Spotfire Server: How to run the configuration GUI on a headless Linux server

When running Spotfire Server on a headless Linux server, configuration of the Spotfire Server is done via command line only. This may be inconvenient for some users who prefer to use the configuration GUI (uiconfig.sh).

The uiconfig.sh script can still when connected to a linux server via an SSH client, if a display manager is running the background. There is a variety of different software that can achieve this, this article uses the example of Putty and XMing.

1) Install XMing

XMing is an X11 display server that allows gui applications to appear on a windows desktop.Down and install this (accepting the default options)

Once installed and started, an Xming icon will appear in your system tray. This runs a X display manager on your windows machine in the background.



2) Install required Linux packages.

The following linux packages are required to allow Linux GUI applications to run over a remote display server.

Red Hat / Centos

dnf install -y xorg-x11-utils xorg-x11-xauth

Debian / Ubuntu

apt install xauth x11-utils -y

3) Configure Putty

For your putty connection to the Spotfire server, enable X11 forwarding. A display location is not required.

If you are already logged in to the server, log out and log in again. The first time you may see this message in the console. This message can safely be ignored.

You may then run the uiconfig.sh script and this will launch the configuration GUI on your windows desktop.