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7.8. Client configuration storage
The ThinLinc client does not currently use Hiveconf for its configuration, although this may change in future ThinLinc releases. Instead, the Linux client uses a similar plain text format with key/value pairs and the Windows client stores the values in the Windows registry.
Note
The configuration parameters should seldom be edited by hand. For a system wide configuration, create a parameter set using the client and copy it to the system wide file.
Configuration Parameters Used by the ThinLinc Client
Both the Windows and the Linux version of the ThinLinc client use the same names for their configuration parameters, although the storage technique used is different (text files vs. registry keys). In this section we will list the parameters and explain their possible values.
- ALLOW_HOSTKEY_UPDATE
Set to 1 if host key updates should be allowed. This parameter cannot be changed from the GUI. The result of setting ALLOW_HOSTKEY_UPDATE to 0 is that the client cannot connect to the server if the hostkey is wrong. This enhances security if there is a risk for a man in the middle attack.
- AUTHENTICATION_METHOD
This parameter can be set to "password", "publickey" or "scpublickey" to select the authentication mode used by the client.
- AUTOLOGIN
If this parameter is set to 1, the client will automatically login at start, using the server name, user name and password specified in the configuration storage.
- CERTIFICATE
Specifies the smart card certificate to use when authenticating.
- CUSTOM_COMPRESSION
Set to 1 if a custom compression method is selected.
- CUSTOM_COMPRESSION_LEVEL
The selected compression level. An integer between 1 and 9.
- DISPLAY_MODE
The display mode. Can be set to values "SIMPLE" and "ADVANCED", or be left empty. In the latter case, the default behaviour is to use simple mode if a server name is given as a parameter and advanced mode otherwise.
- FULL_SCREEN_MODE
Set to 1 if the client should run in fullscreen mode.
- JPEG_COMPRESSION
Set to 1 if JPEG compression is wanted.
- JPEG_COMPRESSION_LEVEL
The wanted compression level.
- KILL_EXISTING_SESSIONS
Set to 1 if existing sessions should be ended.
Note
It makes little sense to change this value. The client never saves this setting.
- NEW_PASSWORD_REGEXP
This parameter specifies a regular expression. If an interactive SSH prompt matches this expression, the response is taken as a new password. The new password will be used for the SSH connection to the agent machine. It will also be sent to the server to enable Single Sign-On.
- OPTIONS_POPUP_KEY
Key code for key to activate option pop-up menu.
- PASSWORD
This parameter allows you to specify a password in the configuration file. It must be specified using a hexadecimal ASCII notation, which means that every character is specified by its hexadecimal value.
Warning
The password value is not encrypted. It should be treated as a clear text password. Avoid storing configuration files with a PASSWORD parameter on disk or transmit such files over networks without encryption.
- PKCS11_MODULE
Specifies the PKCS#11 module that will be used to communicate with the smart card. The path can be relative the base prefix of the ThinLinc client or an absolute path.
- PRIVATE_KEY
This parameter specifies the path to the private key to be used to authenticate the user.
- RECONNECT_POLICY
This parameter can be set to "single-disconnected" or "ask" to control the client's reconnect policy. See Section 7.4.1, “ Options tab ” for their meaning.
- REMOVE_CONFIGURATION
If 1, the user configuration file (or the file specified by -C) will be removed after the client has started. Settings changed in the GUI will not be stored to disk. If the client fails to remove the file, it will try to truncate it instead.
- SCREEN_SIZE_SELECTION
The default size of the ThinLinc session. Possible values:
0 for 640x480
1 for 800x600
2 for 1024x768
3 for 1280x1024
4 for 1600x1200
5 for Current screen size
6 for Near current screen size
7 for Custom screen size, set using the SCREEN_X_SIZE and SCREEN_Y_SIZE parameters.
- SCREEN_X_SIZE
Custom width of session, if SCREEN_SIZE_SELECTION is set to 7.
- SCREEN_Y_SIZE
Custom height of session, if SCREEN_SIZE_SELECTION is set to 7.
- SMARTCARD_DISCONNECT
Set to 1 if the client should disconnect automatically when the smart card used for authentication is removed.
- SMARTCARD_PASSPHRASE_SSO
Set to 1 if the client should transmit the smart card passphrase to the ThinLinc server to enable smart card single sign-on. See Section 7.4.5, “ Security tab ” for security implications.
- SOUND_ENABLED
Set to 1 if sound should be enabled, using ESD. Only used on Linux.
- SSH_PORT_SELECTION
Port selection for ThinLinc connection. Possible values:
0 for port 22 (standard ssh port).
1 for port 80.
2 for custom port set in the SSH_ARBITRARY parameter.
- SSH_ARBITRARY
Custom port number for ThinLinc connection.
- TUNNEL_BIND_BASE
Offset for user's forwarded ports, on server side.
Note
This parameter should normally not be changed
- START_PROGRAM_ENABLED
Specifies if the client should request that the server starts the session with the command supplied by the client.
- START_PROGRAM_COMMAND
Specifies the command to use when starting the session, if START_PROGRAM_ENABLED is active.
- TUNNEL_AUDIO_SLOT
Port selection for audio tunnel, on server side.
Note
This parameter should normally not be changed.
- VNC_AUTOSELECT
Set to 1 to dymanically autoselect the compression algorithm during the session.
- VNC_ENCODING_SELECTION
The encoding to use for VNC. Possible values:
0 for Raw
5 for Hextile
7 for Tight
16 for ZRLE
Note
The numbering was changed with ThinLinc 1.4.0.
- VNC_COLOR_LEVEL
The color level used for the session.
- USE_SSH_COMPRESSION
Set to 1 to use the compression built into SSH.
- VNC_PORT_BASE
Offset for Xvnc VNC ports on server side.
Note
This parameter should normally not be changed
- VSM_SERVER_PORT
The VSM port number on the server.
Note
This parameter should normally not be changed
- YESNO_PROMPT_REGEXP
This parameter specifies a regular expression. If an interactive SSH prompt matches this expression, a graphical yes/no dialog will be presented, instead of a dialog for text input. Additionally, if the prompt is known to the client, an alternate text will be used. The dialog buttons Yes and No will send "yes" and "no" to the server, respectively.
Configuration parameters are typically stored in text based configuration files. The format is simple: Each parameter is written on one line, followed by an equal sign (=) and the value of the parameter, as in the following example:
SSH_ENCRYPTION = 1 SERVER_NAME = demo.thinlinc.com
By using the -C option, additional configuration files can be specified. Any name is accepted, but the file extension .tlclient is recommended. The Windows and Linux packages configures the system to automatically recognize such files as configuration files for the ThinLinc Client. Additionally, the Internet Media Type "application-vnd.cendio.thinlinc.clientconf" is linked to such configuration files.
The Linux client first reads the file /opt/thinlinc/etc/tlclient.conf, if it exists. It then reads the file .thinlinc/tlclient.conf in the user's home directory, and the values there override the values from /opt/thinlinc/etc/tlclient.conf. This way, a system administrator can set global defaults for client operations, while each user can still customize the client to wanted behavior.
On Windows, the ThinLinc client reads its configuration from the registry. All ThinLinc client data is stored under Software\Cendio\ThinLinc\tlclient in the HKLM and HKCU hives. The parameter names are the same as for the Linux client.
The behaviour of global and user-specific settings are identical to that of the Linux client, where settings in HKLM correspond to /opt/thinlinc/etc/tlclient.conf and those in HKCU correspond to .thinlinc/tlclient.conf.
The logo that is displayed in the left part of the ThinLinc client login Window is normally the ThinLinc logo. However, the logo can be exchanged for something more specific to the installation.
Exchanging the logo is easy. The new logo must be a PNG file with maximum width 120 pixels and maximum height 80 pixels. On Windows, just exchange the file tlclientlogo.png located in the same directory as the executable with your own logo. On Linux, exchange /opt/thinlinc/lib/tlclient/tlclientlogo.png with your logo.