VNC Questions

gabidgabid
Posted:
in Mac Software edited January 2014
I feel a bit behind the times having just realised it exists, but I recently became aware of the goodness that is VNC. For me, it solves the problem of wanting to sync info between my iBook and my G5: now I don't have to since I can just leave my tower on at home and log in and use its files whenever I'm away from it. All very nice and fast for me so far.



However, I'm just wondering what people's experiences with VNC have been. Does everything run smoothly over the long term? Any downside to leaving the server on all day? Any big security problems (I have followed the tunneling-in-through-ssh instructions)? Any other tips/comments/pointers?



Lastly, between VNC Thing, VNC Dimension and Chicken of the VNC, what are everyone's preferences in terms of clients?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 8
    the pie manthe pie man Posts: 425member
    A relatively slim perspective here, but I ran a VNC server on my personal server for months at a time and noticed no ill effects. It definitely had a light load (the server itself), but everything was solid...



    I personally would say the only increased security risk you are running is having another port open, and another user/password combo someone could gain access with. Other than that I don't imagine there would be much additional risk (but I am far from an expert).



    I personally was using VNC thing - seemed to work best and the other offerings hadn't been updated in SO long (over a year). I took my server down about this time last year and haven't looked at VNC clients since then - someone might have updated something in the mean time...
  • Reply 2 of 8
    thuh freakthuh freak Posts: 2,664member
    i dont know about osx clients. i'd just use whichever one was the smallest free download. the server (and there are a few, but i'm most experienced with tightvnc) is pretty darned good. there's no detriment to having it run long term. i don't consider it a big risk, especially if you tunnel it through ssh. ssh is like the most secure thing i can think of, and i'd trust anything going over it. of course, with every port you open for your own personal access you make available to the evil people of the world. But, with ssh, its like creating a doorway and putting a 10 foot thick steel door in. i keep atleast one vnc server running regularly, and occassionally i'll open an extra or three. (on macosx, you will probably need to get a x11 setup to run more than 1 vnc server; and then the alternate connections, when the client connects, wouldn't look like osx, but more like GNU/Linux or other x11 based guis.)
  • Reply 3 of 8
    ghost_user_nameghost_user_name Posts: 22,667member
    I use VNC all the time at university. I just leave the server running on my Mac in the dorm room and tell it to only accept local connections. Then, I pipe the client through ssh remotely. That secures everything I type as well as securing the server itself from outside connections.



    Leaving it on for periods of time has never caused me any problems of any sort. I've used it consecutively for hours at a time without a hitch.
  • Reply 4 of 8
    paulpaul Posts: 5,278member
    hmmm... ive been looking into this as an alternative for ARD...



    anyone have links to preferred/good ones?



    how about making this a sticky thread as well?



    anyone have any experience with VNC over airport (client and server if possible)



    thanks
  • Reply 5 of 8
    the pie manthe pie man Posts: 425member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Paul

    anyone have any experience with VNC over airport (client and server if possible)



    Works fine over airport... I don't have any experience with ARD - I would expect ARD might have better performance and some additional features?



    EDIT: I should add I used OSXvnc server also - I think that is the only server port at the moment?
  • Reply 6 of 8
    bobwbobw Posts: 49member
    I use OSXvnc server on a friends machine 9about 100 miles away) to help him out, and Chicken of the VNC on mine to connect. The server is always on and never causes any problems. Very slow on a WAN, very fast on my LAN.



    Have ARD and works very well on my LAN, but quits when I connect to a machine across the net. Have the latest versions on Panther.
  • Reply 7 of 8
    thuh freakthuh freak Posts: 2,664member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Paul

    hmmm... ive been looking into this as an alternative for ARD...



    i should imagine it would be a great alternative to remote desktop. for one, there's a lot of free vnc software. also, there have been great advances in the compression used by them, so you can have same quality at lower bandwidth (relatively, of course).



    Quote:

    anyone have any experience with VNC over airport (client and server if possible)



    well, no i dont have experience, but i can say that an airport station is just a router. so, it shouldn't hurt vnc in any way (unless you have a firewall going on it, in which case you would need to open certain ports; i think 6500 or something like that). i can't think off the top of my head what the max speed you get wirelessly (i think its like 10Mbs) which is more than enough to sustain a good connection in vnc, with a reasonable screen res and all. i get just shy of real time with an avg KB/s of 110, with 800x600 res and 16bit color. i could do higher, and still get reasonably time, i think.
  • Reply 8 of 8
    cubedudecubedude Posts: 1,556member
    I run OSXVnc all the time, I also serve the Java VNC viewer from my computer, so when I'm away, I can access all my photos and music and such.



    I also run an FTP server and UnlimitedFTP(also Java).
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