Device VNC

Oftentimes, you need access to a computer that doesn’t have a screen available, or it’s on the other side of the venue.

If that machine runs a VNC server, sndwrks Local can open it in a window right in the browser.

Turn it on for a device

VNC is configured per device, on the device’s edit drawer.

1. Open the Devices page and click the device.
2. Scroll to the VNC section and tick VNC Enabled.
3. VNC Port fills in with 5900, the standard VNC port. Change it if your machine is somewhere else.
4. Enter the VNC Username and VNC Password.
5. Save.

The username and password are stored as an encrypted secret on the server. Because they’re stored as a pair, you have to fill in both if you update one.

Once credentials are saved, the fields show Credentials set instead of the values. Type a new pair over them to replace it.

Note

The username is there for Apple Remote Desktop, which needs one. Standard VNC authentication ignores it.

We recommend filling out both anyway in case the vnc server wants it.

Open a session

With VNC enabled and credentials saved, an Open VNC Connection button appears at the bottom of the section. Click it and the session opens as a large overlay over the app.

Along the top of the overlay:

• The device name, so you know which rack you’re typing into.
• Connection state — Connecting…, Connected, Disconnected, or Connection failed.
• The remote resolution, once connected. Worth a glance — see below.
• Quality, a three-way picker.
• Close session, which tears the connection down on the server too.

Pressing Esc closes the session, same as the button.

Quality

Three presets, trading picture for responsiveness:

• Sharp — best picture, most data per frame.
• Balanced — the default, and what a normal VNC client would give you.
• Fast — noticeably softer, but much less to push down the wire. Reach for this when scrolling or window drags feel like wading.

Changing quality applies to the running session immediately; it doesn’t reconnect. Your choice is remembered in that browser, so it sticks for the next session.

Tip

If a session feels slow, check the resolution readout first.

A retina Mac, for example, sends all of it’s pixels which can be a lot at 5k.

Connecting to a Mac

Apple’s built-in Screen Sharing only offers slow lossless encodings to non-Apple clients, so large screen updates crawl and the quality presets get ignored by Screen Sharing.

If you’re going to lean on VNC for a Mac, install a third-party VNC server on it instead. You’ll get a dramatically better session.

Permissions

Two separate grants, deliberately:

• devices.edit lets someone turn VNC on and set the port and credentials.
• devices.vnc.connect lets someone actually open a session.

The Open VNC Connection button only appears for people who hold the second one.

Handing out a remote desktop into a show machine is a bigger decision than editing a device row, so it’s its own switch.

Caution

A VNC session is full control of that machine. Anyone who can open one can do anything the logged-in user can do.

With great power, comes great responsibility.