How to Install Guacamole on EndeavourOS

Guacamole is an open-source remote desktop gateway that allows you to access your desktop from anywhere. In this tutorial, we will install Guacamole on EndeavourOS.

Prerequisites

Before beginning the installation process, ensure that you have the following:

  • A system running EndeavourOS.
  • Administrative privileges on the system.

Step 1: Install Required Packages

Guacamole depends on a few packages to work correctly. These packages need to be installed beforehand. The following command installs these packages:

sudo pacman -S tomcat guacamole-server freerdp

Step 2: Configure Guacamole server

After installing the required packages, it's time to configure the Guacamole server. This operation involves two stages:

2.1. Create a configuration file

Copy the guacamole.properties.example file to /etc/guacamole/guacamole.properties using the following command:

sudo cp /etc/guacamole/guacamole.properties.example /etc/guacamole/guacamole.properties

2.2. Configure Authentication

Open the /etc/guacamole/guacamole.properties file using a text editor of your choice, navigate to the authentication section, and adjust the values as per your preference.

The most common authentication types include:

  • jdbc – authenticates users using a relational database.
  • radius – authenticates users with the help of the RADIUS protocol.
  • ldap – authenticates users with the help of LDAP.

Step 3: Configure Tomcat

Guacamole is a web-based application that is served by Tomcat. Therefore, it is essential to configure Tomcat correctly.

3.1. Change Tomcat User and Group

Open the /usr/lib/systemd/system/tomcat.service file using a text editor of your choice and locate the following line:

User=tomcat
Group=tomcat

Replace tomcat with your username and your group name, respectively.

3.2. Enable and Start Tomcat Service

Start the Tomcat service by using the following command:

sudo systemctl enable tomcat
sudo systemctl start tomcat

Step 4: Add Guacamole to Tomcat

Copy the Guacamole .war file to the Tomcat webapps folder:

sudo cp /usr/share/guacamole/guacamole.war /var/lib/tomcat/webapps/

Restart the Tomcat Server:

sudo systemctl restart tomcat

Step 5: Accessing Guacamole

Assuming everything went well, you can access Guacamole on your server's public address via the established port. The default port for Guacamole is 8080, and you can access it via the following URL:

http://<server-public-ip>:8080/guacamole/

Conclusion

In conclusion, Guacamole is a powerful and versatile server that allows you to access your desktop from anywhere. In this tutorial, we have walked you through the process of installing and configuring Guacamole on EndeavourOS.