ADD VNC to SPARK, is there any way?

This question was asked before but went unanswered, so I thought I would ask it again. Since my implementation of Openfire and Spark is on my local network only implemented as a IM platfrom for the teachers and staff in my school district as well as a tech support channel for them to be able to contact me, I thought that having the ability to use VNC in conjunction with spark would be an awesome tool.

Is there any way to implement a pre-configured VNC server installation in conjunction with a Spark Install, update or as a plugin? A key feature would be to be able to right click a contact in your list and be able get the users current IP address… Even if that wasn’t possible, the ip’s can be access via tha openfire admin console… At the very least having the VNC server installed with spark or as a plugin would be an awesome tool that I think many of us would be interested in having.

So if anyone has seen something like this or has some tips that would help, please let me know…

Wayne

Right now there is no plugin available to allow what your asking. It woould be great to get a plugin that would identify the IP of a user in spark. As for deploying VNC server with spark this is more difficult than you would think as you would need to configure it for authentication after install. Given enough time and patience I would think I could combine the msi installers for UltraVNC and Spark but that would leave the configuration of the vnc server.

Yeah I was thinking about this the other day…

What a way to help out our users when they are on the road… even if we could use spark to “tunnel” through to an install of VNC.

This will help all the crazy nat issues when our users travel. If they could log into openfire - then we can get out to them.

I would be thrilled if there was a way to do this! (Installing would be a plus, but just tunneling access to port 5900 would be amazing!)

Hi,

One simple solution may be to set up a vnc repeater (if you are behind a nat-firewall and dont want o open any ports), configure PcHelpware and place the PcHelpware client on a server and send a link to the user. The user starts the PcHelpware client and voila

/Jocke

It sounds like what you really want to do is provide a right-click link on someone that says, “VNC to User” which will fetch some kind of IP or hostname info from the server or the user itself and open up a browser window to the Java-version of the VNC server on the user’s workstation.

It should be that simple, although I wouldn’t know where to begin myself…

Just as an update… I figured out how to push out VNC to all my workstations/users and how to push out the reg keys that sets the password and locks out all of the controls on the users desktops…

At this point, all I would really like to have is a plugin for spark that:

  1. Put’s a “Launch VNC Connection” menu item on each user’s menu in spark (ie. when you right click a user)

  2. Put’s a “Configure VNC Client” option in the spark preferences page, where you can configure the location/path of the VNC Executable

How it should work…

When you launch the VNC connection from the users menu, Spark should discover the users IP address from the server. It then should launch the VNC client something like this: C:\path\to\vncviewer.exe {IP Address}

Well, it’s a nice dream anyways… If anyone here has the skill and time to build this you will have the heart felt gratitude of thousands of adoring fans… Or at least me…

Wayne

I plan on developing a number of addons for openfire as part of my final year project for University. One of these is for VNC to users directly from spark, and the fastpath web chat interface. So if anyone has any pointers or tips on this it would be much appreciated. I will certainly make the code availible once completed.

Hi,

are there any efforts so far? (even I’m not a experienced prammer maybe I can help, at least testing)

Just one idea more: since openfire already makes authentication and encryption, you could mkae it leading this way (I’m using the words client and server as used in vnc programs: Clients is the Viewer, Server is the viewed PC)

-Client clickes on the user he wants to connect

-On server site the user gets asked if the wnats to accept the connection from this particular user (This step is important to get acceptance for the plugin)

  • The server creates a server session with a random passwort and sends this to the client (either as text message or even nicer as an iq package)

If send as iq message: the viewer should start with the ip and password as parameters.

Another nice but tricky feature would be that the VNC server only listens to connections with are tunneled via the (encryptedand authenticated) Spark connection.

Maybe this thoughts can help anyhow.

Best regards, Maddi

I would also like to add my request for this feature. Some sort of remote desktop viewing would be great, using VNC would be handy since I already have it in place in my workplace.

Trying to install the VNC server on a “client” system is not only an overkill, but also another security/support branch to maintain. The best way, that I have found, is to use PCHelpWare (VNC Based) as suggested by another post. It’s efficient, effective, and, most importantly, portable, so there is no need to worry about admin access or firewalls on the “client’s” end.

I’ve made a plugin where it adds a support tab in Spark and has a remote support button, among other things, that launches a script that feeds MY Spark’s current IP number to PCHelpWare and establishes a remote connection, so as long as I am running the PCHelpWare support client on my end.

It has worked well for a company of 30 members and the only two thing I really need to work on is having the support client automatically launch on my end when I approve a support request and adding the ability for me to launch a support call without interrupting the user on the otherside or requiring the user to click the support button. I guess with no pressing need for those two features, I’ve gotten a little complacent.

Apparently @Dele Olajide had worked on something to this effect, e.g. “Fastpath added to SparkWeb with Red5 video and desktop sharing”

See

http://www.igniterealtime.org/community/blogs/ignite/2008/11/23/fastpath-added-t o-sparkweb-with-red5-video-and-desktop-sharing

Hello,

first of all, hi all and thanks to developers and community!

Have you got any news about adding a VNC solution to SPARK(web)?

I would like to provide a feature to my users that not only could share the screen, but permits a sort of ackowledged remote control to one of participants at time.

Any advice will be appreciated

Thanks for your support

Regards

Andrea