VNC tutorial
João Vaz
Client VNC and Linux
server configuration
João Vaz
Wireless Integrated Circuits and Systems
IT / IST
July 2013
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VNC tutorial
João Vaz
• Introduction
- This tutorial explains how to access a linux OS workstation (server)
from a windows OS PC (client) with vnc tools.
- It is assumed that the server has vncserver installed, and the client
has vncviewer and ssh applications installed. In this tutorial
realVNC viewer (http://www.realvnc.com/) and putty ssh (http://
www.putty.org/) were used. Both are freeware software.
- This tutorial shows the example of user4 connecting to micro1
server.
- vnc has many advantages over ssh with X forwarding. One is the
fact that it doesn´t consumes too much internet bandwidth; the
other is that if the internet connection server-client accidently
closes, the restart is possible without losing anything because the
server vncserver and applications are still running.
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VNC tutorial
João Vaz
• First time configuration
1 – Starting server vncserver
Run client putty to make a ssh secure connection to the server. Port 22 is used by
default. Login to your linux account. In Linux run vncserver with the command
“vncserver :4 -depth 24 -geometry 1440x900”
Options:
:4 is the number of the display to
use, and accordingly to our group
policy, is equal to the login user
number. For example user10 uses
display 10.
-depth 24 defines the pixels depth in
number of bits. For cadence 24 value
is required.
-geometry defines the client display
resolution. It depends on the client
graphic card resolution. Client putty GUI 3
VNC tutorial
João Vaz
Then the system ask for a password. This password in only for the vnc connection,
it is not necessarily equal to the login one.
Finally logout can be performed.
Unless a server reboot is performed, the vncserver will continue running.
If necessary, to shutdown the vncserver, the command “vncserver –kill :4” should
be used.
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VNC tutorial
João Vaz
• Remote access with vncserver
1 – Starting client vncserver with port fowarding
Run putty on client to makes an ssh secure connection with port forwarding. For
that in putty SSH/tunnels menu, configure port forwarding: server port used by
“vncserver :4” is number 5904 (the rule is port=5900+display_number). Server
5904 port must be forward to your client host with the same number.
fill these fields
press Add
ssh/tunels GUI ssh/tunels GUI
Then make the login. The terminal window that appears must be running
during the work session. It can be minimized.
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VNC tutorial
João Vaz
2 – Starting client vnc viewer
Run vnc viewer on client machine. Write “localhost:4” in VNC Server field.
The client “thinks” the port is a local port.
Then enter the vncserver password.
Client vnc viewer GUI Client vnc viewer GUI
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VNC tutorial
João Vaz
And finally the desired server desktop image appears in your Windows PC
client. If you want full screen mode can be used.
To end your work session, close the vncviewer and putty application.
Note: Don´t make logout of your Linux session, otherwise you will get a blank
screen. To solve this you will need to kill vncserver and start it again in the
server side. But this closes your running server applications.
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VNC tutorial
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• Available server machines at IT
micro1.lx.it.pt IP= 193.136.223.50
micro2.lx.it.pt IP= 193.136.223.51
micro4.lx.it.pt IP= 193.136.223.53
micro5.lx.it.pt IP= 193.136.223.54
You can work in any machine because your account is available in all of
them. Avoid working on micro5 because it is the main server and is
usually very busy.
Because internal network is firewall protected, files transfer to/from
outside should be done with sftp clients.
