Create a virtual Linux workstation

This tutorial shows how to create a virtual Linux workstation running Ubuntu 22.04 with a virtual display. A virtual display device is useful when applications on your virtual machine (VM) instances require a display device, but don't require the full power or cost of a GPU.

For information about other types of virtual workstations, including Windows, see About creating a virtual workstation.

After you create the virtual workstation, you learn how to remotely access it using HP Anyware (formerly Teradici CAS), using PC-over-IP (PCoIP®) technology, a remote desktop protocol widely used in the media and entertainment, game development, architecture, and engineering industries. PCoIP offers features essential to these types of workloads, such as color accuracy, support for multiple monitors, lossless display, and tablet pressure sensitivity.

This tutorial assumes you are familiar with the Linux command line.

Architecture

The following diagram shows the components that are used in this tutorial to deploy a single virtual workstation. Optional components shown in the diagram include different ways to connect to your virtual workstation, shared storage, an additional VM for serving third-party licenses, and additional infrastructure representing a render or compute farm.

Architecture of the virtual workstation infrastructure.

Choose a region

An important factor when you deploy a virtual workstation is the latency between your location and the VM you create. The lower the latency, the better the experience. Therefore, you want to place your VM in a region and zone that's geographically closest to you.

Create the virtual workstation

In Cloud Shell, create the Compute Engine virtual workstation instance:

 gcloud compute instances create VM_NAME \ --zone=ZONE \ --machine-type=e2-standard-4 \ --enable-display-device \ --image-project=ubuntu-os-cloud \ --image-family=ubuntu-2204-lts \ --boot-disk-size=20 \ --boot-disk-type=pd-balanced \ --network=default

Replace the following:

VM_NAME: a name for your VM instance.
ZONE: the zone that's geographically closest to you. An important factor when you deploy a virtual workstation is the latency between your location and the VM you create. The lower the latency, the better the experience. For information about the geographical location of zones, see Available regions and zones.

After the virtual workstation is created, the VM status is displayed. The output looks similar to the following:

 NAME: test-workstation ZONE: us-west1-b MACHINE_TYPE: e2-standard-4 PREEMPTIBLE: INTERNAL_IP: 10.138.XX.XXX EXTERNAL_IP: XX.XXX.XXX.XXX STATUS: RUNNING

Note the external IP address, you need it later in the tutorial.

Sign in to your virtual workstation

After you create the virtual workstation, you sign in to the machine so that you can configure it.

Connect to the virtual workstation using the following command:
```
gcloud compute ssh VM_NAME
```
Set your account password. Logging into a virtual workstation using the PCoIP software client requires a user password.
```
sudo passwd `whoami`
```
When you're prompted, enter a password. You will use this password later in the tutorial to log on to your virtual workstation with the HP Anyware PCoIP Client.

Install the desktop environment

The default Google Cloud Ubuntu 22.04 image is a minimal installation of Ubuntu. Install a desktop environment to run your virtual workstation as a graphical workstation. For this tutorial, you install the KDE Plasma Desktop.

Update the software repositories by running the following command:
```
 sudo apt update 
```
Install the desktop environment:
```
 sudo apt -y install kubuntu-desktop 
```
Reboot the workstation:
```
sudo reboot
```

Your connection to the virtual workstation closes.

Install HP Anyware software

HP Anyware software provides an agent that runs on your virtual workstation, delivering the desktop to your hardware or software client.

When the virtual workstation has restarted, in Cloud Shell, reconnect to the virtual workstation:
```
gcloud compute ssh VM_NAME
```
Add the Teradici software repository:
```
 curl -1sLf \ https://dl.anyware.hp.com/TOKEN/pcoip-agent/cfg/setup/bash.deb.sh \ | sudo -E distro=ubuntu codename=jammy bash 
```
Replace the following:
- TOKEN is the download token you can retrieve from the HP Anyware Standard Agent for Linux page under Downloads and scripts.
Update the software repositories:
```
sudo apt update
```
Optional: Install USB dependencies, if you need to support USB devices other than keyboards, mice, and pointer devices.

Note: If you skip this step, USB redirection is disabled. That means you can't use bridged USB devices.
```
sudo apt -y install usb-vhci-dkms
```

Install the HP Anyware software:

sudo apt -y install pcoip-agent-standard

Register the Anyware Standard Agent

To use the Anyware Standard Agent, you must have an HP Anyware license.

In Cloud Shell, activate your HP Anyware software license:
```
pcoip-register-host --registration-code=REGISTRATION-CODE
```
Replace REGISTRATION-CODE with the code provided to you by HP Teradici in the form ABCDEFGHIJKL@0123-4567-89AB-CDEF.
Reboot the virtual workstation:
```
sudo reboot
```

Create a firewall rule

The PCoIP client communicates with your virtual workstation using several ports. You must set firewall rules that allow traffic to your virtual workstation.

In Cloud Shell (not on the virtual workstation), create a firewall rule that opens the required ports:
```
 gcloud compute firewall-rules create allow-pcoip \ --action=ALLOW \ --rules=tcp:443,tcp:4172,udp:4172 \ --source-ranges=0.0.0.0/0 
```
Note: This firewall rule allows traffic from anywhere on the internet to access your VM instance. Always follow best practices for firewall rules to restrict traffic to your instance.

Sign in to your virtual workstation using the PCoIP client

On your local computer, go to the PCoIP Clients section on the HP Anyware support page, and then download, install, and launch the PCoIP Software Client application for your operating system.
In the Host Address or Registration Code field, enter the external IP address of your virtual workstation. If you want, you can enter a name for the connection.

Note: By default, PCoIP traffic is encrypted using AES-256. However, HP Anyware Software uses a self-signed certificate that's issued by Teradici. This might trigger a verification warning when you connect. You can remove this warning by creating and installing your own custom security certificates. Or, you can suppress the warning by changing the client security mode for your client OS. For the purposes of this tutorial, you can ignore this warning by clicking Connect Insecurely in the dialog.
When you are connected, authenticate by entering the username and password that you created earlier for the virtual workstation.

In a few seconds, your Linux desktop appears.

Test your virtual workstation

After you've deployed your virtual workstation, you can test performance and interactivity using a number of tools:

Use Google Chrome to browse your favorite sites or play YouTube videos.
Learn more about the PCoIP Standard Agent for Linux.
Install applications and test their behavior and performance.

You can also learn more about PCoIP performance optimization based on your workload.