I love SSH, coupled with byobu(an updated GNU screen) it is amazingly powerful. But sometimes it is really useful to be able to view a GUI application on the remote server end. Some people think that they need to use VNC to do this. VNC is terrible, and there is a better way.
Things you will need:
- An X capable SSH client
- A server that has a graphical environment installed on it
- Ubuntu Desktop is an easy example
- Gnome/KDE/XFCE/X11 etc.
- SSH server installed on the server
- A GUI application that you want to run over SSH
In my example I’m going to be connecting from a Windows computer, using MobaXTerm, to a Ubuntu Desktop machine, and running WireShark(yes I know about tshark).
Make sure sshd is installed on the Ubuntu machine.
$ sudo apt-get install ssh
Back on the Windows machine, we SSH to the Ubuntu machine. Notice that we are specifying -X which allows us to run X applications over SSH
$ ssh -X username@192.168.1.100
Then we run our application
$ wireshark
That is Wireshark running on the remote Linux machine. Notice the GTK/Ubuntu looking buttons, and the Windows colored Window frame.
Thanks for stopping by!