The normal answer to "can''t paste into vnc" is "run vncconfig on the server". How do I enable pasting into a system''s virtual console via vnc? (realvnc or tightvnc from windows primarily). -- David Dyer-Bennet, dd-b@dd-b.net; http://dd-b.net/ Snapshots: http://dd-b.net/dd-b/SnapshotAlbum/data/ Photos: http://dd-b.net/photography/gallery/ Dragaera: http://dragaera.info _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
An HVM VNC console is more like a KVM connection. Think of it like this, if you were to sit on computer A, hit copy, then press a button on a KVM to switch to computer B and hit paste, nothing would be copied from computer A to computer B. The reason you can do this with TightVNC/RealVNC is because they are integrated into the OS, however, the VNC connection to your HVM is simply connected to the virtual console (emulation of screen, keyboard, and mouse/tablet). In this situation, you can copy and paste, but not from another host. However, you might be able to get your VNC client to paste plain text (as it would be able to send a series of keystrokes), this would be dependent on your client and may or may not even be possible. Finally, if you need this functionality, you can install RealVNC/TightVNC on the OS within the HVM, and connect to it instead of connecting to the virtual console provided by Xen (or with a Windows HVM, you could just use Remote Desktop). This is assuming your situation allows for direct connections (bridging), or you have the ability to set up the appropriate NAT/routing. Dustin -----Original Message----- From: xen-users-bounces@lists.xensource.com [mailto:xen-users-bounces@lists.xensource.com] On Behalf Of David Dyer-Bennet Sent: Friday, October 03, 2008 13:00 To: xen-users@lists.xensource.com Subject: [Xen-users] Pasting into virtual console? The normal answer to "can''t paste into vnc" is "run vncconfig on the server". How do I enable pasting into a system''s virtual console via vnc? (realvnc or tightvnc from windows primarily). -- David Dyer-Bennet, dd-b@dd-b.net; http://dd-b.net/ Snapshots: http://dd-b.net/dd-b/SnapshotAlbum/data/ Photos: http://dd-b.net/photography/gallery/ Dragaera: http://dragaera.info _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
On Fri, October 3, 2008 15:36, Dustin Henning wrote:> An HVM VNC console is more like a KVM connection. Think of it like > this, if you were to sit on computer A, hit copy, then press a button on a > KVM to switch to computer B and hit paste, nothing would be copied from > computer A to computer B. The reason you can do this with > TightVNC/RealVNC > is because they are integrated into the OS, however, the VNC connection to > your HVM is simply connected to the virtual console (emulation of screen, > keyboard, and mouse/tablet). In this situation, you can copy and paste, > but > not from another host. However, you might be able to get your VNC client > to > paste plain text (as it would be able to send a series of keystrokes), > this > would be dependent on your client and may or may not even be possible. > Finally, if you need this functionality, you can install RealVNC/TightVNC > on > the OS within the HVM, and connect to it instead of connecting to the > virtual console provided by Xen (or with a Windows HVM, you could just use > Remote Desktop). This is assuming your situation allows for direct > connections (bridging), or you have the ability to set up the appropriate > NAT/routing.I''ve got the Windows Remote Desktop setup working; mapped ports on the LVS box connecting through to the various Windows virtual servers behind it (same way people get access to the VNC consoles of the various virtual servers). I''m annoyed at the VNC clients; neither tightvnc nor realvnc seems capable of pasting text in. That''s extremely unfortunate -- I''m going to get complaints about having to type these login passwords by hand, I can tell already! I don''t like it too much myself. Are you saying there''s some way to run a vnc server at the OS level, not as a logged in user, and then connect to that rather than to the virtual console? It''s not too important (ssh is fine for linux-side access), but now you''ve got me curious! Currently there are about three mapped ports per virtual server. I hope this doesn''t keep growing! -- David Dyer-Bennet, dd-b@dd-b.net; http://dd-b.net/ Snapshots: http://dd-b.net/dd-b/SnapshotAlbum/data/ Photos: http://dd-b.net/photography/gallery/ Dragaera: http://dragaera.info _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
