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Client Profiles and the SGD Client

A client profile is a group of configuration settings that control the SGD Client. The settings in a client profile define the following:

Note Client profiles are not the same as user profiles. User profiles control webtop content and other SGD-specific settings, such as printing and secure connections.

Every time the SGD Client starts it uses a client profile. Users have one client profile (one group of settings) for each SGD server they connect to.

This page includes the following topics:

Managing Client Profiles

Secure Global Desktop Administrators can create, edit, and delete client profiles for all parts of the organization, except users. Users can only edit their own client profiles.

Administrators

Administrators create, edit, and delete client profiles with the SGD administration tool, Profile Editor. The Profile Editor is only available to Administrators.

Administrators can create, edit, and delete client profiles for the following:

Each object can only have one client profile.

The default system client profile is the profile for the System Objects organization. This client profile can be edited but it cannot be deleted.

Users

Administrators can configure which users can edit their own client profiles. This is configured as follows:

  1. Enable profile editing for SGD

    Profile editing for SGD is enabled by default.

    1. In the SGD Administration Console, click the Global Settings » Client device tab.
    2. Ensure the Editing check box is selected. It is selected by default.

    Note If profile editing is disabled, it is disabled for all users, including Secure Global Desktop Administrators. However, Administrators can still create and edit client profiles using the Profile Editor application.

  2. Enable and disable profile editing in the organizational hierarchy.

    Profile editing can be configured for organizations, organizational units or user profiles.

    Profile editing can be inherited from a parent object in the organizational hierarchy so that Administrators can enable or disable profile editing for many users without having to edit each user profile. By default, profile editing is enabled for all users.

    1. In the SGD Administration Console, click the User Profiles tab and select an object in organization hierarchy.
    2. Click the Client device tab.
    3. Configure Client Profile Editing as follows:
      • Select or deselect the Override Parent's Setting or the Override Global Setting check box.

        Selecting this check box allows you to override the profile editing setting from any parent object. For example, profile editing can be disabled for an organizational unit, but enabled for a user profile in that organizational unit.

      • Select or deselect the Enabled check box.

        Selecting the check box enables profile editing for the user profile, or for all users in the organization unit or organization.

        The initial state of this check box is the setting of the parent object.

    4. Click Save.

Users edit their own client profiles from the webtop. Click the Edit button in the Applications area of the webtop and then click the Client Settings tab. Users can only edit the client profile for the SGD server they are currently connected to.

Note Anonymous users cannot edit client profiles. This is because these users are temporary.

Client Profile Settings

The following table lists the settings available in a client profile with a description of what they do.

