3. “Ulteo”
Ulteo is a software company which provides free and
open source (FOSS) virtual desktop solutions. The
company is based in Caen, Calvados
départment, France, and has a research and
development center in Colombelles.
4. History:
Ulteo was founded by Gaël Duval, who previously
created Mandriva Linux, and Thierry Koehrlen in
1998. Eight years later he was dismissed. Shortly
after this Duval founded the Ulteo Web OS project.
Duval tried to launch a similar concept dubbed
Eazel, a few years ago but the endeavor failed.
5. Ulteo Application System
OS Type: Linux
Based on: Debian, Ubuntu
Origin: France
Architecture: i386
Desktop: KDE
Category: Desktop
Ulteo Application System (Ulteo AS) is a Debian/Ubuntu-based Linux distribution
created by Gaël Duval, the original founder of Mandrake Linux (now Mandriva Linux)
and co-founder of MandrakeSoft (now Mandriva). It is a hybrid, network-oriented and
mostly automatic computing system that ships with hundreds of applications and
innovative features. The basic version of the Ulteo AS provides a choice of
applications for daily use, such as Firefox, Thunderbird, OpenOffice.org, etc., but
can be easily extended with a set of applications from the Ulteo panel. It also
provides document and panel content synchronisation capabilities between a local
installation of Ulteo AS and Ulteo Open Virtual Desktop.
6. Version
Under the hood, Ulteo AS is based on a pimped
Ubuntu distribution. Users log in to the online desk
via "Ulteo AA", a Kerberos-based authentication
service; the connection is then established via
VNC. Local files are synchronized with online
versions by a synchronization service; currently an
online storage limit of 10MB applies. On top of
this, the developers have introduced a "My Digital
Life" panel that helps users to manage their own
documents and applications in a convenient way.
7. Features
WINDOWS AND/OR LINUX APPLICATION
DELIVERY
Ulteo's Open Virtual Desktop delivers applications
that are hosted on Linux servers or via Windows
Terminal Services to any Java-enabled web browser,
to any desktop (Windows, MacOS, Linux, thin client),
anywhere (WAN-enable).Windows applications are
served from Windows Server 2003 or 2008/2008R2
servers. The provided “base” set of Linux applications
include the Open Office productivity suite, Firefox web
browser, Thunderbird email client, Pidgin instant
messaging client, and more. Additional Linux
applications may be installed and deployed by the
system administrator.
8. Ulteo Screenshots
ULTEO VIRTUAL DESKTOP BETA
Here are the first Ulteo Virtual Desktop (beta) screenshots:
9. ULTEO APPLICATION SYSTEM BETA
Here are the firsts Ulteo Application System beta screenshots:
10. ULTEO ONLINE DESKTOP BETA
Here is the first Ulteo Online Desktop screenshot:
Here, we can see OpenOffice 2.3 running
within Firefox. When using "print", this
automatically downloads a PDF
document
that can be printed locally...
11. ULTEO "APPLICATION SYSTEM" ALPHA1
Here is the first Ulteo Application System screenshot:
12. Installation procedure
Prior knowledge
The required amount of knowledge of linux operating
systems is quite low. It is very important though to
have administrative access to the target machine
and to know how to start a linux shell or to mount an
ISO file depending on the type of installation you
choose. To be able to do the network configuration
at the end of the installation process, knowledge of
linux network settings is helpful. In case of
doubt, please consult your system administration
first.
13. Installation
procedure(continued)
System requirements
On client side No client installation is required to a
device such as a PC or laptop -only a modern web
browser such as Microsoft Internet Explorer v6-
7 or Mozilla Firefox 2-3(with Javascript enabled and
Java Runtime Environment 1.5-1.6) is needed.
On server side At least two PCs installed with a
supported operating system are recommended; one
for the session manager, one or more for the application
servers. It is possible to install both roles on a single
machine, but please keep performance issues in mind if
you plan to do so. Supported operating
systems: Ubuntu 8.04, RHEL 5.2, Centos 5.2, Fedora
10, Novell SuSE Linux 11.2.
14. Installation
procedure(continued)
Recommendations
For the full production system, dual-core CPUs or
better are recommended for the application servers.
Depending on the number and the kind of
applications used, up to 20 users can run
simultaneously on 1 GB or RAM.
LAN: At least 10Mbps, and ideally 100Mbps or faster
LAN depending on number of users on the network.
Integration: the system can be plugged to an existing
Active Directory or LDAP directory, and supports
both CIFS and NFS fileservers.
