Hosted Desktops

I'll address the basic how to securely VNC into an X server session and will skip the much larger questions.

When I want to run a remote desktop I:

a) use an ssh tunnel BASH script like this:

#!/bin/sh

ssh -l <userid>-p 22 -L 127.0.0.1:5910:127.0.0.1:5901</userid> 

b) run a VNC server with a BASH script like this:

#!/bin/sh

vncserver :01 -rfbport 5901 -geometry 1280x1024 -nevershared -securitytypes=none -localhost  -depth 16
sleep 10
xhost + $HOSTNAME

c) make sure my ~/.vnc/xstartup is executable and looks like this:

#!/bin/sh

# Uncomment the following two lines for normal desktop:
# unset SESSION_MANAGER
# exec /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc

[ -x /etc/vnc/xstartup ] && exec /etc/vnc/xstartup
[ -r $HOME/.Xresources ] && xrdb $HOME/.Xresources
xsetroot -solid grey
vncconfig -iconic &
#xterm -geometry 80x24+10+10 -ls -title "$VNCDESKTOP Desktop" &
#twm &
#fvwm &
gnome-session &

d) if you run Ubuntu 11.04 and like Unity you won't be able to run it but you can run Unity 2D which is in the repo:

sudo aptitude install unity-2d

Note that Canonical is making noise like they will make Wayland the default graphics server in 11.10 and X I think rides on top of that if you want which would increase your RAM requirements.

I've been experimenting with nxclient and freenx server on my linode.

I'm in the UK so I've been using a London linode and it's a very, very good set-up. My Linode 512 handles things really smoothly, in fact I can see little difference compared to my hetzner dedicated box.

If you're running ubuntu have a look at these straight-forward instructions: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/FreeNX

(Edit: Ok there's a noticeable difference playing Frozen-Bubble on the Linode, it's a lot slower, but for serious work there's no real discernable difference ;-)

@Mr Nod:

I've been experimenting with nxclient and freenx server on my linode.

I'm in the UK so I've been using a London linode and it's a very, very good set-up. MY Linode 512 handles things really smoothly, in fact I can see little difference compared to my hetzner dedicated box.

If you're running ubuntu have a look at these straight-forward instructions: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/FreeNX

We were running that too , with NeoWare laptops… worked well. http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/Te … =c01293565">http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&taskId=125&prodSeriesId=3638817&prodTypeId=12454&objectID=c01293565

I think we'll try it again on Linode.

Reasons to use remote desktop:

• Bandwidth

• Backup

• Reliability

• Maintenance

• scalability

• remote access

• cheaper end nodes

• security (end node gets stolen)

thank you Mr. jebblue for so much great information!

When I run your script to launch vncserver, the server instance is created but the last line gives me a:

xhost: unable to open display ""

Is this fatal?

@deanswift:

xhost: unable to open display ""

Solved! But I cannot connect now to the vncserver, which is running:

27765 pts/1 S 0:00 Xtightvnc :01 -desktop X -auth /home/bob/.Xauthority

27772 pts/1 Sl 0:00 gnome-session

27775 pts/1 S 0:00 /usr/lib/libgconf2-4/gconfd-2 5

27777 pts/1 S 0:00 /usr/bin/gnome-keyring-daemon

I cannot connect from my remote machine. Even if I turn off

the firewalls at both ends of the link, I get a "connection refused"

when I run vncviewer. I can't even nping to port 5901, which is what

is configured. I have run xhost + to add both client and server to

access list.

nx can make it very usable, but this isn't going to save you bandwidth. Quite the opposite, this will consume significantly more bandwidth than working locally (using web browsing as an example).

If you do want to do it, Ubuntu is traditionally the most user-friendly of the common Linode options, but it doesn't necessarily matter if you're setting up the desktop environment yourself anyhow.

What I really love about this remote desktop malarky is that I can install and run the android SDK, whereas my netbook is so feeble it would never manage it :)

We put the project aside for now, even on a 768 it was kind of sluggish

But speed test were crazy, 300Mbps down and 50Mbps up.

