How to display applications on a remote X server

This document (3560166) is provided subject to the disclaimer at the end of this document.

Environment

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10
openSUSE 10.1

Situation

Need to run an application on one system but view and control the application from another.

Resolution

Note: This method of displaying an application on a remote X server is not secure. A more common method is to use SSH but this method is still used in some cases on secure networks.

On the system that will display the application take the following steps:

1. Modify or disable the firewall to allow TCP port 6000 by going into YaST and selecting Security & Users-->Firewall.

2. As the root user edit /etc/sysconfig/displaymanager. Locate and change the following two lines to "yes":

DISPLAYMANAGER_REMOTE_ACCESS="yes"
DISPLAYMANAGER_XSERVER_TCP_PORT_6000_OPEN="yes"

3. As the root user run "SuSEconfig" from a terminal window. This will pick up the changes made to the displaymanager file.

4. Reboot the system for the X server to come up with the new settings.

5. Provide access for other systems to use this display using the"xhost" command. See "man xhost" for details. To give access to anyone you can run "xhost +". Be sure to do this as the user that is logged into the GUI desktop. This is not permanent. When you logout this setting is lost. For permanent settings you will need to modify /etc/X0.hosts (for display 0). See the man page for more details.

On the system that will run the application:

Some applications give you an option to indicate the display such as xterm or xeyes. To test with xeyes run the command:

xeyes -display <Host-IP>:0.0

Of course replace the <Host-IP> with the address or hostname of the system setup to display the application.

For applications that do not allow the display designation you will need to modify the DISPLAY environment variable before executing the command. From a terminal do the following (using xeyes for the example):

export DISPLAY=<Host-IP>:0.0
xeyes

Again, replace the <Host-IP> with the address or hostname of the system setup to display the application.

The DISPLAY setting is only for this terminal window and will not effect any other application. The setting is lost as soon as the terminal is closed.

Additional Information

Disclaimer

This Support Knowledgebase provides a valuable tool for SUSE customers and parties interested in our products and solutions to acquire information, ideas and learn from one another. Materials are provided for informational, personal or non-commercial use within your organization and are presented "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND.