[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> On Fri, 24 May 2002, Roberto Armenteros wrote:
>
>
>>I would like to know how I can connect to an X server
>>running in one computer from another computer on the
>>internet. Is the X server by default enabled to accept
>>connections from the outside? How would I connect from
>>it. I would appreciate any directions on how to do
>>this "ex, what configuration file is resposable for
>>this" or where can i go to find documentation from
>>this kind of actions.
>>
>>
While all of the things you list below will work. None
of them are needed. X11 will do this on it's own, assuming
that neither machine is blocked/protected by a firewall.
On the machine you want to run the X client software (the application)
on set your DISPLAY variable to the name of the machine running the
X server software followed by a colon, and the display number on that
machine that you want to display the application on (usually 0 but it
can be other values also.) Something like this:
export DISPLAY=server.host.com:0
Then depending on how that Xserver is configured, you may or may not
need to do the following step. Try it first without doing this. If
it doesn't work then, on the machine running the Xserver, there are
a few things you can try, the easiest of which is to allow the client
application host to connect to the server by running:
xhost + client.host.org
Lastly just run your X application:
xterm&
Of course there are security issues with anything you do across the internet,
and these instructions were written for ease of use, not security.
There are more secure ways to allow connections to an Xserver rather than
using 'xhost +'. 'xauth' is a better way, and not much harder but longer to
explain.
None of the access control mechanisms do any encryption.
Of the choices listed below, VNC has all the same security issues as
plain X, althought it may have lower bandwidth requirements. I don't
know from the original posters message if bandwidth is a problem.
The last two VPN and SSH are basically the same (SSH in effect gives you
a VPN) and both will encrypt all traffic while probably also providing
some element of access control (it really depends on the rest of your setup.)
SSH I beleive does do some compression also.
-Kyle
>
> There are several ways of doing what you'd like:
>
> 1) Run tightvnc (http://www.tightvnc.com)
> TightVNC is a "Remote framebuffer" device similar to PCAnywhere. It
> is based on VNC, but has optimizations for slower links.
>
> 2) Tunnel your X session through SSH.
>
> http://csociety.ecn.purdue.edu/~sigos/projects/ssh/forwarding/
>
> The first method relies on the automatic forwarding of X built into
> SSH. This will work if the host you're connecting to is directly on
> the Internet. Use the port forwarding technique (ssh -L) to connect
> to a machine that's behind a firewall. If you're connected thusly:
> A <--Internet--> B <--LAN--> C
>
> traffic between B and C will *not* be encrypted in this method.
>
> 3) Install a VPN between the two machines.
> Try http://openvpn.sourceforge.net for a fairly straightforward
> utility. There are several other VPNs so search on Google. Once the
> VPN is installed you can use the standard X forwarding mechanisms by
> setting DISPLAY and enabling access via xhost.
>
> To answer your other questions:
> Depends on which you use. The above are my recommendations in order of
> preference, but this depends on what you intend to do.
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft?
> Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
>
--
_
-------------------------------ooO( )Ooo-------------------------------
Kyle J. McDonald (o o) Systems Support Engineer
Sun Microsystems Inc. |||||
Enterprise Server Products [EMAIL PROTECTED]
1 Network Drive BUR03-4630 \\\// voice: (781) 442-2184
Burlington, MA 01803 (o o) fax: (781) 442-1542
-------------------------------ooO(_)Ooo-------------------------------
Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft?
Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
