SSH support

[JerryWestrick]

This might be a special case, but....

Most of the networks I work on allow (me) ssh connections. This makes for extreemely simple tunneling (if I use the Unix viewer) with the "-via " parameter.

The "-via <viahostname>" parameter tells the vncviewer to start an ssh connection from localhost to <viahostname>, and from there to forward to the normal "host:port" values. This allows for the "host" part to be resolved on the ssh-server.

The end result is soooooo elegant....
To connect to host "Mathew" at my brother's office is as simple as

vncviewer -via office.somedomain.com mathew:0

It would be nice if this option was supported on Ultra.

Jerry

[William Hazelrig]

A more generalized method of handling "connect via" support would be to provide a mechanism through which a plug-in could receive the address and port information supplied to the viewer (or through the outgoing connection dialog from the server), and return to the viewer (or the server's outgoing connection method) an IP address and port to use instead of the ones supplied.

This would permit very simple plug-ins to be written which could call on external utilities such as SSH/PuTTy, Zebedee, an IPSEC tunnel program, or a somewhat modified version of the 16b Repeater, to establish port-forwarding to the actual destination. This could optionally be done over an encrypted tunnel.

Because any encryption accomplished would be handled entirely by an external program, which the plug-in would have to be written to control (via command-line or via some API) it should also avoid the legal quagmire of supporting encryption directly within Ultr@VNC.

Caveat: I am not at all sure the same protection would apply for a plug-in actually written to, for example, invoke Zebedee or PuTTy via the command line. Plug-ins to support making an encrypted connection should be written and distributed from nations with less obnoxious cryptography export laws than are to be found in some countries; distributing the plug-in with the Ultr@VNC package itself would not be advisable.