Installing the VNC server

VNC (Virtual Network Computing) enables us to access the GUI of a remote system over a secured network. The VNC client installed on a local system captures the input events of a mouse and keyboard and transfers them to the remote VNC server. Those events are executed on a remote system and the output is sent back to the client. VNC is a desktop sharing tool and is generally used to access the desktop system for remote administration and technical support.

With Ubuntu server, we rarely need a desktop environment. However, if you are a newbie administrator or quite unfamiliar with the command line environment, then GUI becomes a handy tool for you. Plus, you may want to deploy a shared remote desktop environment where people can collaborate with each other. This recipe covers the installation of the VNC server on Ubuntu Server 14.04. We will install a GUI component that is required by VNC and then install and configure the VNC server.

Getting ready

You will need access...