SSH

First, enable X11 forwarding: uncommented and properly set 2 following lines in /etc/ssh/ssh_config file:

Host *
ForwardX11 yes

Normally ssh creates .Xauthority file in $HOME directory. If $HOME directory is on file server and shared between different machines, it can be a conflict. It is recommended in that case to tell ssh to place .Xauthority file somewhere else, for example in /tmp directory which is usually local. Do following:

1. Uncomment or add following line in /etc/ssh/sshd_config (it will force execution of /etc/ssh/sshrc script which we'll create below; also every user's $HOME/.ssh/environment file will be processed):

PermitUserEnvironment yes

2. Create /etc/ssh/sshrc with following contents:

HOME=/tmp
XAUTHORITY=$HOME/.Xauthority.$USER
export XAUTHORITY
if read proto cookie && [ -n "$DISPLAY" ]
then
      if [ `echo $DISPLAY | cut -c1-10` = 'localhost:' ]
      then
              # X11UseLocalhost=yes
              echo add unix:`echo $DISPLAY |
              cut -c11-` $proto $cookie
      else
              # X11UseLocalhost=no
              echo add $DISPLAY $proto $cookie
      fi | /usr/openwin/bin/xauth -q -
fi

(on RHEL4 xauth is located at /usr/X11R6/bin/xauth, on RHEL5 at /usr/bin, adjust script accordingly)

3. Add two lines in /etc/profile:

XAUTHORITY=/tmp/.Xauthority.$LOGNAME
export XAUTHORITY

4. NOTIFY ALL USERS TO HAVE THAT FILE WITH CORRESPONDING CONTENTS IN THEIR $HOME/.ssh directories. You can do it for example by placing following into /etc/.login (on linux you can use /etc/csh.login):

if (! -e ~/.ssh/environment ) then
  echo ""
  echo "===== ERROR: create file '~/.ssh/environment' containing following line:"
  echo "=====       XAUTHORITY=/tmp/.Xauthority.$LOGNAME"
  echo "===== OTHERWISE SSH/X11 MAY NOT WORK PROPERLY"
  echo ""
endif

5. Create /root/.ssh/environment file with following contents:

XAUTHORITY=/tmp/.Xauthority.root

6. Restart ssh service by

svcadm restart network/ssh

(on Linux /etc/init.d/sshd restart)

7. If need to make ssh without password between different clon machines for some user, login as that user and do following:

cd .ssh
ssh-keygen -t rsa
   <hit return on password prompt>
cp id_rsa.pub authorized_keys

8. Tunneling: for example to tunnel from home to clontrig0 for vnc (port 5902) do following:

ssh -L 5902:localhost:4321 login1.jlab.org

and then from the same window:

ssh -L 4321:localhost:5902 clontrig0

Now if VNCVIEWER on home machine connect to localhost:5902, it will actually connect to clontrig0:5902.