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

• Install git (version 2.0 or higher )
• Install python (version 3.9 or higher)
• Install ansible (version 2.15 or higher)
• If you plan to configure an existing VM, jump to the Usage section below
• If you have not yet provisioned a VM, it is required to do so. You may choose one of the following approaches:

  • A) Provision a new VM via UI:

    • Create an SSH keypair (see Creating the keys section of the EWC documentation)
    • Import the SSH public key into Morpheus (see Adding the keys in Morpheus section of the EWC documentation)
    • Provision a new VM through the web portal (see Provision a new Instance - Web section of the EWC) documentation

    OR

  • B) Provision a new VM via CLI:

    • Create an SSH keypair (see Creating the keys section of the EWC documentation)
    • Add you SSH public key to OpenStack (see Import SSH Key section of the EWC documentation).
    • Provision a new VM via the OpenStack CLI (see How to create a VM using the OpenStack CLI section of the EWC documentation)

    OR

  • C) Deploy this template, together with a new VM, as part of the Remote Desktop Provisioning Community Hub Item

    OR

  • D) Deploy this template, together with a new VM, via the EWCCLI

Usage

1. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/ewcloud/ewc-ansible-playbook-flavours-and-provisioning.git

1.1. Change to the specific Item's subdirectory

cd ewc-ansible-playbook-flavours-and-provisioning/playbooks/remote-desktop-flavour

1.2. (Optional) Checkout an specific Item's version

⚠️ Make sure to replace x.y.z in the command below, with your version of preference.

git checkout x.y.z

2. 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

3. 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

4. Configure and apply the template

4.1. 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

4.2. 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 '{"fail2ban_whitelisted_ip_ranges": ""}' \
  remote-desktop-flavour.yml

5. 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.