installing x emulation on linux

[stevenriz]

I am administering a linux server that doesn't have X running on it and I need to remotely (SSH) install some sort of graphical interface in order to install Oracle DB(there doesn't seem to be a way to install the Oracle DB without X). Do I just install some X11 type software on the server and use my regular desktop X program to connect to it? I believe I will need to port forward X11 using putty or something similar in order to do this. What a pain ORACLE!!! Why don't they just have a silent or text based install proceedure??????
Thanks!

 

[oppcos]

Yuk, I haven't tried connecting directly to the X server, but it doesn't look very pretty to me. If I were you, I'd use TightVNC

http://www.tightvnc.com

Easy..ish to install and setup and very easy to connect to. You can use something like stunnel if you want to SSL encrypt the connection and provide stronger control over access. Plus, both Tight VNC and stunnel are cross platform, in case you need to do some adiministration from Windows or something.

 

[stevenriz]

YUK is right!! These linux systems are hosted in another state and DO NOT even have monitors on them. Will that present a problem with tightvnc? I wouldn't think so as long as the system knows about the video card....

 

[oppcos]

It won't present a problem with tightvnc, but you will still need to install the X Server, a light weight window manager, and probably X-Term to get around in it. Vnc will then use that Window manager (and you can launch X-Term automatically) to have an environment to work with.

Vnc can also be set up to listen to several ports, each with its own X-Term session as they are needed, which makes it work sort of like Terminal Services on Windows. You can also set it to "Share Connection" mode, which will allow more than one person to connect into the same desktop at the same time. Depending upon the password they provide, one may only be able to observe while the other has control of the mouse and keyboard as well. This can be handy for training and such.

 

[stevenriz]

THANKS!!! Sounds doable.... I will start trying to figure out how to do this and let you know how I make out. Any tips on any open source X software? I think there is a X11FREE or something like that.

 

[oppcos]

Due to licensing reasons, I recommend

http://www.x.org/

which is pretty defacto now for Linux distributions. Xfce (

http://www.xfce.org),

BlackBox (blackboxwm.sourceforge.net) or WindowMaker (

http://www.windowmaker.org)

for Window Managers that are very light.

 

[stevenriz]

hahaha, I already have xfree86 loaded but am lost now on configuring it... I only have SSH access so I thkn that is the tricky part... ;( I run X and I think it is thinking I am the monitor on that box itself. So I have to somehow redirect X11 to my desktop but I don't have my Xterm program running yet. what a pain, I will just trial and error it to death or until it works.... did I jsut say that??

 

[oppcos]

Yes, I believe you did. Might look into getting VNC going next as you can set that up stricktly from the console. The vnc site has good information about configuration (since unfortunately I don't have access to look up mine right now). Within the vnc config you can define what apps load up with what Window Manager.