Apache Guacamole is a clientless remote desktop gateway that gives you access to Project-based Virtual Machines (VMs) to perform computational analyses on your Project data. Guacamole supports standard protocols like VNC, RDP, and SSH. To learn more about the application, visit the Guacamole documentation and administration guide.

How it works

After the Guacamole application and the VMs have been set up by a Platform Administrator, Project members can request access to the Guacamole-connected VMs. After access is granted, Project members can fetch data from the Core storage, perform computational workflows on the data inside the VM, then write the derivative outputs back to the Core where other Project members can access them.

Prerequisites

• Project Collaborator role or higher.
• Guacamole application and connected virtual machines pre-configured for the Project by the Platform Administrator. See Getting Access to Guacamole.

Data Stewardship

Users are reminded to abide by the Platform Terms of Use and any Project-specific restrictions when using Workspace tools to access data and code.

Getting Access to Guacamole

1. Launch your Project and click Guacamole in the workspace icon group.

   1. If you launch Guacamole and receive a notice that it hasn’t been deployed for your project, please contact your Platform Administrator.
   2. After the Platform Administrator has deployed Guacamole as a workspace tool for your Project, you can request access to the Guacamole-connected VMs. Every project member must complete this step to initialize their identity in the Guacamole system.
2. In the pop-up window, enter a message to the Project Administrator containing the details of your access request, then click Send Request.
3. A message confirms the request has been sent. Project Administrators receive a notification by email and in the portal notification system.

After the Project Administrator receives the notification and sets up the requested access to the Guacamole-connected VM(s), you will receive credentials that you can use to log into VMs and you can begin using Guacamole.

Launching a Guacamole VM Connection

After the first-time setup has been completed, you can start using Guacamole to access your Project Virtual Machines (VMs). Both Desktop and Command Line Interface VM connections are possible, depending on which VMs have been deployed for the Project and which VMs you have access to.

1. Launch your Project and click Guacamole in the workspace icon group.

   1. If you have access to both Desktop and Command Line Interface VM connections, the Connections screen lists the available VMs. Each VM connection is identified by a name and ID number indicating
      whether it is a Desktop or Command Line connection. Click a VM connection to initiate it.
      
      
       
   2. If you only have access to either a Desktop connection or a Command Line Interface connection, the relevant login screen (Desktop or Command Line Interface) appears.
2. Follow the instructions for establishing a Desktop or Command Line Interface VM connection.

Establishing a Desktop VM Connection

1. On the Desktop login screen, enter your VM-specific username and password, which were provided to you by the Platform Administrator, then click OK. 
2. The VM connection is established.
3. After connecting, you can begin working in your Desktop VM. To launch a Linux terminal, see Launching a Linux Terminal inside a Desktop VM.

Note: We recommend to change your VM-specific password upon first login to the VM. For this, type passwd in a Linux terminal inside the VM, hit return on your keyboard and follow the instructions to change your password. Please make sure to save the new password in a secure location.

Establishing a Command Line VM connection

1. On the Command Line login screen, enter your VM-specific username and password, which were provided to you by the Platform Administrator.
2. The VM connection is established.

Note: We recommend to change your VM-specific password upon first login to the VM. For this, type passwd in the Command Line VM, hit return on your keyboard and follow the instructions to change your password. Please make sure to save the new password in a secure location.

Launching a Linux Terminal inside a Desktop VM

After successfully logging into a Desktop VM, the default desktop is displayed. To launch the pre-installed Linux applications such as a standard terminal,

1. Click Activities in the upper left corner.
2. Enter terminal in the search box.
3. The terminal launches in a new window.

Command Line Interface operations with different HDC zones

The Command Line Interface is deployed within each Workspace VM as extension resource. The file operations permitted by the Command Line Interface depend on the zone you want to interact with, as shown in the table below: