Best practices for remote GUI access to ubuntu server

I would like to get an overview of available solutions for having a remote GUI access to ubuntu server:
-do you recommend installing a basic GUI then administrating over VNC?
-is X11 forwarding a good option?
...

I know there are similar questions already but they all focus on 1 aspect of the problem whereas I think it would be good to get an overview.

Thanks

Solution 1:

I'm a fan of FreeNX for this as it performs well even over low bandwidth situations: FreeNX on Ubuntu. That, combined with Blackbox makes a very low overhead GUI solution for managing a server.

Solution 2:

vnc direct is not such a great idea but will work - requires a desktop environment installed on the server (takes up extra resources)

vnc over an ssh tunnel would be a secure way of doing it - same issues as direct vnc though

one way to not have to start up an x-server display locally on your system (and use up lots of vital resources) is to use something like freenx this will give you a remote desktop similar to MS Terminal Server, however if you need something of the shared screen environment that VNC will give you, this wont work