A systems administrator needs to connect to a remote Linux machine to run system updates from within a graphical interface. Which of the following should the administrator use?

MATE is a desktop environment that runs locally on a Linux machine to provide a graphical workspace - it has no built-in remote access or network connectivity capability.

Wayland is a display server protocol for rendering local graphical sessions on a machine - it manages how applications draw to a local screen and does not provide any remote desktop functionality.

VNC (Virtual Network Computing) is a remote desktop sharing protocol that transmits a live graphical display of the remote Linux machine and relays keyboard and mouse input back to the administrator, allowing any graphical application - including update managers or package tools - to be run interactively. Unlike the other options, VNC is specifically designed for remote graphical sessions and operates independently of the local display stack on either machine.

Unity is a desktop environment (used in older Ubuntu releases) that manages local graphical sessions - it is not a remote access protocol or tool.