vnc.md

# Connecting to a Mariux compute server via VNC

One can  connect to one of the our mariux computers and get a GUI without the help of X11. 

- on a mariux compute server (e.g. elvattivo) start a vnc server 
  ```bash
  elcattivo> vncserver -geometry 1920x1080 -rfbport 12345 -fg
  ```
  In the above command change the port number 12345 to your favorite port number from 1024 to 49151. Ideally one runs this command in a `tmux` enviornment.

- To be able to reach this server one has to drill a `ssh` tunnel:
  ```bash
  local>  ssh -D 12345:elvattivo:12345 geniux.molgen.mpg.de
  ``` 

- Once the tunnel is established you can connect to the server. On a Mac go to `Finder > Go > Connect to Server ` or press `Cmd-K` an type 
  ```
  vnc://localhost:12345
  ```
  into the address field.

- After you are done kill the `vncserver` by pressing `Ctrl-C` on the connection to elcattivo in step 1.