VNC clients

Introduction

VNC (Virtual Network Computing) is a system that allows you to see and interact with the screen of your virtual server in a window on your desktop. VNC is the best way to interact with your server during the installation process.

You may also may wish to use VNC if you prefer to use the desktop rather than the command line to administer your server. (However, we do not recommend installing a desktop environment on a server. Running a desktop may have a small, but not negligible, impact on your server's performance. There are also the security and stability implications of installing dozens of extra packages.)

WebVNC

We support VNC in the browser. Naturally, this relies on Javascript.

From your virtual server's page on the control panel, simply click the WebVNC button, and follow the prompts.

Desktop clients

If for some reason you can't use WebVNC you may want to install a VNC client for your desktop. These are freely available for all platforms. Our suggested clients are listed below.

When configuring your VNC client you will need the VNC IP address, your VNC password, and either the port number or the display number. You can get this information from the server page on the control panel, or from the status command on the admin console for your server (you must first set a password using the vnc-passwd command).

The port number and display number are the same bit of information: port = 5900 + display. If your client doesn't prompt you for either, trying appending : followed by the port number to the IP address for your server, e.g. 93.93.128.1:6001

Linux

We recommend Vinagre for use on Linux. (Several users report getting stuck in full-screen mode in Vinagre: the key to exit full-screen mode is typically F11.) Remmina also looks good.

macOS

macOS has a built-in VNC client. From the Finder menu, select GoConnect to Server.... Specify your server's VNC address as vnc://host.na.me:99 where 99 is the port number. You can also use an IP address instead of a hostname.

Windows

For Windows desktops we recommend Tight VNC.