Installing NX Server Free Edition (not FreeNX)

Message

pelckyboy · Post by **pelckyboy** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 8:59 am

Since I had troubles with the freenx installation, I decided to give nxserver-freeedition a try. I unmerged everything I could find of my old NX installation, cleaned my portage overlays, package.keywords and package.use and finally deleted the whole /usr/NX directory.

When I emerge the nxserver-freeedition, I get the following warning :

NX> 701 WARNING: Error when trying to connect to NX server, error is:
NX> 701 WARNING: NX> 203 NXSSH running with pid: 22085
ssh: connect to host 127.0.0.1 port 22: Connection refused^M.
NX> 701 WARNING: nxsetup cannot validate the sanity of the current installation:
NX> 701 WARNING: the current system or NX configuration could be broken.

What could be causing this ? My sshd is running on 22. Does nxserver include a ssh daemon of its own ? I do want to continue using sftp !

Kristof

Post by **Voyageur** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 9:18 am

Yes, NX server uses the system SSH server (that's one of its strengths), so it works with a default installation. Note that the NX node needs to connect to the SSH server on its loopback adress (127.0.0.1), which you can see in this warning:

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ssh: connect to host 127.0.0.1 port 22: Connection refused

I don't think it's a firewall problem (blocking traffic on loopback can be very dangerous for your health), so check /etc/hosts.allow (if there is a sshd: line, 127.0.0.1 must be in it) and /etc/ssh/sshd_config (if the ListenAddress parameter is set or not).

pelckyboy · Post by **pelckyboy** » Wed Jan 24, 2007 12:03 am

Restarted my ssh server and connected using the machine's IP address where I had to accept the key, and now I get :

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NX> 200 Connected to address: 127.0.0.1 on port: 22
Warning: Permanently added '127.0.0.1' (RSA) to the list of known hosts.
NX> 202 Authenticating user: nx
NX> 208 Using auth method: publickey
NX> 204 Authentication failed..

My sshd config :

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Protocol 2
PubkeyAuthentication yes
AuthorizedKeysFile      .ssh/authorized_keys
PasswordAuthentication no
UsePAM yes
X11Forwarding yes
Subsystem       sftp    /usr/lib/misc/sftp-server

Any ideas ? Does the installation procedure adds its own key ?

Kristof

Post by **Voyageur** » Wed Jan 24, 2007 12:39 am

The NX client first logs in with its own key pair (as the user nx), the matching authorized keys file for this user is /usr/NX/home/nx/.ssh/authorized_keys2.

So you'll need to move/copy it to authorized_keys, or change your sshd_config to:

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AuthorizedKeysFile      .ssh/authorized_keys2

(which is the default if I recall correctly), and you should pass the nx authentification

[/code]

pelckyboy · Post by **pelckyboy** » Wed Jan 24, 2007 8:34 am

Thanks to your help, I am able to connect to the nx server !

At first I got following error from the client :

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612 ERROR: No valid subscription found.

Looking at http://www.nomachine.com/ar/view.php?ar_id=AR12D00432 I changed the permissions of the node.lic :

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chown root:root /usr/NX/etc/node.lic

I configured my client to start XFCE4, by putting Desktop>Unix>Custom, command:

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/usr/bin/startxfce4

If XFCE4 does not show the correct resolution, follow this tip:

Basically, go the the XFCE installation directory and rm/mv display_plugin.*

When I press the logout button on the xfcepanel, NX client does not terminate. FreeNX used to close properly. Today, I will do some remote performance testing to see if NX's Free edition is better than FreeNX !

neurovish · Post by **neurovish** » Wed Jan 24, 2007 8:34 pm

Why the hate for FreeNX? I've been using it for awhile and haven't encountered any problems.

Post by **Voyageur** » Thu Jan 25, 2007 12:12 am

neurovish wrote:Why the hate for FreeNX? I've been using it for awhile and haven't encountered any problems.

No hate, I used it for some time too! But it is almost impossible to get working on amd64 (official NX binaries work out-of-the-box with emul libraries), has compatibility problems with recent NX releases (not easy when you're at a friend's home, with only a windows nx client 2.1), and sadly does not look like to be actively developed (last SVN commit is 6 months ago, and the website...)

As soon as I find time for it, I'll take a look into GPL 2X terminal server (Stuart has already done a good part of the job making it work in linux), but for now freeedition works for me

Post by **Voyageur** » Tue Feb 06, 2007 9:57 am

Latest ebuilds can now be found directly in the NX overlay (recent fixes include ebuild cleanups, upgrades definitely fixed), along freenx 0.6

mgp-gentoo · Post by **mgp-gentoo** » Sun Feb 11, 2007 5:28 pm

I installed, a few months ago from the nx overlay nxserver-freeedition-2.1.0 and nxnode-2.1.0. I tried to get it running but always got a licence error:

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Info: received data in out channel from NX Node: 'NX> 612 ERROR: No valid subscription found. Please visit the
NX> 612 ERROR: NoMachine Web site at http://www.nomachine.com/
NX> 612 ERROR: to acquire a valid subscription.