Setting Description
Login URL
  • The URL to use for SGD, for example http://boston.example.com/sgd.
  • In Webtop mode, the URL is loaded automatically in the user's default web browser so that they can log in and access their webtop.
  • In Integrated mode, the URL is only loaded in the user's default web browser if the user needs to log in to SGD, or if the SGD Client needs to obtain proxy server settings.
  • The URL in a client profile can be overridden by a command line argument.
  • The default Login URL is http://SGD-server:80/sgd/index.jsp.
Connect on System Login
  • If selected, the SGD Client is started automatically with this client profile whenever the user logs in to their client device.
  • The SGD Client creates an application shortcut or symbolic link for itself in the startup folder for the desktop system. The links are created in the following locations:
    • Microsoft Windows - the Windows startup folder for the current user, usually homedrive\Documents and Settings\username\Start Menu\Programs\Startup.
    • KDE - $HOME/.kde/autostart
    • Gnome - $HOME/.config/autostart
    • Sun Java Desktop System - $HOME/.config/autostart
  • This check box is deselected by default.
Add applications to Start Menu
  • Controls how users interact with SGD.
  • If the check box is selected, the applications a user can run display in the desktop Start menu on the client device (Integrated mode). Users do not have any of the controls that are available on a webtop, for example controls for suspending and resuming applications.
  • If the check box is deselected, the applications a user can run display on a webtop in a web browser (Webtop mode).
  • This check box is deselected by default. Webtop mode is the default.
Automatic Client Login
  • If the check box is selected, the SGD Client tries to log the user in using an authentication token as soon as it starts.
  • You can only select the check box, if the Add applications to Start Menu check box is selected.
  • Only select this check box if the Add applications to Start Menu check box is selected.
  • This check box is deselected by default.
Alternative PDF viewer
  • The application command for an alternative PDF viewer to use with PDF printing.
  • If the application is not on the user's PATH, type the full path to the application.
  • This setting only applies to UNIX, Linux, and Mac OS X platform client devices.
Logging
  • Controls the amount of information that is output to the SGD Client log file.
  • The output is logged to a text file in the same directory as the SGD Client.
  • The default is Errors only.
Preferred Language
  • The default language to use when the SGD Client is started from the command line, for example when the SGD Client is in Integrated mode.
  • The language selected is used for messages displayed by the SGD Client.
  • See Working with users in different locales for details.
  • The default is en.
Check for Local X Server
  • If the check box is selected, the SGD Client checks whether there is an X server running on the client device.
  • Checking for a local X server can improve performance when launching X applications that are configured to display using an X server on the client device. If a local X server is not available, an independent window is used instead.
  • This setting only applies to Windows client devices.
  • This check box is deselected by default.
Proxy settings
  • Settings that control how the SGD Client determines what proxy servers to use.
  • Use Default Web Browser Settings means use the proxy server settings configured in the user's default web browser.
  • Manual Proxy Settings allows you to define the proxy server settings in the client profile. You can only specify an HTTP proxy server.
  • In Integrated mode, if the proxy settings are determined from a web browser, the SGD Client has to start the web browser at least once in order to detect what the proxy settings are.
  • If the proxy settings are determined from a web browser, the settings are cached and used the next time the SGD Client starts.
  • If Establish Proxy Settings On Session Start is enabled, the SGD Client starts the user's default web browser so that the proxy settings can be determined. The SGD Client does this every time it starts. The cached proxy settings are not used.
  • The Use Default Web Browser Settings check box is selected by default. The Establish Proxy Settings On Session Start check box is deselected by default.
Connection Failure
  • Settings that control what the SGD Client does if the connection to an SGD server is lost, whether to always reconnect, to never reconnect or to ask the user.
  • If the SGD Client reconnects, these settings control how many attempts are made to reconnect and the time in seconds between each attempt.
  • If the SGD Client is unable to reconnect, the user session ends and any running applications are ended or suspended, depending on the resumability setting of the application.
  • The default settings are to always to reconnect and make 6 attempts to reconnect at 10 second intervals.

The Profile Cache

Client profiles created by Administrators are stored on the SGD server on which they are created and then copied to all the SGD servers in the array so that they are available for editing on any SGD server.

When a user first logs in to SGD, the SGD Client downloads the client profile to a profile cache on the client device. The client profile that is downloaded is the first match of the following:

When a user edits and saves a client profile, they override the client profile defined by an Administrator (or the system default client profile) and create a user-specific client profile that is only saved in the profile cache on the client device.

Note Users must log out of SGD and log in again for changes to their client profile to take effect.

The profile cache is specific to each user who logs in to SGD from the client device and is stored in the following locations:

The same profile cache is used by the SGD Client whether it has been installed manually or automatically.

The profile cache is updated each time the user edits a client profile or each time the user logs in if they are using the client profile defined by an Administrator.

The profile cache contains one client profile for each SGD server the user connects to.

Users can restore a client profile to the default settings by editing the client profile and clicking the Reset button. This resets the client profile to the settings defined for the system default client profile on the System Objects object.

Microsoft Windows Users With Roaming User Profiles

Users with Microsoft Windows client devices can have roaming user profiles. Roaming user profiles provide the user with the same working environment, no matter which Microsoft Windows computer they use. If Microsoft Windows users have roaming user profiles, the SGD client profile is automatically adjusted to allow for this, as follows:

The following settings from the SGD client profile are stored in the location of the user's roaming profile:

Setting Profile Line(s)
Login URL <url>
Add applications to Start Menu <mode>
Automatic Client Login <autologin> <AT>
Connect on System Login <autostart>
Connection Failure <reconnect_mode> <reconnect_attempts> <reconnect_interval>

The settings that are stored with the user's roaming profile are controlled by the /opt/tarantella/var/serverconfig/local/roamingattributes.properties file.

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