Setup X11 Access to the Solaris GUI

Gnome Desktop
September 8, 2014 11:25 am ⋅ 1 Comment ⋅ wcalkins

Many of my blog posts come from questions that I receive in the classroom as I travel around the
world teaching Solaris, Linux, AIX and HP-UX. I tell my students that I learn something in every
class that I teach- even when I teach the Fundamentals UNIX course. It’s because there are so
many different ways to accomplish the same task in Solaris. Furthermore, those new to
Solaris system administration tend to ask questions that I may have never thought of. Whenever
students ask a question, I don’t usually just answer it off the cuff. I create slides and write up a
procedure on how to perform the task. I guess it’s because I love to write, but also, I want to
make myself perfectly clear. I try to share some of those procedures in my blog postings. How
many times have you read documentation and that one important step is left out? I’ll try not to do
that to you in my blog entries and if I do, make sure you call me out on it.
This question comes up quite often from new system admins:

How do I access the GUI desktop environment on a Solaris 11 SPARC server from my Windows,
MAC, Solaris or Linux desktop computer?

Because SPARC based servers are installed using the Oracle Solaris 11 Text Installer (installing the solaris-
large-server group of software packages), the desktop environment is not installed. Therefore, the only
option for connecting remotely to the server is with an SSH client and getting a command line prompt. I
typically use putty for this. Another great tool, and there’s a free version, is MobaXterm. Setting up
desktop access using MobaXterm is the topic I’ll cover here.
Students using SPARC servers, especially those new administrators, frequently ask how to setup
their Windows, MAC, Solaris or Linux desktop to display the Gnome GUI desktop environment
when connecting to their SPARC server. In otherwords, they want this this screen:
Not this screen:

Here’s how to setup your Windows, MAC or Linux desktop to display the Solaris Gnome GUI
environment.
Overview of the Setup
To accomplish this, you’ll need to follow these three steps:
1. Install the Gnome desktop environment on your SPARC server.
Note – If you use the text installation method, the Oracle Solaris Desktop package (solaris-
desktop) is not installed on your system by default.
2. Enable XDMCP connections on the SPARC server.
XDMCP is a remote desktop protocol used by several UNIX systems, including Solaris. With
XDMCP, your desktop computer running X11 can connect to the SPARC server (also running
X11) and interact with the SPARC server as if you were physically at the SPARC server.
3. Install an X Server program on your desktop. I’ll use the free version of
MobaXterm. Download and install MobaXterm (free) on your Windows, MAC, Solaris or
Linux desktop from http://mobaxterm.mobatek.net/

Step 1 – Install the Gnome desktop environment on your SPARC server

Log into the SPARC server as root. The server needs to have access to a software repository so
that you can install the solaris-desktop package as follows:

# pkg install solaris-desktop

Note: If your system does not have access to a repository, that’s a topic for another time, but it is
covered in my book. Add a comment below this post if you would like me to post this
procedure. Another source of information is Oracle explains how in their documentation.
The installation of the solaris-desktop will take several minutes. Here’s a sample installation:

# pkg install solaris-desktop

Packages to install: 337
Create boot environment: No
Create backup boot environment: Yes
Services to change: 14
DOWNLOAD PKGS FILES XFER (MB) SPEED
Completed 337/337 50991/50991 528.9/528.9 0B/s
PHASE ITEMS
Installing new actions 82278/82278
Updating package state database Done
Updating image state Done
Creating fast lookup database working
Creating fast lookup database Done
You have new mail in /var/mail/root

Step 2 – Enable XDMCP connections on the SPARC server

When the installation is complete, enable XDMCP connections by editing
the /etc/gdm/custom.conf file. Add this line to the end of the file:

[xdmcp]

Enable=true

Enable xvnc-inetd as follows:

# inetadm -e xvnc-inetd

Restart the graphical login service (gdm) as follows:

# svcadm restart svc:/application/graphical-login/gdm:default

Check the state of the gdm service by typing:

# svcs -vx

The service might be in a maintenance state like this:

svc:/system/consolekit:default (ConsoleKit)

State: maintenance since September 5, 2014 09:11:20 PM UTC

Reason: Restarting too quickly.

See: http://support.oracle.com/msg/SMF-8000-L5

See: man -M /usr/share/man -s 1m console-kit-daemon

See: /var/svc/log/system-consolekit:default.log

Impact: 1 dependent service is not running:

svc:/application/graphical-login/gdm:default

Reboot the server

Verify that all of the services are running normal by typing:

# svcs -vx
The following output shows that the svc:/application/texinfo-update:default service
is offline* This indicates that the service is still starting. Eventually, the svcs –vx command
should return only a shell prompt when everything is running:

svc:/application/texinfo-update:default (texinfo documentation directory update)

State: offline* transitioning to online since September 5, 2014 09:26:33 PM UTC

Reason: Start method is running.

See: http://support.oracle.com/msg/SMF-8000-C4

See: man -M /usr/share/man -s 1 install-info

See: /var/svc/log/application-texinfo-update:default.log

Impact: This service is not running.

When the service is running, the svcs -vx command will return only a prompt as follows:

# svcs -vx
#

- See more at: http://unixed.com/blog/2014/09/setup-x11-access-to-the-solaris-gui-gnome-

desktop/#sthash.hjY7qyRH.dpuf