Univention Corporate Client
From Univention Wiki
UCC is the successor of Univention Corporate Desktop (UCD) and UCS Thin Client Services (UCS TCS). UCD 3.1 and UCS TCS 3.1 will remain under maintenance until December 31st 2013. Univention Corporate Client is an operating and management system for clients such as desktops, thin clients or kiosk systems that are clearly defined in terms of scope of functions they offer. It uses Univention Corporate Server (UCS) for management. It is expected to be released at the beginning of 2013.
- For installation and first steps with UCC, please refer to the Quickstart Guide.
- For information concerning the migration, please have a look at Upgrade TCS / UCD to UCC.
This article describes Univention Corporate Client (UCC) in more detail.
Contents |
Features
This section provides an excerpt of the features offered by Univention Corporate Client (UCC).
- Images
- UCC is an operation and management system for clients. The rollout is done with an image based procedure and it technically mainly consists of two parts:
- Two Univention Corporate Client (UCC) images to be used on desktops (e.g. notebooks) and thin clients including support from Univention
- A toolkit to create UCC images
- The images offered by Univention will be maintained continuously, e.g. with security updates. The images are created, tested and offered for download on a Univention server.
- Thin Client image
- The thin client image offers a minimal desktop for RDP and UCC sessions. If the client has no session defined or is not joined in a domain, LXDE (a minimal desktop) will be started in guest mode. The image is provided for i386. The minimal system requirement for thin clients is 2 GB lokal storage (e.g. CompactFlash or SSD).
- Desktop image
- The desktop image provides a KDE desktop and support for Microsoft Windows and Citrix terminal server variations. If no session is defined for the client or the client is not joined in a domain, KDE will be started in guest mode. The image is provided for i386 and comprises language packs for german, spanish, french and dutch besides the installed english language.
- Image toolkit
- Customized UCC images can be generated with a designated toolkit. A configuration file that describes settings (e.g. architecture, software packages, root password, image name, UCR variable settings or partitioning) is needed. The toolkit creates the image, an initrd file and the kernel. Optionally, an ISO image can be created, as well.
- Manageability
- UCC is managed by UCS and its sophisticated webbased management system. UCC will be part of the UCS domain and therefore benefit from the Kerberos integration and extensive print server support. Furthermore, UCC comes with UCR cron, known from UCS, LDAP server support as part of the UCS domain integration, policy support and an auto run feature. All UCC client settings will be controlled by Univention Configuration Registry policies or separate UCC client policies.
- Domain integration
- The provided images take care for the domain integration of UCC in a UCS environment. After rollout, the client is part of the UCS domain and benefits from the participation in the domain services.
- Desktop Management
- UCC will benefit from e.g. desktop profiles and display policies (e.g. multi monitor support) that allow a central desktop management with UCS.
- User data
- Persistent data like the users' home will be saved on an own partition seperately. System data (e.g. join status) that needs to available across an update will be saved on a seperate partition. The management of this data is done with a designated tool.
- Terminal services
- UCC supports Microsoft terminal services, Citrix XenApp and Linux terminal server sessions provided with UCC.
- Installation
- Image installation can be done with PXE or locally from an ISO image (DVD-ROM or USB stick).
- Updates and Security Updates
- Security and point updates can be installed on a package base as usual. Release updates will be rolled out with a new image and replace the current deployment.
- Read-only operation
- An overlay file system is used if UCC is started from read-only image (e.g. Live DVD or NFS-Share). The overlay file system saves all lokal write operations. Of course, the changes are lost after turning off the device. The thin client will always work with the read-only technique.
- Boot variations
- UCC provides several boot operations:
- Live System
- Image boot without update check
- Image boot with update check / Initial installation
- Depending on the boot variation the UCC client will execute different actions. The last item induces the UCC client to check of updates (if UCC is installed) or execute the initial installation. The settins are controlled on a client basis in the UCS management system.
- Documentation
- Manual and extended documentation will be available in English only. A quick start guide will be offered in english and german.
Installation and first steps
For installation and first steps with UCC, please refer to the Quickstart Guide.
Management of other Linux operating systems
For the management of other Linux operating systems with Univention Corporate Server see the following articles:
Further Information
- UCC Quickstart Guide
- UCC Manual
- Forum: Univention Corporate Client (German, English)
