Using the Exceed X Server with SSH X11 Tunneling

This page describes how to set up the Hummingbird Exceed X Server and SSH so as to use X11 tunneling. It was adapted from the web page http://www.uic.edu/depts/accc/software/exceed/sshexceed.html at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC).

Initial Setup

The following steps should be done in order to set up your computer to use SSH X11 tunneling. These steps only need to be done once.

At this point you should already have installed SSH on your system. (if not, see the web page on installing SSH on an MS Windows machine).

You should also install Exceed on your system at this point if you have not done so already; see the vendor instructions for further details.

To configure Exceed to use SSH tunneling, complete the following steps:

  1. Click the Start button, point to Programs, point to Hummingbird, point to Exceed, and then click on Xconfig.
  2. A password dialog box will open, asking you to enter your Xconfig password, which you selected when you installed Exceed. Type it in the box provided and click OK.
  3. Set passive communications (this is necessary to minimize the amount of traffic sent along the SSH tunnel):
    1. In the Xconfig window, double-click the Communication icon.
    2. In the resulting Communications dialog box, click on Mode and select Passive from the drop-down list.
    3. Click OK to return to the Xconfig window.
  4. Set Multiple Windows mode (again, this reduces network traffic):
    1. In the Xconfig window, double-click the Screen Definition icon.
    2. In the resulting Screen Definition dialog box, click the radio button beside Multiple in the Window Mode box on the upper left.
    3. Click OK to return to the Xconfig window.
  5. Configure localhost security (when using SSH X11 tunneling, the only machine that Exceed will ever talk to is your own personal computer, aka the "localhost"):
    1. In the Xconfig window, double-click the Security icon.
    2. In the resulting Security dialog box, find the Host Access Control List section and click on the radio button to the left of the word File. (As a result, the name of the file -- xhost.txt -- will darken.)
    3. To the right of the name xhost.txt, click Edit.
    4. A NotePad editing session will be initiated, editing the xhost.txt file.
    5. Type localhost on a new line in the file.
    6. If the file contains any other lines listing Math Department hosts, delete those lines.
    7. Save your changes: On the File menu, select Save.
    8. Leave NotePad: On the File menu, select Exit.
    9. The Security dialog box will reappear.
    10. On the Xconfig window, select File from the menu bar and click Exit.

You will also need to configure SSH to enable tunneling of X11 sessions. To do this, complete the following steps:

  1. Open SSH: double-click the SSH Secure Shell Client icon on your desktop (or run it from Programs on the Start menu).
  2. On the Edit menu, click Settings.
  3. Under Profile Settings click Tunneling.
  4. Click in the box next to Tunnel X11 Connections.
  5. Click OK.
  6. Close SSH.
  7. When SSH asks you whether you want to save the changes you've made, click Yes.

To Start up Exceed

To start up Exceed so as to use SSH X11 tunneling, complete the following steps:

  1. Start the X server:
    1. Click the Start button, point to Programs, point to Hummingbird, point to Exceed, and then click on Exceed in the submenu.
    2. An Exceed button will appear on your taskbar; the icon looks like the letter X with a top hat and cane on it.
  2. Start SSH with SSH tunneling enabled and log in to your UNIX account:
    1. Start up SSH: double-click the SSH Secure Shell Client icon on your desktop (or run it from Programs on the Start menu).
    2. Log in to your Unix account.

If you wish to check that SSH X11 tunneling is working, a good program to use is xclock. At the Unix prompt, type: xclock &.