Libre Workspace Portal¶

Libre Workspace Portal is a web application that allows you to manage your server, users, and (later) linux clients. It is written in Python using the Django framework and is released under the GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE v3. You can access the application via the web interface.

Installation¶

Libre Workspace Portal can be installed as a .deb package on Debian based systems. The package is available here: https://github.com/Jean28518/libre-workspace/releases

Setup¶

Libre Workspace Portal installs all necessary dependencies as django and gunicorn. It also requires borgbackup and depends on caddy as a webserver and reverse proxy (for the automated install, which is optional).

Optional it can connect to a LDAP server to administrate users and groups. It also provides a self service portal for users to change their password or their name and mail. This can be configured in the cfg file which is located in /usr/share/linux-arbeitsplatz-central/cfg.

Hosting¶

Gunicorn (the python webserver) is configured to listen on port 11123 via http. Normally you would use a reverse proxy like caddy to provide https and forward the requests to gunicorn. It is also important to deploy the static files which should be accessed via the url /static/. The generated static files are located in /var/www/linux-arbeitsplatz-static and are generated automatically at the first start of Libre Workspace Portal.

A caddy file entry would look like this:

portal.int.de {
    handle_path /static* {
        root * /var/www/linux-arbeitsplatz-static
        file_server
        encode zstd gzip
    }
    handle_path /media* {
        root * /usr/share/linux-arbeitsplatz/media
        file_server
        encode zstd gzip
    }
    reverse_proxy localhost:11123
}

Services¶

Libre Workspace Portal provides two systemd services. One for the webserver and one for the background tasks. You can start them by systemd start linux-arbeitsplatz-web and systemd start linux-arbeitsplatz-unix.

linux-arbeitsplatz-web starts the gunicorn webserver with django and linux-arbeitsplatz-unix starts the unix/unix_scripts/service.py script which is responsible for the background tasks and listens to simple control files /usr/share/linux-arbeitsplatz-central/unix/unix_scripts.

The background tasks are:

Handling automated backups
Handling automated updates
Handling automated ssh key deployment
Handling data import via rsync into the nextcloud
Handling data export via rsync
…

For more information have a look at the source code.

Modules (django)¶

Libre Workspace Portal provides a modular system to extend the functionality of the application in form of django apps.

idm¶

The idm module provides the user and group management. It can be configured to use an LDAP server. If LDAP is not used, a single superuser (admin) is created at the first start of the application.

With LDAP enabled it provides a self service portal for users to change their password or their name and mail. You can also create new users and groups and manage them. If you forgot your password you can reset it via the self service. This sends a mail to the user (if mail adress is set) with a link to reset the password.

2FA (2 Factor Authentication)¶

The 2FA module provides the possibility to enable 2 Factor Authentication (TOTP) for the users. At the current state it is not mandatory to use 2FA. But if 2FA is enabled for a user he can’t login without the 2FA code. The 2FA code is generated by apps like Google Authenticator or KeePassXC. If a user locked himself out the 2fa can be disabled by another administrator in the user settings. If you as administrator locked yourself out you can disable 2FA by connecting via SSH to the server and execute the following commands:

sudo -i
cd /usr/share/linux-arbeitsplatz/
./django_reset_2fa_for_Administrator.sh

unix¶

The unix module provides the management of the server itself and handles the automated backups, updates, ssh key deployment, data import and export, etc. The configuration and the control of the services is available via the web interface in the menu entries “Systemverwaltung” and “Datenimport/-export”.

All taks are handled by the background service linux-arbeitsplatz-unix. It listens to simple control files in /usr/share/linux-arbeitsplatz-central/unix/unix_scripts. All actions are configured and done via simple bash scripts with environment variables. So these files can be adjusted easily and are easy to understand and to run manually.

If you want to run a script manually make sure you source the env.sh and unix.conf file in the unix_scripts directory before:

. /usr/share/linux-arbeitsplatz-central/unix/unix_scripts/env.sh
. /usr/share/linux-arbeitsplatz-central/unix/unix_scripts/unix.conf

welcome¶

The welcome module provides a simple first start assistent new instances and handles the automated installation of the whole libre workspace. It is available if in the cfg file the option LINUX_ARBEITSPLATZ_CONFIGURED is set to False.

The installation is done via simple bash scripts which are located in /usr/share/linux-arbeitsplatz-central/unix/unix_scripts. For every module of the whole libre workspace a script is available which can be executed manually. The whole installation is done and controlled by the /usr/share/linux-arbeitsplatz-central/unix/unix_scripts script.

app_dashboard¶

The app_dashboard module is the new startpage and provides a simple dashboard to displays a link to all installed services. You can also add your own links to the dashboard. This can be done if you are logged in as a superuser. Then a link in the end of the app_dashboard appears to manage the tiles.

How to update¶

There are two methods: The first one is the update inside the web interface and the second one is the manual update via the command line.

The first one can be found in the menu entry “Systemverwaltung”. At the “version” line you can find a link to the update the application, if a new version is available. The portal looks for updates every hour and if a new version is available it will be displayed in the web interface. If you want to have a look at the automated update script from libre workspace: https://github.com/Jean28518/libre-workspace/blob/main/update_libre_workspace.sh

The second method is the manual update via the command line. For that you have to connect to the libre workspace server via ssh. The instructions for that are available in the General Administration section of this documentation. For that you have to connect via SSH to the server and execute the following commands:

wget https://github.com/Jean28518/libre-workspace/releases/latest/download/linux-arbeitsplatz.deb
apt-get install ./linux-arbeitsplatz.deb -y
rm linux-arbeitsplatz.deb
systemctl enable linux-arbeitsplatz-unix
systemctl enable linux-arbeitsplatz-web
systemctl restart linux-arbeitsplatz-*

Troubleshooting¶

If you have any problems for example the Error 500 while accessing the portal, you could enable the debug mode in the django settings. For that you have to connect to the libre workspace server via ssh. The instructions for that are available in the General Administration section of this documentation. Then you have to edit the settings.py file of the django application:

sudo nano /usr/share/linux-arbeitsplatz/lac/settings.py

Then set the DEBUG variable to True and restart the webserver:

sudo systemctl restart linux-arbeitsplatz-web

Warning

Do not forget to disable the debug mode for security reasons after you have fixed the problem.