How to VNC into a Linux Desktop from Novell.

(Last modified: 18Nov2004)

This document (10095372) is provided subject to the disclaimer at the end of this document.

goal

How to VNC into a Linux Desktop from Novell.

fact

SUSE LINUX Professional 9.2

Novell Linux Desktop 9.0

symptom

After switching the display manager from KDM to GDM, remote administration through VNC just shows a grey screen.

After turning on Remote Administration it defaults back to the original setting.

How to configure remote administration with GDM

fix

 ** NOTE ** The configuration in this solution was all done through the YAST2 utility. Access to the YAST2 utility differs between desktops and distributions. You can access the YAST2 system by following the menu structure listed below:

NLD 9.0 (GNOME): SYSTEM | ADMINISTRATOR SETTING

NLD 9.0  (KDE): N | CONTROL CENTER | YAST2 MODULES

SUSE PROFESSIONAL 9.2 (GNOME): SYSTEM | YAST

SUSE PROFESSIONAL 9.2 (KDE): SUSE BUTTON | CONTOL CENTER | YAST2 MODULES

  • There are two desktop managers that come with a Novell Desktop.  One is GDM (Gnome Desktop Manager) and the other is KDM (KDE Desktop Manager). These desktop managers control a remote connection to the desktop using VNC. You will have to walk through different setups depending on the login manager that was chosen. It is quite simple to tell which login manager you have by looking at the desktop login itself. The GNOME login uses the same field for both the user name and password, whereas the KDE uses one for the username and a separate one for the password. If you are still unsure then please make sure by looking at the login manager setting within YAST2. Within YAST2 under SYSTEM | ETC/SYSCONFIG EDITOR, expand the DESKTOP and DISPLAY MANAGER sections, and click on the first parameter called DISPLAYMANAGER.


  • Now we will need to verify that the Remote Administration option is turned on. To do this go into YAST2 | NETWORK SERVICES | REMOTE ADMINISTRATION.  ** IMPORTANT ** There is a defect in NLD and SuSE Pro that prevents the display from being updated. So even when you select ALLOW REMOTE ADMINISTRATION and click FINISH, the next time you see the screen it will show not be updated. Your setting however did take affect and were changed.
     


  • Once you click on FINISH, you will be prompted to restart the display manager. Click OK on this dialog. We will not yet restart the display manager until we have verified the next step.
     


  • The Novell Linux Desktop does not enable the personal firewall by default, but the SuSE Professional 9.2 desktop does enable that setting. You will need to disable that setting or let through the proper ports. For this example we will simply disable that setting by going into YAST2 | SECURITY AND USERS | FIREWALL. If you see a different screen than the one shown below that is asking about interfaces, then your personal firewall is already disabled.  Choose STOP FIREWALL..., to disable the firewall.  Choose NEXT and follow the prompts.
     

 

  • If you are running KDM as your display manager then you can skip this step. If you are running GDM as your display manager then you need to open a terminal and type in kdesu gdmsetup. The kdesu will prompt you for roots password and then run the gdmsetup command as root. You can also do the same thing by doing an su to root and then typing in the command gdmsetup. Go to the XDMCP tab and check the ENABLE XDMCP box. When finished click close.

 

  • The last step is to restart the display manager. Open a terminal and type in rcxdm restart.

 

Accessing the workstation with VNC Viewer and / or a browser.

  • You can open a browser and access the workstation via a browser by typing http://IPorDNS:5801
  • You can also access via the VNC Viewer. If this is another NLD or SuSE Professional workstation, then the VNC Viewer should already be installed. You can open a terminal and simply type vncviewer. Once the dialog comes up, put in the IPorDNS:1 to access the workstation. The ":1" portion must be there if you are using the vncviewer since it loads on different display then the default.
  • If you want to access from a Windows workstation, you have to use the TightVNC viewer available at http://www.tightvnc.org/ . Other VNC viewers might not work.
.

document

Document Title: How to VNC into a Linux Desktop from Novell.
Document ID: 10095372
Solution ID: NOVL99672
Creation Date: 08Nov2004
Modified Date: 18Nov2004
Novell Product Class:Linux

disclaimer

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