DesktopECHO Inc. iMKS

What is iMKS?

* The iMKS Virtual Appliance presents the VMware Remote Console in a simple, secure, and cross-platform fashion.
* Impressive console rendering over any IP network -- LAN, WAN or Internet.
* FreeNX + NX GPL back-end, NoMachine NX Client front-end (download for Mac OS X, Solaris, Linux and Windows.)
* iSCSI target (IET 0.4.16) built-in, and a basic Webmin GUI for iSCSI target editing.
* Network PDF Printer: Macs (or PC's with Bonjour) can autodiscover and install the iMKS PDF print driver.
* PDF's automagically wind up in your home folder or the public web share at http://imks.local/public

Remote Consoles supported:

* VMware ESX 3.x and ESXi
* VMware Server 2.x and Server 1.x
* VMware ESX 2.x
* Microsoft RDP and SeamlessRDP
* VNC and Apple Remote Desktop (ARD)
* Cirtix ICA and Java-based consoles work when their respective plugins are installed

Challenges: (What problems can iMKS solve?)

* VMware's Remote Console (RemoteMKS) is designed for high-fidelity reproduction of screens to other
* computers on a LAN. Performance over Cable/DSL Internet is therefore (expectedly) terrible or unusable.
* Mac users suffer with terrible ARD/VNC performance over WAN/Internet.
* RemoteMKS consoles pumped over RDP/Citrix work ok, but issues with "drunken mouse syndrome"
* or "screen-in-screen lagmonster" can make for unhappy experiences.
* VMware Remote Consoles are only available for Windows and Linux on x86.
* Mac (Intel/PPC) or Solaris users have no free and reliable way to run
* VMware GSX / Server/ ESX 2.x / ESX 3.x Remote Consoles.

Design:

* Start the iMKS VM - Set passwords - DONE.
* Unlimited users -- The ceiling is hardwarwe and bandwidth, not licensing.
* Engineered with attention to being small, good-looking and dead-simple to use. CD size or better (b383 is 502mb)
* iMKS (strictly speaking) is a Virtual Appliance, there is no desktop per-se. Remote applications are
* seamlessly integrated into the local desktop
* ZeroConf/Bonjour aware, remote SMB filecopy, discoverable PDF printer for the network.
* Windows Remote Desktop (RDP protocol) supported through an improved GUI rdesktop, and provides
* accessibility to Win2000 / XP / 2003 / and Vista RDP sessions.
* SeamlessRDP support; integrating rdesktop/SVN, third-party patches and a tuned version of TSclient 1.50.
* Past work on the TSclientX project for MacOS became the breeding ground for the refinement seen here.
* A VNC Client with tabbed windows, ZeroConf/Bonjour autodiscovery, Apple VNC and Keychain support: Vinagre.
* Secure enough to live in the perimeter. One incoming port required for functionality;
* authentication and data streams are protectd by SSHv2.
* Fast, secure remote access to a Mac OS X Desktop when used in conjunction with the excellent Vine Server,
* it can transform Mac OS X into a multi-user Terminal Server.

Tips:

* There are lots, I need to post some.

Known Issues:

* VMware Remote Console - When first opened a "Connect to Server" window pops up but focus is
stolen from the window. Click the "Connect to server" window in your taskbar and you should be
able to type inside the window again. This seems like a GTK-type bug in the remote console binary

ChangeLog:

* August 4, 2008 - Build 383. Second Public Release
* June 18, 2008 - Build 315. Initial Release

Everything Else:

* This package is provided "AS-IS" with no warranty - explicit or implied - from anyone.

Thanks go out to:

* VMware: The remote console binaries packaged in iMKS are VMware's code, (c)VMware, Inc.

* The rest of iMKS is made up of free and open source software.
* CentOS/RedHat, FreeNX, NoMachine NX, XFCE, GNOME, KDE, OpenVM-Tools,
* and at least one kitchen sink. Hack away, let us know if you can make iMKS better!

Questions or feedback? E-Mail below, or try the VMware Community.

Daniel Milisic