15. Steps
1. Download
An ISO download is provided on this download
page. It is helpful in case you want to install
both the recommended operating system
Ubuntu 8.04 and the current version of the
Ulteo Open Virtual Desktop within one
installation process.It is required to specify
contact data before proceeding to the
download page. If you want to install the Ulteo
Open Virtual Desktop via the linux package
management please refer to the Linux
package management description in section
16. Steps(continued)
2. Step-by-step: Installation and configuration
Please choose one of the following two installation types
according to your choice in step 1. Download.
Linux package management
Please follow one of the step-by-step guides to install and
configure the Ulteo Open Virtual Desktop depending on
the operating system of the target machine. Internet
connectivity is required during the installation process to
retrieve depending packages:
Ubuntu 8.04
RHEL 5.2, Centos 5.2, Fedora 10
Novell SuSE Linux 11.2
17. Steps(continued)
ISO
Provided that you downloaded the ISO file in step 1.
Download you can install the Ulteo Open Virtual
Desktop now without internet connectivity, but you will
have to stick with the Ubuntu 8.04 operating system
that is included in this installation process. Since this
installation process provides the operating system as
well as the Ulteo Open Virtual Desktop Software, the
target machine has to have a free partition dedicated
to this installation. If that is the case, please mount
the ISO file and follow the installation steps below.
25. 8. We recommend to choose the default selection "Guided -
use entire disk".
26. 9. Please keep the data in mind that you specify here. The question
"What is the name of this computer?" can be answered with just a
hostname or a fully qualified domain name address.
27. 10. We recommend to choose the default selection: Installation of the
Session Manager as well as the Application Server.
28. 11. Here you specify the access data for the Administrator account of the
Session Manager. It enables the configuration of the Ulteo Open Virtual
Desktop, i.e. adding new users or applications.
29. 12. Now the system is configured and will be
installed if you click on "Install".
30. 13. On going installation process. Please wait...
31. 14. Please wait until you see this dialog and click
on "Restart now".
33. 16. When you see the login prompt the
installation process is finished. The required login
and password are the ones specified in step 9.
Please log in now.
34. 17. A couple of network settings have to be made on operating
system level to be able to connect to the Ulteo Open Virtual
Desktop and from it to resources on the Internet. If you don't know
the following required data please get support by your system
administration.
17.1 Network Interface
Specify data for the network interface, i.e. eth0, eth1.
An example of a correct interface entry follows:
auto eth1
iface eth1 inet static
address 192.168.0.12
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.168.0.1
Explanation of entries:
address: Defines the IP address of the machine hosting the Ulteo
Open Virtual Desktops.
35. netmask: Defines the group of machines belonging to the same network as
the machine hosting the Ulteo Open Virtual Desktops. Example:
255.255.255.0 means that all interconnected machines with IP addresses
starting with the same three numbers (separated by a dot) belong to one
network.
gateway: Defines the host responsible for routing data to and from the
internet.
17.2. Nameserver
Attention: It is crucial that you change the nameserver entries
in /etc/resolv. conf as well as in /opt/ulteo/etc/resolv.conf, otherwise
connectivity from any Ulteo Open Virtual Desktop to the internet will not be
possible.
A typical /etc/resolv.conf or /opt/ulteo/etc/resolv.conf looks as follows:
nameserver 160.45.8.8
nameserver 160.45.10.12
Explanation of entries:
nameserver: Defines a host responsible for resolving Domain Name System
(DNS) entries: IP addresses to internet address names and vice versa.
For reliability reasons multiple hosts are responsible for that task.
36. 17.3 Restart your network
Use this command to do so: /etc/init.d/networking restart
18. Start a web browser to configure your Ulteo Open Virtual
Desktop installation.
From here on, please follow the description in the Ubuntu 8.04
configuration description, but skip the Application Server
Installation if you decided to install the Session Manager as
well as the Application Server in step 10 (as recommended)
and continue with the configuration.
19. Creation of own users
Ulteo comes with a predefined group of users. If you want to
create your own users and groups, please do as follows.
37. 19.1. Admin login
Please log in using login and password of the administrator account.
38. You will see an index window similar to the following:
39. 19.2. Switch to the configuration view
To do so, please click on Configuration at the top.
40. 19.3. Switch to profile settings
To do so, please click on Profile settings on the left column. To state your
intention to create your own users, please select I want to create my own
users and save.
41. 19.4. Switch to users view
To create your own users, please click on the Users icon on top. The
creation of new users is allowed here now. Your screen will look similar to
the following.