Temperamental VNC

[Rashkae]

Michael Pavling wrote:
> I've been getting an annoying problem on a new machine I've set up.
> It's running Ubuntu 10.04.1 AMD64 desktop, but is "headless". If I ssh
> onto it and launch VNCserver (I've installed TightVNC) I can log on
> and it works fine for a time. But at some point - generally when I
> click a button in VirtualBox, the VNC viewer closes on my PC, and in
> my ssh window, I can see that the VNC server process has died.
> Starting a new vncserver starts on a new port (as there are still
> locks in /tmp from the previous process).
> 
> Any idea what's causing VNC to die? Or is there a better/different way
> to administer a headless machine (I'm temporarily using remote desktop
> to avoid the process terminations, but I have to be logged in on the
> console for it to work, which isn't acceptable long term - I need to
> be able to reboot without concern)
> 
> Cheers,
> 

When you log in to vnc, are you running gnome desktop?

I've seen all manner of problems with VNC (either vncserver or 
tightvncserver) and the gnome keyboard/mouse daemon.  Typically, either 
gnome-settings-daemon will crash messing up your desktop, or the 
vncserver will crash instead.  Fortunately, it's easy to disable and 
won't negatively affect your vnc environment at all.

In your vnc session, once you've logged in, run gconf-editor.  Navigate 
to apps -> gnome_settings_daemon -> plugins   Remove the "Active" in the 
Keyboard and Mouse plugins.  Vnc will work *much* better with those removed.

As for better way to administer a remote machine, all the cool kids now 
are using FreeNX. I haven't really used it myself, so can't help you 
there.  I'm sure there are some good howto's available.  That seems to 
be the new standard bearer for this job.