VNC Connections
Keeper Connections - VNC Protocol
Overview
KeeperPAM enables zero-trust privileged session management for target infrastructure using the VNC protocol. This guide explains how to set up VNC connections on your PAM Machine Records in the Keeper Vault. Secure VNC sessions are established from the Vault, through the Keeper Gateway, and directly to target devices.
Prerequisites
Prior to following this guide, familiarize yourself with the prerequisites on the Connection's Getting Started page.
The following PAM records are needed in order to successfully setup this protocol:
PAM Configuration
The PAM Configuration contains information of your target infrastructure
PAM Machine Record
The PAM Machine record contains information of the endpoint you want to establish an VNC protocol connection to.
PAM User Record
The PAM User record contains the VNC credentials that will be used to connect to the machine
This guide will use a Azure VM. For more details on how this is setup on the PAM Machine Record, visit the following page:
Example: Azure Windows VMPAM Settings - Configuring VNC Protocol
Accessing Connection Settings
After creating a PAM Record Type (PAM Machine, PAM Database, or PAM Directory) with your target endpoint, navigate to the Connection Section on the PAM Settings screen by:
Editing the PAM Record
Clicking on "Set Up" in the PAM Settings section
Navigate to the "Connection" section in the prompted window
Configuring Connection Settings
Prior to configuring the VNC protocol settings on the PAM Settings screen, the following fields are all required and need to be configured:
PAM Configuration
This is the PAM Configuration that contains the details of your target infrastructure and provides access to the target configured on the PAM Record.
Administrative Credential Record
This is the linked PAM User that will be used to authenticate to the target and perform administrative operations on it.
The following table lists all the configurable settings for the VNC protocol on the PAM Settings:
Protocol
Required
The protocol to be configured on the record. The protocol settings will be populated based on the selected protocol. In this guide, the VNC protocol should be selected
Enable Connection
Required
To enable connection for this record, this toggle needs to be enabled
Graphical Session Recording
When enabled, graphical session recordings will be enabled for this record
Include Key Events
When enabled, the individual keystroke data will be included in the session playback. Note: This will include any secrets potentially typed by the user.
Connection Port
The port used to establish the selected protocol connection. By Default, this will be the port value defined on the PAM Machine record. The port specified here will override the default port. For VNC the port is 5900
Launch Credentials
When configured, these credentials will be used to authenticate the connection. More details here
Allow users to select credentials from their vault
When enabled, allow users to use their own personal/private credentials to authenticate the connection. More details here
Rotate launch credentials upon session termination
When enabled, the configured launch credentials will be automatically rotated when the session is closed
Destination Host
Required if using a VNC Repeater such as UltraVNC Repeater
The destination host to request when connecting to a VNC proxy such as UltraVNC Repeater
Destination Port
Required if using a VNC Repeater such as UltraVNC Repeater
The destination port to request when connecting to a VNC proxy such as UltraVNC Repeater
Can copy to clipboard
If enabled, text copied within the connected protocol session will be accessible by the user
Can paste from clipboard
If enabled, user can paste text from clipboard within the connected protocol session
Read-only
Whether this connection should be read-only. If set to "true", no input will be accepted on the connection at all. Users will only see the desktop and whatever other users using that same desktop are doing.
Swap red/blue components
If the colors of your display appear wrong (blues appear orange or red, etc.), it may be that your VNC server is sending image data incorrectly, and the red and blue components of each color are swapped. If this is the case, set this parameter to "true" to work around the problem.
Force lossless compression
Whether this connection should use lossless compression only. If set to "true", all graphical updates will use lossless compression algorithms. By default, lossy compression will automatically be used when Keeper detects that doing so would likely outperform lossless compression.
Encoding
The encoding to assume for the VNC clipboard. By default, the standard encoding ISO 8859-1 will be used. Only use this parameter if you are sure your VNC server expects a different, non-standard encoding.
Possible values are:
"
ISO8859-1" - The clipboard encoding mandated by the VNC standard."
UTF-8""
UTF-16""
CP1252" - Code page 1252, a Windows-specific encoding for Latin characters which is mostly a superset of ISO 8859-1.
Cursor
If set to "remote", the mouse pointer will be rendered remotely, and the local position of the mouse pointer will be indicated by a small dot. A remote mouse cursor will feel slower than a local cursor, but may be necessary if the VNC server does not support sending the cursor image to the client.
Color depth
The color depth to request, in bits per pixel. Legal values are 8, 16, 24, or 32. Note that, regardless of what value is chosen here, Keeper will always attempt to optimize image transmission, automatically using fewer bits per pixel if doing so will not visibly alter image quality.
Enable audio
If set to "true", audio support will be enabled, and a second connection for PulseAudio will be made in addition to the VNC connection. By default, audio support within VNC is disabled.
Destination host
The destination host to request when connecting to a VNC proxy such as UltraVNC Repeater. This is only necessary if the VNC proxy in use requires the connecting user to specify which VNC server to connect to. If the VNC proxy automatically connects to a specific server, this parameter is not necessary.
Destination port
The destination port to request when connecting to a VNC proxy such as UltraVNC Repeater. This is only necessary if the VNC proxy in use requires the connecting user to specify which VNC server to connect to. If the VNC proxy automatically connects to a specific server, this parameter is not necessary.
Connection Authentication Methods
Keeper Connections can be authenticated using one of the following methods:
Launch Credential The session to the target is authenticated using the "Launch Credentials" configured directly on the PAM Machine, PAM Database, or PAM Directory record types. The user does not need access to the credentials in order to launch the connection.
Personal/Private Credential When "Allow users to select credentials from the vault" is enabled, users can choose to authenticate the session to the target using a personal/private credential stored securely in their own Keeper Vault.
Ephemeral Accounts When the ephemeral account feature is enabled on the PAM Machine or PAM database resources, a system-generated, time-limited privileged account is created specifically for the session. This account is deleted automatically after the session ends, eliminating standing privilege. This method is used for Just-In-Time access with no persistent account on the target system.
Session Recordings - VNC Protocol
For this protocol, graphical data, including timing information, is recorded. For more details on the recordings and how to access them, see the Session Recording & Playback docs.
Connection Templates
The PAM record type with your target system can also be configured as a Connection template. These templates serve as reusable record types for launching sessions to target systems without needing to predefine a specific hostname or credential. For more information, visit the following:
Connection TemplatesLast updated
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