Alice in Userland

incoming ssh and vnc connections on debian-based system

Connectee must:

• with port forwarding on their router, forward port 22 to the internal ip address of the computer to be connected to
• install firestarter and go to inbound policy section, right click on services box and add policy for service ssh, port 22, for everyone (or alternative program, but then figure it out yourself)
• HAVE SSH INSTALLED and have sshd running. this step is absolutely necessary. one must not assume ssh comes preinstalled. (sudo apt-get install ssh)
• provide connector with their external ip address, username, and password.

The connector connects like so:

ssh <username>@<ip-address>

you can add an -X option at the end for remote GUI applications to run on your screen. you can use the -p option followed by a port number if you prefer to use a different port, and if you already have forwarded and used firestarter or similar to unblock this port instead. not specifying a username will result in it attempting to login to the remote box using your local current username.

Also, similar situation for VNC.
connectee:

• sudo apt-get install xvncserver
• vncserver (I forget if you need root permission or not to run this)
• (set a password with vnc)
• use firestarter and add inbound policy for service vnc, port 5900
• forward port 5900 to computer to be connected to with router settings

connector:

• sudo apt-get install xvncviewer
• vncviewer <ipaddress>
• (insert password)