X11 forwarding is a special case of remote tunneling.

Tectia ConnectSecure supports X11 forwarding on both Unix and Windows platforms. On Windows, you need also the XWindow Manager package. Tectia Server supports X11 forwarding only on Unix platforms.

Figure 6.13. X11 forwarding

X11 forwarding can be enabled in the client by setting the following line in the ssh-broker-config.xml file (either under default-settings or under a connection profile):

<forwards>
  <forward type="X11" state="on"/>
</forwards> 

By default, X11 forwarding is off.

X11 forwarding can be enabled in the Tectia Connections Configuration GUI, under Default Connection → Tunneling for the default connection, and under Connection Profiles → Tunneling per each profile. See Defining Default Tunneling Settings and Defining Tunneling.

To test that X11 forwarding works on Windows, use the XWindow Manager. Log into the remote system and type xclock &. This starts an X clock program that can be used for testing the forwarding connection.

If the X clock window is displayed properly, you have the X11 forwarding working. If the X clock fails and complains that it cannot open the display, check that the XAuth is properly installed on the remote host.

	Note
	Do not set the DISPLAY variable on the client. You will most likely disable encryption. (X connections tunneled through Secure Shell use a special local display setting.)