Connecting to vnc over an SSH tunnel
 

Yes, I have googled. But nothing is working.

I have a vnc server running with a certain user configured.
I have created the same vnc user name in the local machine to simplify everything.
Now I am trying to connect with this command:

(fake IP, of course)

Nothing happens. It just waits forever.

I don't remember if there is an active firewall. If there is, it's iptables. So I ran this on the remote machine:

And nothing happens. Connecting just waits forever.

Of course, I can SSH to that remote machine.

The output of ps aux on the remote machine tells me that the vnc server is running.

So the usual question is: what am I doing wrong?

MTIA

Messing with IPTables is unnecessary.

Which 'display' is your VNC utility on? 5901 will be 1, 5900 will be 0, 5902 will be 2, etc.

ssh can be used with -v (or -vvv) to make it verbose. Otherwise I don't really know how is this setup configured, where are those port numbers coming from (and how did you configure/start the client).

I honestly don't know. I just know what is in the command line.

It is ok
You terminated it.
ssh itself is not a vnc client, just a tunnel. You will need to run your client too.

Thanks. Now I understand better what is going on, and I've connected successfully. It works.

However, the screen I get is too small to be useful to my interests. So I clicked Monitor Settings on Openbox (I don't know what that icon launches) and it says

"Unable to get monitor information!"

So I tried arandr and it says:

Any idea on how to fix this? I really need a larger view.

most probably you need to adjust your vnc server and/or viewer. From the other hand what you posted is not enough to help you. You need to give us more details. Posting an error message without context is useless.
(and if you really want to say thanks just click on yes)

Yes, more information is needed regarding how you are launching VNC on the remote system.

However, VNC might not be the best choice if you wish to run just a single application. If just one graphical program is needed, you can do X11 forwarding:

Compression might or might slow things down. Root should never (or almost never) be accessed directly remotely. In the very few cases where it is accessed remotely, using a key and turning off passwords is de rigueur. Then even in those cases with password authentication turned off and keys in use, graphical programs must not be run as root. So perhaps would be relevant to ask what problem you are really trying to solve?

Sorry, but I really have no idea what other context or more details you think are necessary.

I'm launching VNC on the remote system this way:

I am told (googling) that the -localhost option causes vncserver to outright refuse connections from outside. Only local conections are accepted. That is good and seems to be true by my tests. I can't connect remotely without the SSH tunnel. I want it that way.

Then I access the vnc session from my local machine:

Running a single application is a nice idea, but I actually need at least two windows, possibly three. Maybe I will be able to simplify things in the future and run only one thing, but alas it doesn't really work:

Nothing happens. shrug

Thanks. Try specifying a display:

Then connect on the matching port:

Though I am curious as to why there are graphical programs being run as root, and why remote root access via SSH has been turned on.

You approach works, except that I get that all grey reticulate X screen instead of the desktop manager. Not useful.

I always begin by doing everything as root, will change later. If it works as root, it has to work as non-root later or I know that permissions are getting in the way as they so often do. And root access via SSH is disabled with a password. I use a key. If even that is not secure enough, what the hey, let's just stop using passwords altogether or throw all computers in the garbage heap.

That's an incorrect assumption and complicates the approach unnecessarily.

Again, what problem are you really trying to solve?

I need a larger view. Larger resolution, I guess.