This Ansible Playbook configures virtual machines within the European Weather Cloud (EWC) to operate as a remote desktops, courtesy of X2Go.

X2Go enables secure, graphical access to a desktop environment over low or high bandwidth connections, providing a seamless user experience for remote work. This template equips your VM with utility software you would expect to see in a typical and stable Linux distribution, ideal efficient and intuitive desktop operation.

Special for tenant users needing remote graphical access in their EWC environment, this template simplifies the setup of basic cloud development solution. Follow the instructions below to get started.

Functionality

The template is designed to:

• Configure a pre-existing Rocky Linux virtual machine (minimum 4GB RAM recommended) with the MATE desktop environment.
• Install and set up X2Go for secure remote desktop access over varying network conditions.
• Enable end-users to interact with the VM through a graphical interface using the X2Go client application.

Prerequisites

💡 Versions listed correspond to minimal prerequisites.

To successfully run this playbook, the following packages should be available in your work environment:

Usage

1. Download Ansible dependencies

💡 By default, Ansible Roles are installed under the ~/.ansible/roles directory within your working environment.

Download the correct version of the Ansible dependencies, if you haven't done so already:

ansible-galaxy role install -r requirements.yml

2. Specify the target host and SSH credentials

Create an inventory file to specify address/credentials that Ansible should use to reach the virtual machine you wish to configure:

# inventory.yml
---
ewcloud:
  hosts:
    remote_desktop:
      ansible_python_interpreter: /usr/bin/python3
      ansible_host: <add the IPV4 address of the target host>
      ansible_ssh_private_key_file: <add the path to local SSH private key file>
      ansible_user: cloud-user
      ansible_ssh_common_args: -o StrictHostKeyChecking=accept-new

3. Configure and apply the template

3.1. Interactive Mode

By running the following command, you can trigger an interactive session that prompts you for the necessary user inputs, and then applies changes to your target EWC environment:

ansible-playbook -i inventory.yml remote-desktop-flavour.yml

3.2. Non-Interactive Mode

💡 To learn more about defining variables at runtime, checkout the official Ansible documentation.

You can also run in non-interactive mode by passing the --extra-vars or -e flag, followed by a map of key-value pairs; one for each and every available input (see inputs section below). For example:

ansible-playbook \
  -i inventory.yml \
  -e '{"whitelisted_ip_ranges": ["10.0.0.0/24"]}' \
  remote-desktop-flavour.yml

4. Install the local client and connect to your remote desktop

⚠️ When configuring a connection, be sure to select "MATE" (instead of "KDE" or any other options) in the Session Type drop-down list, towards the bottom of the Session tab. This is required for the local client to correctly communicate with your remote desktop.

Install the remote desktop client on Microsoft Window, Mac OS or Linux by following the links on the official X2Go installation page. Then follow the official X2Go client usage page if you do not know how to configure a new session.

For a session creation example, representative of a typical EWC environment, checkout the Remote Desktop section of this official EWC documentation page.

Inputs

Dependencies

⚠️ Only RockyLinux 8.10 and 9.5 instances are currently supported due to constrains imposed by the required ewc-ansible-role-remote-desktop Ansible Role.

💡 A VM plan with at least 4GB of RAM is recommended for successful setup and stable operation.