On Wed, Sep 20, 2000 at 07:11:15AM -0700, Steve Lamb (grey@dmiyu.org) wrote:
> On Wed, Sep 20, 2000 at 12:46:23AM -0700, kmself@ix.netcom.com wrote:
> > Suggestions: X Window Resources, aliases, shell scripts, .profile or
> > .login scripts.
>
> All of which require me to leave a login on the machine. I fail to see
> why it is hard to sympathize. I can launch commands on one machine with a GUI
> menu, why can I not have a GUI menu which isn't tied to the WM on a second
> machine to launch applications there?
You'll need to authenticate yourself to the remote system(s) no matter
what, unless you're running some sort of insecure remote access protocol
such as rsh.
> > Under WindowMaker, dock/clip icons can be tied to specific actions.
> > These might include remote commands via ssh (though you'll have to deal
> > with authentication). Other window managers may have similar
> > functionality.
>
> OK, I may not have explained things adequately for you to understand why
> this isn't possible. Here is my setup:
>
>
> Work - WinNT w/Exceed
> X server running here
> / \
> Home - Linux -----Cable--/-| |-\-Ether-------- Work - Solaris
> WM runs here No Want to launch here
> connection
> here
Seems to me that eXceed running on the NT box is exogenous.
My understanding:
- You are sitting at home.
- You *do* have direct Internet access to your NT box
- You *don't* have direct Internet access to your Solaris box.
- You want to launch X-based apps on the Solaris box to your local
(home) X display.
It's not clear whether the Solaris box is isolated from the Internet, or
is merely behind a masquerade or firewall box which prohibits incoming
connections.
Your problem is also not quite the simple "how do I launch a remote X
app" issue you'd initially posed. You need to establish the network
connection first.
You may want to read the Firewall-Piercing mini-HOWTO and/or the
Remote-X-Apps mini-HOWTO. VPN may also be an appropriate solution.
NOTE THAT ANY OF THESE OPTIONS OR DOCUMENTS MAY SUGGEST OR INVOLVE
ACTIONS WHICH COMPROMISE YOUR SITE'S SECURITY AND/OR SECURITY POLICY,
THAT YOU MAY PLACE YOUR JOB IN JEOPARDY, OR EVEN BE COMMITTING UNLAWFUL
ACTS. NO LIABILITY IS ACCEPTED FOR ANY ACTIONS TAKEN. CONSULT WITH
YOUR SITE'S SECURITY PERSONNEL *FIRST*.
The simplest option would be to run SSH from the Solaris box
port-forwarding a port on your home box back to the Solaris system.
You'd initiate this session on Solaris, then from home, you could
initiate a command with:
ssh -p <forwarded-port> <solaris-userid>@localhost command arguments
Depending on your authentication mechanisms, you might or might not be
prompted for a password. I believe ssh-askpass may provide a GUI
mechanism for doing this.
If a direct connection isn't possible, you might use the NT box as a
man-in-the-middle to forward from your home box to the Solaris box.
In all cases, you'd have to *initiate* the connection from work, then
leave it running to use it from home.
I think getting a VPN system running would be your best option. This
would tend to involve cooperation from the site, though I believe you
could roll your own.
> Note, there is no connection between the Home Linux box and the Work
> Solaris box. To make a connection I would need to go through three
> intermediate steps. That makes remote execution from the home machine
> difficult to script and then I would be doing something foolish. I
> would be exporting a sessions over my cable modem to my Linux box
> through SSH where it is then tossed back out the cable modem over
> another ssh session to my NT box which is on the same ether as the
> Solaris box.
>
> What I am looking for is something GUI to run on the Solaris box to
> launch common applications without needing to leave a terminal open on
> the machine. However, since the Solaris box isn't running a WM the
> recent popular toolkits/libraries (KDE, GNome and associated libs)
> aren't available.
Irrelevant.
--
Karsten M. Self <kmself@ix.netcom.com> http://www.netcom.com/~kmself
Evangelist, Opensales, Inc. http://www.opensales.org
What part of "Gestalt" don't you understand? Debian GNU/Linux rocks!
http://gestalt-system.sourceforge.net/ K5: http://www.kuro5hin.org
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