[arch-general] startx on arch vm running on ESXI (when accessed via ssh - do I need a DM?)

[David C. Rankin]

All,

  When I ended up with a hand-me-down supermicro server from a local ISP, I
decided to try virtualizing all my hosts. The company I got this from
recommended vmware ESXI as the hypervisor. It was a pleasant surprise to find
that ESXI is a basic Linux system. (albeit a very limited and quirky setup).

  I've installed Arch as the first vm, assigning 8-cores and 16G of RAM. It is
up and running fine. (it is installed on a raid1 array volume from a LSI
controller which exists as a single datastore in esxi -- if that makes any
difference)

  I am trying to setup fluxbox on arch so I can access the vm via rdesktop (or
something similar) via a GUI on a as needed basis. I would rather not have a
display manager running all the time, so I'm attempting to use the startx route.

  I've used the following to try and get this going:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Fluxbox
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xinitrc
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/xorg
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Display_manager

  The configuration is good, but I'm stuck attempting to start X. X is refusing
to start due to the fact I'm accessing Arch by ssh. When I try to start x, I
receive the following error telling me that "Only console users are allowed":

$ startx

/usr/lib/xorg-server/Xorg.wrap: Only console users are allowed to run the X server

xinit: giving up
xinit: unable to connect to X server: Connection refused
xinit: server error
Couldn't get a file descriptor referring to the console

  I understand that it wants X only to be started from the actual physical
console, but when I access the vm over ssh, I don't have one. (I am starting the
vm, ssh'ed into esxi with 'vim-cmd vmsvc/power.on 1', so there is no console
anywhere else)

  What would be the best solution? Have arch boot to the graphical target
loading a display manager? ... or is there some way I can simply startx as
needed so I don't leave the dm running all the time on the vm? Thanks for any
help you can provide.

-- 
David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E.