Linux remote desktop and ssh stops working sometimes for no reason

[Britishblue]

Hi I have a linux server running jellyfin. Its ubuntu. It works fine but accessing it is a nightmare. I have it connected with no monitor and a dummy monitor dongle so I can access it via remote desktop. Its a bit annoying because If I restart it i have to enter the password on the machine itself using a keyboard with no monitor input before im able to access it on remote desktop. Once I do that it seems to work well, but Ive just tried to access it days later and its saying connection refused. Its working fine but Im unable to remote into it.  I tried to restart it with ssh and that doesnt work either and wont let me connect. I was thinking there has to be a better way to do this? Does anyone know how I can get around these weird remote destop issues? Maybe a different distro? Thanks

[Levent]

Have you set a static IP on this device? This sounds like a basic network access problem.

[igormp]

1 hour ago, Britishblue said:

I have it connected with no monitor and a dummy monitor dongle so I can access it via remote desktop. Its a bit annoying because If I restart it i have to enter the password on the machine itself using a keyboard with no monitor input before im able to access it on remote desktop.

Why not use VNC with a virtual desktop instead?

Actually, if it's a server, why are you using a desktop at all?

1 hour ago, Britishblue said:

Once I do that it seems to work well, but Ive just tried to access it days later and its saying connection refused. Its working fine but Im unable to remote into it.

Try running ssh with the "-vvv" parameter so you can actually see what's the issue. May just be a networking issue as mentioned above.

[Alex Atkin UK]

Does Jellyfin not support admin over a Web UI?

Do you not have network shares configured so you can move files around remotely?

 

As mentioned, you should rarely need a desktop to do any administration and if you do a virtual desktop over VNC makes more sense.

[Britishblue]

5 hours ago, Levent said:

Have you set a static IP on this device? This sounds like a basic network access problem.

Do you mean with the IPV4 address? Its definitely the exact same

[Britishblue]

4 hours ago, igormp said:

Why not use VNC with a virtual desktop instead?

Actually, if it's a server, why are you using a desktop at all?

Try running ssh with the "-vvv" parameter so you can actually see what's the issue. May just be a networking issue as mentioned above.

Thanks for your reply. Im getting this error with the -vvv parameter

debug1: Connecting to 192.168.0.16 [192.168.0.16] port 22.
debug3: finish_connect - ERROR: async io completed with error: 10061, io:0000021EDEE69BF0
debug1: connect to address 192.168.0.16 port 22: Connection refused
ssh: connect to host 192.168.0.16 port 22: Connection refused

[Ralphred]

13 hours ago, Britishblue said:

ssh: connect to host 192.168.0.16 port 22: Connection refused

So either sshd isn't running on the server, or is not configured to allow connections from the 192.168.0.0 network.

There are lots of tutorials about setting up sshd, I'd look for one that tells you how to do public/private key authentication too (it can be both more secure and offer easier access for you at the same time).

Once that's working you'll want to set-up a vnc server, but there are lots to choose from so pick one packaged by your distro.

 

Personally I've used Webmin for anything that doesn't get done in a terminal for about 15 years or so, people talk about "security issues" but it's only accessible from the inside, so if someone is "in my webmin" it's time to get the axe out of the toolbox and stop them.

 

On the topic of security, if it is only accessible from the inside, you can remote login to X, which will present the equivalent of starting an X session on the server, then VNCing into it, only it won't be running "in a dummy monitor" it'll be running in a remote window directly on your admin PC.

A lot of things with "security issues" are advised against because in the context of them running on a public network they "aren't that secure", but on a private network the "issue" never existed, because access is already controlled (either physically or by VPN), so when some tells you "something isn't safe" make sure they know the context, and aren't just parroting something they read without really understanding it.

[Nayr438]

19 hours ago, Britishblue said:

I have it connected with no monitor and a dummy monitor dongle so I can access it via remote desktop. Its a bit annoying because If I restart it i have to enter the password on the machine itself using a keyboard with no monitor input before im able to access it on remote desktop.

What version of Ubuntu? Headless support was added to GNOME RDP in GNOME 46 which landed in Ubuntu LTS 24.04.

 

13 hours ago, Britishblue said:

ssh: connect to host 192.168.0.16 port 22: Connection refused

Check that OpenSSH is installed, enabled, and allowed through the firewall

sudo apt install openssh-server
sudo systemctl enable --now sshd
sudo ufw allow ssh

[igormp]

16 hours ago, Britishblue said:

debug1: connect to address 192.168.0.16 port 22: Connection refused
ssh: connect to host 192.168.0.16 port 22: Connection refused

Yeah, that leads me to believe that the IP of the device you're trying to connect to has changed. In case it's not, try to check the logs for the ssh server to see what's going on:

systemctl status sshd

journalctl -u sshd