This post briefly shows how to get cvs running on a remote server and access it in two different ways; as a pserver and over ssh. The main references I used are here:

Setting up CVS at CrazySquirrel
Getting Started with CVS by Dave O'Connor at linux.ie
Connecting to a Remote CVS Server via SSH on a non-standard TCP Port by Sean O'Donnell

As superuser, install cvs on the local and remote machines (sudo apt-get install cvs or equivalent). Then, on the remote server:

# mkdir /usr/local/cvsroot/
# cvs -d /usr/local/cvsroot init

Remote access to cvs via pserver

This section assumes you're using xinetd; the setup is slightly different if you're using inetd instead.

Make sure there's a file /etc/xinetd.d/cvs on the remote server with the following contents:

service cvspserver
{
        disable                 = no
        port                    = 2401
        socket_type             = stream
        protocol                = tcp
        wait                    = no
        user                    = root
        passenv                 = PATH
        server                  = /usr/bin/cvs
        env                     = HOME=/usr/local/cvsroot
        server_args             = -f --allow-root=/usr/local/cvsroot pserver
}

If you needed to create or edit that file, restart the xinetd server:

# /etc/init.d/xinetd restart

From the local machine, verify you can log in via pserver. On first login, a new /home/username/.cvspass file will be created on the local machine allowing future password-less logins:

me@local:/home/me$ cvs -d :pserver:user@servername:/usr/local/cvsroot login
Logging in to :pserver:user@servername:2401/usr/local/cvsroot
CVS password:
cvs login: CVS password file /home/dan/.cvspass does not exist - creating a new file
me@local:/home/me$

So you can log in, but at this point you don't have permissions to check things out because the cvsroot directory belongs to root. On the remote server, create a new user and group named cvs, and add your usual login username (below it appears as "user") to the group:

# /usr/sbin/groupadd cvs
# /usr/sbin/useradd -g cvs cvs
# /usr/sbin/usermod -a -G cvs user
# chgrp cvs /usr/local/cvsroot
# chown cvs /usr/local/cvsroot
# chmod 775 /usr/local/cvsroot

From the local machine, try to check out files:

me@local:/home/me/tmp$ cvs -d :pserver:user@servername:/usr/local/cvsroot checkout CVSROOT
cvs checkout: Updating CVSROOT
U CVSROOT/checkoutlist
U CVSROOT/commitinfo
U CVSROOT/config
U CVSROOT/cvswrappers
U CVSROOT/editinfo
U CVSROOT/loginfo
U CVSROOT/modules
U CVSROOT/notify
U CVSROOT/rcsinfo
U CVSROOT/taginfo
U CVSROOT/verifymsg
me@local:/home/me/tmp$

Add the following to /etc/profile on the remote server, in case you ever want to use cvs from a shell over there:

#CVS
CVSROOT=/usr/local/cvsroot
export CVSROOT

And on the local machine:

CVSROOT=:pserver:user@servername:/usr/local/cvsroot
CVSEDITOR=emacs
export CVSROOT CVSEDITOR

For those changes to /etc/profile to be effective, log out and then back in.

Remote access to cvs via ssh

For a more secure method of using cvs, disable the cvs pserver by setting disable = yes in /etc/xinetd.d/cvs and use ssh instead:

Changes to /etc/profile on local machine:

CVS_RSH='/usr/bin/ssh'
CVSROOT=:ext:user@servername:/usr/local/cvsroot
CVSEDITOR=emacs
export CVS_RSH CVSROOT CVSEDITOR

If your remote server uses a non-standard port for SSH (and it should!), add the following to ~/.ssh/config

Host servername
  Port 666

So now you have access to cvs on the remote server. To import an exising project (called a module in cvs), go to its base directory and do this:

me@local:/home/me/tmp$ cvs import modulename companyname START

To check out that project:

me@local:/home/me/tmp$ cvs checkout modulename

There's a brief list of useful commands near the bottom of the Getting Started with CVS by Dave O'Connor at linux.ie.