Introduction

If you are an Orchid Hybrid customer with connected Linux SteelFin servers, you may use our Hybrid VPN connection to access these servers' desktops remotely via X11VNC. This utility behaves similar to RDP access on Windows platforms and will allow for remote troubleshooting, access to camera Web interfaces, and other access you may expect by accessing the desktop remotely.

Requirements

In order to access SteelFin servers remotely via X11VNC, you will need the following:

• A computer with access to the Internet.
• A copy of the OpenVPN Installer for Windows, available here.
• A diagnostic VPN configuration file. (Please reach out to Support if you require one)
• A copy of VNCViewer, available here.
• A copy of PuTTy, available here.
• A list of VPN IP addresses for your SteelFin servers.

Instructions

1. Install OpenVPN, VNCViewer, and PuTTy.
2. Start your diagnostic VPN connection using the provided VPN configuration file (this will be a .ovpn file).
3. Open PuTTy. From here, expand "SSH" and navigate to "Tunnels." Enter "5900" in the Source Port and "localhost:5900" in the Destination, then click "Add." Make sure "Local ports accept connections from other hosts" and "Remote ports do the same" are checked off:
   
4. Go back to "Session", then under the "Host Name" field enter orchid@10.xxx.xxx.xxx, where the last three IP octets correspond to the server serial you wish to connect to. Please be advised that this is for the VPN IP of the server. You may save this hostname by clicking "Save." Click "Open" to start a connection:
   
5. Sign into the Orchid user via SSH by using the Orchid operating system user credentials.
6. Once you are at the command line, you may run the script to start the X11VNC session. If the server is currently displaying the login screen (for example, if you just started the server, or if no user is logged in), run the script "steelfin_x11vnc_login.sh". If the server is displaying a specific user's desktop, run the script "steelfin_v11vnc_desktop.sh [USER]", where [USER] is the username that is currently logged in. If you do not specify a user, this script will default to the user orchid:
   
7. Now that the script is running, open VNCViewer and connect to localhost:5900:
   
8. You may now interact with the server. Perform whatever tasks you may need to perform. Once you are finished, close out VNCViewer and PuTTy.

Notes

• Keep in mind that this will give you direct access to the desktop. In some cases someone else may also be using that desktop (i.e. physically at the server) at the same time.
• Avoid making changes to the server's network configuration or rebooting the server while accessing it remotely as you may accidentally disconnect the server from its network and will not be able to reconfigure it remotely.
• In order for X11VNC to work, an actual monitor will need to be connected to the server. If your servers are headless (i.e. not set up with a monitor, mouse, or keyboard) you may wish to attach an HDMI "dummy plug" dongle that will emulate a display to be used by X11VNC.