Cool free tool (not only) for the lab: MobaXTerm

I am running quite a few Linux servers in my virtual lab and was always looking for a decent free X11 server software for my virtual Windows desktop that I use for managing the environment. So far I used Xming, but experienced frequent crashes with it.

But then a while ago I discovered MobaXTerm ...

MobaXTerm is a toolbox for remote computing that does not only include a readily configured X11 server (based on the cygwin port of the original X.org server), but also clients for almost any type of session you can think of: ssh, telnet, rsh and XDMCP for Linux/Unix access, RDP for Windows access, FTP and SFTP for file transfer, VNC and a serial terminal.

And all this is presented in a nice intuitive GUI with a session manager and tabbed terminal windows:

MobaXTerm GUI

The default window that opens on startup also contains a local bash shell to a Cygwin runtime environment that includes many known Linux/Unix commands (grep, awk, sed etc.) - a nice add-on for Linux/Unix fans that want to use there favorite commands on Windows.

The X11 server will automatically start in the background, and if you open an ssh session to a remote Linux/Unix machine your DISPLAY will be directed to this server by default, so you can launch X11-based programs from any ssh session without any extra steps needed.

The ssh client also allows for tunneling and port forwarding that can be configured in a very comfortable way with this GUI:

MobaSSHTunnel - Graphical port forwarding tool

More features ...:

• Builtin server services for FTP, TFTP, HTTP, Telnet, SSH, VNC and even NFS!
• Macro record/replay
• Extensible through plugins

But what finally convinced me completely is the fact that MobaXTerm consists of a single executable file that does not need to be installed - you just run this file and it will dynamically extract all needed libraries. So it is portable per se, and you can just put it on your Dropbox etc. to have it instantly available anywhere.

MobaXTerm is available as a free Personal Edition with only few limitations compared to the Professional Edition that includes e.g. advanced customization/installation features and professional support. You can download and compare the two editions on this page.

---

---