Sam
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Registered: 24th Dec 99
Location: West Midlands
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My server is running Ubuntu 10.04 'Lucid Lynx' LTS, I want to be able to connect to it remotely from my Windows 7 laptop.
On the server side, I have set up SSH, and on the laptop side I have installed and set up TightVNC Viewer and PuTTY.
I have also got a domain name with DynDNS, and entered those details into my broadband router.
Here's the thing... I can successfully SSH into the server box (using the DynDNS address) and I *think* I am successfully running X11VNC from the console, but TightVNC never seems to connect whether I try 'localhost' or the DynDNS address with the port as well.
Where am I going wrong? 
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Andrew
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Have you forwarded the VNC ports from the router to Linux box?
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Sam
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Yeah, 22 and 5900-5901 is forwarded to the server, I just went on CanYouSeeMe.org and it's telling me port 22 is OK (SSH) but 5900 = connection refused?
[Edited on 12-09-2010 by Sam]
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Sam
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Think I sorted it. Removing the -localhost parameter when I type in the x11vnc command in the shell seems to have fixed it.
Weird though, because the Ubuntu documentation page on VNC said to set it up that way? 
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Andrew
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Mate, working with computers all day long i wouldn't be surprised. They do some weird and wonderful things 
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Sam
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This was much easier when I was running XP as my server - I just used Remote Desktop
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PaulW
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Registered: 26th Jan 03
Location: Atherton, Greater Manchester
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You turn VNC on via System -> Preferences -> Remote Desktop anyway... no idea why you're manually playing with x11vnc...
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Sam
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Remote Desktop doesn't work if you're not already logged in at the Ubuntu box.
With x11vnc you don't need to be logged in.
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PaulW
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Look up XDMCP then, less overheads and much friendlier on the 'old bandwidth requirements.
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Rob_Quads
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Registered: 29th Mar 01
Location: southampton
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I would recommend using SSH to tunnel through than opening up VNC, much more secure.
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Sam
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quote:
Originally posted by Rob_Quads
I would recommend using SSH to tunnel through than opening up VNC, much more secure.
quote:
Originally posted by Sam
On the server side, I have set up SSH
I need access to the desktop as well hence using VNC as well.
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Rob_Quads
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You can use VNC but I would recommend tunneling it through SSH which is much more secure.
You then SSH in (using putty or similar) make sure you have it setup to port forward i.e. localhost:5900 -> 192.168.1.5:5900 (where the server on your home network is 192.168.1.5)
That way you are only opening 1 port up to the wide world and not the VNC port.
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Sam
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The way I do it is:
- connect to server via SSH in PuTTY
- run x11vnc in the shell, which listens for connections on port 5900
- connect to desktop with VNC client to the DynDNS address on port 5900
Is that the correct way of tunneling through SSH?
I followed these instructions on the Ubuntu website:
VNC - Community Ubuntu Documentation
[Edited on 12-09-2010 by Sam]
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ENB
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Why would you have a server with a GUI?
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Sam
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Why not?
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moka
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quote:
Originally posted by ENB
Why would you have a server with a GUI?
Does seem a bit odd, but if he has come directly from a windows world its normal i suppose.
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moka
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Registered: 11th Mar 06
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quote:
Originally posted by Sam
The way I do it is:
- connect to server via SSH in PuTTY
- run x11vnc in the shell, which listens for connections on port 5900
- connect to desktop with VNC client to the DynDNS address on port 5900
Is that the correct way of tunneling through SSH?
I followed these instructions on the Ubuntu website:
VNC - Community Ubuntu Documentation
[Edited on 12-09-2010 by Sam]
To tunnel through ssh is to make a ssh connection and tunnel the vnc connection thru it thus making it secure.
What your describing is logging into the server via ssh, enabling the vnc server and connecting to it normally via vnc.
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Rob_Quads
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Running a GUI on modern server would have virtually no impact at all when no-one is logged in
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moka
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quote:
Originally posted by Sam
Why not?
Normally a server (especially a linux server) in my experience would be run headless.
