Rdp_Mime

RDP to Node

This is used to connect to a Windows node in your experiment and get a remote Windows Desktop using the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP).

First, you need an RDP client program installed on your computer:

There is a nice open-source RDP client for Unix and Linux at www.rdesktop.org. It may already be installed on your computer: to find out, try:
```
  which rdesktop
```
There is a Microsoft RDC (Remote Desktop Client) installed in Windows XP. You can also install it from a Windows XP installation CD onto Windows 95 through 2000. For details, see How to install Remote Desktop Connection client.

Clicking "RDP to Node" in the Node Options page will send your browser a MimeType "text/x-testbed-rdp" file with extension ".tbrdp".

In FreeBSD or Linux, you can save the file and pass it as an argument to rdp-mime.pl or associate it with rdp-mime.pl in your web browser. You can download the rdp-mime.pl Perl program here.
In Windows XP or 2000, you have the same choice to save and open the .tbrdp file with a script, or associate it with the script in the browser so you can just click. See the installation directions below.

You can specify any display resolution (rdesktop window size) you want in the rdp-mime.pl script. The default is 1280x1024 but it doesn't have to be one of the "normal" ones. And you can switch back and forth between sizes by just starting a new rdesktop with different arguments and "grabbing" the rlogin session away from the previous one.

But once an rdesktop is started up, its display resolution is fixed. If you make it smaller than the previous one, Windows will push your windows around to fit in the smaller space.

Instructions for Linux/FreeBSD:

Move the rdp-mime.pl script into a directory of your choice (/usr/local/bin, or ~/bin are two good places.)
Set up your browser to handle MIME type "text/x-testbed-rdp" as outlined below.
In the Web Interface Node view, click on the "RDP to Node" link.
If your browser is properly configured to use rdp-mime.pl, a new xterm window with an rdp session open to your node should emerge.

Linux/FreeBSD and Netscape 4.7:
- Choose preferences from the edit menu.
- Select Navigator, then Applications under it.
- Click the New... button.
- In the MIMEType box, type text/x-testbed-rdp
- In the Suffixes box, type tbrdp
- Choose Application in the Handled by box
- Next to Application, either type the path to the rdp-mime.pl script, or use Choose... to find it.
- Now, be sure to put a space, then %s after the path to the application in the box. This tells netscape to actually pass the control file into rdp-mime.pl (Mozilla does not require this; see below.)
- Click OK, then OK again.
Linux/FreeBSD and Mozilla:
- Choose preferences from the edit menu.
- Select Navigator, then Helper Applications under it.
- Click the New Type... button.
- In the MIMEType box, type text/x-testbed-rdp
- In the File extension box, type tbrdp
- For Application to use, either type the path to the rdp-mime.pl script, or use Choose... to find it.
- In Mozilla do not add a %s.
- Click OK, then OK again.
Linux/FreeBSD and Firefox:
- Click on a node RDP icon in the Node Options page. An Opening... dialog will appear.
- Go to the Open with line and select the radio button.
- Browse... to the rdp-mime.pl script you installed above.
- Click OK.
- Once this is working, you can click the Do this automatically check box.
Linux/FreeBSD and Opera:
- Choose preferences from the File menu.
- Select Applications, then File Types under it.
- Click the New ... button.
- In the MIMEType box, type text/x-testbed-rdp
- In the File extension box, type tbrdp
- For Open with other application, either type the path to the rdp-mime.pl script, or use Choose... to find it.
- In Opera do not add a %s.
- Click OK, then OK again.

Instructions for Windows:

For Windows XP or 2000, you can download the Emulab Perl programs and wrapper programs in a zip file here. It contains {ssh,rdp}-mime-winxp.{c,exe,pl} . The C programs are tiny wrappers which just exec the perl scripts.
Software dependencies:
- This depends on having least a basic installation of Cygwin as well.
- You can select Perl within Cygwin, or install another Perl port.
Unpack the Emulab exe's and pl's into an install directory of your choice. The Cygwin bin directory is a good choice, and defaults to C:\cygwin\bin.
You can copy putty.exe into that directory as well, or make sure the system path contains the PuTTY install directory.
Make sure that the install directory, and also the Perl directory, are on your Windows system path, not just your Cygwin shell path. Look in Control Panel / System / Advanced / Environment Variables and double-click on Path in the lower System Variables pane to edit.
Windows and Mozilla/Firefox: To associate the handler with the .tbrdp file type in Mozilla/Firefox:
- Click on a node RDP icon in the Node Options page.
- Go to the Open with line and select Other... from the pull-down list.
- Browse to the rdp-mime-winxp.exe application you installed above.
- Once this is working, you can click the Do this automatically check box.
Windows and Internet Explorer: To associate the handler with the .tbrdp file type in Windows:
- IE associations come from Windows itself. Until that is set up, IE will just say Unknown file type and offer to save the .tbrdp file.
- You can install the file associations in the registry in one click by downloading and executing this registry file. (Assumes programs installed in C:\cygwin\bin as above.) Otherwise, go through the following steps.
- Select Save and you will get a Download complete dialog with an Open button. Click it.
- Click Select the program from a list and OK.
- Finally, you get an Open with dialog with a Browse... button.
- Browse to the rdp-mime-winxp.exe application you installed above and click Open.
- Now you are back on the Open with dialog and rdp-mime-winxp is on the Programs list. You could enter a description of "Emulab RDP connector".
- Make sure "Always use the selected program to open this kind of file" is on.