More VNC help?

[aprisa]

I've got the remote access working on my PC now, question is:- can I access more than one machine on the work network through the same router by using the port divert set to the same port but different internal IP address?

Nick

[BliarsGoing]

If you change the redirection on the router and install the VNC server on the PC you want to remote control, absolutely yes.

[aprisa]

So having the same ports re-directed to two machines on the same router will not conflict?

[chrisjl]

No, you can't redirect one port to multiple machines (how would anything know which one you meant?).
What you can do is forward multiple ports.
e.g.
5900 -> 192.168.0.100
5901 -> 192.168.0.101
5902 -> 192.168.0.102

Depending on the router, you may or may not get be able to have the redirect also change the portnumber.

i.e.
5902 -> 192.168.0.102:5900

If it doesn't give you the option, then you'll just have to change the port number that the VNC server is listening on for each machine. (i.e. 192.168.0.102 listens on 5902)

[BliarsGoing]

It will conflict (unless you have multiple external IP addresses) or alter the port as above. It's an either/or choice I'm afraid. If push came to shove you can piggyback one VNC connection onto another but it's a bit horrible to use. I only do it in a support scenario where for whatever reason I have no other choice.

Edited by BliarsGoing on Wednesday 18th October 12:55

[aprisa]

Thanks for that.
Nick

[manek]

An alternative is to use a VPN and tunnel into the LAN that way, inc which case you can use the local IP addresses. I use OpenVPN which is secure and easy to use...

[chrisjl]

Another option is to tunnel VNC over SSH. That way you:
* only need one forwarding rule (to get the SSH connection to the right machine)
* aren't sending passwords in clear text
* aren't sending screen updates un-encrypted
* can setup anything new from the outside (e.g. need to VNC to a different machine - just disconnect, add the rule to PuTTY and re-connect)

Or what Manek said...

Edited by chrisjl on Wednesday 18th October 13:02