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Installing and configuring the NoMachine 4 Client.

This document briefly describes how to download and configure the NoMachine Client to enable remote access to SSRL Crystallography systems. For full documentation of the NoMachine software, please consult the NoMachine Support pages. In particular the tutorial "How to run a virtual desktop session". For a quick overview of how to use the client to connect to SSRL, see this video tutorial

Download and installation

With version 4 of the NoMachine software, there are several server and client products. On the client side there are two to pick from.

• NoMachine Free Personal Edition (This is also a single user server)
• NoMachine Enterprise Client

Both will work equally well as a client for connecting to SSRL. The first one, is the version that is offered when you visit NoMachine's home page. Be aware that a network facing server is being installed if you use the "Personal Server" option. It may very well be a useful option for you, but for the purpose of connecting to SSRL, we recommend installing the Enterprise client. It includes the client software only.

It is possible to turn off the server part in the Personal Server after it's been installed, see this NoMachine Support article.

• Download the package of NoMachine Enterprise Client that matches your operating system.

The client is available as "click-to-install" packages for Windows and Mac OS X. If you install on Windows, also download all the available add-on fonts from the download page. Follow the installation instructions provided on the NoMachine site. Linux packages are available in "rpm" format for RedHat/Fedora and in "deb" format for Debian/Ubuntu. A tar.gz package is also available for a manual install.

Configure

Starting the software

• Windows: Double click on 'NoMachine Enterprise Client' shortcut on your desktop. You can also find it in the Start menu; Start -> All Programs -> NoMachine -> NoMachine Enterprise Client
• Mac OS X: In the "Applications" folder, click on "NoMachine"
• Linux: Depending on linux flavor, the program will appear in menus or launchers as "NoMachine Player"
  The command line executable is called "nxplayer", but the default installation does not add it to your PATH.
  % /usr/NX/bin/nxplayer
• You will be greeted by a "First Time Configuration" window.
• Click Continue
• 

Add a new connection

• Next screen will normally show you a list of configured connections. If this is your first time through it should be empty. Once you have configurations, this will be your startup screen.
• If you previously had NX Client 3.5.0 installed, there may be old configurations showing up here. Remove them by right clicking on the connection symbol and select "Remove connection"
• Click on the "New" icon or on text between the <...> symbols.
• 

New Connection - Protocol

• Keep the default NX protocol.
• Click Continue
• 

New Connection - Host

• Enter the name of the server to connect to. SSRL is currently running two NoMachine servers.
• • smbnxs1.slac.stanford.edu
  • smbnxs2.slac.stanford.edu
• Un-check the "Use UDP communication..." option as we are blocking that at SSRL.
  Having it checked slows you down a little as the client tries to use extra functionality, but it will not cause any failure.
• Tip: Once you have finsihed creating this profile, go back and create a second one for the other server host.
• Click Continue
• 

New Connection - Authentication

• Leave the default "Password" authentication checked.
• Click Continue
• 

New Connection - Proxy

• This option depends on the network layout of your site.
  Unless you know that your site requires a proxy to reach SSRL, leave this with the default: "Don't use a proxy"
• Click Continue
• 

New Connection - Save As

• Give your new configuration a unique name.
• Do not re-use the same configuration name on different computers.
• Click Done, and you get back to the Connections screen.
• 

Connect

• This will be your first screen when you start the NoMachine Client next time.
  From here you can create new configurations, edit old ones, modify local configuration and connect to a server.
• Select your preferred configuration and click on Connect.
• 

Host Certificate

• If it's the first time you connect to this host you will be asked to verify that the certificate is authentic.
• As of January 2015, our NX host certificates should have the following finger prints
  
  • smbnxs1 - 31:70:ED:22:12:45:3A:3F:53:F1:0F:08:C4:5C:96:33:2A:6B:47:18
  • smbnxs2 - 33:6F:26:15:27:4B:C3:B1:83:64:3D:05:56:52:72:BF:5A:94:F8:5F
• 

First Login

• Fill in your username and password
• Press the OK button
• 

Create a new session or Reconnect to an old one

• The default session screen has a list of all current sessions. To only see your sessions click on "All Desktops" and select "My Desktops". This is likely to be empty if this is you first session. This screen is where you would reconnect to a previous session that has been disconnected.
• Click on "Create a New Desktop"
• 

Info Screens

• A series of screens with useful "first time" information will be presented while the session is starting up in the background.
• By clicking in the check box, you will net see these screens at your next login.
• 

Logged In - At Last

• Finally, we are logged in to the remote server.
• 

Tuning the configuration

There are a lot of configuration options available from the overlays that you can reach by moving the mouse to the upper right corner of the virtual desktop and click inside the peel-down. Most of the options are fine with being left at the default value. There a couple of settings that might be useful to know howto to change though.

• Make the virtual screen resolution match you local resolution when you resize the session window.
• 1. Peel down the config overlay from the upper right corner (or press Ctrl+Alt+0)
  2. Click on the Display icon
  3. Select the icon that is labeled Resize remote screen, the white frame around the icon indicates the it's activated.
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