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New to the community and quite new to Linux/Ubuntu. I work in a school which has a standard Windows network (Windows clients and servers). The Head of Computing has approached me wanting to know if I can provide a Linux/Ubuntu remote session for about 25 students concurrently. They don't require the full Ubuntu experience - they only need access to Terminal to run a few commands to ping and trace route, etc. They also need to screenshot this as evidence for their work. Could someone point me in the right direction to do this? Would it be best for me to set up a Linux server for this or is there a Terminal emulator that would provide the same experience but in the Windows environment?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

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  • This has worked brilliantly! Exactly what I was looking for. Thanks!
    – user648890
    Jan 31, 2017 at 15:59

2 Answers 2

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On the server side

Install the openssh server if not already installed. In a terminal enter:

sudo apt install openssh-server

Add 25 usernames for 25 students and respective passwords. Make sure the passwords are not easy to guess. You may want to restrict the student users in various ways. See How to create a restricted SSH user for port forwarding? for a very detailed example of using restrictions within ssh server. See configuring the ssh server instructions for security related information.

On the Windows 7 clients

Install PuTTy or another Windows ssh client, such as 10 best PuTTY alternatives.

Finally...

If all the Windows clients and the Ubuntu server are on the same network, and the students don't need to access the ssh server from outside, you are done. If not, you may need NAT or some other configuration.

Try to login from a Windows PuTTy client and if it works, distribute the userID and password to each students along with login instructions.

The students should be able to take screenshots of the PuTTy window in Windows using the standard screenshot taking mechanism in Windows.

Hope this helps

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Solution #1.

Install Virtualbox on the Windows machines, then create an Ubuntu virtual machine on each of them.

or the better alternative

Solution #2.

The Cool Way, accessible from any Browser and Device without any RDP Client

Install Ubuntu on a powerful computer(server), with at least 6 GB RAM.
Install the Ubuntu MATE desktop and XRDP.
On that Ubuntu computer you can create the 25 users (not root users) above mentioned.


Setup Apache Guacamole on it.
In the user-mapping.xml file you need to add the 25 allowed users and connections.
Here is an example with 5 users = 5desktops + 1 ssh:

<user-mapping>
<authorize
username="demologin"
password="demologin1234">
<connection name="SSH">
<protocol>ssh</protocol>
<param name="hostname">localhost</param>
<param name="port">22</param>
<param name="username">student1</param>
</connection>
<connection name="student1-rdp">
<protocol>rdp</protocol>
<param name="hostname">localhost</param>
<param name="port">3389</param>
</connection>
<connection name="student2-rdp">
<protocol>rdp</protocol>
<param name="hostname">localhost</param>
<param name="port">3389</param>
</connection>
<connection name="student3-rdp">
<protocol>rdp</protocol>
<param name="hostname">localhost</param>
<param name="port">3389</param>
</connection>
<connection name="student4-rdp">
<protocol>rdp</protocol>
<param name="hostname">localhost</param>
<param name="port">3389</param>
</connection>
<connection name="student5-rdp">
<protocol>rdp</protocol>
<param name="hostname">localhost</param>
<param name="port">3389</param>
</connection>
</authorize>
</user-mapping>

This all can be done on a single Linux computer.


Guacamole supports multiple connections, copy and paste, audio etc.
Taking screenshots is also very easy, as there is an Application installed with Ubuntu MATE.

The Full Tutorial how to do it and the DEMO is can be found here: https://vpsghost.com

In the Demo I have setup the five users with the user-mapping.xml above:

The first login:

Username: demologin
Password: demologin1234

XRDP Login

Username: student1
Password: student1

Username: student2
Password: student2

and so on...

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