Thursday, May 6, 2010

HOWTO for running VNCserver on Linux

What is VNCserver?
VNC stands for Virtual Network Computing. It was originally developed by AT&T as a way to administer machines without using the console.
Why use VNCserver?
In Linux, everything can be done from a shell. However, there may be a time when you need to access the machine as if you were at the console.

Getting Started
You will need several things to get started:

* root privledges
* VNC client software (tightVNC, you can download it here.)
* A good password!

As I mentioned above, this example is done with RHEL, which comes standard with VNCserver installed. To start the vncserver simply invoke the following commands:

[root@vis2]# service vncserver start
Starting VNC server: [ OK ]
[root@vis2]#
[root@vis2]# vncpasswd
Password:
Verify:
[root@vis2]#
[root@vis2]# vncserver

New 'vis2.nrgc.co.za:2 (oracrs)' desktop is vis2.nrgc.co.za:2

Creating default startup script /home/oracrs/.vnc/xstartup
Starting applications specified in /home/oracrs/.vnc/xstartup
Log file is /home/oracrs/.vnc/vis2.nrgc.co.za:2.log