You are correct, X need not listen on 6000.
Locally, on both server and client, OpenSSH creates a connection to
127.0.0.1:<port>, starting where port is the offset specified by
"X11DisplayOffset <port>" in your sshd_config file. One thing commonly
overlooked is ensuring both hosts have an active 'lo' interface. The
localhost connections occur on both client and server, and forward your X
display over the existing SSH connection. Also, be sure "X11Forwarding yes"
is set both locally and remotely in the respective sshd_config files.
Cheers,
Bryan
-----Original Message-----
From: Andre Charbonneau [mailto:andre.charbonneau@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca]
Sent: Wednesday, September 21, 2005 10:12 AM
To: secureshell@securityfocus.com
Subject: question about x11 forwarding in ssh
Hi,
I'm currently trying to debug a SSH client implementation library which
tries to do x11 forwarding. In the code it tries to open a socket to
localhost:6000 when a x11 channel request arrives (on the ssh client side).
But I get a 'connection refused'. I checked my system configurations and
indeed my xserver is started with "-nolisten tcp", so this explains why I
can't connect to port 6000.
But I've read somewhere that someone should only open port 6000 only if they
really really need it, and that they should use ssh x11 forwarding instead.
But my question is: How does the SSH client (openSSH for example) forwards
x11 when port 6000 is not open??? Does it use another, special port that it
can connect to?
Is there a document online that I can read that explains in details how ssh
does the x11 forwarding?
Thanks!
Andre
--
Andre Charbonneau
100 Sussex Drive, Rm 2025
Research Computing Support, IMSB
National Research Council Canada
Ottawa, ON, Canada K1A 0R6
