How to turn your box into a Xvnc Terminal Server

Message

outspoken · Post by **outspoken** » Tue Apr 12, 2005 2:19 pm

Rosjahh wrote:Another good article on connecting to you vncserver (even when it's behind a router) from windows with ssh tunneling:

[url]http://

arg!!! what the hell.. there is a bunch of porn on that page!!!

EDIT: Removed URL. --pjp

outspoken · Post by **outspoken** » Tue Apr 12, 2005 2:25 pm

Here is a link on how to 'resume' your X session:

"connect to the running (and persisent) Gnome session from the lan on whatever machine I feel like."

andreas.bisiach · Post by **andreas.bisiach** » Wed Apr 13, 2005 1:22 pm

Hi,

has anybody solved the issue of allowing a user to logon remotely, start a bunch of program, disconnect from the session and later on reconnect upon successfully logon (with same userid) and find the same programs still running

I am looking for a multi user solution (pretty much like Windows Terminal Server)

I can see that it has been discussed in this thread but I cannot find a definitive answer.

(I know that sun has something call Sun Ray, but I guess it is not open and requires proprietary thin clients)

Thanks

/Andreas

andreas.bisiach · Post by **andreas.bisiach** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 6:44 am

After a closer search I have found out that there is commercial product called NX Server that does resume your session after upon reconnect. It is available on portage

There is also a free version called freenx also available on portage.

Fireklar · Post by **Fireklar** » Sun Apr 24, 2005 10:18 pm

outspoken wrote:
Rosjahh wrote:Another good article on connecting to you vncserver (even when it's behind a router) from windows with ssh tunneling:

[url]http://[/url]
arg!!! what the hell.. there is a bunch of porn on that page!!!

Sweet! Thanks for the tip.

However, if it's not porn you are looking for, the Internet Archive is often helpful.

brazilian_joe · Post by **brazilian_joe** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 5:29 pm

My setup refuses to work. This shows up in my log:

Code: Select all

Apr 28 12:19:57 [xinetd] Protocol tcp_ not in /etc/protocols [file=/etc/xinetd.d/xvncserver] [line=3]
Apr 28 12:19:57 [xinetd] Error parsing attribute protocol - DISABLING SERVICE [file=/etc/xinetd.d/xvncserver] [line=3]
Apr 28 12:19:57 [xinetd] Bad socket type: stream_ [file=/etc/xinetd.d/xvncserver] [line=4]
Apr 28 12:19:57 [xinetd] Error parsing attribute socket_type - DISABLING SERVICE [file=/etc/xinetd.d/xvncserver] [line=4]
Apr 28 12:19:57 [xinetd] Bad value for wait: no_ [file=/etc/xinetd.d/xvncserver] [line=5]
Apr 28 12:19:57 [xinetd] Error parsing attribute wait - DISABLING SERVICE [file=/etc/xinetd.d/xvncserver] [line=5]
Apr 28 12:19:57 [xinetd] Unknown user: nobody_ [file=/etc/xinetd.d/xvncserver] [line=6]
Apr 28 12:19:57 [xinetd] Error parsing attribute user - DISABLING SERVICE [file=/etc/xinetd.d/xvncserver] [line=6]
Apr 28 12:19:57 [xinetd] Server /usr/bin/Xvnc_ is not executable [file=/etc/xinetd.d/xvncserver] [line=7]
Apr 28 12:19:57 [xinetd] Error parsing attribute server - DISABLING SERVICE [file=/etc/xinetd.d/xvncserver] [line=7]
Apr 28 12:19:57 [xinetd] Protocol tcp_ not in /etc/protocols [file=/etc/xinetd.d/xvncserver] [line=13]
Apr 28 12:19:57 [xinetd] Error parsing attribute protocol - DISABLING SERVICE [file=/etc/xinetd.d/xvncserver] [line=13]
Apr 28 12:19:57 [xinetd] Bad socket type: stream_ [file=/etc/xinetd.d/xvncserver] [line=14]
Apr 28 12:19:57 [xinetd] Error parsing attribute socket_type - DISABLING SERVICE [file=/etc/xinetd.d/xvncserver] [line=14]
Apr 28 12:19:57 [xinetd] Bad value for wait: no_ [file=/etc/xinetd.d/xvncserver] [line=15]
Apr 28 12:19:57 [xinetd] Error parsing attribute wait - DISABLING SERVICE [file=/etc/xinetd.d/xvncserver] [line=15]
Apr 28 12:19:57 [xinetd] Unknown user: nobody_ [file=/etc/xinetd.d/xvncserver] [line=16]
Apr 28 12:19:57 [xinetd] Error parsing attribute user - DISABLING SERVICE [file=/etc/xinetd.d/xvncserver] [line=16]
Apr 28 12:19:57 [xinetd] Server /usr/bin/Xvnc_ is not executable [file=/etc/xinetd.d/xvncserver] [line=17]
Apr 28 12:19:57 [xinetd] Error parsing attribute server - DISABLING SERVICE [file=/etc/xinetd.d/xvncserver] [line=17]
...

