Remote Access

sidra · 05-19-2006, 06:53 PM

Hi,

At work i have desktop with CentOS 4.2 installed. I want to access this remotely from a laptop at home or at work. I can SSH to it however i don't just want to access the console but also the graphical interface.

The laptop is running windows. If i try to use Remote Desktop Connection it gives me an error saying that the machine you are trying to access may not have remote connections enabled. What am i supposed to configure on the Linux box in order to use RDC from the laptop. Is there another way to do it? I've also noticed that i can't telnet to it?

Alternatively, i can access my laptop using rdesktop from the Linux box. I would like to be able to do the same from the laptop. Any ideas?

Thanks!

pljvaldez · 05-19-2006, 06:58 PM

The problem is that the windows box doesn't have an x-server. So you could install Cygwin (which includes an x server) and then run your x apps over ssh. Try googling for "x over ssh cygwin". I never had much luck with that one.

The other thing you can do is install a vnc server on the linux box and then use a vnc client on the windows box to connect. Not sure if you can do this over ssh for security or not. I just use it on my home LAN so the vnc service isn't available to the outside world because of my firewall.

cs-cam · 05-19-2006, 07:16 PM

FreeNX is a good option.

sidra · 05-19-2006, 07:20 PM

Hmmm...i'll try googling on that. Thanks!

I did install the VNC Server on the linux box as part of installation of Network Servers. Is that good enough? I see in system servics that the vnc-server is running. I tried using TightVNC on windows to connect but it didn't connect. Right now both the laptop and the Linux box are in the office. I don't know what the problem is.

I'll try the first option though. Any other thoughts?

mattl · 05-19-2006, 10:21 PM

Hi there,
once you get the vnc working on the local machine (youve tried turning on remote desktop and connecting to the ipaddress:5901 ?), its not to hard to get the vnc working over the ssh. i found and used putty, in there you can setup ssh tunnels. you tunnel port 5901 (or whatever port you know your vnc is listening on in your local lan) . then you connect to your own machine or loopback (127.0.0.1:5901). not sure what other ssh clients work like but i found putty easy enough not to need directions with some playing with.