Working in a cross-platform data centre is now the rule rather than the exception for the vast majority of administrators, as both Windows and Linux have made inroads into organisations around the world.

But because the two operating systems are different, allowing fluid communication between them can be a challenge. That's where tools like rdesktop comes in.

Rdesktop is a Linux implementation of Remote Display Protocol (RDP). Windows uses RDP to connect to other Windows computers via Terminal Services. With rdesktop, you can open a remote control session on a Windows NT/2000/XP machine from a Linux box and perform any function just as if you were sitting directly in front of it.

Getting and installing rdesktop

Rdesktop is widely available and is included in packages for most major distributions, such as Mandrake, Red Hat, and Debian. You can also obtain and install the source code on most any Linux system. The rdesktop program is available for free at rdesktop.org. The source package is only about 80 KB, so it makes for a quick download.

Once you have rdesktop on your system, you just need to uncompress and install the software. Running the following commands should be enough to get you started:

    tar xpfz rdesktop-1.1.0.tar.gz

    cd rdesktop-1.1.0

    ./configure

    make

    make install

At this point of the installation, configure any firewalls that may be in the path of communication. By default, rdesktop will use TCP port 3389 to connect to a Windows machine. You will need to open this port, but limiting access to specific IP addresses or subnets is a good idea to keep it secured.

It's also important to remember that rdesktop requires Terminal Services to be running on any machine you need to connect to. Make sure Remote Desktop is enabled on your Windows host if you experience any problems connecting.

Summary

Rdesktop lets a Linux system participate in the remote Windows administration that is available with Terminal Services, allowing for the use of both operating systems simultaneously. This can streamline your administration and development chores, making your job a whole lot easier.

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Summarised by the WOUGNET TechSupport team from an article by Thomas Nooning posted on TechRepublic