Encrypting a VNC Session

The version of VNC that is shipped with ZENworks Linux Management does not currently encrypt the communication between the viewer and client (host) machine. Most administrators who want to remote control a GUI-less device use the ssh command to control the device remotely. If you need to run the VNC tool in graphical mode and still want to encrypt the session, complete the following steps:

1.	Launch a terminal session on the administrator's device (viewer).
2.	Launch the ZENworks Control Center and browse to the device you want to remote-control. Discover the device's IP address.
3.	You need to set up a tunnel port connection between the ZCC device and the managed device you want to control. To do this you need three pieces of information: The port on the ZENworks Control Center device that is free (assume 1234 for the example) The port of the VNC server that is running on the target device (this is 5950 by default) The IP address of the target device (should have gotten that in the previous step) Enter the following in the terminal session on the ZENworks Control Center device: ssh L 1234:localhost:5950 <Target IP address> Optionally you can include l <user> to specify a user account. The SSH connection requires that you enter a password on a valid user account on the target device. As the shell makes a connection to the remote device, you are prompted for the password of the user you specified. After the password is supplied, the secure connection is finalized. You can find out additional information on using SSH with VNC at http://www.uk.research.att.com/archive/vnc/sshvnc.html.
4.	Go back to the ZENworks Control Center and click on the Devices tab.
5.	Select the Remote Control Device task from the task list on the left. You are prompted with the following dialog (see Figure 14.3). Figure 14.3. Remote Management dialog.
6.	Enter localhost into the IP Address field.
7.	Enter 1234 into the Port field.
8.	Press OK. This starts the VNC viewer session over the tunneled port to the target device. Enter the password for the remote control session and press OK. This brings up the GUI of the device.