X over LAN

["L. K. Pierce" <lkpierce66 sbcglobal net>]

I would like to run a remote GUI session over a LAN and possibly from outside the LAN.  The LAN consists of four boxes (RH 8.0, RH 9, Win2K, and WinXP) and a black box DSL router.  The RH 9 box is my main machine; the RH 8.0 box is my experimental machine and has no monitor. The Windows machines are used by the less enlightened here ;)

My questions:

1.  Is the remote X method I will describe below safe to use on a LAN?

2.  Would it be safe if I used the same method from outside the LAN via the Internet?

My working method:

1.  Open a virtual console:

		Ctrl+Alt+F1

2.  Log in to an account that is present on the local and remote machines.

3.  Issue the command:

	$ xinit -- :1

This will start an X-server on virtual console 8 (i.e., Ctrl+Alt+F8) which is actually controlled by virtual console 1 (i.e., Crtl+Alt+F1).
NOTE:  I don't remember where I found this command, and I don't yet fully understand what it does.

4.  In the virtual terminal window that appears on the X-server in console, use ssh to log in to the remote machine.

5.  Logged in to the remote machine, issue a command that will start a GUI desktop (e.g., gnome-session, blackbox, etc.).