GNOME GUI and xrdp on RHEL

configure_gui.sh

#!/bin/bash

# Install GNOME GUI
sudo yum groupinstall "Server with GUI" -y

# Enable EPEL repository 
#sudo yum install https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/epel-release-latest-8.noarch.rpm -y
sudo yum install https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/epel-release-latest-9.noarch.rpm -y

# Install xrdp and dependencies
sudo yum install tigervnc-server xrdp  firewalld -y

# Enable and start the xrdp service
sudo systemctl enable xrdp
sudo systemctl start xrdp

# Enable and start the firewalld service
sudo systemctl enable firewalld
sudo systemctl start firewalld

# Open firewall port for xrdp
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=3389/tcp  
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

echo "GNOME GUI and xrdp have been installed and enabled."
echo "You can now connect to this system using Remote Desktop from another machine."

# optional 
curl -OL https://gist.githubusercontent.com/tosin2013/385054f345ff7129df6167631156fa2a/raw/b67866c8d0ec220c393ea83d2c7056f33c472e65/configure-sudo-user.sh
chmod +x configure-sudo-user.sh
./configure-sudo-user.sh

The key steps are:

1. Install the GNOME desktop environment using yum groupinstall "Server with GUI"[1]

2. Enable the EPEL repository which contains the xrdp package[2]

3. Install xrdp and the tigervnc-server dependency with yum install tigervnc-server xrdp[2][4]

4. Enable and start the xrdp service using systemctl[2][4]

5. Open port 3389 in the firewall for Remote Desktop connections[2][4]

After running this script, the RHEL 8 server will have the GNOME GUI installed and will accept Remote Desktop connections on the standard port 3389. You can connect from a Windows machine using the built-in Remote Desktop Connection application.[2][6]

The script automates the manual steps required to set this up on RHEL 8. It provides a quick way to enable remote GUI access to the server.

Links:

[1] https://www.tecmint.com/install-gui-on-rhel-8/
[2] https://www.ucartz.com/clients/knowledgebase/1560/How-To-Install-xrdp-on-Red-Hat-Enterprise-Linux-8.html
[3] https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-us/red_hat_enterprise_linux/8/html/using_the_desktop_environment_in_rhel_8/accessing-the-desktop-remotely_using-the-desktop-environment-in-rhel-8
[4] https://docs.e2enetworks.com/guides/centos_xrdp.html