User Guide - xorg-x11 (Xwindows) with VNC remote access
- 21/02/2008 8:44 PM
Applicable Plans: All Standard VPS, all Advanced VPS, and all Premier VPS plans (CentOS 5 plans)
The eApps provided Xorg-X11_RealVNC application enables end users to get desktop functionality in their VPS from a remote location. The Xorg-X11 portion of the application provides the desktop and graphics capabilities inside the VPS. RealVNC provides the remote access capabilities to the Xorg-X11 desktop.
Requirements
Xorg-X11_RealVNC must be installed in your VPS subscription. This can be done by selecting it when you order the eApps VPS hosting service or by installing it using the Control Panel after the service has been provisioned. To see if Xorg-X11_RealVNC is already installed login to your Control Panel and click on the All Applications icon. If it is not in the installed list, you may install it by clicking on the Add Application icon from the System tab and selecting Xorg-X11_RealVNC then clicking Next.
To access the desktop from your remote location you must use a VNC client. eApps recommends the RealVNC client for Linux and Windows users because your VPS runs a RealVNC server. We recommend Chicken of VNC (http://sourceforge.net/projects/cotvnc) for Mac users.
Accessing your VPS desktop with RealVNC viewer or Chicken of VNC
The eApps provided VNC server is by default configured with two VNC sessions that you can use. Later in this user guide we will explain how to add more sessions. The default sessions are accessible on ports 5801 (800x600 resolution) and 5901 (1024x768 resolution). Assuming we wanted to access our desktop over the port 5801 session we will take the following steps.
Windows Users
1. Run the viewer
Start > Programs > RealVNC > VNC Viewer > Run VNC Viewer
or
Click on the VNC Viewer icon on your desktop if there is one available.
2. You will be presented with the VNC Viewer connection details box where you will have to enter your domain name or ip address with the port number included at the end.
IP address users should input :
216.612.69.1:5801 (replace 216.612.69.1 with your real IP)
domain name users should input:
yourdomain.com:5801
3. You will be presented with a login window where you can login with an existing Linux user account that is on the system.
Linux Users
1. Open a terminal
2. Using your ip address or your domian name and execute the command below.
IP address users:
vncviewer 216.612.69.1:5801 (replace 216.612.69.1 with your real ip)
domain name users:
vncviewer yourdomain.com:5801
3. You will be presented with a login window where you can login with an existing Linux user account that is on the system.
Mac Users
1. Use Finder or your desired way to launch Chicken of VNC.
2. You will be presented with the Chicken VNC connection details box where you will have to enter your domain name or ip address with the port number included at the end in the host field.
IP address users should input:
216.612.69.1:5801 (replace 216.612.69.1 with your real IP)
domain name users should input:
yourdomain.com:5801
3. Click connect and you will be presented with a login window where you can login with an existing Linux user account that is on the system.
Restarting the VNC server
If you are unable to connect to the VNC server on the VPS, you may need to restart the service, which is called xfs. This can be done from the Control Panel, or from the command line of the VPS.
Control Panel
In the Control Panel, click on the System tab for the VPS where you want to restart the xfs service. Go to Service Management > Services > xfs (the services are listed in alphabetical order, and the screen may take a few minutes to load). Click on xfs, and then click on Restart (or Start, if the service is stopped).
Comand line
To restart xfs from the command line, log in to the VPS using SSH, and as the root user, do the following:
service xfs restart
Links to other information
RealVNC Documentation: http://www.realvnc.com/support/documentation.html
xorg-x11 Home Page: http://www.x.org/wiki/