I'm thinking of using VNC to provide remote support from my Linux box for a newbie friend who also runs Linux.
As we are both ancient fogies we both use a dial-up internet connection (i.e. a slow connection at each end as opposed to a faster broadband on at one or both ends).
As we both have Ubuntu [Debian] based systems, I right in supposing that all I need to do is run something like;
apt-get install vncserver
on my friend's PC, and something like;
apt-get install vncviewer
on my own PC to install the software (if not part of the base Ubuntu install)?
The Unofficial Ubuntu Starter Guide gives some rudimentary info. which suggests it may be feasible but a couple of possible problems spring to mind:-
We both have the FireStarter firewall running using the default rules. I presume I'll need to change these at the server end to allow the viewer to connect. Can anyone give me some pointers on how I go about this for a VNC connection (VNC uses port 5900 I think)?
Also, as our dial-up connections use dynamic IP addressing is the lack of fixed IPs likely to be a problem?
Any other gotchas anyone can think of?
Has anyone ever tried this (i.e. Linux VNC - Linux VNC over dial-up) ? and, if so, did you get it to work? :o)
Regards,
Keith ____________ DEFAME, v.t. - To lie about another, also, to tell the truth about another. - Ambrose Bierce - The Devil's Dictionary
Keith Watson wrote:
As we both have Ubuntu [Debian] based systems, I right in supposing that all I need to do is run something like;
apt-get install vncserver
on my friend's PC, and something like;
apt-get install vncviewer
on my own PC to install the software (if not part of the base Ubuntu install)?
I would suggest that if you want to be able to show your friend what you are doing (demonstrate how to fix the problem they are having for example) you might:
apt-get install x11vnc
We both have the FireStarter firewall running using the default rules. I presume I'll need to change these at the server end to allow the viewer to connect. Can anyone give me some pointers on how I go about this for a VNC connection (VNC uses port 5900 I think)?
Watch what port is being used if you are using the standard vncserver - IIRC, it will run its server on display :1, and its network port will be 5900 + DISPLAY, so in my example 5901
Also, as our dial-up connections use dynamic IP addressing is the lack of fixed IPs likely to be a problem?
unlikely, as long as your ISP is not going to block non-standard ports (some restrict you to WWW, FTP, MSN, AIM). You can find out your IP address from http://www.whatismyip.com - very easy to get a user to go here from their web browser when you are on the phone, otherwise go for a Dynamic DNS service - something like http://www.dyndns.org
Any other gotchas anyone can think of?
I would suggest looking at running VNC over SSH as it is a fairly insecure protocol straight up. There is a good amount of info on this if you Google it.
Has anyone ever tried this (i.e. Linux VNC - Linux VNC over dial-up) ? and, if so, did you get it to work? :o)
I admin 120 or so desktops and servers from here - although most are Windoze machines (I SSH directly into my Linux machines, and even XDMCP when I am on site) and I have had plenty of success doing this over a dialup. You can set the max colour depth and compression algorithms and I would suggest that you look into this as at high colour depths and no compression your session may be unusable.
Hope this helps
Jim
-
Jim Rippon -
Keith Watson