WebX Demo Deploy

This project is used to deploy the WebX Demo web application using Docker compose. The Demo application is composed of the Java backend WebX Demo Server and the frontend WebX Demo Client.

The WebX Demo Server is provided to test the WebX Relay which is Maven library that can be included in other web applications, providing a bridge between the WebX sockets (based on Zeromq) and the websockets used to pipe data to the client.

The WebX Demo Client uses the WebX Client NPM library that renders the remote desktop to the user's browser, receiving desktop data from the websocket connected to the relay.

This deployment can be used as part of the WebX Dev Workspace to connect to a running WebX Engine or can be used to provide a full multi-user demo of the WebX stack including the WebX Router and WebX Session Manager which provide full login access to the WebX environment.

Deploy the demo for WebX Engine development environment

This project provides a simple way to test the WebX Engine (without explicitly running the WebX Relay and WebX Client libraries). You need to run the WebX Engine in standalone mode (meaning it is running in an unauthenticated mode and can be easily connected to). The deploy script provided in this project is then run as follows:

./deploy.sh -sh <host>

where <host> should be replaced with hostname of the machine where the WebX Engine is running.

If you are developing on the local machine you can connect with the command

./deploy.sh -sh host.docker.internal

The WebX Demo Server uses the internal host network to connect to WebX on local ports.

Deploy the demo for multi-user access

If you have the full WebX server stack running (WebX Router, Session Manager and Engine) you can deploy the demo for multi-user access. The WebX server needs to be entered using the web interface and user's are requested to authenticate to create a WebX session on the server.

To deploy the demo in this mode use the following command:

./deploy.sh

SSL Certificates

The docker compose stacks runs an Nginx reverse proxy to redirect traffic to either the front end (path prefix /), the backend API (/relay/api) and the backend websocket (/relay/ws). HTTP requests are redirected to HTTPS. You can provide your own certificates (placing them in the nginx/certs folder, named web.crt and web.key) or you can let the deployment script generate self-signed certificates.

When running deploy.sh, the script determines if the certificates are present: if they are not it will automatically generate the self-signed ones.

Stop the demo

To stop the demo (bringing down the docker compose stack) run the following command:

./deploy.sh -s

Connecting to the WebX Demo

The Nginx reverse proxy runs on the standard 80/443 ports. If you're running the demo locally then just connect to https://localhost to see the demo in action.

If you're running in standalone mode you'll see the hostname of the WebX Engine server: all you need to do is connect.

If you're running in a multi-user environment then you'll have to specify the host of the WebX Server and specify the username and password.

Running the demo with pre-configured WebX Host

To simplify the deployment of the full WebX Remote Desktop stack on a server, this project contains a couple of Dockerfiles to build and launch a containerised WebX Host with either a multiuser environment or a standalone WebX Engine.

Using the multiuser environment

Go to the webx-host folder then build and run the multiuser WebX host:

cd webx-host
docker build -t webx-host-multiuser -f webx-host-multiuser.dockerfile .
docker run --rm --name webx-host-multiuser -p 5555-5558:5555-5558 webx-host-multiuser

In the container the WebX Router and WebX Session Manager are running and waiting for connection requests.

You can then run the demo is multiuser mode:

cd ..
./deploy.sh

Open a browser at https://localhost and enter the host host.docker.internal. For the username and password you can choose from the preconfigured users of the webx-host container (mario, luigi, peach, toad, yoshi and bowser) - the password is the same as the username.

Using the standalone environment

Go to the webx-host folder then build and run the standalone WebX host:

cd webx-host
docker build -t webx-host-standalone -f webx-host-standalone.dockerfile .
docker run --rm --name webx-host-standalone -p 5555-5558:5555-5558 webx-host-standalone

In the container Xorg and the Xfce window manager have been launched. A WebX Engine is running too waiting for connection events.

You can then run the demo is standalone mode:

cd ..
./deploy.sh -sh host.docker.internal

Open a browser at https://localhost and connect to the WebX Remote Desktop.