For X11 forwarding, do both the local and remote systems have to run an X server?
Can I do X11 forwarding if my remote machine is in: runlevel 3, meaning that no X server is running?
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51. no ; 2. yes (why haven't you tried? faster than asking)Ipor Sircer– Ipor Sircer2016-11-29 10:02:04 +00:00Commented Nov 29, 2016 at 10:02
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Can you please explain both the points a little as i am with very limited environment. If possible provide the link for more info.Rajnish Kumar Soni– Rajnish Kumar Soni2016-11-29 12:45:51 +00:00Commented Nov 29, 2016 at 12:45
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An X Server manages a display.waltinator– waltinator2016-11-30 00:10:16 +00:00Commented Nov 30, 2016 at 0:10
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@Serge Don't do thatMichael Mrozek– Michael Mrozek2016-11-30 16:03:11 +00:00Commented Nov 30, 2016 at 16:03
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1 Answer
You only need to run the X server on your client PC where you want see the GUI/Desktop. Typically this would be on your Windows PC in most environments ofcourse you could run it on a Linux/Mac workstation to. Point is the X Server itself must run on the client pc. The Linux server needs SSH along with the X Window System installed from packages, usually it is by default. The best client software I've seen to do this is MobaXTerm. MobaXTerm is a terminal client that runs an X Server on your client PC. The cool thing about MobaXTerm is it does the X Server for you along with exports the variables when you ssh to a server, it usually just works.
A tip though, if you login to a server using a terminal client such as MobaXTerm if you su, sudo, and/or switch users you loose the environment variable named DISPLAY=hostname:X.X which is required for this to work.
To install X Window software on Linux server at least CentOS/RHEL environments, others are probably similar you can check for the following.
yum groupinfo "X Window System"
yum groupinstall "X Window System"
Then update /etc/ssh/sshd_config to enable X11 Forwarding for SSH then restart your sshd service.
