Using VNC in a multi-user, multi-system network.

[glaston]

Anyone successfully using VNC client on a Mac to control a Debian server?
I have the vncserver setup on the Debian machine properly. But I'm having problems connecting to it from both a PowerMac running Tiger and a MacBookPro running leopard.
I can connect no problem from a machine running Slack12.2, have not setup port forwarding on my router to connect remotely yet.
My Debian machine is running the latest stable release of squeeze with KDE4.
I originally tried this with RealVNC Enterprise for OSX but I'm not gonna buy it so I need another alternative after the 30 day trial ends as they have no free version for OSX.
The situation is that I do freelance graphic design on the PowerMac with Cinema4D and Photoshop so I spend most of my time on that machine which is located in my home studio in my attic. Aside from the MacBook and a Dell desktop(family machine)all my other machines and network hardware are in the basement. So to go from the attic to the basement everytime I need to do something on another machine is not practical, and the only other machine I need to access on a regular basis is the Debian box in the basement, this makes the most sense.

I also have a 14 year old living in the house and he's fascinated by all this and will meddle in anything he gets the chance to so all the Linux machines and network hardware need to be behind lock and key.

[Nagarjuna]

Hmm, what happens exactly when you currently try and connect to your Linux VNC server from your Macintosh? Does it give any kind of error message, or does it just lock up and crash?

I'd recommend just for kicks to try another VNC client and see if it connects. A couple popular VNC clients for your Macintosh are:

Chicken of the VNC
JollysFastVNC

When you try to connect to your Linux system are you using it's IP or it's hostname? Try it by IP if you haven't to avoid any possible naming issues.

I hope this helps.

[glaston]

When I try to connect it gives me:"connection refused61)".
I prefer to use the IP but it gives the error above.
When I use hostname only it gives:"getaddrinfo:No address associated with nodename (7)"

It also gives basically the same error when using chicken of the vnc.
A port scan of the machine shows that neither port 5900 or 5902 are open.

[Nagarjuna]

I find it odd that your Linux VNC client can connect to the server with supposed blocked ports. However, you can try opening these ports to experiment.

You should be able to verify the port numbers VNC is listening on using netstat:

netstat -tulp | grep vnc

Generally, VNC should be listening on port 5900 for clients. You can use iptables to open the VNC ports on the Linux server:

iptables -A INPUT -m state --state NEW -m tcp -p tcp --dport 5900 -j ACCEPT

This will open port 5900 on your server until you reboot your system.

Also, have you used the vncpasswd command to generate a password for your VNC user on the server-side?

Just my two-cents. Hopefully we are getting closer to a resolution.

[glaston]

I used the command "vncserver -geometry 1024x768 -depth 32" to setup the vncserver from ssh session on the Mac. It setup the password automatically.
When I issue the commands you posted above nothing happens at all. It gives me no data when I issue the netstat command, just returns to the shell prompt.
Same thing when I issue the iptables command. After I did the iptables command I did a port scan to verify and the only ports open are ssh, sunrpc, and port 59915 with no service defined for it.

When I use jollysfastVNC on port 5900 it closes the connection less than 1 second after clicking connect. If I use port 59915 in jollysfast it says it's connected but gives no window and closes within a minute.
And the slack machine is no longer able to connect to the server.

[glaston]

solved
Thanks for the help!!!

I didn't realize you had to manually start the vncserver everytime.
I thought after setting it up it would run like any other service daemon.

Situation is now that when I open a vnc session to the debian machine it starts a gnome session. Even though KDE is the default.

[glaston]

KDE4 looks like **** in a VNC session! All the pretty interface elements turn into black spaces and dots.
That's even over a gigabit ethernet connection, not some laggy wireless(which would make sense).