VNC + Boot w/o keyboard, video & mouse

[Brian Fahrlander]

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Clive Menzies wrote:
> On (14/02/07 16:18), NoOp wrote:
>> I have several customer located servers (database, print, intranet etc)
>> located at customer sites. For security purposes & so the customer
>> employees don't mess with them these machines do not have any keyboards,
>> video, or mice attached to them. To access the machines I VNC across a
>> secure VPN (both remotely and locally when on site). They are currently
>> running Windows, but I am in the process of converting them over to linux.
>>
>> In order to make the conversion to linux (Ubuntu) I've been testing a
>> couple of machines locally & have found that I cannot boot 6.061 without
>> an attached keyboard or mouse. I can of course boot with a keyboard &
>> mouse attached and then disconnect them. But that defeats the purpose of
>> being able to keep the systems isolated from curious hands.
>>   On the Windows machines if I do an update, I can reboot the machines
>> remotely via VNC & have them come back up in the proper configuration. I
>> cannot do this in 6.061.
>>
>> I have figured out how to overcome the problem of the 640x480 60hz video
>> screen default when no video monitor is attached[1], and now wonder if
>> anyone has any suggestions for doing the same with no keyboard & mouse.
> 
> Use ssh to administer the machines from the command line.  There's
> probably no need to run X on the servers.  You may need to post a bit
> more about what packages your running on the servers.  
> 
> The few programs you are running the easier it is to keep them secure.
> 

    Yeah, that's what I do all the time.  Don't forget the "Y" though:

    ssh -Y username at remotehost

    When you want to run root-privileged apps, use "sudo appname"
instead of "sudo -i;appname" because the details won't be right for X.

    Enjoy!
- --
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 Brian Fahrländer                 Christian, Conservative, and Technomad
 Evansville, IN                              http://Fahrlander.net/brian
 ICQ: 5119262                         AOL/Yahoo/GoogleTalk: WheelDweller
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