure that everything works as planned. Open the second bottle of beer.
This is probably all. In this article, I reviewed only the basic OS configuration of the client PC to run the VMware View Client under Linux, but it is sufficient for comfortable operation.
PS The field of application of such a scheme can be a test implementation of VDI based on VMware View without purchasing additional equipment (thin clients), use for educational purposes (learning VMware View), etc.
So, we have installed and configured vCenter, one or more ESXi servers, VMware View Connection Server (more information about this can be found here or here , well, or here ). I have several old PCs (Celeron 1.7 / 128MB / 20Gb / 100Mbit) running Debian 6.0.3 i386 as client workstations (although you can use any Linux, but it’s preferable to use debian-like distributions) in a minimal installation. I suspect that older PCs can also be used (running in a virtual machine with a processor frequency limit of 400Mhz and 64Mb RAM, but the performance of a modern server hardware with a physical 7-10 years old cannot be done), and there wasn’t such an experiment to hand.
So let's get down to setting up a client workstation. To begin with, we install Debian 6.0.3 in the minimum configuration at the last stage, choosing, in addition to the standard system utilities, only the ssh server (for remote control of the workstation). Next, we put "X's" and additional dependencies of the VMware View Client:
root@viewclient:~# aptitude install xinit libqtgui4 libcurl3 libpcsclite1 libsamplerate0 libasound2 libgtk2.0-0 sudo
And now we proceed to the installation of the client itself. Download the necessary packages from the HP ftp server:
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root@viewclient:~# wget ftp.hp.com/pub/tcdebian/pool/thinpro33/non-free/hptc-manticore_3.2.1_i386.deb
root@viewclient:~# wget ftp.hp.com/pub/tcdebian/pool/thinpro32/main/hptc-rdesktop_1.6.0-1.35_i386.deb
root@viewclient:~# wget ftp.hp.com/pub/tcdebian/pool/thinpro33/non-free/hptc-sudo-edit_0.1_i386.deb
root@viewclient:~# wget ftp.hp.com/pub/tcdebian/pool/thinpro33/non-free/vmware-view-client_4.6.0-366101-2_i386.deb
Unfortunately, there are currently no packages for version 5, but client version 4.6 is free to work with server version 5, with the exception of new features that are available in VMware View Client 5.0. I think you have noticed that the hptc-rdesktop package is not downloaded from the directory in which the other files are located, even though it is there, and also a newer version. The fact is that the new version is compiled with the support of the libao2 library, but only the libao4 is available in the Debian Squeezze repository. libao2 is available in Debian Lenny. If you have libao2 in your distribution, you can use a more recent hptc-rdesktop package.
Install them in the following sequence:
root@viewclient:~# dpkg -i hptc-manticore_3.2.1_i386.deb
root@viewclient:~# dpkg -i hptc-rdesktop_1.6.0-1.35_i386.deb
root@viewclient:~# dpkg -i hptc-sudo-edit_0.1_i386.deb
root@viewclient:~# dpkg -i vmware-view-client_4.6.0-366101-2_i386.deb
Create a symlink for correct USB forwarding:
root@viewclient:~# ln -s /usr/lib/vmware/vmware-view-usb /etc/vmware/usb.link
And we try to start the client with the following command:
root@viewclient:~# vmware-view
If the launch occurred without error, you can open the first beer bottle.
Now you need to bring all this stuff into a digestible form for the end user. During the OS installation, a user view was created under which the VMware View Client will be launched. To begin with, we will configure the automatic launch of the “X” when the system is loaded under the user view. To do this, edit the rc.local file by adding the following line before the final exit 0 line:
su - view -c startx
Reboot to make sure that the “X's” started successfully. If everything is ok, the last step is to configure the automatic start of the VMware View Client when starting the “X” and shutting down the PC after it is closed. To do this, in the home directory of the user create a .xinitrc file with the following content:
. /usr/local/bin/vmwareview.sh
Create a vmwareview.sh script:
#!/bin/sh
/usr/bin/vmware-view && sudo /sbin/shutdown -hP now
And we edit the sudoers file, allowing the view user to turn off the PC:
view ALL = NOPASSWD: /sbin/shutdown -hP now
Once again we are overloaded and make sure that everything works as planned. Open the second bottle of beer.
This is probably all. In this article, I reviewed only the basic OS configuration of the client PC to run the VMware View Client under Linux, but it is sufficient for comfortable operation.
PS The field of application of such a scheme can be a test implementation of VDI based on VMware View without purchasing additional equipment (thin clients), use for educational purposes (learning VMware View), etc.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/133033/
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