Installing X system/apps on headless server

kalasend · #1 17th September 2010, 05:16 AM

Hi all,

Background:
I need some help regarding install X server/apps on a headless(ie. no monitor, no graphic device) server. The server is in fact a virtual one by Amazon EC2. So there's no monitor nor any graphics hardware. Fedora server (6, i believe) is pre-packaged.

The problem is that I want to be running a server app with a GUI. The app won't start without the GUI (and I probably need to tweak a few things through its GUI too).

I plan on setting up very very bare minimal X on the server and then uses NX for remote access. Can somebody shed some light here?

Simply put, my questions are:
1) What would be the minimal list of package i need to install?
2) Where can I find docs about installing and setting up NX? I could only find very fragmented/outdated docs about it.....

Thanks a lot!
B

droidhacker · #2 20th September 2010, 07:15 PM

Forget NX... use VNC.
Also forget FC6 -- it is out of date... by **YEARS**.
Take your pick of F13 or CentOS5 or RHEL6beta. Your choice depends on what you want to accomplish with it.

Xorg can be configured to run headless, set your video driver to vesa and manually set your sync and refresh rates. Throw your vnc stuff into the xorg.conf along with that, and you'll have remote access.

Warning though: vnc isn't an "all-in-one" solution. It is built on the unix philosophy: do one thing well. In other words, it'll interface with your X server, but there is NO SECURITY, so tunnel your VNC through SSH to add in the required security.

Now regarding the minimum required packages... that depends on the software you're trying to run. You're obviously going to need to install the "X Window System" (group --- yum groupinstall "X Window System"). It'll be pretty bare bones X with just that, so add in whatever other packages you need.

Vector · #3 2nd October 2010, 09:34 AM

I never got this working completely, but i got it damned close. Here's my old thread on it:

http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?t=235497

#4 2nd October 2010, 05:56 PM

There is always Xnest. Probably not the best solution, but works in a pinch.

Code:

startx -- /usr/bin/Xnest :4

Ky

beaker_ · #5 2nd October 2010, 07:27 PM

Anything wrong with using the virtual frame buffer?

yum install xorg-x11-server-Xvfb

Google will kick up lots of examples and don't overlook X forwarding through SSH.

Vector · #6 2nd October 2010, 09:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by beaker_

Anything wrong with using the virtual frame buffer?

yum install xorg-x11-server-Xvfb

Google will kick up lots of examples and don't overlook X forwarding through SSH.

http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?t=235497

Didn't work for me. But you're right, google does have quite a few references. The problem is, i've never seen an example that works from end to end.

beaker_ · #7 4th October 2010, 01:09 AM

Sorry, I don't know why it didn't work for your server but did for you desktop. I can't speak to dependencies as I'm lazy and normally install a blanket-like image, complete with gnome & X. However you could try the usual suspects like nomodeset, an empty or trimmed xorg.conf, and maybe add Option "AutoAddDevices" "False". Good Luck.