The easy way to configure VNC service on your Linux server

While looking at the access statistics of this blog I noticed that one of the most popular posts is an article I wrote a while ago about how to configure the VNC service on your Linux server. While these instructions continue to work, both RedHat and SUSE have released updates in the meantime which make these instructions partly obsolete.

In REHEL6+ and SLES12+ the configuration screens that come with the operating system include an option to configure what they call remote desktop access. The way the VNC service is configured is slightly different on each Linux variant, but since the  configuration screens allow you to configure the VNC service with a simple point and click UI, you probably don't need to worry about the detail of what happens under the covers.

Of course the instructions I wrote still work so if you followed them and your server is working as desired, there is no need to change. However, it is probably easier and better to use the configuration screens built into the operating system if you have not yet started to configure it. Likewise, if are using an older version of RedHat/SUSE or are using a Linux variant which has not yet integrated VNC configuration into its utilities then feel free to continue using my script.