I’ve finally taken the plunge and started to introduce Linux servers into our production environment at work. OK, OK… let me be a bit more honest: I was shoved into it – I just didn’t resist much!
While I’m comfortable with installing and generally configuring Linux distros, I initially resisted due to my lack of confidence in my abilities to configure a server secure enough to be forward facing on the wild and wooly Internet. To mitigate that concern I’ll be hiring a consultant to give me a security check-up when I’m done configuring things to the best of my abilities/knowledge. That should be educational.
Moving along to the current concern…
As I build these critters I’m wrestling with determining the best way to access and manage them. Once the install is done I don’t really have a convenient way to sit at the console anymore.
At first I was using VNC to remotely access my gnome desktop (yep, I like a GUI when available. I’m old. I like to click things when it makes sense). The CentOS distribution I’m using even offers a “Remote Desktop” option for just such occasions so setting it up on the server was a simple as a couple mouse-clicks, a checkbox and defining an (optional but so wise) password.
To just run some terminals though that gets cumbersome. And, frankly, VNC over some of my VPN connections has always been just a wee bit annoyingly laggy.
Next I moved on to PuTTY. This is a great option when everything I’m doing is going to be from the command line (regardless of my preference of a GUI, it seems that my muscle-memory for vi seems to be destined to be with me forever). Tearing through configuration files, for instance, needs no GUI. I’m loving PuTTY: Fast, secure and light-weight.
If I need to push a bunch of files up to the server WinSCP keeps me content as well.
But I keep coming back to that GUI aspect. Aside from VNC, what are my other options? What else is reasonably lightweight and secure when I want to do some clicking around? Do I want something on my Windows machine that offers an X server?
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July 21st, 2008 
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You can use putty and X11 forwarding to display your unix applications on a windows / mac osx desktop that is running a X11 server. Try xming or cygwin for a windows X11 server, this has always worked for me
What Owen said: Cygwin. Works like a charm. I’m in PuTTY all day long, every day, but on those occasions when I need X, Cygwin + XFree does the job. (Hmmm — XFree? I wonder if Cygwin has gone to X.Org like everybody else. I haven’t upgraded Cygwin in years.)
That’d be my recommendation…an X server on windows so you can just do X-forwarding from your linux boxes and stop suffering…that’s why X is designed the way it is…no need for stinking VNC and similar stuff
Hey guys, thanks for the suggestions. Much appreciated.
So, Cygwin/X was last updated in 2004. Am I looking at the right thing?
Chris I don’t think so,
Cygwin’s constantly under development.
use the I think the package is XORG-X11-BASE
Ah ok, I’ll grab the “proper” cygwin setup.exe and have a look.
I had just looked at the Cygwin/X page initially: http://x.cygwin.com/ but perhaps it is dated.
To make the shell a more powerful environment, and to avoid to many PuTTy windows, check out GNU screen. It is bundled with nearly every Linux distro.
http://www.gnu.org/software/screen/
I love detaching from stuff and reattaching later, like building a package from source.
PuTTY & Xming have been rocking my world.
The cygwin version worked too, but just didn’t “grab” me (and, with no quantification, just felt slower…).
Thanks for all the ideas and tips
[...] mentioned in a post last week, I’m rolling out some Linux based web servers at work (CentOS to start with). This [...]