ubermix Forums

General => How-to => Topic started by: amcmahan on July 10, 2015, 01:15:14 PM

Title: Enabling Remote Access
Post by: amcmahan on July 10, 2015, 01:15:14 PM
Recently, we had a student performing inappropriate searches. Most searches were blocked by our content filter but we were unable to remote in on the session and verify the student was actually performing these. We needed remote access and here is how I did it.

Code: [Select]
#!/bin/bash
# Set variable to your desired password
VNCPASS="Pa$$w0rd"

#Install x11vnc
apt-get install x11vnc

 # Store password in the password file
x11vnc -storepasswd $VNCPASS /etc/x11vnc.pass

# Run VNC server with password and other options
/usr/bin/x11vnc -xkb -forever -auth /var/run/lightdm/root/:0 -shared -display :0 -rfbauth /etc/x11vnc.pass -rfbport 5900 -bg -o /var/log/x11vnc.log 

Ok, that last line was a bit long so lets break it down:

/usr/bin/x11vnc | Run x11vnc
-xkb | Use the X Keyboard extension for reliable keyboard input
-forever | Keep listening for more connections rather than exiting as soon as the first client(s) disconnect.
-auth | Set  the  X authority file to be a file
-shared | More than one VNC connection is allowed
-display :0 | This option allows you to view the desktop session. Display 0 is the one the student see on their laptop
-rfbauth /etc/x11vnc.pass | Run with the password we created before
-rfbport 5900 | Set the port
-bg | Go into the background after screen setup.
-o /var/log/x11vnc.log | Output logs to /var/log/x11vnc.log for troubleshooting.

With this included in the script it will be awaiting connections when a network interface is up.
For more information on configuring the VNC server to your environment, check out the x11vnc man page:
http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/trusty/man1/x11vnc.1.html (http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/trusty/man1/x11vnc.1.html)


Title: Re: Enabling Remote Access
Post by: jnetman1 on July 11, 2015, 09:46:59 PM
Nice!