Install RDP on Linux for SBS

Updated by John Gerger on Nov 04, 2019
Article Code: kb/503

The new Simple Backup Service (SBS) currently requires a web browser to perform restore operations. If you do not want to allow remote web based connections to the Backup Agent, you may want to connect directly to the machine via RDP and use a web browser and connect to the local server’s SBS web interface. It is relatively simple to add a desktop with RDP capability to a Linux server to be able to easily establish a typical RDP session to a remote Linux server and get a desktop complete with browser etc.

Steps

Here are the commands to install RDP services on a remote RHEL6x, RHEL7x, CentOS6x, and CentOS7x servers.
Other OSes and versions may have similar procedures.

# RHEL6x
#######
# Establish a remote SSH session as root and install and configure a desktop with RDP on RHEL6x
# Install a full desktop
yum -y groupinstall "Desktop Platform"

# Install RDP services
yum -y install xrdp tigervnc-server

# Start the RDP service manually now
/etc/init.d/xrdp start

# Install a web browser
yum -y install firefox

# You may now RDP to Linux from Windows
# NOTE1: Set mstsc to use 16bit High Color (24bit / 32bit will NOT work)
# NOTE2: You may want to login as a non-root user to get access to normal icons and programs
# RHEL7x
#######
# Establish a remote SSH session as root and install and configure a desktop with RDP on RHEL7x
# Install a full desktop
yum -y groups install "Server with GUI"

# Install RDP services
yum -y install xrdp tigervnc-server

# Allow a rule to allow RDP through the OS firewall
firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=public --add-port=3389/tcp

# Restart the firewall so the new RDP rule becomes effective
firewall-cmd --reload

# Set the RDP service to auto-start at boot-time
systemctl enable xrdp.service

# Start the RDP service manually now
systemctl start xrdp.service

# You may now RDP to Linux from Windows
# NOTE: Set mstsc to use 16bit High Color (24bit / 32bit will NOT work)
# CentOS6x
#########
# Establish a remote SSH session as root and install and configure a desktop with RDP on CentOS6x
# Install a full desktop
yum -y groupinstall desktop

# Install RDP services
yum -y install xrdp tigervnc-server

# Start the RDP service manually now
/etc/init.d/xrdp start

# Install a web browser
yum -y install firefox

# You may now RDP to Linux from Windows
# NOTE1: Set mstsc to use 16bit High Color (24bit / 32bit will NOT work)
# NOTE2: You may want to login as a non-root user to get access to normal icons and programs
# CentOS7x
##########
# Establish a remote SSH session as root and install and configure a desktop with RDP on CentOS7x
# Install a full desktop
yum -y groups install "Server with GUI"

# Install RDP services
yum -y install xrdp tigervnc-server

# Allow a rule to allow RDP through the OS firewall
firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=public --add-port=3389/tcp

# Restart the firewall so the new RDP rule becomes effective
firewall-cmd --reload

# Set the RDP service to auto-start at boot-time
systemctl enable xrdp.service

# Start the RDP service manually now
systemctl start xrdp.service

# You may now RDP to Linux from Windows
# NOTE: Set mstsc to use 16bit High Color (24bit / 32bit will NOT work)