Practically anything you can do on a real machine, you can do on a virtual one. If you can normally make RealVNC/TightVNC servers run and do what you want on the OSes that you are using in your VMs, then you should be able to do it the same way in the VMs (granted more port mapping will be necessary). I''m out for the weekend, but perhaps someone else can help you, or perhaps that''s enough info. Dustin -----Original Message----- From: xen-users-bounces@lists.xensource.com [mailto:xen-users-bounces@lists.xensource.com] On Behalf Of David Dyer-Bennet Sent: Friday, October 03, 2008 16:57 To: xen-users@lists.xensource.com Subject: RE: [Xen-users] Pasting into virtual console? On Fri, October 3, 2008 15:36, Dustin Henning wrote:> An HVM VNC console is more like a KVM connection. Think of it like > this, if you were to sit on computer A, hit copy, then press a button on a > KVM to switch to computer B and hit paste, nothing would be copied from > computer A to computer B. The reason you can do this with > TightVNC/RealVNC > is because they are integrated into the OS, however, the VNC connection to > your HVM is simply connected to the virtual console (emulation of screen, > keyboard, and mouse/tablet). In this situation, you can copy and paste, > but > not from another host. However, you might be able to get your VNC client > to > paste plain text (as it would be able to send a series of keystrokes), > this > would be dependent on your client and may or may not even be possible. > Finally, if you need this functionality, you can install RealVNC/TightVNC > on > the OS within the HVM, and connect to it instead of connecting to the > virtual console provided by Xen (or with a Windows HVM, you could just use > Remote Desktop). This is assuming your situation allows for direct > connections (bridging), or you have the ability to set up the appropriate > NAT/routing.I''ve got the Windows Remote Desktop setup working; mapped ports on the LVS box connecting through to the various Windows virtual servers behind it (same way people get access to the VNC consoles of the various virtual servers). I''m annoyed at the VNC clients; neither tightvnc nor realvnc seems capable of pasting text in. That''s extremely unfortunate -- I''m going to get complaints about having to type these login passwords by hand, I can tell already! I don''t like it too much myself. Are you saying there''s some way to run a vnc server at the OS level, not as a logged in user, and then connect to that rather than to the virtual console? It''s not too important (ssh is fine for linux-side access), but now you''ve got me curious! Currently there are about three mapped ports per virtual server. I hope this doesn''t keep growing! -- David Dyer-Bennet, dd-b@dd-b.net; http://dd-b.net/ Snapshots: http://dd-b.net/dd-b/SnapshotAlbum/data/ Photos: http://dd-b.net/photography/gallery/ Dragaera: http://dragaera.info _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
On Fri, October 3, 2008 16:18, Dustin Henning wrote:> Practically anything you can do on a real machine, you can do on a > virtual one. If you can normally make RealVNC/TightVNC servers run and do > what you want on the OSes that you are using in your VMs, then you should > be > able to do it the same way in the VMs (granted more port mapping will be > necessary). I''m out for the weekend, but perhaps someone else can help > you, > or perhaps that''s enough info.Nope, what I know how to do is to log onto a machine and *then* start a vnc server; it sounded like you were talking about a way to have the OS itself start a VNC server *before* somebody logged in. That one I don''t get. -- David Dyer-Bennet, dd-b@dd-b.net; http://dd-b.net/ Snapshots: http://dd-b.net/dd-b/SnapshotAlbum/data/ Photos: http://dd-b.net/photography/gallery/ Dragaera: http://dragaera.info _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
RealVNC provides this functionality via a service in Windows. The same may not be true of Linux. However, what about logging in via X over SSH (I don''t know how to do this, but I''ve seen it done)? Too resource intensive? Dustin -----Original Message----- From: xen-users-bounces@lists.xensource.com [mailto:xen-users-bounces@lists.xensource.com] On Behalf Of David Dyer-Bennet Sent: Friday, October 03, 2008 17:56 To: xen-users@lists.xensource.com Subject: RE: [Xen-users] Pasting into virtual console? fo. Nope, what I know how to do is to log onto a machine and *then* start a vnc server; it sounded like you were talking about a way to have the OS itself start a VNC server *before* somebody logged in. That one I don''t get. -- David Dyer-Bennet, dd-b@dd-b.net; http://dd-b.net/ Snapshots: http://dd-b.net/dd-b/SnapshotAlbum/data/ Photos: http://dd-b.net/photography/gallery/ Dragaera: http://dragaera.info _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
On Mon, October 6, 2008 09:28, Dustin Henning wrote:> RealVNC provides this functionality via a service in Windows. The > same may not be true of Linux. However, what about logging in via X over > SSH (I don''t know how to do this, but I''ve seen it done)? Too resource > intensive?Fine for Linux servers, and I''m using that (I do have console VNC sessions configured, but it''s not my primary access to those boxes). Mostly I just use SSH rather than routing X over it, especially when away from the office. *Locally* it''s gigabit ethernet and the performance is really quite good :-). But half the virtual servers are windows boxes. What the maintainers of those really want, seems like, is the native remote desktop, so I''ve set up yet another port mapping in the LVS NAT setup to provide access to that via the router system. So the VNC access is a backup provision. However, it''s useful to know that I can potentially run VNC server as a service there, and get a less barebones session. -- David Dyer-Bennet, dd-b@dd-b.net; http://dd-b.net/ Snapshots: http://dd-b.net/dd-b/SnapshotAlbum/data/ Photos: http://dd-b.net/photography/gallery/ Dragaera: http://dragaera.info _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
