Headless VNC

[sizzam]

Here's how I would do it:

1. Tell GDM not to start when automatically when the machine starts:

$ sudo update-rc.d -f gdm remove

2. Install Fluxbox and tightvncserver

$ sudo apt-get install fluxbox tightvncserver

3. Create a VNC password for your account

$ vncpasswd

Using password file /home/<username>/.vnc/passwd
Password: 
Verify:
Would you like to enter a view-only password (y/n)? n

4. Create the file ~/.vnc/xstartup with the following config:

#!/bin/sh
xrdb $HOME/.Xresources
xsetroot -solid grey
xterm -geometry 80x24+10+10 -ls -title "$VNCDESKTOP Desktop" &
fluxbox &

5. Make ~/.vnc/xstartup executable:

$ chmod +x ~/.vnc/xstartup

6. Use /etc/rc.local to start the VNC session whenever the machine boots. You can specify the display to use, I usually use something unusual like 20. Mine looks like this:

#!/bin/sh -e
#
# rc.local
#
# This script is executed at the end of each multiuser runlevel.
# Make sure that the script will "exit 0" on success or any other
# value on error.
#
# In order to enable or disable this script just change the execution
# bits.
#
# By default this script does nothing.

su myusername -c "tightvncserver :20"

exit 0

7. Reboot. After the machine comes up, you should be able to access the VNC session with:

$ vncviewer your.machine.ip:20

8. To make it all happen via SSH, install SSH:

$ sudo apt-get install ssh

Then connect to the VNC session via an SSH tunnel like this:

vncviewer machine.ip.address:20 -via machine.ip.address

That should prompt you for your SSH password, then show you your VNC session, then ask for your VNC password. Your SSH port (default is 22) is the only port that would need to be accessible in this scenario.