vlab gives you a CSE lab desktop session on non-CSE computers, including UNSW library computers, your own laptop or desktop, and mobile phones and tablets.
Connecting to vlab
Connecting from inside UNSW
You can connect to the vlab service directly from your computer from anywhere on campus, even via UNSW's wireless service. The procedure goes like this:
- Start the VNC client program on your computer,
- Select a screen resolution from the list on the key points page which mostly matches the resolution of your actual screen. On an iPad, for example, you might select 1024x768,
- Enter the corresponding host/port string into your VNC client as the VNC server to connect to,
- Use zID and zPass, or CSE username and password, to log in,
- Switch to full screen mode. This depends on your VNC client program and operating system,
- Do amazing work, and then
- Close your VNC client,
- Viola! And other musical instruments!
Authentication and encryption options for VNC
In short, turn these off.
Many VNC servers are configured to require a password for the initial connection. Ours isn't configured like that because we display a separate login window where you authenticate.
You can, and should, turn off all VNC encryption options — if there are any — too. See the security page for why we consider this OK in terms of security with vlab.
Show screen snapshot of connection dialogue from TigerVNC on Mac OS X, and on Windows. Also snapshot of Mocha VNC (or other) app on iPad.
See below for when connecting from outside UNSW.
Connecting from outside UNSW
There are at least three supported ways of connecting to vlab from outside of UNSW:
- UNSW's own VPN service which provides remote access to UNSW-in-general, including the library,
- CSE's own VPN service which provides network access to CSE only, and
- An SSH tunnel which provides access to individual CSE services, and which can be used to access vlab.
UNSW's VPN
See UNSW VPN Service.
CSE's VPN
See OpenVPN at CSE.
SSH tunnel
SSH is a secure login protocol used on CSE servers. But, as well as providing remote shell access, it also supports tunnelling of other network traffic to and from CSE's networks. This makes it eminently suitable for encrypting VNC traffic to and from outside of UNSW.
There are graphical and command-line SSH clients available for most operating systems, including Android and iOS. We can't list all possibilities here, but consider the following to be a guide.
Important: Once you have established the appropriate tunnel with SSH, in your VNC client you connect to “localhost” and the selected port instead of the vlab server/port directly.
Linux
Use:
ssh -l <username> login.cse.unsw.edu.au -L <port>:vlab:<port>
Where:
- <username> is your zID or CSE user name, and
- <port> is the port number corresponding to the desktop screen resolution you desire from the list in “Key points” above. This is a number greater than 5900.
Windows / putty
Use the putty or other SSH client under Windows. See SSH clients for Windows.
See also these screen snapshots (one, two, three, four and five) showing an example putty/tunnel/vlab session on Windows 10.
Mac OS X
Same as for Linux.