Then I tried to follow the instructions on:
http://www.nomachine.com/ar/view.php?ar_id=AR12D00432
i.e.

4c. "chown nx:root /usr/NX/etc/server.lic"
4d. "chown root:root /usr/NX/etc/node.lic"
4e. "chmod 0400 /usr/NX/etc/server.lic"
4f. "chmod 0400 /usr/NX/etc/node.lic"

but I didn't have a node.lic.

Today I updated the overlay and reemerged the packages to see if I could get the server going. When I reemerged nxnode I got the following message at the end of the successful emerge:

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NX> 701 Autodetected system 'gentoo'.
NX> 701 Update log is '/usr/NX/var/log/update'.
NX> 701 Updating node at: dg feb 11 16:53:48 2007.
NX> 701 Checking NX node configuration using the /usr/NX/etc/node.cfg file.
NX> 701 WARNING: Sorry, your upgrade period has expired. To be able to
NX> 701 WARNING: install a new version of the software, please visit the
NX> 701 WARNING: NoMachine Web site at http://www.nomachine.com/
NX> 701 WARNING: o acquire a valid subscription.

Trying to connect from the nxclient from the same machine results in:

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Info: received data in out channel from NX Node: 'NX> 618 Your evaluation period has expired. Please visit
NX> 618 the NoMachine Web site at http://www.nomachine.com/
NX> 618 to acquire a valid subscription.
' (NXNodeExec)
Info: received data in out channel from NX Node: 'NX> 690 Bye.
' (NXNodeExec)
Info: NX Node out channel was closed (NXNodeExec)
Info: Removing not recognized buffer from stdout:[] (NXNodeExec)
Info: NX Node err channel was closed (NXNodeExec)
Info: closing nxssh's in, out, err FDs (flagfinished is: 0) (NXNodeExec)
Error: no 'CONNECTED' message from NX Node (NXNodeExec)
Killed by signal 15.

And trying to connect from a windows machine:

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Info: received data in out channel from NX Node: 'NX> 618 Your evaluation period has expired. Please visit
NX> 618 the NoMachine Web site at http://www.nomachine.com/
NX> 618 to acquire a valid subscription.
' (NXNodeExec)
Info: received data in out channel from NX Node: 'NX> 690 Bye.
' (NXNodeExec)
Info: NX Node out channel was closed (NXNodeExec)
Info: Removing not recognized buffer from stdout:[] (NXNodeExec)
Info: NX Node err channel was closed (NXNodeExec)
Info: closing nxssh's in, out, err FDs (flagfinished is: 0) (NXNodeExec)
Error: no 'CONNECTED' message from NX Node (NXNodeExec)
NX> 280 Ignoring EOF on the monitored channel
NX> 280 Ignoring CLOSE on the monitored channel
NX> 595 ERROR: A fatal error occurred in NX Server.
NX> 595 ERROR: The exception id is: 99B335F9. To get detailed information about
NX> 595 ERROR: the error search for the string 99B335F9 in the system log
NX> 595 ERROR: file (usually '/var/log/messages').
NX> 500 ERROR: Last operation failed.
Killed by signal 15.

and

#cat /var/log/messages |grep 99B335F9

Feb 11 16:58:34 mugammapi 2.1.0-18[26549]: ERROR: (exception id 99B335F9) Error: no 'CONNECTED' message from NX Node
Feb 11 16:58:34 mugammapi 2.1.0-18[26549]: ERROR: (exception id 99B335F9) NXNodeExec::exec('startsession', 'user=mgp&userip=192%2e168%2e1%2e1&uniqueid=16FAEC32C7F0B20D70C7C...', 'localhost', 22) called at handlers/nxserver.pl line 2868
Feb 11 16:58:34 mugammapi 2.1.0-18[26549]: ERROR: (exception id 99B335F9) NXShell::handler_session_start('--link="lan" --backingstore="1" --streaming="1" --nodelay="1" --...') called at NXShell.pm line 374
Feb 11 16:58:34 mugammapi 2.1.0-18[26549]: ERROR: (exception id 99B335F9) NXShell::handle_command('startsession', '--link="lan" --backingstore="1" --streaming="1" --nodelay="1" --...') called at NXShell.pm line 145
Feb 11 16:58:34 mugammapi 2.1.0-18[26549]: ERROR: (exception id 99B335F9) NXShell::run() called at nxserver.pl line 4519
Feb 11 16:58:34 mugammapi 2.1.0-18[26549]: ERROR: (exception id 99B335F9) eval {...} called at nxserver.pl line 4478

Why should I have licence problems if I use the freeedition? I'm only trying one connection at the time.
It obviousy could be something different. Has anybody an idea of how to proceed? If any extra information is needed please ask.

