Vnc/servers (Summary)

ref URL:Https://help.ubuntu.com/community/VNC/Servers


the more useful two: Tightvncserver:Especially lightweight, it can only be new to the desktop (that is, you can open several desktops on one Linux for several users), not to see the desktop that Tty7/tty1 is showing (but X11vnc can), compared to X11VNC secure transmission. X11vnc:Secure transmission is better, occupying more resources than tightvncserver.


Introduction

A VNC server is a program that shares a desktop with other computers over the Internet. You'll need a VNC server if you want other people to see your desktop. Every VNC server has different strengths and weaknesses and is appropriate for different uses. This page would discuss each of the VNC servers available in Ubuntu, and ways to configure them for most common uses of VNC .

Common Security Options

The most important thing if setting up a VNC server was to only let the right people access your desktop. The safest-to-do-is-usually to has someone sitting at the desktop deciding who gets to use it, but that's not Al Ways Practical-for example, if you want to log on to your own computer from somewhere else.

If you want to confirm each connection manually, you should look for these options:

Request Access each time-pop a window up asking whether to allow each connection as it comes in.

View-only Access-allow VNC clients to view the Destkop, and not to change anything. As well adding a little security, this avoids problems with both of your fighting over control of the mouse.

Using These, give you, the most security. Requesting access each time would ensure that nobody can connect without you noticing, and view-only access would mean that They can ' t change anything without asking and do it for them.

If you want to access your desktop when nobody was sitting at it, these options would be more useful:

Only allow local connections-only let people connect if they already has access to your computer.

Start your VNC server in the "once" Mode-tell your VNC server to allow one connection and then the block anything after that.

Set a password-require people to send a password before they can connect.

These three options should give you a secure set-up, so long as they ' re used with port-forwarding. Only allowing local connections means, people with user accounts on your computer can access your desktop. Starting the server in "Once" mode means, people with user accounts on your computer would has to log in to your desk Top between the time you start your VNC server and the time of your connect from your VNC client. Setting a password means that, if anyone do try to connect in that brief interval, they probably wouldn ' t is able to get In before you noticed and stopped the server.

Note:you must set a password if you want to use the In-built VNC client in Mac OS x.

Vino

Vino is the default VNC server in Ubuntu to share your existing desktop with other users.

To configure vino from within GNOME, go to System > Preferences > Remote Desktop

To set vino to request access each time, tick allow other users to view your desktop in the Remote desktop configuration W Indow. There's no-vino to set-listen for the next connection.

To set a password, tick Require the user to enter this password:, and enter a hard-to-guess password.

To put Vino in view-only mode, Untick allow and other users to control your desktop.

To only allow local connections, open a terminal and run the command:

To allow connections from anywhere, open a terminal and run the command:

X11vnc

X11vnc is a VNC server which is not dependent on any one particular graphical environment. Also, it facilitates using in a minimal environment, as it has a tcl/tk based GUI. It can be started while your computer are still showing a login screen.

It is helpful to ensure you has uninstalled any and VNC programs first so that they don ' t interfere with x11vnc.

As a quick proof of concept to test your connectivity, as per the man page, one may create a password file via:

x11vnc-storepasswd

It'll respond with:

Enter VNC Password:
Verify password:
Write password to/home/username/.vnc/passwd?  [y]/n y
Password written to:/home/username/.vnc/passwd

One may execute the following in a terminal:

 X11vnc-auth Guess-forever-loop-noxdamage-repeat-rfbauth/home/username/.vnc/passwd-rfbport 5900-shared</< /pre>