Dustin Henning wrote:> RealVNC provides this functionality via a service in Windows. The > same may not be true of Linux. However, what about logging in via X over > SSH (I don''t know how to do this, but I''ve seen it done)? Too resource > intensive? >There are at least three different ways. Four different ways. Ahem. There are /several/ different ways to run X applications on a remote Linux box. The simplest is to simply log in using ssh and run the application you want, eg "xterm". The ssh session creates an encrypted tunnel for the X connection -- remember that X is a network protocol. There isn''t much overhead for this and it generally the best way, although if you''re connecting to or from a relatively slow machine you''ll find performance lacklustre. A variation on that theme is to run the X connection directly, not encrypted. The involves a little more work since you have to set up the authentication yourself. You can do this with xauth. This is pretty fast, low overhead and works well in reasonably swift network environment. I''ve done this (and the ssh thing above) over a 60KB/s link and it''s OK once it''s going but complicated apps like firefox take a while to start. On a LAN you''d be hard-pushed to tell most apps from their locally running counterpart. Of course, things that rely on OpenGL or video (which really would prefer to be local) and displaying large pictures can be noticeably slow. For slow connections you can use NX or FreeNX. See nomachine.com. This has the advantage that it (mostly) works very well over slow connections. You can also attach to a running application -- I do that for an IRC client that runs all the time and I just have it display on my screen wherever I happen to be connected to the Internet. NX falls between two stools with the way it handles windows. You can either have applications display in their own window or you can have a complete desktop. That''s sometimes useful. The complete desktop approach that''s closest to the Windows VNC server is to run a vnc server extension in the X server: both Gnome and KDE refer to this as desktop sharing. It''s occasionally very useful. Something that''s rather closer to, say, Windows Terminal Servers, is to run a VNC X server on the machine you''re connecting to and have that use XDCMP to display a desktop login window. I do this for some machines where I want a desktop login -- for example, I usually use Fedora, but I occasionally want to log into an Ubuntu box so I simply get a desktop connection on that machine by connecting a vncviewer to port 5900 and then I get my very own desktop login. Other people can also get desktop logins at the same time, subjec to running out of resources. Finally, there''s a variation and a half on this which tends to be even better (depending on network bandwidth). Any X server can use the XDCMP protocol to find a login screen so you can use your fast expensive PC simply as a graphical screen on some server. X terminals work this way. A useful variation on that it to run Xnest (a nested X server) that uses XDCMP to get a login screen. Now I come to think of it, that''s probably the closest thing to Windows Terminal Services. I think that''s seven different ways of getting apps to display. There are probably others. What''s best for you depends on what it is you''re trying to do and how much time you''re prepared to invest in setting it up in the first place. jch> Dustin > > -----Original Message----- > From: xen-users-bounces@lists.xensource.com > [mailto:xen-users-bounces@lists.xensource.com] On Behalf Of David > Dyer-Bennet > Sent: Friday, October 03, 2008 17:56 > To: xen-users@lists.xensource.com > Subject: RE: [Xen-users] Pasting into virtual console? > fo. > > Nope, what I know how to do is to log onto a machine and *then* start a > vnc server; it sounded like you were talking about a way to have the OS > itself start a VNC server *before* somebody logged in. That one I don''t > get. > >_______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
David, Unfortunately, I already deleted your message regarding it being good to know you can use RealVNC Server for a less barebones session. I think odds are that this won''t do you much good, as if remote desktop isn''t working, it probably means that the domU or xen networking is down. In the latter case, the barebones vnc from Xen would be a viable backup. That said, it is also worth noting that running RealVNC Server is different from remote desktop in one big way (and many smaller more intrinsic ones). That said, you should know that non-privileged users cannot login to remote desktop without being given permission, but via RealVNC Server, they are effectively logging in to the local console, so they can. As users are effectively using the local console, anything done over RealVNC Server could be seen and controlled in the xen vnc console as well (as opposed to "this computer is in use and has been locked" or whataver), this could be useful in some cases and dangerous in others, but needless to say, your xen vnc consoles would need to be secured or disabled. Dustin _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users