There is no underscore after the 'tcp' in xvncserver. What is going on?

cbolin · Post by **cbolin** » Sat Apr 30, 2005 3:31 am

This guide works great, but I have one nit issue with it I can't stand.l When I invoke vnc the default (ugly IMHO) default X grey background is displayed.

If I use this tip found here on the forums and the gentoo wiki, it removes the ugly black background for all local logins but not for those using vnc. http://gentoo-wiki.com/TIP_Changing_Gra ... Background

I know this can be done because in Fedora you see a black background (for a flash) and no grey background.

Any ideas? Where is X being invoked when you login via VNC?

beuselinck · Post by **beuselinck** » Wed May 18, 2005 4:27 pm

Thanks for this great guide!

(I'm using my laptop (running xdm and fluxbox) as a terminal and my desktop pc (running gdm and xfce4) as a server.)

I've managed to get the vnc server working. I can start the vncviewer on my laptop with the desired resolution, I get my desktop login screen (gdm) on my laptop and am able to login, starting a new xfce4 session.

But is there by any chance a way of doing the following:

When i boot up my laptop, I first get a local graphical login screen (xdm), when I login, I get my laptop fluxbox session. From there I start vncviewer etc...
I would like to combine these two steps: when my laptop starts X, I want the (gdm) login screen from my desktop immediately. This way I don't have to start a local X session (fluxbox), and my laptop is acting as a true terminal.

Anybody managed to do this and wants to share his experiences?
Any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

mholtz · Post by **mholtz** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 2:19 am

Well, I figured out my problem with VNC -- the problem with vnc where the connection is inexplicably closed immediately after connection to a VNC port. I have the setup outlined in this document, but after an xorg-x11 upgrade things broke.

I first tried some manual patching of VNC so it would actually produce logs in a useful directory (found those here.). This was due to the fact that Xvnc defaults to /usr/adm for its log directory -- a directory which is non-existant on a Gentoo machine. This directory, incidentally, may be overridden at compile-time be changing the Makefile. However, this was a wild goose chase.

To see if you have the problem, run

Code: Select all

$ Xvnc :1 -desktop 800x600 -depth 16

See if Xvnc complains about not being able to find fixed fonts and exits. If that is the case, then the solution is below.

The problem, of course, is xorg fonts, and is due to the fact that the X font server is not used in the latest update of xorg-x11.

Here is an example entry from my /etc/xinetd.d/xvncserver. Notice the -fp unix/:-1 argument. Looking through the vncserver script and the source code of Xvnc, I saw that you can actually set the fontpath on the command line, though this is undocumented in the man page. I set mine to my X font server because it was simpler than passing the whole font path to it.

Code: Select all

service vnc-800x600x32
{
          protocol = tcp
          socket_type = stream
          wait = no
          user = nobody
          server = /usr/bin/Xvnc
          server_args = -inetd -query localhost -once -geometry 1024x768 -depth 16 -fp unix/:-1
}

So, make sure you have [b]font-server[/b] in your USE flags and re-merge xorg-x11.  That should take care of the problem.

djsmiley2k · Post by **djsmiley2k** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 11:32 pm

i had the lovely grey screen problem, but managed to get rid of that by starting xdm (and adding it - rc-update add xdm default).

now i just have the problem of that im dropped into twm instead of evilwm. Any ideas? i think i've done all the confiig files, but there seems to be a lot to check?

Cheers in advance.

AnimeUnrivaled · Post by **AnimeUnrivaled** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 4:46 pm

Well, I've followed the steps exactly as indicated (did have to do a "locate kdmrc" to find its actual location), and I've read every single response in this thread. I've searched as much as possible across the internet only to find that I can't solve my prblem. No, I'm not having the grey screen problem. I'm not that lucky. Each time I do attempt to connect via vncviewer, I get:

Code: Select all

vncviewer: VNC server closed connection

That's all.

xinetd is loaded correctly, the ports are being listened on correctly, and I can't figure out what's wrong. If I start a vncserver manually as a user, I can connect to it no problem. This message reminds me of an error that I will rarely come up against while running a RealVNC server on Windows XP. Occasionally the server will still be running but will simply "close" the connection immediately upon connecting from elsewhere. A quick restart of the Windows system fixes the problem. It seems to occur at random, but only if I've been connected several times during the current boot (It never happens the first or second time I connect after a reboot). I don't care about fixing the Windows thing, but I wanted to put that out there for reference.

So, the problem is that Xvnc seems to be running, but it is closing connections immediately (ie, never actually letting me do anything at all).

Any help would be appreciated.

