Hello-
I'll start by noting that I've switched all my computers to OpenSUSE in the past year- I'm really a fan and advocate of the OS, but I've by no means seen and done it all yet, and still have some questions- sometimes basic, and sometimes way harder than anything I probably should be messing with. I'm running OpenSUSE 12.3 with the supplied Gnome 3 desktop.
So here's the problem of the week- I recently switched the monster CAD system at home to SUSE only, dumping Windows 7. Which means I'm having to dive into the world of Linux-only networking. I have been able to configure VPNs and RDP access into windows machines at work, but I'm still having a little trouble getting things to work in the other direction. I've never used VNC before, but I can get my laptop to connect to my home machine by using the local IP address. What I can't get to work is crucial, though- I need to be able to connect to my home PC via a third party domain name (In this case, no-ip.org). This is needed because my home router has a floating IP.
This was fairly straightforward on Windows, I just used RDP to connect to the host name (ie. xxxxxxxxxxx.no-ip.org) and logged in with a username/password. I have my router forwarded to my home machine on both the standard RDP port, as well as the 5901 VNC port, but when I try to connect, it just doesn't do it. (IIRC, it returns a "Connection refused" error.)
I'll get that sorted out eventually (though I'm not above accepting some help with it- eventually, I would like to be able to VNC from both openSUSE and Windows easily, and any advice would be welcome,) but what really bothers me is what is going to happen once I make that happen. My wife uses the home computer during the day, but when she switches users, it closes any programs I had opened, and effectively kills my session. That makes me worry that if I VNC in from work, I will kick her off and kill whatever it is she was doing ala unmodified Windows 7. What I did to get around this in Windows 7 was enable multiple concurrent logins, though I could see this being called multiple X-sessions on Linux. What I need it to do is allow me to log into my account remotely, without affecting the session that she is logged into- can that be done, and if so, how I do I set it up? Please note that I am not trying to share her screen- I want an entirely different X-session that does not impact her at all.
There's a secondary concern here as well- when I do connect via local IP, I get a blank screen on my laptop, and a pop-up on the big computer's desktop that asks me if I want to allow another user to connect to my session. Obviously, that is useless if I am trying to remotely access my system, as I'm not physically present to click OK. That needs to be fixed also.
So, I know that's a small handful of questions, but I think they all go together. I'll keep banging my head against it until I get it, but if someone here can help out, that would be excellent. I would suspect that this is a relatively common setup, so a link to another forum thread that sorts it out and/or a tutorial would be more than acceptable, if such a thing exists.
For those of you who might wonder why I would want or need this setup, here's the deal. I have full admin rights on my work server (Windows server, not Apache) and can effectively do whatever I want with it- but there are hundreds of users who sometimes don't make the best decisions, so the work network has a fairly tight firewall that blocks huge chunks of the internet. I *can* get around it on the rare occasions when I need to, but I don't like to do that because shutting off the filters could potentially lead to an uncomfortable conversation with the owner if some goofball lucked into abusing it. I prefer to RDP/VNC into my home system that has no access controls and leave the work system buttoned up- and also, sometimes I just flat-out forget to transfer things I was working on at home to my portable HD, and need to get them on the fly.
Thanks!
I'll start by noting that I've switched all my computers to OpenSUSE in the past year- I'm really a fan and advocate of the OS, but I've by no means seen and done it all yet, and still have some questions- sometimes basic, and sometimes way harder than anything I probably should be messing with. I'm running OpenSUSE 12.3 with the supplied Gnome 3 desktop.
So here's the problem of the week- I recently switched the monster CAD system at home to SUSE only, dumping Windows 7. Which means I'm having to dive into the world of Linux-only networking. I have been able to configure VPNs and RDP access into windows machines at work, but I'm still having a little trouble getting things to work in the other direction. I've never used VNC before, but I can get my laptop to connect to my home machine by using the local IP address. What I can't get to work is crucial, though- I need to be able to connect to my home PC via a third party domain name (In this case, no-ip.org). This is needed because my home router has a floating IP.
This was fairly straightforward on Windows, I just used RDP to connect to the host name (ie. xxxxxxxxxxx.no-ip.org) and logged in with a username/password. I have my router forwarded to my home machine on both the standard RDP port, as well as the 5901 VNC port, but when I try to connect, it just doesn't do it. (IIRC, it returns a "Connection refused" error.)
I'll get that sorted out eventually (though I'm not above accepting some help with it- eventually, I would like to be able to VNC from both openSUSE and Windows easily, and any advice would be welcome,) but what really bothers me is what is going to happen once I make that happen. My wife uses the home computer during the day, but when she switches users, it closes any programs I had opened, and effectively kills my session. That makes me worry that if I VNC in from work, I will kick her off and kill whatever it is she was doing ala unmodified Windows 7. What I did to get around this in Windows 7 was enable multiple concurrent logins, though I could see this being called multiple X-sessions on Linux. What I need it to do is allow me to log into my account remotely, without affecting the session that she is logged into- can that be done, and if so, how I do I set it up? Please note that I am not trying to share her screen- I want an entirely different X-session that does not impact her at all.
There's a secondary concern here as well- when I do connect via local IP, I get a blank screen on my laptop, and a pop-up on the big computer's desktop that asks me if I want to allow another user to connect to my session. Obviously, that is useless if I am trying to remotely access my system, as I'm not physically present to click OK. That needs to be fixed also.
So, I know that's a small handful of questions, but I think they all go together. I'll keep banging my head against it until I get it, but if someone here can help out, that would be excellent. I would suspect that this is a relatively common setup, so a link to another forum thread that sorts it out and/or a tutorial would be more than acceptable, if such a thing exists.
For those of you who might wonder why I would want or need this setup, here's the deal. I have full admin rights on my work server (Windows server, not Apache) and can effectively do whatever I want with it- but there are hundreds of users who sometimes don't make the best decisions, so the work network has a fairly tight firewall that blocks huge chunks of the internet. I *can* get around it on the rare occasions when I need to, but I don't like to do that because shutting off the filters could potentially lead to an uncomfortable conversation with the owner if some goofball lucked into abusing it. I prefer to RDP/VNC into my home system that has no access controls and leave the work system buttoned up- and also, sometimes I just flat-out forget to transfer things I was working on at home to my portable HD, and need to get them on the fly.
Thanks!