Remmina: A Windows Admin's Must-Have App

Microsoft Tools Not On Linux

  Using Linux to administer Windows machines is not impossible, in fact, it's quite do-able.  Although Windows-native interfaces like MMC, PowerShell, and VB don't exist in the Linux world, with some help from RDP, it's easy to use a remote Windows machine when these utilities are required either locally or to connect using one of these tools to another remote machine.
 

RDP to Windows Servers

 At some point a Windows Admin has to RDP to a remote Windows Server. Whether it's to check event logs, troubleshoot an unresponsive service, add applications, or just reboot the thing! There are a number of available RDP clients for Linux, including rdesktop and 2X Client. These pieces of software both have their upsides and downsides.

 For example, rdesktop is a terminal-based application for connecting to remote RDP servers. It can be difficult to use if you similar to Microsoft's client.  The script is called 'mstsc' and it contains the following:
aren't accustomed to the command line. For one-off connections, I use a short

rdesktop on Ubuntu

script to run rdesktop with a good default display geometry and syntax
 
#!/bin/bash
rdesktop -g 1024x768 -a 16 $1

 This way, I can use the syntax:

./mstsc <ServerName or IP>

 Similarly to how the Windows RDP client is executed (without the /v).  This provides a quick, command-line method for accessing remote machines on an ad-hoc basis.

GRDesktop is a GUI for
rdesktop in GNOME.

 There are GUI front-ends for rdesktop and, in fact, many of the RDP clients you'll find are mearly GUI front-ends for rdesktop. (like "GRDesktop", a Gnome front-end for rdesktop.)


 2X Client is a proprietary program designed to work with commercial 2X application server products, though standard RDP is also supported. The client is free (as in beer) and they have packages for popular distributions.



 Of the RDP clients I've used, the one I've stuck with is called Remmina. Remmina is a GUI frontend for FreeRDP.  FreeRDP is simply a fork of rdesktop (see?!).  It's been around for a few years now and comes along with Debian and Ubuntu in their repos, so it's super easy to install.  Just use aptitude:

sudo aptitude

 or apt-get

sudo apt-get install remmina

or Ubuntu Software Center.

Install Remmina from Ubuntu Software Center

mRemote Console

   Before I migrated to Ubuntu Linux for my work machine, I had been using Windows 7 and 8. In Windows 7, there was a nice little application I used to connect to remote servers called mRemote.  mRemote was a console that the user could add RDP, VNC, ssh, https, and other connections to in order to remotely access systems.





  The ability to create https connections was a point of particular awesomeness for me.  Why?  My company also used LogMeIn in order to access machines behind firewalls we didn't control. Back then, LogMeIn still allowed for an admin to create a shortcut that would connect them directly to the host without having to go through the website.  An admin could copy the URL from the shortcut and add it to mRemote as an https connection and viola!  All servers, no matter what method was used to connect to them, were available to me in the console.

https support was helpful for use with LogMeIn

 After moving to Ubuntu, I tried running mRemote in Wine without success.  The application was long since abandoned by the developer so there was no hope of support being written in.  While searching for an alternative, Remmina was suggested.

 Remmina is the closest thing to mRemote I've seen on Linux.  You can add connections to the console for remote protocols like RDP, VNC, ssh, and NX.  The remote protocols are supported via plug-ins, so, theoretically, other protocols (like https, perhaps?!) can be added if an enterprising programmer decided to write it.  Although, LogMeIn has since removed the ability to create shortcuts from its 'Free' accounts, so it's not really as important to me anymore...

  Still...

Moving from mRemote to Remmina

 Moving from mRemote to Remmina was made simpler for me through the use of a handy script I found (and unfortunately, can't remember who wrote!) that actually takes the XML from mRemote and converts it to Remmina connection files.  Brilliant!  It's not 100% effective, mind you.  None of the stored credentials made the transition and the display settings have to be changed, but just having all the host names and client names automatically come over was a big help for me!