Costanza · Post by **Costanza** » Fri Jun 24, 2005 9:28 am

I wrote this:

Any ideas what might cause this:
Code: Select all
htpc@HTPC htpc $ vncviewer localhost:71
VNC viewer version 3.3.7 - built Jun 23 2005 18:25:08
Copyright (C) 2002-2003 RealVNC Ltd.
Copyright (C) 1994-2000 AT&T Laboratories Cambridge.
See http://www.realvnc.com for information on VNC.
ReadFromRFBServer: rdr::EndOfStream
When trying to connect from my Windows machine (which is the purpose of this for me) I get an "The connection closed unexpectedly" error.

Are there any logs I should check for better error descriptions?

I obvously have read in this thread, and rechecked every step of the HOWTO, but it still doesn work.

Any help very appreciated.

My problem is now solved. It had noting to do with the configuration or anything. The problem was that my xinetd and vnc packages was compiled with -march=pentium4, when -march=pentium3 is the correct for my computer. I think vnc simply didn't work correctly. (I've had illegal instruction errors from various applications)

/Olof

mahir · Post by **mahir** » Fri Jun 24, 2005 5:20 pm

i think its called a persistant connection

when i close the connection
and re-connect
i want to continue where i left off

like screen but with a gui

how would i do that?

Costanza · Post by **Costanza** » Mon Jun 27, 2005 9:12 am

Got this working now, and it works perfectly, but now I have another newbie question.
The next step for my HTPC (the Gentoo machine) is connecting it to my TV via a VGA->Euroscart connection. For that connection to work, I need to modify modelines to match my TV. The question is, will this effect my possibilitys to have this VNC connection exactly the way I have it now?
I want the computer to be physically connected to my TV for normal HTPC use, but I also want to be able to do upgrades and tuning and so on using VNC.

I havent tried anything yet, so maybe it works the way I want already?

/Olof

LimeFrog · Post by **LimeFrog** » Tue Jun 28, 2005 9:32 am

I got this working without a fuzz, i can login into a gnome session perfetctly. But once inside the Gnome session my keyboard mapping goes crazy and not a single key turns out as it should, for example i press "Q" on the keyboard and i get "C" in Gnome.
Anyone experienced this before?

mahir · Post by **mahir** » Thu Jun 30, 2005 10:48 am

can SOMEBODY help me
with this persistant connectino thing!

somebody told me to try freenx, cos it supports it
but the problem is
i'm going to have to install the client on machines
and I AM NOT ALLOWED TO INSTALL ANYTHING ON THE MACHINES
apart from the server (dont ask, 2 sister companies, 1 wanker of a boss) anyway...

so i need to have accesss to a SCREEN via the JAVA class/jar thing u get on the windows version.
how do i doooooooo that?
and 2ndly,

i neeeeed to make the connections persissssssstanttttttt!

help me plzzzz

mholtz · Post by **mholtz** » Fri Jul 01, 2005 11:55 am

mahir wrote:can SOMEBODY help me
with this persistant connectino thing!

somebody told me to try freenx, cos it supports it
but the problem is
i'm going to have to install the client on machines
and I AM NOT ALLOWED TO INSTALL ANYTHING ON THE MACHINES
apart from the server (dont ask, 2 sister companies, 1 wanker of a boss) anyway...

so i need to have accesss to a SCREEN via the JAVA class/jar thing u get on the windows version.
how do i doooooooo that?
and 2ndly,

i neeeeed to make the connections persissssssstanttttttt!

help me plzzzz

Login to the machine remotely. Run vncserver. Look at the screen number you get assigned. Connect to that screen number on the remote host. For example, if you are assigned :2, connect to remotecomputer:2. If you are running over ssh, then you might want to specify the display number on the command line of vncserver.

mahir · Post by **mahir** » Fri Jul 01, 2005 1:01 pm

ok. this sounds cool.

but with the xvnx terminal server thing
the vnc kicks in and then i log on using xdm

will i get the same thing??

mattjgalloway · Post by **mattjgalloway** » Sat Jul 23, 2005 4:48 pm

NICE tutorial! Great stuff!

Has anyone managed to get the java bit working yet? Would be cool to be able to open a browser and login to my system from any pc without having to install software on that pc!

Thunrida · Post by **Thunrida** » Tue Aug 02, 2005 2:22 pm

Hi.

I have a funny problem. I have 2 gentoo boxes configured by this instructions, and with kubuntu laptop I am able to access them with ssh tuneling. However, I cannot go from either box to another one. I tried adding hosts allow, shutting down iptables, but it did not help.

