[ale] Virtual machine questions for public use machines

[JD]

On 01/24/2015 02:25 PM, Alex Carver wrote:
> I'm going to try a virtual machine experiment in the next few weeks with
> some spare boxes at work but I'm having trouble figuring a couple things
> out.
> 
> First, is it possible to have a setup where the host OS (Linux) has no
> GUI (console at most) and the guest OS (Windows) is all GUI that can
> completely take over the screen to appear as if it was the host OS?
> 
> If that's the case, can this be configured to happen at boot (system
> boots, at end of boot guest is running on the whole screen)?
> 
> Is there a VM host that can accept a signal (by cron, ssh session, etc.)
> to kill a guest?  This is to kill the guest at night, delete the guest
> container file and then make a copy of an archived container to
> essentially start from scratch every day.

I think so, but from a security and usability standpoint, perhaps having a
server and remote desktop (rdesktop is nice enough) to that server would be
easier. Plus it saves on MSFT licenses, CALs, to only have 1 MSFT box to
maintain (even if you are wiping it nightly).

This way, your deployed Linux client can be a highly specialized, tiny, TinyCore
image with only enough networking and rdesktop to get to the other machine.
Heck, you could PXE boot into TinyCore.  Even autostart rdesktop in full screen
mode ... though I don't know how to prevent folks from alt-tab mischief ... er
... or just override that in the WM settings to null.

Of course, you can run as many MSFT installs or a terminal server inside KVM.
That's how I'd do it.  If there is physical access, there is risk.