Setting up VNC repeater on Linux
Setting Up Your Repeater for VPN Sessions
You may be familiar with how TeamViewer works; it can operate behind almost any firewall or NAT. The secret is that both the client and server do not contact each other directly but through a repeater owned by the company, allowing the client and server to initiate a reverse connection to the repeater. If you are concerned about having a third party involved in your VPN sessions, I will explain in this blog how to set up your own repeater on Linux. For Windows, the process is straightforward.
The software used to achieve this is UltraVNC, which is free and open source. The package contains a client, server, and repeater.
Repeater setup on Debian node:
# Make sure you have a static IP on your node
# Update your node:
apt-get update apt-get upgrade
# Get some packages:
apt-get install nano x-window-system-core x-window-system libxtst6 psmisc build-essential apt-get install libx11-6 libx11-dev
# Download the repeater source into /usr/local/src
cd /usr/local/src wget http://www.wisdomsoftware.gr/download/uvncrep017-ws.tar.gz
# Extract the source file
gunzip uvncrep017-ws.tar.gz tar -xvf uvncrep017-ws.tar
# Install
cd uvncrep017-ws make; make install;
# Add a user for the service you can change this on config file
useradd uvncrep
# Edit configuration to suit your needs for me I only changed ports + allowedmodes = 2
nano /etc/uvnc/uvncrepeater.ini
# Start the service
/etc/init.d/uvncrepeater start # or service uvncrepeater start
# Stop the service
/etc/init.d/uvncrepeater stop
# To moniter the logs:
tail -f /var/log/uvncrepeater.log
# To test your server:
winvnc.exe -id:424 -repeater IP_Number::Repeater_Port -run
# To encrypt the traffic change the following settings on ultravnc.ini and make sure you generate your key rc4.key
UseDSMPlugin=1 DSMPlugin=MSRC4Plugin_for_sc.dsm
# To run it as service change the following settings on ultravnc.ini
service_commandline=-autoreconnect -id:Your_custom-ID_Number -connect IP_Number::Repeater_Port