VNCserver offer login chooser for other machines on 2nd NIC

James Poole_2 — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 03:54:27 GMT

I look after a bunch of HP-UX 11 boxes in a model environment on a mostly isolated network. One box has a NIC on the corporate network and the other on the modle network.
I want that box to start a VNC display, offer a XDMCP chooser of the other boxes, and then allow one to select and login to another box.
I've installed the vnc-4_1_1-parisc_hpux depot, which runs just fine.
I've tried getting dtlogin to start the server by adding the follwing line to /etc/dt/config/Xservers
hpw29:4 Local local"at"none /usr/local/bin/Xvnc :4 -rfbport 5904 -indirect hpw29 -rfbauth /home/vncuser/.vnc/passwd -cc3 -desktop X11 -geometry 1152x864 -depth 8 -fp /usr/lib/X11/fonts/misc,/usr/lib/X11/fonts/hp_roman8/75dpi/,/usr/lib/X11/fonts/iso_8859.15/75dpi
But even with the -indirect switch it still just gives me the CDE login screen to hpw29.
I've tried adding the following to /etc/inittab
vnc1:3:respawn:sbin/sh -c "/usr/local/bin/Xvnc :2 -indirect hpw29 -rfbport 5904 -indirect hpw29 -rfbauth /home/vncuser/.vnc/passwd -cc3 -desktop X11 -geometry 1152x864 -depth 8 -fp /usr/lib/X11/fonts/misc,/usr/lib/X11/fonts/hp_roman8/75dpi/,/usr/lib/X11/fonts/iso_8859.15/75dpi
And I get a chooser with a list of servers. But when I select one the chooser clears of leaving grey screen and then it waits a while before showing the chooser again. Looking at /var/dt/Xerrors of the target box it's saying
Server open attempt #0 failed for 192.168.112.34:2, giving up
But I can pop an xclock onto the display from the target machine, so I'm fairly sure it's not a security thing, though I could get into sharing credentials if needs be.
I'm wondering if the target machine is not getting the display name. Suspecting that the XDMCP wants a display class I've tried adding
-class MIT-Unspecified to the Xvnc command but to no avail.
'any ideas folks?

Re: VNCserver offer login chooser for other machines on 2nd NIC

James Poole_2 — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 04:47:44 GMT

I've made some progress here. I can get the local VGA display to run the chooser, but I'm still having trouble with the VNC display.
Oh, I'm running HP-UX 11i.
On Sep 18, 2006 09:17:41 GMT James Poole wrote.

Now upgraded to vnc-4_1_2

I've tried getting dtlogin to start the server..

Given up on dtlogin Xservers, seems to only handle login to the local box.

Server open attempt #0 failed for 192.168.112.34:2, giving up

Definately needed to share/transfer MIT cookies to get anything to work!

So I can make the central box's VGA card offer a chooser with
/usr/bin/X11/X :0 -indirect hpw29 -auth /.Xauthority -fp /usr/lib/X11/fonts/hp_roman8/75dpi,/usr/lib/X11/fonts/iso_8859.1/100dpi,/usr/lib/X11/fonts/iso_8859.2/75dpi,/usr/lib/X11/fonts/iso_8859.5/75dpi,/usr/lib/X11/fonts/iso_8859.6/75dpi,/usr/lib/X11/fonts/iso_8859.7/75dpi,/usr/lib/X11/fonts/iso_8859.8/75dpi,/usr/lib/X11/fonts/iso_8859.9/75dpi,/usr/lib/X11/fonts/misc/,/usr/dt/config/xfonts/C

But the following line fails to do the same for a VNC display
/usr/local/bin/Xvnc :3 -displayID hpw29:3 -rfbport 5903 -rfbauth /.vnc/passwd -geometry 1152x864 -depth 24 -sp /etc/X11/SecurityPolicy -indirect hpw29 -auth /.Xauthority -fp /usr/lib/X11/fonts/hp_roman8/75dpi,/usr/lib/X11/fonts/iso_8859.1/100dpi,/usr/lib/X11/fonts/iso_8859.2/75dpi,/usr/lib/X11/fonts/iso_8859.5/75dpi,/usr/lib/X11/fonts/iso_8859.6/75dpi,/usr/lib/X11/fonts/iso_8859.7/75dpi,/usr/lib/X11/fonts/iso_8859.8/75dpi,/usr/lib/X11/fonts/iso_8859.9/75dpi,/usr/lib/X11/fonts/misc/,/usr/dt/config/xfonts/C

I get the chooser OK, but when I select a target box (which has the correct MIT cookie) I just get the grey screen for a while and then the chooser again. But no info in either the syslog.log or Xerrors on either the VNC box or the target box.

I suspect the Xvnc application wants us to use Xdm rather than dtlogin. Hence the need for a SecurityPolicy file, but this doesn't seem to have anything that would stop the taget box (presumably trusted if it's got the MIT cookie) sending a login screen.
'anybody know of other files in addition to SecurityPolicy the Xvnc would want if it assumes we're on Xdm?
Another possibility is that the central box is not passing the XDMCP query to the target once it has ben selected. But dtlogin's chooser seems to be only configured by Xaccess.

topic VNCserver offer login chooser for other machines on 2nd NIC in Operating System - HP-UX

VNCserver offer login chooser for other machines on 2nd NIC

Re: VNCserver offer login chooser for other machines on 2nd NIC