Connect from anywhere
using VNC
VNC stands for Virtual Network Computing. In essence, when you
run an X-Windows session on from an X-terminal, Unix creates a screen
image on the terminal, which displays on your monitor. VNC creates a
screen image at the server, which can be viewed from anywhere, using
the
VNC Viewer. VNC Viewers are available for Unix, PCs, and there is even
a
Java version that runs in any Java-enabled Web browser. Consequently,
no matter where you go, you can run a full X-window session, from any
PC. VNC actually consists of several programs:
vncserver
|
This is the script you run to
launch Xvnc. The first time you run vncserver, it sets up your vnc
password, and creates a $HOME/.vnc directory.
|
Xvnc
|
This is the actual program that
runs your VNC session on the Unix host. You don't directly run this
program. vncserver does that for you.
|
vncviewer
|
This is the viewer that runs on
your PC to let you view the VNC session running on the remote host.
|
vncpw
|
This program lets you change
your VNC password.
|
Setting
up your Unix account to run VNC server
Downloading and installation of VNC
Viewer on
your PC
Using
your Unix desktop remotely from a Windows PC
FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions
Once your Unix account is setup to run vncserver, running a VNC
session is a 3 step process:
1. Launch VNC server remotely
on your Unix account
A typical vncserver session is shown
below:
{merak:/home/plants/frist}vncserver
New 'X' desktop is merak:2
Starting applications specified in /home/plants/frist/.vnc/xstartup
Log file is /home/plants/frist/.vnc/merak:2.log
{merak:/home/plants/frist}
These messages show that VNC has
created a new vnc session running on
merak, called merak:2.
You can connect to this session from another Unix account by typing vncviewer session_name
3. Kill the VNC
server
DON'T FORGET
THIS STEP!
Although VNC
is fairly secure, it's asking for trouble to be logged in, in any
fashion, when you're not doing anything. When you're done, login to the
host where vncserver is running and kill the VNC
session.
Example: vncserver
-kill :1
On BIRCH systems, you can also use the
shortcut
vnckill
:1
Remember, if you launched vncserver on antares, you must log into
antares to kill the job. You can't kill on merak, toliman, etc.
DO NOT LEAVE VNCSERVER RUNNING WHEN YOU AREN'T USING IT!
Aside from being a security hole, having numerous vncserver jobs
running can sometimes confuse desktop systems such as GNOME, and can
sometimes lead to corruption of configuration files.
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