VNC (Virtual Networking Computing)  ON MAC OSX
by Evashini Naidoo

The main reason for me writing this paper is because i honestly had a very hard time installing the vine server. The installation was a success BUT i wanted the vine server to run automatically in the background so the vine server application does not pop up on the users screen. I just couldn't get it to run in the background after i rebooted the machine. So i have to say this was a big challenge for me. A very nice learning experience.

So lets get started, only after much playing around with the settings i finally got it right. This is what i found:

-I found out that the key to running the vine server in the background is to start the SYSTEM SERVER.

You may ask what is a SYSTEM SERVER?
A SYSTEM SERVER  is a vnc server that runs independently for mac user accounts. When you use a system server, it starts running every time a mac is rebooted. The server starts silently without launching the vine server application. A vine server is a full featured VNC server for Mac OS X. THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED!

Installing  & Setting up the vine server




Now back to the main point of the VNC set-up, STARTING THE SYSTEM  SERVER
This is so simple but because i did not know what the system server  was, i had no clue that this runs the vine server in the background. Basically make sure all the settings in the connection, system, sharing & start-up configuration panel are correct. To start the system server just click on start system server      



You will be asked to enter a username & password. This username & password will be the one that was created for that particular mac you installing vine server on.  This starts the vnc to automatically start when the computer reboots.





Lastly, quit the vine server by pressing apple+Q and Restart your computer (this will start the system server in the background). Now to access it all you need is the ip address or the computer name and you can vnc onto the machine. You can use tightvnc if you using a windows or Linux machine to vnc onto another machine and if you using a mac machine then use cotvnc as a vnc viewer.