VNC-Server installation on CentOS 7

VNC-Server installation on CentOS 7

Version 1.0
Author: Srijan Kishore

This guide explains how to configure VNC-server in CentOS 7.0 server. It is a very convinient way of administrating the CentOS 7.0 with the help of GUI(Graphics User Interface). The GUI can be access any where with the help of the VNC-client on any OS. The basic condition is that the connecting OS must have VNC-clients installed in it.

1 Preliminary Note

This tutorial is based on CentOS 7.0 server, so you should set up a basic CentOS 7.0 server installation before you continue with this tutorial. The system should have a static IP address. I use 192.168.0.100 as my IP address in this tutorial and server1.example.com as the hostname.

IP address 192.168.0.100
Gateway 192.168.0.1
DNS     8.8.8.8    8.8.4.4
Hostname server1.example.com

VNC-server benefits

• Remote GUI administration makes work easy & convenient.
• Clipboard sharing between host CentOS server & VNC-client machine.
• GUI tools can be installed on the host CentOS server to make the administration more powerful
• Host CentOS server can be administered through any OS having the VNC-client installed.
• More reliable over ssh graphics.
• More reliable over RDP connections.

2 Installation

I am logged in my system with root, & now I will be installing the VNC-server.

yum groupinstall "GNOME Desktop"

Further install

 yum install tigervnc-server

3 Adding VNC user

In my case I am using user=srijan it will differ in your case. You can use any username for the same.

useradd srijan

In CentOS 7.0 there is change in the vncserver configuration file. Before ContOS 7.0 it was  /etc/sysconfig/vncservers and now it have changed in /lib/systemd/system/[email protected]. Next I will use the original file and create the configuration file as shown:

cp /lib/systemd/system/[email protected] /etc/systemd/system/vncserver@:1.service

Now we will edit the file as follows:

vi /etc/systemd/system/vncserver@:1.service

Replace the string <USER> with appropriate vncuser’s username.  In my case I will be using the user srijan just created above:

[...] [Service] Type=forking # Clean any existing files in /tmp/.X11-unix environment ExecStartPre=/bin/sh -c '/usr/bin/vncserver -kill %i > /dev/null 2>&1 || :' #ExecStart=/sbin/runuser -l <USER> -c "/usr/bin/vncserver %i" #PIDFile=/home/<USER>/.vnc/%H%i.pid ExecStart=/sbin/runuser -l srijan -c "/usr/bin/vncserver %i" PIDFile=/home/srijan/.vnc/%H%i.pid ExecStop=/bin/sh -c '/usr/bin/vncserver -kill %i > /dev/null 2>&1 || :'

If you wish to add more users you would create a new vncserver@:#.service file and change the <USER> string to the new users.

Firewall settings:

firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=public --add-service vnc-server
firewall-cmd --reload

Now switch to the vncuser just created above and start the vnc service as:

su - srijan
vncserver

[srijan@server1 ~]$ vncserver

You will require a password to access your desktops.

Password: <--yourvncpassword
Verify: <--yourvncpassword
xauth:  file /home/srijan/.Xauthority does not exist

New 'server1.example.com:1 (srijan)' desktop is server1.example.com:1

Creating default startup script /home/kishore/.vnc/xstartup
Starting applications specified in /home/kishore/.vnc/xstartup
Log file is /home/srijan/.vnc/server1.example.com:1.log

[srijan@server1 ~]$

Now make the service enabled on after every reboot with root credentials:

su -
systemctl daemon-reload

systemctl enable vncserver@:1.service

reboot
systemctl start vncserver@:1.service

4 VNC Client

At client end my OS is Ubuntu 14.04 with vino installed on my client machine. Otherwise you can install any VNC-client of your choice. In case other OS say Windows-7 you can install Realvnc-client or any other of your choice.

Now I am going to connect with the VNC server through my VNC-client at 192.168.0.100:5901

It will prompt for the password, give the vnc password just created above as follows:

Put yourvncpassword the same which you gave at the time of adding the user srijan.

Now you are connected with the CentOS 7.0 Server. In case you want to add more users to access the vnc-console you need to add :

cp /lib/systemd/system/[email protected] /etc/systemd/system/vncserver@:2.service
vi /etc/systemd/system/vncserver@:2.service

For instance I am using user kishore, entries will be like this

[...] [Service] Type=forking # Clean any existing files in /tmp/.X11-unix environment ExecStartPre=/bin/sh -c '/usr/bin/vncserver -kill %i > /dev/null 2>&1 || :' #ExecStart=/sbin/runuser -l <USER> -c "/usr/bin/vncserver %i" #PIDFile=/home/<USER>/.vnc/%H%i.pid ExecStart=/sbin/runuser -l kishore -c "/usr/bin/vncserver %i" PIDFile=/home/kishore/.vnc/%H%i.pid ExecStop=/bin/sh -c '/usr/bin/vncserver -kill %i > /dev/null 2>&1 || :'

Now switch to the vncuser just created above and start the vnc service as:

su - kishore
vncserver

[kishore@server1 ~]$ vncserver

You will require a password to access your desktops.

Password: <--yourvncpassword
Verify: <--yourvncpassword
xauth:  file /home/kishore/.Xauthority does not exist

New 'server1.example.com:2 (kishore)' desktop is server1.example.com:2

Creating default startup script /home/kishore/.vnc/xstartup
Starting applications specified in /home/kishore/.vnc/xstartup
Log file is /home/kishore/.vnc/server1.example.com:2.log

[kishore@server1 ~]$
Now  start the service on after every reboot for second user as follows:

systemctl daemon-reload

systemctl enable vncserver@:2.service

reboot
systemctl start vncserver@:2.service

This will enable user kishore to get the access to the VNC-server with the port 5902 as 192.168.0.100:5902 . In the same way you can add the root user also.

Congrats you have configured the VNC-server in CentOS 7.0 successfully :)