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I need to prepare an Ubuntu server for concurrent use for 5 users. The idea is using this server from Windows 7/8 clients remotely, through "Remote Desktop"-like applications. At this moment I have done the following:

  • Installing Ubuntu 14.04 LTS (Trusty Tahr) in the server computer + GNOME3 desktop
  • Installing xrdp for the remote sessions
  • Installing xfce4 as GUI for remote sessions
  • Creating users in server and configuring .xsession file to serve xfce4 desktop

With this, I can open several Windows Remote Desktop Connections, log in to the server and get some basic concurrent working with no problem, but using xfce desktop.

However, this is not exactly what I need, because if the remote session is terminated by any reason, the work that has not been saved is lost.

My idea was having a remote session, where the state is kept in the server if the connection crashes. Like a real Ubuntu login (with GNOME, not xfce) directly to the server, but from Windows. We need to run long processes (lasting hours or days) and we can't lose the state just because the session was terminated.

I read that someone tried something similar with VNC, but does not say if it keeps the session state. However, I am having a lot of problems to get VNC server running in my machine (don't know yet why, but it is another issue), so I can't try.

So my question is: What are the alternatives to classic Windows remote desktop that allow keeping the state? Is it VNC? Is it NX? Any software recommendation for intensive use in terms of performance and efficiency? Am I asking for too much? :-)

Thank you very much for your help!

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3 Answers 3

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For what you are wanting to achieve I think you really need to use NoMachine Enterprise Server see link below. NOTE: I have nothing to do with them, however I researched this about 12 months ago for a client and that was the best option. Alternatively You could look at the Linux Terminal Server Project, or specifically these references here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuLTSP#Linux_Multi-User_Server_Configurations Although they seem to be for older versions of Ubuntu.

NoMachine Enterprise Server provides multi-node support:

https://www.nomachine.com/enterprise

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  • Could you explain exactly what NoMachine does to help his situation?
    – Sophit
    Jul 16, 2014 at 0:03
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What you need is the Small Business Server or Workstation from NoMachine. With only 5 users which need access, one of these will probably suffice. All desktop sessions will be 'suspended' and leave the applications running in the backgroun.

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I'm running XFCE remote desktop via Microsoft mstsc. If I simply kill the window (use the "x" on the window-control area at the top center of the screen), the remote session continues to run, even though the RDP connection gets terminated. Later I can reconnect to the same session, rather than creating a new one..

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