Above in this thread is a script to launch a vnc server instance. It won't work, and when you get it to work, you won't be able to log in to it:

vncserver :01 -rfbport 5901 -geometry 1280x1024 -nevershared -securitytypes=none -localhost -depth 16

Get rid of both 'securitytypes=none' AND '-localhost'.

vncserver :01 -rfbport 5901 -geometry 1280x1024 -nevershared -depth 16

Now you're good to go, at least I was….

@deanswift:

Above in this thread is a script to launch a vnc server instance. It won't work, and when you get it to work, you won't be able to log in to it:

vncserver :01 -rfbport 5901 -geometry 1280x1024 -nevershared -securitytypes=none -localhost -depth 16

Get rid of both 'securitytypes=none' AND '-localhost'.

vncserver :01 -rfbport 5901 -geometry 1280x1024 -nevershared -depth 16

Now you're good to go, at least I was….

I use it every day and did before I posted that exactly as I posted it. Each option is there for a reason. Advising someone to hack stuff without understanding why you think it works better is not usually a good idea.

Well Mr. jebblue, we have a difference of opinion. I know exactly why those options don't work, at least in my setup. So please spare us the fatherly advice about what is and is not good behavior. I suspect now you will have to have a last word. Knock yourself out.

@deanswift:

Well Mr. jebblue, we have a difference of opinion. I know exactly why those options don't work, at least in my setup. So please spare us the fatherly advice about what is and is not good behavior. I suspect now you will have to have a last word. Knock yourself out.

Mea culpa. That was quite unnecessarily pissy of me. Sorry about that. Coming off some medication (really…).

My version of vncserver didn't like the -securitytypes arg; is it now obsolete? As for -localhost, since I wasn't tunneling vncclient, all it did was prevent making a connection.

I am now going to set up that tunneling and put back -localhost.

Sorry about all this.

@Alohatone:

We put the project aside for now, even on a 768 it was kind of sluggish

But speed test were crazy, 300Mbps down and 50Mbps up.

It depends on the technology used. 768 Kbps of upstream might feel sluggish with VNC, which is sending the entire framebuffer (image) over the network, versus NX, which buffers/caches/proxies XDMCP itself (if an app needs to render text, it sends the text, not an image of the text).

Np desnswift, if I had a nickel for each time I do the same …

I use vnc4server in the Ubuntu repo, in fact everything is out of the repo. You're right about the fact that securitytypes and one or two other options can cause issues I should have said I was on Ubuntu latest in my original post. I've noticed RPM based distros in the past would differ from Ubuntu in this area, good point.

To the NXers… some recommend NX and I've tried it twice over the years and just keep uninstalling it, it seems I'm not sure really, maybe too invasive in how it operates? .. something?

OP There is one more option you can try, might get better performance, old reliable Xvfb paired with x11vnc. x11vnc was designed to export your physical display to your VNC client, I use this to get my laptop screen on my desktop when I need to do stuff on there but if you use Xvfb as the X server; x11vnc happily exports it.

Use a new script like this:

#!/bin/sh

Xvfb :20 -screen 0 1280x1024x16 &

export DISPLAY=:20

#twm &
#wmaker &
#fvwm2 &
gnome-session &

#x11vnc -display :20  -rfbport 5920 &
x11vnc -display :20 -localhost -rfbport 5901 -noxdamage -noclipboard -nosetclipboard -repeat -clear_keys &

@jebblue:

Np desnswift, if I had a nickel for each time I do the same …

Thanks.

@jebblue:

I use vnc4server in the Ubuntu repo, in fact everything is out of the repo. You're right about the fact that securitytypes and one or two other options can cause issues…

I am using (from Lenny) tightvncserver, so I am not surprised there are differences in the interface.

@jebblue:

OP There is one more option you can try, might get better performance, old reliable Xvfb paired with x11vnc.

Thanks again!