Error I get is below. I have ssh connection established before trying to connect to localhost
( ~ $ ssh -C -L 5901:localhost:5971 192.168.0.55)

~ $ vncviewer localhost:5901
vncviewer: ConnectToTcpAddr: connect: Connection refused
Unable to connect to VNC server

newtonian · Post by **newtonian** » Wed Aug 10, 2005 3:03 am

AnimeUnrivaled wrote:Well, I've followed the steps exactly as indicated (did have to do a "locate kdmrc" to find its actual location), and I've read every single response in this thread. I've searched as much as possible across the internet only to find that I can't solve my prblem. No, I'm not having the grey screen problem. I'm not that lucky. Each time I do attempt to connect via vncviewer, I get:
Code: Select all
vncviewer: VNC server closed connection 
That's all.

xinetd is loaded correctly, the ports are being listened on correctly, and I can't figure out what's wrong. If I start a vncserver manually as a user, I can connect to it no problem. This message reminds me of an error that I will rarely come up against while running a RealVNC server on Windows XP. Occasionally the server will still be running but will simply "close" the connection immediately upon connecting from elsewhere. A quick restart of the Windows system fixes the problem. It seems to occur at random, but only if I've been connected several times during the current boot (It never happens the first or second time I connect after a reboot). I don't care about fixing the Windows thing, but I wanted to put that out there for reference.

So, the problem is that Xvnc seems to be running, but it is closing connections immediately (ie, never actually letting me do anything at all).

Any help would be appreciated.

I had the same problem after going through this howto.

To fix it I did:

Code: Select all

tail -f /var/log/everything/current

in my logs there was an error about the format of my hosts.allow file

After I fixed my hosts.allow file I stopped getting the error you're getting.
This may or may not be the problem, but it's worth a look.

Cheers,

XtAzY · Post by **XtAzY** » Wed Aug 10, 2005 3:31 pm

arg... ok i did all those steps correctly just to setup this
but when i type "vncviewer localhost:73" it just gave me:

Code: Select all

Error: Can't open display:

help plz... thanks!!!

newtonian · Post by **newtonian** » Fri Aug 12, 2005 1:40 pm

Hi-

I followed this tutorial and got everything to work fine.

The users that use the vnc terminal system primarily use eclipse.
There is a bug in vnc versions before 4.0-5 that causes the vncserver
to crash when used with eclipse. Details at :
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/sh ... ?id=127134

Any tips on how to install VNC server 4.1.1?
Is it just a matter of umerging vnc, downloading the source from realvnc and running the install script?
Do you think the RealVNC 4.0-r1 ebuild is newer than 4.0-5?

Cheers,

newtonian · Post by **newtonian** » Fri Aug 12, 2005 2:41 pm

newtonian wrote:Hi-

I followed this tutorial and got everything to work fine.

The users that use the vnc terminal system primarily use eclipse.
There is a bug in vnc versions before 4.0-5 that causes the vncserver
to crash when used with eclipse. Details at :
from https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/sh ... ?id=127134

Any tips on how to install VNC server 4.1.1?
Is it just a matter of umerging vnc, downloading the source from realvnc and running the install script?
Do you think the RealVNC 4.0-r1 ebuild is newer than 4.0-5?

Cheers,

I verified this bug on :
* net-misc/vnc
Latest version available: 3.3.7
and
* net-misc/tightvnc
Latest version available: 1.3_alpha5

Then I tried:

net-misc/xf4vnc
Latest version available: 4.3.0.104
Latest version installed: 4.3.0.104

and NO MORE bug

Hope this helps anyone trying to run Eclipse over vnc.

BTW xf4vnc works fine for me with this terminal server setup.

Cheers,

David

maneesh · Post by **maneesh** » Sun Aug 14, 2005 9:21 pm

I figured out how to get a persistent connection working with KDE or any other window manager! Try this (worked for me)

1) make sure "vncserver" is installed on your gentoo box.
2) with the user you want to log on with, edit the file ~/.vnc/xstartup
3) change the last line so that your document looks like this:

Code: Select all

#!/bin/sh

xrdb $HOME/.Xresources
xsetroot -solid grey
xterm -geometry 80x24+10+10 -ls -title "$VNCDESKTOP Desktop" &
startkde &

(Note: if you want to use gnome or enlightenment or anything, change the line "startkde &"
4) in a shell, run vncserver
5) check the output, which will say something like this

Code: Select all

New 'X' desktop is linux:2

(linux will be the hostname of your computer)
6) wait about 30 seconds (kde will be booting up) and run

Code: Select all

vncserver localhost:2

The number "2" will be the number given by output from step 5.
7) Enter your password determined by ~/.vnc/passwd
8)Enjoy! You can log in from external locations by using "hostname:2"

Let me know if it works!

-Maneesh

How to turn your box into a Xvnc Terminal Server

Allow disconnect form session and reconnect upon logon

persistent connection

persisstaaaaaantttconnectionnnnssss

Re: persisstaaaaaantttconnectionnnnssss

mmm

close connection

eclipse and vnc server crash

Re: eclipse and vnc server crash