Access Debian 10 through VNC client

[Ruben]

Hi
Some context
I'm looking to use Debian 10 in the Linux Center to force my user agent to be a Desktop while using my Android (for example to open Microsoft web apps which now force me to download their app instead).

I'm able to connect to the OS through noVNC (by going to vnc.html instead of auto_vnc.html) but this is a miserable experience because noVNC is very hard to control on a small touch screen.

I assume I was able to open the default VNC port (5900) by going to Network > x11vnc (I think that's a different server than the one used by noVNC because noVNC uses 8071).

My issue
When I try to connect to VNC through port 5900 it refuses the connection immediately. When I try to connect through port 8071 (which noVNC also uses) it just tries to connect for 1-2 minutes (dependent on the client) and it gives a closed connection error in the end (dependent on the client)

Does anyone know why connecting through port 8071 seems to "time out" when not using noVNC?

[father.mande]

Hi,

I don't use Linux Center, so not sure which kind of container / namespace is used ...
In all case NoVnc is just an example of a disastrous application

You can use in place any x11vnc server with client (vnc) but depends of the containerization for opening the port access
if it's a LXC (Linux Container) and using same hostname and LAN I.P. ... you need to map the port in the containers to an external port in the NAS to use it.
If it's LXC with a separate IP LAN (macvlan or vxlan (I limit list to the module available on Asustor)) and simple multiple I.P. (promiscuous mode) in this case it's like a separate server
if it's docker ... same with more complexity

if it's just a namespace (separate pid, ipc, mount, etc.) ... it's for ex. like myHD an Ubuntu 2004/2204 namespace with systemd.
... with using X from ADM ... use Xvnc_server APKG, if it's using X from inside the namespace (chroot debian or Ubuntu or ... ) you have just to use separate port (network is shared).

conclusion :
use your own Vnc server and use your own port (ex. 5910+) verify that port is visible from A.D.M (nmap, etc.), redirect it in LXC config or add in docker run, then verify that port is visible from outside (lot of example exist in the Web)
you can also configure VNC server in your Debian to generate a pseudo X server using inetd integration ... but port must be redirected also.

ALL is for "normal" containerization ... perhaps it's more special for Linux Center ... no idea.

Philippe.

[Ruben]

Thank you very much for the information father.mande.
I also don't really know how the Linux Center actually works, although I do know it doesn't show up in Portainer so I'm 99% sure it doesn't use docker.

Do you have an idea how I could figure out whether it uses LXC or something else so that I could try your solutions?

Or does anyone else have an idea what Linux Center actually uses for namespaces/containerization? And how I open ports in case they're not open?

Also, all of this will be happening on my own local network, so any issues I have do not have to do with my router at least

[Nazar78]

The Linux Center is actually LXC, a Linux Container. When you first activate it, it will setup two nics, one of it eth0 is bridged to your host nic (or lagg) so you'll have a seperate IP (stated in the status page). You can connect to this IP directly from any device in your LAN such as SSH/httpd or forward them to the router. The other eth1 is a nat bridge default route that novnc use as a reverse proxy to communicate with the host internally.

X11vnc server is actually already running on port 5900 but IIRC it's binded to localhost only, edit the /etc/init.d/x11vnc and remove the '-localhost' then restart it.

For Android you can use Real VNC Viewer to connect to port 5900 (or which ever port was setup).

[Ruben]

Thanks Nazar! That was an incredibly useful reply!

I definitely know what to do now at least!

[Nazar78]

No problem. Once you're familiar with LXC, you can then start modding it to your linking. Or completely build it from scratch separate from Linux Center. Details here https://linuxcontainers.org/lxc/introduction/.

IMHO Linux Center seems underrated, I don't see many using it, not sure about other apps though. Instead of installing other OS on the NAS, you can still stick with ADM OS and use Linux Center as a simple media box so you can ditch the glitchy Asustor portal. Take a look at my attempt to utilize this LXC https://forum.asustor.com/viewtopic.php?f=213&t=10570.

You can install other distros like Slackware or Fedora but closest to ADM I've swapped the Debian 10 to an unconfined modded container, the Ubuntu Kinetic, to my liking. Lots of modding and still testing playing around but it has been my daily driver connected to my living room 4K 65" TV HDMI for browsing/YouTube using Chrome, using snap apps like VLC with hardware acceleration for media, Moonlight for NVidia game streaming with gamepads etc. There's the Gnome Remote Desktop Sharing that works with pipewire/wireplumber (pulse replacement) so I could use Windows RDP to connect with sound on my PC. I've tried many other methods like Chrome Remote Desktop that sound works on the PC but RDP is the best. Unfortunately the RDP screen is garbled on the Android RDP app (due to acceleration/DRI sort of) so I still need VNC when accessing from my mobile.