VNC - help please?

[Stan_Lite]

I want to set up VNC for my Folding farm as I run most of the rigs headless and it would be handy to be able to VNC into them instead of having to attach a monitor, keyboard and mouse everytime I want to alter anything. It'll also enable me to do stuff while I'm away.

I've had a bit of a go with UltraVNC but I can't get it to work. I've set up the sever on the rigs I want to monitor and have tried to access them via the viewer from the laptop. I've done the port forwarding thing on the router and switched off Windows firewall. I can't think of what else to do. I'm probably missing something obvious but never having worked with it before, I don't know.

I must say, the lack of an in-depth user guide and the sparse guides I've found on the interwb are a bit disappointing.

Can anyone provide me with a good tutorial or some advice? Are there easier VNCs to use? I had a brief look at TightVNC and it does look a little easier but I thought I'd ask for advice here before I started trying other software which may be just as tricky to set up and use.

Thanks in advance.

[petemc]

Hmm, most times I've played with VNC its been simple to setup. Set password, port, and off it goes. I think I used to use TightVNC. I can't really suggest anything other than say it should roughly work out the box.

[Mark]

Yup, should be simple. Also, if you're using VMWare some versions have native VNC support for the guest operating systems (though that won't help you if VMWare itself dies).

[Muban]

Tight VNC is a bit easier to use but Ultra has more features and is better once you have it running. Do you get any errors (server not found) or does it just appear to do nothing at all when you try and connect?

[Stan_Lite]

Tight VNC is a bit easier to use but Ultra has more features and is better once you have it running. Do you get any errors (server not found) or does it just appear to do nothing at all when you try and connect?

It says "Unable to connect to server" when I try to connect.

[Mark]

Windows Firewall getting in the way perhaps?

[Stan_Lite]

Windows Firewall getting in the way perhaps?

I've done the port forwarding thing on the router and switched off Windows firewall.

Firewall is off.

[Mark]

OK - I assume you're doing this from PCs that are next to each other, so the router bit is irrelevant for now. Best be aware that VNC is notorious for its security holes though so something to think about before opening up those ports. :)

First thing to try, on the server, run 'netstat -an | more' in a command prompt and see if something is actually listening on the port you expected. If that's OK then try telnet to the port concerned. VNC should at least announce itself though you'll get no further.

[Muban]

Hmm it's a strange one. Have you tried here (http://forum.ultravnc.info/)/ Maybe someone has had a similar problem or can help. I know it's normally a firewall issue (which you have already eliminated) when you get that error though it can be other things, but I can't remember what they were now. If I think of anything I will let you know.

[Daz]

Mark's got the right idea - make sure something's listening on the ports and then make sure it's open on the outside. You still got any linux machines around Stan? A quick 'nmap <ip_of_vnc_server> will tell you if the port is open. If not there should be a windows version of it somewhere.

[Del Lardo]

Would suspect that it's a routing issue but http://www.realvnc.com/ tbh ;)

[Stan_Lite]

OK. I uninstalled UltraVNC and installed RealVNC and was having similar problems. Did a bit of Googling and discovered it was a Vista problem - apparently, one of Vista's extra security features isn't compatible with the free versions of VNC - at least when installed as a service - if the VNC server is started manually, it works fine.

One of the main reasons I want this is so that I'll have some control over my Folding farm when I'm away. If one of the rigs reboots or there's a power cut or something whilst I'm away, the service option would be handy since I could log in and work with the rig once it reboots (I have them all set to boot after a power failure).

In order to get around this, I'll have to install tweakui on all of the rigs and use that to autologon and run the manual VNC server in the start up folder so that I can access it remotely - bit of a PITA but at least it's a workaropund. Apparently the paid for version runs ok as a service in Vista but for the 7 licences I would need, it would cost me over £100 :shocked:

I've also managed to connect over the interwebnet - which is ace.

Thanks for your help and advice :) I probably should have mentioned that I was on Vista :o

[Daz]

You could always use remote desktop if you have business or above. No need to worry about autologons and such :)

[Desmo]

Was going to say the same. I used to use VNC a lot but now I just use Remote Desktop. There's even an OS X client for it as well so I can still dial in from work :)

[Stan_Lite]

I looked at remote desktop but found I had to physically accept the connection on the client machine. Is there a way to automatically accept the connection without user intervention?

[Desmo]

Yeah. Somewhere in the Remote Desktop properties there's a list where you can add users to the list who can connect. I've also found it much quicker than VNC too.

[Stan_Lite]

Thanks Jamie :)
Will have a dig around today.

[Desmo]

In vista, I think you right click my computer and choose properties. Then in the top left corner there is a link to remote desktop. You can fiddle with some stuff in there.

[Stan_Lite]

Got it all sorted - you're right, it's a hell of a lot faster than VNC - should help when connecting from the rig.

I've even managed to get it configured with a dynamic DNS thingy so that, in the unlikely event of my public IP address being changed, it'll still point to the right place.

One slight annoyance, as with other Microsoft stuff, it doesn't work with Firefox so I have to use IE7. No big deal really, I just find it petty and pathetic of Microsoft to do that :rolleyes:

Thank you very much for all your help guys :)

[Daz]

The activex control will only work with IE, but tbh I just use the thick client anyway (start > run > mstsc), cuts out the browser overhang.

[Desmo]

Yep, I use the proper client too :)


I'm also impressed with the OS X client as well. Not come across any major problems yet even though it's a beta. Only thing it didn't like was trying to print to a local printer. It all installed fine but just kept getting garbage out of the printer at this end.

[Daz]

Oh, should also say you'll want to make sure all your local accounts are now either denied RDP access or have strong passwords Stan :)

[Mark]

Yup, very important. Fortunately remote desktop seems to be a lot less well known for security weakness than VNC (who'd have thunk it from Microsoft), but all the security in the world will do you no good with a weak/non-existant password. :)