Thanks,
Michael

mgp-gentoo · Post by **mgp-gentoo** » Sun Feb 11, 2007 5:47 pm

Just found:

http://www.nomachine.com/ar/view.php?ar_id=AR11D00430

that advises to unmerge all nx products and emerge them again.

I've discovered:

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# cat /usr/NX/etc/server.lic | grep 'Expiry'
Expiry:             Unlimited
#  cat /usr/NX/etc/node.lic | grep 'Expiry'
Expiry:             Sat Jan 27 20:36:41 CET 2007

where the last should also be Unlimited.

So I proceeded as mentioned and now everything works.

Thanks,

Michael

Post by **Voyageur** » Sun Feb 11, 2007 5:55 pm

The freeedition also uses a license file, you may have still lingering files from your first install.

Can you try first removing nxclient/nxnode/nxserver-freeedition, purge /usr/NX of any remaining files (node.* especially), and emerge with the overlay's ebuilds again? This should fix it

EDIT: looks like nomachine's knowledge base was faster than me

Anyway latest ebuilds should handle the *.lic files correctly, including over updates

zomps · Post by **zomps** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 10:44 am

hmm it requires dep xrdb, but still i get cannot open display error

Post by **Voyageur** » Mon Feb 26, 2007 6:56 pm

Thanks, I'll add xrdb to nxnode rdeps (quite a hidden dep, even nomachine's deps list does not mention it!)

What's the error message you get? Which client? It sounds like an error message the client itself coud launch

zomps · Post by **zomps** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 3:51 pm

I use 2.1.0 client.
The strange thing is client even shows black display and then dies
on server side i see

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Feb 27 17:49:24 zomps 2.1.0-15[6999]: DEBUG: Option xpi enabled with value: 96. Pushing command: xrdb -merge 'main:nxnode:3653'
Feb 27 17:49:24 zomps 2.1.0-15[6999]: DEBUG: run command: saving env 'DISPLAY'=unset 'main:nxnode:3031'
Feb 27 17:49:24 zomps 2.1.0-15[6999]: DEBUG: run command: setting env 'DISPLAY'=unix:1013 'main:nxnode:3031'
Feb 27 17:49:24 zomps 2.1.0-15[6999]: DEBUG: run command: trying to run command '/bin/bash -c 'exec -a - /bin/bash -c '\''xrdb -merge'\'' 'main:nxnode:3031'
Feb 27 17:49:24 zomps 2.1.0-15[6999]: DEBUG: Signals are now blocked ... 'main:nxnode:2909'
Feb 27 17:49:25 zomps 2.1.0-15[6999]: DEBUG: Signals unblocked 'main:nxnode:2931'
Feb 27 17:49:25 zomps 2.1.0-15[6999]: DEBUG: run command: command is running with pid: 7003 'main:nxnode:3031'
Feb 27 17:49:25 zomps 2.1.0-15[6999]: DEBUG: run command: written stdin parameter to STDIN of process 7003 '/bin/bash -c 'exec -a - /bin/bash -c '\''xrdb -merge'\'': 'Xft.dpi: 96\n' 'main:nxnode:3031'
Feb 27 17:49:25 zomps 2.1.0-15[6999]: DEBUG: run command: closed command STDIN 'main:nxnode:3031'
Feb 27 17:49:25 zomps 2.1.0-15[6999]: DEBUG: run command: added command STDOUT to list of selector set 'main:nxnode:3031'
Feb 27 17:49:25 zomps 2.1.0-15[6999]: DEBUG: run command: added command STDERR to selector set 'main:nxnode:3031'
Feb 27 17:49:25 zomps 2.1.0-15[7003]: DEBUG: Signals unblocked 'main:nxnode:2931'
Feb 27 17:49:25 zomps 2.1.0-15[6999]: DEBUG: run command: process '7003' stdout was closed. 'main:nxnode:3031'
Feb 27 17:49:25 zomps 2.1.0-15[6999]: DEBUG: run command: process '7003' stderr was closed. 'main:nxnode:3031'
Feb 27 17:49:25 zomps 2.1.0-15[6999]: DEBUG: run command: process '7003' finished with: 1 'main:nxnode:3031'
Feb 27 17:49:25 zomps 2.1.0-15[6999]: DEBUG: run command: process '7003' stdout was '' 'main:nxnode:3659'
Feb 27 17:49:25 zomps 2.1.0-15[6999]: DEBUG: run command: process '7003' stderr was 'xrdb: Can't open display 'unix:1013'\n' 'main:nxnode:3659'
Feb 27 17:49:25 zomps 2.1.0-15[6999]: DEBUG: run command: env DISPLAY unset 'main:nxnode:3659'
Feb 27 17:49:25 zomps 2.1.0-15[6999]: ERROR: Failed to set xpi value in command xrdb: /bin/bash -c 'exec -a - /bin/bash -c '\''xrdb -merge'\'': output was: xrdb: Can't open display 'unix:1013'\n, exit value: 1 'main:nxnode:3664'

