Work on the Command Line Part 1 Log into remote and graphical consoles demo

In this tutorial, you will learn how to:

• Perform a local graphical login on a CentOS VM
• Connect remotely via Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP)
• Access the shell in text mode using SSH

Table of Contents

1. Local Graphical Login on CentOS
2. Remote Graphical Login via RDP
3. Text-Mode Login via SSH
4. Summary and References

Local Graphical Login on CentOS

First, verify that your CentOS VM is set to boot into the graphical target with GNOME installed:

sudo dnf groupinstall "Server with GUI"
sudo systemctl set-default graphical.target
sudo reboot

Once the GNOME login screen appears:

1. Select your username.
2. Enter your password.
3. Click Sign In.

After GNOME loads, use the top-right menu to log out and prepare for the remote login demonstration.

Remote Graphical Login via RDP

To enable RDP access on a CentOS server, install and configure the xrdp service:

sudo dnf install xrdp
sudo systemctl enable --now xrdp
sudo firewall-cmd --add-service=rdp --permanent
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

Next, open your preferred RDP client (e.g., Microsoft Remote Desktop) and enter the server’s IP address:

1. Launch the RDP client application.
2. Input the IP address (for example, 192.168.0.18) and click Connect.
3. At the login prompt, the username field may auto-fill with student. Enter the password and proceed.

Once authenticated, verify the connection by checking the IP address in the RDP window’s title bar. Then, navigate to Activities → GNOME Terminal to open a terminal session.

Text-Mode Login via SSH

From the GNOME Terminal in the RDP session, initiate an SSH connection to your CentOS VM at 192.168.0.17 with the aaron account:

[student@LFCS-CentOS2 ~]$ ssh [email protected]
[email protected]'s password: 
Activate the web console with: systemctl enable --now cockpit.socket

Last login: Tue Oct 19 04:22:38 2021
[aaron@LFCS-CentOS ~]$ exit
logout
Connection to 192.168.0.17 closed.
[student@LFCS-CentOS2 ~]$

When finished, close the terminal emulator and end your RDP session.

Summary and References

This lesson covered three login methods for CentOS:

Further reading:

• GNOME Project
• Microsoft RDP Documentation
• OpenSSH Manual