Re: [Xen-users] How to create a Persistent VNC connection to a VM?

[Shane Johnson <sdj@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I use the VNC option on all my HVM DomU's but I still have to do xm
vncviewer {host} everytime the resolution changes. which is a pain but
I can still see the entire boot process.I will usually have 3-5 run
command windows open so once it crashes, I can immediately open the
new connection to the DomU.  I have only use the console option on a
PV domain for boot debugging because once the DomU is fully booted,
the console stops responding - I don't know if this is the way it's
supposed to work, but it's how mine does.

Shane

On Fri, May 25, 2012 at 11:49 AM, <cyberhawk001@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> On 5/25/2012 3:05 AM, Simon Hobson wrote:
>
> James Harper wrote:
>
> I was actually looking into this a little while back. One thing I decided 
> though was that qemu would need to make a 'reverse vnc' connection so that it 
> connects to the proxy as the server, which would remove the need for the 
> proxy to poll the server (or even know which physical server IP the client 
> was running on). For some reason though, qemu has its own implementation of 
> vnc rather than using libvnc (or whatever it is called), so this change is 
> more than a one-liner, although maybe still not that difficult.
>
> ...
>
> The other advantage of this for me is that in a cluster of physical machines 
> where the VM's float around depending on load etc, they all still just 
> connect to the same proxy.
>
>
> Would it be better to connect to the guest machine itself ? Ie set up the 
> machine to run a shared virtual desktop rather than the virtual console 
> display ?
> That way, you never need to know where the guest is (ie which host it's on, 
> or which port it's console is on), you just connect to it's IP address and 
> it'll just work (as long as it's actually up at the time).
>
> ------------- ------------- -------------
> What do you mean by "connect to the guest machine itself"? By guest machine 
> you mean the Guest VM (aka DomU), or you mean the Host Machine (aka host 
> server or Dom0)?
>
>
> I was really hoping not have to try things like trying to write my own proxy 
> server and etc. But, I have also heard about a "reverse vnc" and i think it 
> could be what TightVNC calls a "listening" mode that you can select when you 
> run the VNC Client. I guess most VNC clients have this option, BUT not 
> figured out how it even works or how to use it yet.
>
>
> I guess one option would be something like what is written here 
> http://www.realvnc.com/products/viewerplus/index.html This VNC client uses 
> the Intel Active Management Technology (AMT 6.0+) that is located on some 
> Intel motherboards that, as the article states, "...enabling permanent remote 
> access and control...". But, that is just one option if you have that type of 
> motherboard.
>
>
> I was also looking in the "xl" command man page, and under in there it says:
> ------------- ------------- -------------
> create [configfile] [OPTIONS]
>
> OPTIONS
>
> -V, --vncviewer   ## Attach to domain's VNC server, forking a vncviewer 
> process.
>
> -A, --vncviewer-autopass   ## Pass VNC password to vncviewer via stdin.
>
> -c    ## Attach console to the domain as soon as it has started. This is 
> useful for determining issues with crashing domains and just as a general 
> convenience since you often want to watch the domain boot.
> ------------- ------------- -------------
> At first glance i thought the --vncviewer option allows you to connect the 
> VNC server started once VM is created and attach it to the Dom0 VNC server 
> (assuming you have on installed and running as there is not one by default), 
> GRANTED not even sure what they mean by "forking a vncviewer process". BUT, i 
> am sure that is not how that works at all, so it was merely a snappy thought.
>
>
> Which also brings up another question. Since there are a lot of VNC type 
> options under the vfb=[' ', ' '] option in the DomU Configuration options, 
> does the vfb=[ ] option only works with PV type DomU's, such as Linux types, 
> AND will not work with HVM guests such as Windows?
>
>
>
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> http://lists.xen.org/xen-users




--
Shane D. Johnson
IT Administrator
Rasmussen Equipment

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