On Tuesday 25 April 2006 15:12, Duzenbury, Rich wrote:
Hi,
I've used a number of distros, but not Suse. So far, it's been pleasant, but I cannot seem to get a working VNC server. The configuration looks a bit suspect to me.
It looks like the idea is to call Xvnc from xinetd. I've seen some recommendations that it would be better to call vncserver at system startup, rather than directly calling Xvnc, but perhaps that is not true.
<snip vnc configuration for xinet.d> VNC on the unix system can be run in many different modes: 1) xinet.d mode (Gives you remote login screen, and allows simultaneous sessions) This method is similar to windows Terminal services as it allows multiple people to work on the machine simultaneously) In SUSE you set this up by enabling vnc in xinet.d (yast2->Network Services->Network services (xinetd), ***AND** changing the DISPLAYMANAGER_XXX /etc/sysconfig system parameters to allow for remote login (more below) 2) X-Windows vnc-module method. This method gives you the X-Windows screen irrelevant of who is (or isn't) logged in. This method corresponds to the windows mode. In SUSE, you configure this in SAX2! 3) KDE Remote Desktop. This method gives you the desk of a user. The user has to configure it, as it is not open by default. In SUSE you use the Desktop sharing section of the KDE "Personal Settings" (newer kde versions) or KDE "Control Panel" (older KDE versions) 4) Manual Session. Here you log into the machine as the user you want a gui for and manually start a vnc seesion, and then can connect to it. In this mode the session stays open and running even after you disconnect.
If I vnc to the machine and use :0 for the port, I can get the console, if it has been logged in. Otherwise, the connect fails. This seems ok to me.
This is the KDE Desktop Sharing method, I assume you played with those configurations?
If I vnc to any of the other ports (:1, :2, :3), I get a gui window, but the screen is blank with a 'X' for a cursor. The login prompt never comes. This is bad.
This is correct, as SUSE does not allow network logins to the GUI by default. You got vnc working in xinet.d but need to allow remote logins as follows: go to yast2->system->/etc/sysconfig editor. there search for DISPLAY Select DISPLAYMANAGER and Click "GO TO" Change the following according to your needs: To allow remote logins (you need this one): DISPLAYMANAGER_REMOTE_ACCESS: Yes To allow root to logon via vnc (Optional and frowned upon for security reasons) set DISPLAYMANAGER_ROOT_LOGIN_REMOTE: yes If the machine is a server you don't need to waste resources by allways running a GUI on the console: DISPLAYMANAGER_STARTS_XSERVER: no Of course if you are allowing remote logins make sure autologin is set to off: DISPLAYMANAGER_AUTOLOGIN: <blank> DISPLAYMANAGER_PASSWORD_LESS_LOGIN: no In the "just 'casue it's there" category, change the title of you login screen: KDM_GREETSTRING: "Welcome to My Own Machine"
Some googling indicates that perhaps a xstartup file is missing, but I cannot seem to figure out which xstartup file should be used.
One other bit, if I start a secure shell and run vncserver, and then connect with vnc, everything works perfectly if I specify the given X desktop instance. It usually gives Server:4.
This is the manual method. Seems to work for you. Don't forget to shut the vnc's down with vncserver -kill :4 (they stay running when you don't logoff :-)
Thanks for any advice you can offer.
Regards,
Rich Duzenbury
No Problem, I seam to be specializing on this problem.... Jerry