Use the VNC console
To interact through the VNC console, you can use a VNC client
directly, a special Java client, or a web browser. For information
about how to configure the console, see .
Get an access URL
The Compute Service enables you to create access_urls
through the os-consoles extension. Support for accessing this
URL is provided by the nova client:
$ nova get-vnc-console [server_id] [novnc|xvpvnc]
Specify 'novnc' to get a URL suitable for
pasting into a web browser.
Specify 'xvpvnc' for a URL suitable for
pasting into the Java client.
To request a web browser URL:
$ nova get-vnc-console [server_id] novnc
Access a VNC console with a Java client
To enable support for the OpenStack Java VNC client in
compute, run the nova-xvpvncproxy
service.
xvpvncproxy_port=[port]
- port to bind (defaults to 6081)
xvpvncproxy_host=[host]
- host to bind (defaults to 0.0.0.0)
As a client, you need a special Java client, which is a
slightly modified version of TightVNC that supports our token
auth:
$ git clone https://github.com/cloudbuilders/nova-xvpvncviewer
$ cd nova-xvpvncviewer/viewer
$ make
To create a session, request an access URL by using
python-novaclient. Then, run the client as
follows.
To get an access URL:
$ nova get-vnc-console [server_id] xvpvnc
To run the client:
$ java -jar VncViewer.jar [access_url]
Access a VNC console with a web browser
Retrieving an access_url for a web browser is similar to the
flow for the Java client.
To get the access URL, run the following command:
$ nova get-vnc-console [server_id] novnc
Paste the URL into your web browser.
Additionally, you can use the OpenStack dashboard, known as
horizon, to access browser-based VNC consoles for
instances.