Can I use NM applets in VNC session?

[Paul Smith <paul mad-scientist net>]

I have a system which is usually headless, where I use VNC to get into
it.  This system is running RHEL 6.2 (NetworkManager 0.8.1), and I
configure VNC by creating a new virtual session using
/etc/sysconfig/vncservers (not by exporting my "normal" desktop
session... since I'm not logged into that system I don't have one).

Everything seems to be working OK, EXCEPT that my NetworkManager applet
does not appear in the panel on my virtual desktop.  This is not good,
because one of the things I need to do on this system is connect to a
VPN (using openconnect) which is accessed through the NetworkManager
applet on my desktop.

I haven't found any good way to get the VPN to connect via the CLI;
following instructions found via the web regarding invoking openconnect
directly doesn't work for me; I get authenticated but then it kicks me
out.  However if I connect a monitor to my system and log in normally so
I see the NM applet and start the VPN that way, it works like a charm.

There are lots of ways to go forward, such as working out how to invoke
the VPN from the CLI, but ideally I'd like to be able to access the NM
applet inside my VNC session.  When I start my session the VNC log shows
these errors:

** (nm-applet:19968): WARNING **: <WARN>  request_name(): Could not
acquire the NetworkManagerUserSettings service.
  Error: (9) Connection ":1.1681" is not allowed to own the service
"org.freedesktop.NetworkManagerUserSettings" due to security policies in
the configuration file

Searching for this on the web I came across various bugs, all of which
were closed as won't fix saying, basically, that ConsoleKit doesn't work
with VNC, *shrug* sorry about that.


Can anyone provide any thoughts on this?

Cheers!