Hi everyone. I just started at a new location and am the Oracle DBA on site. They are running RedHat Linux x86 64bit. As I go from job to job, I lug around an Xwindows client now called WinAxe. It is setup to broadcast which usually gets a response so I can launch a shell and then ssh into production nodes.

In this location, I can see that xserver is running but it is not allowing me to launch a shell. I've worked on Solaris for years but never really worked with xserver and all its difficult settings. I do know my desktop and the server are on different subnets but the sysadmin told me the server is wide open right now so i can get this fixed.

Can any one walk me through the troubleshooting steps to get this fixed.

what I have tested:
* I can ping from my desktop to the server.
* I can use putty to ssh to the server (putty has not graphical interface and I need it)
* I can forward graphics from the server through an oracle install to the desktop but desktop won't launch a shell.

What I don't know:
* how to narrow down to the port needed.
* how to set up .Xauthority correctly, (man pages are way to confusing)
* how to ensure x11 is forwarding to my desktop.

Any help would be appreciated.
thank you