VNC server setup

From: barsalou <barjunk@attglobal.net>
Date: Wed Mar 17 2004 - 14:06:36 AKST

I thought we went around about this a while back, but I couldn't find
anything in the archive, so I am going to send this out.

There are a bunch a messages surrounding using VNC with ssh, but none
that I found talked specifically about setting up VNC server on the
linux side. This is a good way to see if you can set it up to work on a
local network, then expand to the ssh way of doing it.

I am still using Fedora (FC1). :)

To get the app on the box do:

apt-get install vnc-server

This should install the server and any rpms that might be needed.

Then you must set the password and an "X" session.

To set the password for a particular user, you must become the user and
issue the vncpasswd command. Like this:

su <previouslycreatedusername>
vncpasswd
exit

The password program will ask you for a password that you will use when
you launch the vncviewer app. You will need to type it in twice.

To setup an "X" session, as root, you must then modify the
/etc/sysconfig/vncservers file to look like this:

VNCSERVERS="1:<previouslycreatedusername>"

I hope it is obvious that the <previouslycreatedusername> would actually
be some username that is already created on the server system. In my
case it was mbarsalou. You can have multiple sessions by seperating the
entries with a space. For example

VNCSERVERS="1:user1 2:user7 3:user4"

This would setup vnc sessions for user1, user7 and user4.

Then issue this command:

service vncserver start

One of the things I noticed is that if you have a user listed that
doesn't have the vnc password set...that particular session will fail.
The service will return that it failed, but it is likely that the users
that have used vncpasswd to valid passwords, will have started.

Issuing a:

service vncserver status

Will let you know if the Xvnc server is running or not.

From the client side, anyone COULD connect to those running sessions as
long as they used the vncpasswd that was set. Obviously this creates
some security concerns. To connect to one of the active sessions you
would type in the vncviewer box:

<ip address>:1 (or 2 or 3 for our multi-user setup)

The vncviewer app should ask you for a password, then you are golden.

After you set this up, it may bring other issues to light that I didn't
cover here, but this will get you started.

Have fun!

Mike

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Received on Wed, 17 Mar 2004 14:06:36 -0900

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