To enable bulk deployment of your RealVNC Servers to the RealVNC Connect cloud, RealVNC Server can be joined to the cloud from the command line or via a script using a cloud connectivity token, instead of requiring a user to sign in to the RealVNC Server with their RealVNC account.
Computers can also be added to groups using cloud connectivity tokens if you need to restrict discovery of the computer to certain members of the team.
Generating a cloud connectivity token
Cloud connectivity tokens can be found under the Deployment page of your RealVNC account. To generate a new cloud connectivity token use the Generate Token button in the Cloud connectivity tokens section.
Next, select how long the token will be valid for; either one hour or indefinitely.
The token will then be generated and will appear in the token column of the table.
Once generated the token can then be applied either by using the command line or via a script file.
Deploying a cloud connectivity token
Please note that <TOKEN> should be replaced with the token you generated in the Deployment page of your RealVNC Account for both deployment options.
Alternatively, you can download a JSON file containing your token from the Deployment page, and replace <TOKEN> with the path to the downloaded JSON file.
Command line
Windows
In an administrator / elevated command prompt run:
"%programfiles%\RealVNC\VNC Server\vncserver.exe" -service -joinCloud <TOKEN>
Mac
In Terminal:
sudo /library/vnc/vncserver -service -joinCloud <TOKEN>
Linux
In a terminal application run:
sudo vncserver-x11 -service -joinCloud <TOKEN>
Script file
Windows (Powershell)
To deploy a cloud connectivity token using a Powershell script please create a new Powershell file with the following contents:
For VNC Server 6.11.0 and later:
if ((& 'C:\Program Files\RealVNC\VNC Server\vncserver.exe' -service -cloudstatus | ConvertFrom-JSON| Select-Object -ExpandProperty CloudJoined) -eq $false){
& "C:\Program Files\RealVNC\VNC Server\vncserver.exe" -service -joinCloud <TOKEN>
}
For VNC Server 6.10.1 and earlier:
if((Test-Path "C:\ProgramData\RealVNC-Service\vncserver.d\CloudCredentials.bed") -eq $False){
& "C:\Program Files\RealVNC\VNC Server\vncserver.exe" -service -joinCloud <TOKEN>
}
Windows (Command Prompt/batch)
To deploy a cloud connectivity token using a batch script please create a new batch file with the following contents:
For VNC Server 6.11.0 and later:
@ECHO OFF "C:\Program Files\RealVNC\VNC Server\vncserver.exe" -service -cloudstatus | findstr CloudJoined | findstr false 1>nul IF %ERRORLEVEL% EQU 0 (
"C:\Program Files\RealVNC\VNC Server\vncserver.exe" -service -joinCloud <TOKEN>
)
For VNC Server 6.10.1 and earlier:
@ECHO OFF
IF NOT EXIST C:\ProgramData\RealVNC-Service\vncserver.d\CloudCredentials.bed (
"C:\Program Files\RealVNC\VNC Server\vncserver.exe" -service -joinCloud <TOKEN>
)
Additional Options
Adding a computer to a group
To add a computer to a group using a token the option -joinGroup <GROUP> must be added to the end of the joinCloud command.
You need to replace <GROUP> with the name of the group the computer is to be added to. Group names can be referenced from the Computers page of your RealVNC account and must exist before they can be used by -joinGroup.
You can also specify that RealVNC Server should be added to multiple groups, by adding -joinGroup <GROUP> for each group you want to add RealVNC Server to.
Changing the name VNC Server uses when joining the cloud
VNC Server will use the computer's hostname when joining the cloud by default. To use a different name the option -joinName <NAME> must be added to the end of the joinCloud command.
You need to replace <NAME> with the name that you would like to use for the computer.
Negotiating proxy servers
If there’s an intermediate proxy server when you add a computer to a team, supply location and credentials. For example, under Windows:
- SOCKS proxy server:
vncserver.exe -service -proxyserver=socks://SERVER:PORT -proxyusername=NAME -proxypassword=OBFUSCATED-PWD -joinCloud TOKEN
- HTTP proxy server:
vncserver.exe -service -proxyserver=http://SERVER:PORT -proxyusername=NAME -proxypassword=OBFUSCATED-PWD -joinCloudTOKEN
If the proxy server requires a password, first obfuscate that password using the vncpasswd utility, located in the same directory as VNC Server. Run the following command, and follow the instructions:
vncpasswd -print
Comments
Hello. Is there any plans on adding this to ADMX files?
Hi Orkhan,
Thanks for posting! This is something we're looking into adding, hopefully we'll have more news soon.
Hi, is it possible to add the cloud connectively token to an MST, similar to how adding offline license to the OFFLINELICENSE property?
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