Post by **Voyageur** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 5:23 pm

The only entry in nomachine's knowledge base is this one, but it should have been fixed some time ago in 2.0, and the reporter said it did not prevent the session from being started...

Have you tried with some other types of remote desktops? (simple xterm, some app, ..., kde/gnome/...) Also, if you had an older NX version at some time, can you remove it, clean /usr/NX, and re-emerge it?

zomps · Post by **zomps** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 8:41 am

Yeah I found that reference also.
when I enabled in kdm XDMCP requests and on client selected xdm I got the login manager running
and I am able login to my kde. strange

but when I select KDE session on client it fails, least I can login now

blackbumer · Post by **blackbumer** » Sun May 13, 2007 5:43 am

Is it possible to connect without password ussing ~/.ssh/id_dsa key file ?
i receive "enter password" when i choose key file in configuration(nxclient) save setting and press connect with clear password

qfpkh · Post by **qfpkh** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 1:08 pm

I installed nxserver_freeedition,I am a newbie,Can someone provide some instructions on how to config the NX Server Free Edition?
emerge -v nxserver_freeedition
I don't use ssh,My sshd_config is default,and I don't know how to config,Can someone help me?
I searched Google,but only free-nxserver,not nxserver_freeedition.
I tried free-nxserver,but failed

qfpkh · Post by **qfpkh** » Sat Jun 16, 2007 5:06 pm

anybody can help me?

devsk · Post by **devsk** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 2:33 pm

anybody game for NX 3.0 ebuilds? NX 3 was announced today.

Post by **Voyageur** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 2:53 pm

devsk wrote:anybody game for NX 3.0 ebuilds? NX 3 was announced today.

And someone already ended the game (a mere 10 hours after the release mail): see [bug=182779]bug #182779[/bug].

The ebuilds are in the NX overlay for now for those who can't wait, as the bump to 3.0 introduces a few problems and a few needed updates to the ebuilds. After that, I'll move them in portage. Note that you should unmerge nxserver-freedition before the update (I'll add a blocker soon to force that).

devsk · Post by **devsk** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 2:58 pm

Voyageur wrote:
devsk wrote:anybody game for NX 3.0 ebuilds? NX 3 was announced today.
And someone already ended the game (a mere 10 hours after the release mail): see [bug=182779]bug #182779[/bug].

The ebuilds are in the NX overlay for now for those who can't wait, as the bump to 3.0 introduces a few problems and a few needed updates to the ebuilds. After that, I'll move them in portage. Note that you should unmerge nxserver-freedition before the update (I'll add a blocker soon to force that).

Holy Jesus Voyageur, you scare me with your speed. you are FAST! I will check it out.

Post by **Voyageur** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 8:11 pm

I had some help from the bug author too! Anyway, the ebuilds are fixed now, expect them in a few hours in portage

Highlights include:

- Desktop sharing
- Session shadowing
- Full support for amd64
- Windows Vista support for nxclient
- Screen scaling capabilities
- Dynamic reordering of the screen updates
- Greatly reduced session reconnection times
- bugfixes, ...

devsk · Post by **devsk** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 11:43 pm

Voyageur wrote: - Session shadowing

do you know how to enable multiple users accessing the same desktop?

zomps · Post by **zomps** » Sat Jun 23, 2007 12:36 pm

Tried today again the new vversion (3.0) and found solution to my previos error

Feb 27 17:49:25 zomps 2.1.0-15[6999]: ERROR: Failed to set xpi value in command xrdb: /bin/bash -c 'exec -a - /bin/bash -c '\''xrdb -merge'\'': output was: xrdb: Can't open display 'unix:1013'\n, exit value: 1 'main:nxnode:3664'

added to /etc/hosts:
127.0.0.1 zomps unix

now it works like charm

Installing NX Server Free Edition (not FreeNX)

It worked !

Problems with licences