 Using Remmina is really easy.  I have it configured through Ubuntu's "Startup Applications" to run at startup.  It loads up to the top toolbar panel and provides an easy-to-use drop-down menu of all the configured groups and connections in the application.  One click to drop the menu, one click to connect.  Done and done.  You're on your remote server doing what you need to do.

  In practice, I have had an issue with the menu where it scrolls off the screen without providing scroll handles, but if I click away and re-open the menu, it fixes itself.  I've also had occasional lock-ups, particularly when using multiple tabs with multiple protocols.  It doesn't happen often enough to really impact my ability to work, so it's not a problem for me, and the convenience the program provides far outweighs the inconvenience of the occasional lock-up IMHO.

 Have you used Remmina or another RDP client in Linux?  Which are your favorite?  Leave your comments and let me know!

Connecting (Ubuntu) Linux to Windows Active Directory for Authentication

Linux Authentication Against Windows?  Why not!

Why Bother?

  When approaching the possibility of using Linux to administer Windows networks, the very first aspect I felt needed to be addressed was the ability to authenticate my workstation against our company's Active Directory and hopefully, integrate this authentication with the local computer's log on process.  By integrating the log on, I knew that the workstation would be able to access our network's resources at start-up without any additional set up or scripting.  This would make it simple to get to shared client files, work in shared locations on our network with co-workers that are using Windows, and to keep the log on uniform across other network services.

LikeWise Open vs. Other Solutions 

LikeWise Open: Simple and free!

Searching around the Internet provided the answer I used on my workstation: LikeWise Open, the open-source version of LikeWise Enterprise.  LikeWise Open is one of a handful of solutions for connecting a Linux workstation to an Active Directory domain for authentication.  I chose it because the steps in Ubuntu seemed simple to follow and, well, I like simple! (Your distro's package repo may have it, it may not, just check!)

So, here's what I did:

Using Ubuntu's help page for Likewise Open on 10.04, I installed Likewise Open from apt using the following command in a terminal window:

sudo apt-get install likewise-open

Or click here to install via Software Center

Once installed, you can use it's "domainjoin-cli" command to join the workstation to your Windows domain.  Now, as a Windows Admin, you should already be aware of some needed information and configuration that has to be done before a workstation can successfully join a Windows domain.  These include:

• Have the Windows DNS server configured as the primary domain server for your workstation. This is normally accomplished via DHCP, otherwise configure statically as needed.
• Have the FQDN of the domain you are looking to join (ex. domain.local).
• Have an account with permission to join workstations to the domain.
• You may specify an OU during the join process, as needed, have the name of the OU handy.

 The syntax of the command is as follows:

sudo domainjoin-cli join [--ou <NameOfOU>] domain.local <UserAccount>

 In this example, domain.local is the FQDN for my domain, and <UserAccount> would be replaced by the account with permission to join the domain. You should be prompted for a password to complete the join process.

 Once the join completes, the system will need to restart to allow the machine to log on.  Once the reboot completes, the workstation will be able to authenticate with the domain by entering the username and password in the following format:

DOMAIN\<UserName>

Here, the "DOMAIN" is the NetBIOS name of your domain. After logging in, your workstation is now authenticated against the domain and can access resources just like a Windows client!  SMB shares, printers, LDAP queries, Exchange Mailboxes, etc.

Single Sign-On is Simple!

For any Windows admin, this is an important first step in integrating their Linux workstation with their network for the same, easy, single-sign-on access to network resources that they enjoy from Windows.

For more information, including video tutorials and alternate products, follow the links below:

Joining Ubuntu 11.04 to Active Directory

Centrify Express: AD Authentication for Linux

Authenticating with Active Directory in Ubuntu

Please feel free to use the comments section below or our Google+ Page to share other methods or tips for configuring Linux workstations for Active Directory.

Note:  LikeWise Open is now BeyondTrust PowerBroker Identity Services Open. However, the Ubuntu Community Forums are saying the apt repos still refer to the package as likewise-open as stated above so these instructions should still work,  likewise-open is no longer available in the repos.