Use graphical DomU (X11 for Linux, regular UI for Windows) from Dom0 without any GUI on Dom0

paravirtualizationvirtualizationvncxen

I am creating a Xen (para)virtualization setup, with two DomU's: a Windows 10 client install, on HVM, and an Linux client install with X11, on PV. Dom0 is a non-graphical Debian install. So far I have only installed the Linux client DomU, and I have been trying to connect to it graphically from Dom0. So far, nearly every approach to graphically connecting to a DomU requires the Dom0 (or whatever OS is on the client end of the connection) to be running some sort of GUI, i.e. it's a Windows client or a Linux install with X11, and the only one that didn't (xcp-vncterm) has virtually no useful documentation (all searches that mention it simply give an endless list of download mirrors).

Another brick wall that I have run into is that I can't seem to directly access (i.e. ping) a DomU from Dom0 and vice versa; I'm not sure if this is normal, but it could be a problem if a solution requires an

So here is my question: What is the simplest way to graphically access any DomU from a non-graphical Dom0?

Note: I don't need access to DomU's from outside of Dom0.

I'm relatively new to Linux administration, so any help would be greatly appreciated, and please correct me if I have made any incorrect assumptions.

Best Answer

Basically you cannot, directly from the dom0

But you can from a remote machine.

Xen use VNC to provide graphical access to HVM VM.

If you are using opensource Xen, in the VM config file you can add a line like :

vfb = [ 'type=vnc,vncdisplay=1,vncpasswd=yourpassword,vnclisten=0.0.0.0,keymap=fr' ]

then from a remote machine using a vnc client you connect using the xen machine IP and the port 5900+the number set in vncdisplay

For example if you xen machine is 192.168.5.3 and the vncdisplay value is 1 you will use 192.168.5.3:5901

The vncdisplay value must be unique per hypervisor, but if there's duplicate, Xen will use the next available port (I.E. if 2 VMs have 1 in the config file, the first to be launched will use 5901 and the second 5902).

vnclistin=0.0.0.0 make the VNC server to listen on any IP availabale on the xen machine. You can restrict it to a specific IP of course.

For X11, never used it in a VM but I guess you may simply use standard Linux X11 remote capabilities.

Related Topic