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]

Originally Posted by 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?

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

[Mark]

Windows Firewall getting in the way perhaps?

[Stan_Lite]

Originally Posted by Mark

Windows Firewall getting in the way perhaps?

Originally Posted by Bigstan

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/ 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.