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shadowsurfer 09-21-2005 11:58 PM

remote access software
 
I have a linux machine (redhat 7.2) that I can access from outside the network. The linux has got only a command line access to it or in other words , x windows may not be running. I donot have physical access to that box.

What I want to do is , from outside the network , I should be able to open a browser in that box or in other words run some kind of x windows from my windows machine so that I can open the browser.

Any ideas ?

MS3FGX 09-22-2005 12:26 AM

Couldn't you just use a text browser? There is really nothing you can do in X that you can't do on the CLI in some way or another.

Or what about X over SSH?

Dark_Helmet 09-22-2005 12:35 AM

I have a similar set-up at home. I have a server that boots to text mode, but starts up SSH on a non-standard port (yes, I'm paranoid). Anyway, if I'm using Windows, I SSH into the box (using PuTTY), and issue vncserver. I close the SSH session, and connect with a VNC viewer from the Windows side. Then I can run whatever I need on the server under Linux. So, to do this, obviously you need to have SSH (or some telnet equivalent) on the Linux box and it needs to start up automatically. You also need VNC installed on the Linux box and a VNC viewer on the other machine. It may sound complicated, but it's very simple.

shadowsurfer 09-22-2005 01:05 AM

can you give me the basic step to set up the configuration.

Dark_Helmet 09-22-2005 01:28 AM

You have terminal access already, so you can skip the SSH business; just use whatever command line access you already have (telnet, SSH, or whatever)

Just log into the server, check to see if VNC is already installed. It's a fairly standard utility. To test, just try the command I gave earlier: vncserver

If you get a "command not found" error, then VNC will need to be installed. I don't know the specifics of your situation, and you may need to talk with support people to install software if it's a paid eservice you're using.

If the command does work, you'll be asked if you'd like to use a password to connect to your desktop, and then you'll get a message to the effect of "starting server on display :X" where X is a number (1,2,3,...).

Now, open up a VNC viewer on the machine you have locally. If you don't have a VNC viewer, you can download one from these guys. They have versions available for Windows and Linux. When you run the VNC viewer, it will ask where to connect to. You need to type in your remote server's name or IP address followed by ":X" where X is the same number you got from the vncserver command previously.

If all goes well, you'll get a window that opens showing a desktop. What type of desktop you get depends on two things:
1) What software the remote machine has installed (plain X windows, GNOME, KDE, ... )
2) What commands are contained in your ${HOME}/.vnc/xstartup file - this file tells VNC what to run when you run vncserver

For reference, here's one I use (for a GNOME environment):
Code:

#!/bin/sh

[ -r ${HOME}/.Xresources ] && xrdb ${HOME}/.Xresources

unset SESSION_MANAGER
exec gnome-session &

If the vncserver command worked, you're positive you entered the host/IP of the remote machine correctly, and you get a "timed out" error from the viewer, then it's likely the server has a firewall set up. Again, depending on your situation, you may need to talk with support personnel to open up the port you need.

AngryLlama 09-22-2005 01:28 AM

install sshd.
add it to your rc scripts
install vnc

shadowsurfer 09-22-2005 01:35 AM

well thank for the info ill try it first

thanks a lot..

Gibsonist 09-22-2005 09:22 AM

Another option would be FreeNX as it is bit more secure than VNC and also it is faster (you can really remote control a PC even over a 128kb ISDN without any real problems)

You get the Client for free of http://www.nomachine.org
the server and its setup instructions you can find via google.


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