VNC is the short form of the Virtual Network Computing protocol which is similar to the RDP. VNC provides a remote desktop connection to the remote systems via GUI interfaces.
VNC Protocol History
The VNC protocol is created in the Olivetti&Oracle Lab in 1999. Then in 2002, AT&T acquired the ORL. The team created the VNC protocol then created the software named RealVNC which is both open source and commercial.
Architecture
VNC is a client server protocol and heavily uses the network or internet. VNC consist of tree main components to create its architecture. These are VNC Server , VNC Client and VNC Protocol.
VNC Server provides the remote access for the given GUI which is generally an operating system desktop. VNC Server listen for the UDP port 5900 by default but for multiple VNC Server daemon increasing port numbers like UDP 5901, 5902, etc are used without a problem.
VNC Client is the client software which will connect to the VNC server over network or internet. VNC client will provide the GUI of the remote VNC Server. VNC client will connect to the remote VNC Server by using the port numbers provided by the VNC Server which starts from 5900.
VNC Protocol is the protocol which is the same for both VNC Server and VNC Client. VNC protocol is based RFB protocol which is used to transmitting the X,Y pixels from the VNC server to the VNC client and the events like click, input from the VNC Client to VNC Server.
RDP vs VNC
RDP or Remote Desktop Protocol is a popular alternative to the VNC protocol. Here we will compare and list advantages and disadvantes of the both RDP and VNC.
Speed: RDP provides faster response time with the help of its advanced compression and painting protocol. VNC is not slow but stays behind the RDP.
Bandwidth: RDP uses less bandwidth than the VNC protocol in most of the cases.
Compability: Both RDP and VNC are supported by a lot of different operating systems and platforms like Windows, Linux, MacOS X, Android etc. An exception is that installing and setup for RDP in Linux is a bit tricky.
Graphics Quality: RDP generally provides higher quality graphics because of its integrated architecture with the Windows operating system.
VNC Software List
VNC is a popular protocol where different implementations for server and client exists. Below we will list the most popular software about VNC.
RealVNC is the most popular VNC software where it provides enterprise-level features. RealVNC is created by the VNC protocol creators. It provides the following features. RealVNC software is available for Windows, MacOS X, Linux, Raspberry Pi, and Android.
- Easy deployment and administration
- Attended and unattended access
- File transfer, printing and chat
- 256-bit AES session encryption
- Multi-factor authentication
- Granular access control
TightVNC is free and open source alternative to the RealVNC. Even its is not advanced like RealVNC it provides very good features for free. TightVNC is provided for Windows, Linux and as a Java App for Viewer.
UltraVNC is free VNC server and client software. It is mainly supported for the Windows operating system where also Java Viewer software is provided for other operating systems.