What that means is... If its a home server (for example), the server would be setup using a keyboard mouse and monitor, ssh would be enabled to allow remote admin, then the keyboard mouse and monitor would be removed and the server chucked under the stairs. You would then be able to control the server from your main pc using SSH.
Additionally i would install webmin to give me a web based admin console if i was feeling lazy or couldnt do something using the console.
A gui is a bit odd though as normally you just wouldnt need it plus it would be taking up potentially valuable system resources.
Each to there own though. 
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Andrew
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Registered: 5th May 04
Location: Skoda Octavia Estate, Ford Puma
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I'm becoming quite fond of Linux. I assume you initially went for Linux due to it being Open Source. I don't know much about and have only used it to recover data on a few occasions. Quite fancy getting myself a netbook running Ubuntu in the coming months. I'll be mainly using it as a cheap web browser while waching TV. Need to look into this 3G stuff to see if the software will work.
My set up at home currently consists of SonicWall VPN and an SBS2008 box used for Exchange 2007 and as a file server (RAID5). Got a USB Laser printer attached too. Looking into Exchange 2010 soon, just had too many person issues going on.
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Sam
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Right I've done some more tweaking and now I can connect to the terminal AND the desktop via SSH.
Hopefully this is correct?
In PuTTY, I've got the following set up:
Connection > SSH > X11
- Enable X11 forwarding is ticked
- X display location = localhost:O
Connection > SSH > Tunnels
- Source port = 5900
- Destination = localhost:5900
In the terminal, I type in:
sudo x11vnc -safer -localhost -nopw -once -display :O
And finally in the VNC viewer I connect to localhost::5900.
(O = 0 BTW in the above examples, CS smiley got in the way!)
[Edited on 14-09-2010 by Sam]
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Sam
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Location: West Midlands
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quote:
Originally posted by moka
Normally a server (especially a linux server) in my experience would be run headless.
What that means is... If its a home server (for example), the server would be setup using a keyboard mouse and monitor, ssh would be enabled to allow remote admin, then the keyboard mouse and monitor would be removed and the server chucked under the stairs. You would then be able to control the server from your main pc using SSH.
Additionally i would install webmin to give me a web based admin console if i was feeling lazy or couldnt do something using the console.
A gui is a bit odd though as normally you just wouldnt need it plus it would be taking up potentially valuable system resources.
Each to there own though.
I'm not that much of a Linux guru as you can probably tell, I'm starting to learn my way around the terminal screen as I also use it in case things in GUI based programs don't work as I expect them to, but I do like the convenience of having a GUI as let's face it, we aren't back in 1970 with the good old UNIX days are we?
I do have Webmin installed as well, although I tend to use that to check system changes I make in the terminal are correct
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Sam
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Registered: 24th Dec 99
Location: West Midlands
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quote:
Originally posted by Andrew
I'm becoming quite fond of Linux. I assume you initially went for Linux due to it being Open Source. I don't know much about and have only used it to recover data on a few occasions. Quite fancy getting myself a netbook running Ubuntu in the coming months. I'll be mainly using it as a cheap web browser while waching TV. Need to look into this 3G stuff to see if the software will work.
My set up at home currently consists of SonicWall VPN and an SBS2008 box used for Exchange 2007 and as a file server (RAID5). Got a USB Laser printer attached too. Looking into Exchange 2010 soon, just had too many person issues going on.
I just fancied learning something new, and Linux isn't as demanding as Windows which is great for my little Athlon 1.6 server! It originally had 512MB RAM and Windows XP, but I upgraded the RAM to 1GB and migrated over to Ubuntu as that seems to be the most popular flavour of Linux these days (I did try Kubuntu on a laptop once but that's just Ubuntu with a different desktop).
The server runs a RAID1 disk mirror, and I've got my laser connected to it so that anyone on the network can access files and print easily. Can't get my UPS to work with it though, probably because it's a cheap ass unit from eBuyer I bought ages ago although it did work OK with Windows...
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willay
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whats the make and model of the UPS?
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Sam
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Registered: 24th Dec 99
Location: West Midlands
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I think it's a Plexus UPS-500V, it's this bad boy anyway:
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/130477
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