X11 Forwarding

Overview

Users can connect to Nectar virtual machine using a variety of SSH (Secure Shell) clients and most of these terminals are text based. If you need to use some GUI applications on your virtual machine, you need to use SSH clients with X11 forwarding enabled.

X11 is a software package and network protocol that lets you interact locally, using your personal computer’s display, mouse and keyboard, with the graphical user interface of an application running on a virtual machine. X11 forwarding allows user to start up applications on remote virtual machine but forward the graphical display to your local machine. The connection between your device and virtual machine is secured via SSH connection.

What you’ll learn

  • Configure virtual machine to enable X11 forwarding
  • Install X server
  • Access graphical application via SSH

What you’ll need

  • A running virtual machine with Ubuntu 18.04 or above installed