How to configure SRSS 4.2 to work with the soft client

Saturday Jul 11, 2009

With the release of Sun Ray Software 5, we have released a soft client that runs on windows XP, Vista and 7 and connects to Sun Ray Servers. The software and documentation can be obtained from this link. Installing the client and using is fairly straight forward, normal windows setup.exe steps.

There are configuration changes to the Sun Ray Server Software that must take place in order for the soft client to connect and that will be the focus of this post.

The first screen shot below shows what the client looks like when it is pointed at a Sun Ray Server that either does not support the soft client, version previous to 4.2, or a 4.2 server that does not have the soft client functionality enabled.

Configure the Sun Ray Server to allow connections from the soft client

To get started we need to point a web browser at the Sun Ray server. http://<yourhost>:1660. You will then need to provide the administrative credentials to log into the site. Once into the site you need take the following steps:

1. Click on the Advanced Tab
2. Click on the Systems Policy Sub Tab
3. Check the Software Client Access check box
4. Click on Save

Once your settings are saved you will be presented with a dialog that you need to restart the service. Click on the link to switch to the servers tab.

Once on the servers tab

1. tick the checkbox in front of your server name
2. click on cold restart

The system will go through a dialog about the server restarting.

Finally we need to go back to our Soft Ray. It should now be connected to your Sun Ray Server.

Note that my Sun Ray server is configured to give out the Solaris desktop. The Soft Client is capable of displaying any kiosk session that the Sun Ray server is configured to display, windows connector, VDI, etc.

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Posted at 11:51AM Jul 11, 2009 by acworkma in Sun
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How to install the Sun Ray Windows Connector 2.2 for a POC

Saturday Jul 11, 2009

One of the very powerful things of the Sun Ray solution is the ability to display windows desktops. The Sun Ray Windows Connector allows us to connect to Windows Terminal Servers or a single XP instance. This how to is for a quick setup to get windows running on Sun Ray for a POC. The Windows Connector Software can be found here.

Extract the software:
# unzip srwc_2.2_solaris.zip

Install the connector:
Create a group of the connector proxy to run as

# groupadd utsrwc

Run the installer
# ./srwc_2.2/installer
Accept the license
Enter the name of the group we just created - utsrwc

Run the automatic configuration script
# /opt/SUNWuttsc/sbin/uttscadm -c

Restart the Sun Ray Server Software
# /opt/SUNWut/sbin/utrestart -c

Note: Now is when we would apply patches. Since this a new release there are not any yet.

Configure Kiosk Mode:
We will use the web interface for the Sun Ray server to configure the Sun Ray server to present windows desktops. Log into your web admin port http://<name of run ray server>:1660. The username is admin and the password is the one you gave it during set up.

1. Click on the advanced tab
2. Click on the kiosk mode tab
3. Click on the edit button

We need to create our kiosk mode as the windows connector.

1. Changed the drop down to Sun Ray Connector for Windows OS
2. Type the DNS name or IP of the windows host in the arguments field
3. Click on Ok

At this point you will have a kiosk mode defined and then you will need to tell the server when to use it. This is accomplished by using the the System Policy to turn Kiosk Mode on.

1. Click on the advanced tab
2. Click on the System Policy Sub Tab
3. Click on the enable kiosk mode under card users
4. Click on enable kiosk mode under non card users
5. Click on the Save button

Changing the system policy requires a restart of the Sun Ray Services

1. Click on the Servers Tab
2. tick the checkbox in front of your server name
3. click on cold restart  

At this point our system is configured to present a windows desktop. 2 other great scripts for windows POCs are Point and Shoot and MetaKiosk.

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Posted at 09:52AM Jul 11, 2009 by acworkma in Sun
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How to build a Sun Ray Server 4.2 for a Proof of Concept

Saturday Jul 11, 2009

Quick and dirty about how to get a Sun Ray server up and running for a proof of concept. Please note that while this will get things up and running, there are many items outside of the scope of this document that need to be taken into consideration for a full production enterprise deployment. The documentation has been moved to the wiki format. Don't be bashful click around there is a ton of great straight forward information in the site. which can be found here.

Get the goods
The first step is to have an available server to install on. You will need a Solaris 10, Redhat or SUSE server. The directions here will be for installing on Solaris 10. Next you will need to download the software. You also need to check this patch list, and get the latest patches.

Network Provisioning
You need to use one of the provisioning methods in this article to set up how your Sun Rays will find the Sun Ray server.

Solaris Version
SRSS 4.2 requires Solaris 05/09 (u7) verify you have the correct version.
#cat /etc/release

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Posted at 09:50AM Jul 11, 2009 by acworkma in Sun
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