How To setup and use VNC over SSH tunnel

Setup procedure

0. remember, that VNC runs in a client-server mode, so some setup steps need to be taken on the server side, others - on the client side (your laptop)

1. on a remote machine, for example, on mu2egpvm02.fnal.gov, setup a VNC server to listen to a local port:

murat@mu2egpvm02:~> vncserver :1 -name MU2E01  -depth 24 -geometry 1900x1050 -localhost -rfbauth ~/.vnc/passwd

note 1: 'vncserver :1' listens to a local port 5901 (5900+1) , this port can be taken by another user.

Run 'ps -efl | grep -i vnc' on the server to see who else is running VNC servers on the remote host and which ports are already taken

note 2: '-depth 24' is needed to support OpenGL rendering over VNC connection

2. create a VNC server password (you will be asked for it when connecting on a client side):

murat@mu2egpvm02:~> vncpasswd  ~/.vnc/passwd  

and enter the password when prompted

note 1: to use your favorite window manager, for example, KDE, create a ~/.Xclients file as follows:

murat@mu2egpvm02:~>cat ~/.Xclients

#!/bin/bash

startkde &

~/.Xclients file has to be executable

3. on your laptop, establish a ssh tunnel (use correct port numbers and the host name).

Linux:

ssh -f -N -t -L 5901:localhost:5901 your_fnal_username@mu2egpvm02.fnal.gov

MAC:

ssh -f -N -L 5901:localhost:5901 your_fnal_username@mu2egpvm02.fnal.gov

4. on your laptop, start the VNC client

vncviewer

5. when the TigerVNC client opens a window, direct it to localhost, port 5901, as shown below (localhost:1 means 'local port 5901').

Also click on Options and check 'Misc./Shared'

6. Comments:

• 2015-07-30: Windows-specific: when setting up a tunnel, the last version of Putty requires both ports, on the client and server nodes, to be declared as ‘local’ , such that they would be displayed with ‘L’ character