DISPLAY variable setting over VPN

English Network/Internet
1

Hi,

I am connected to work via a VPN. I am logging into a Solaris box at work from OpenSuse 11, using ssh -X. I would like to start a GUI on the solaris box. The problem is that I don’t know what value to give the DISPLAY variable. Is it the local internal LAN ip address, for my machine? I did try that, and I tested it using, xterm on the solaris machine. It says it can’t open the display. I have enabled remote connections on my machine using xhost +.

I have to run a performance test on the Solaris box at 7am in the morning… so need to find out how to start the GUI. :slight_smile:

Any ideas greatly appreciated…

/jlar

2

ssh -X should automatically set DISPLAY. Usually it will be something like localhost:10.0. If it isn’t set, the admin may have disabled X forwarding.

3

Hi
What version of Solaris? Check that X11 forwarding is enabled in the
sshd_config file.

–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11 (x86_64) Kernel 2.6.32.12-0.7-default
up 2 days 1:31, 2 users, load average: 0.23, 0.12, 0.12
GPU GeForce 8600 GTS Silent - CUDA Driver Version: 195.36.15

4

It’s definitely ok on the Solaris box, as I forward X connections from that machine to my desktop at work all the time… can’t seem to get it right over the VPN though.

5

you want the X traffic travelling inside your ssh - else will need some ports opened for X traffic and almost certainly don’t want…

on your remote machine you should get something like:

echo $DISPLAY
localhost:10.0

if you connect with ssh -v -X remote then you should see something like:

debug1: Requesting X11 forwarding with authentication spoofing.

guess if is being blocked by server config you would see it complain there…

6

if you have root access on the server - your /etc/ssh/sshd_config should have something similar to:

X11 tunneling options

X11Forwarding yes
X11DisplayOffset 10
X11UseLocalhost yes

7

Unless there is something special about the VPN or the addresses used, it should just work like a normal LAN connection as the forwarding is done at application level by ssh/sshd. Try:

echo $DISPLAY

If not set, perhaps your sysadmin has banned X forwarding in sshd_config for any non-LAN IP addresses.