HOWTO login

SSH clients

All interaction with the cluster is done securely with SSH.

Your interaction with the cluster will entail two major activities:

• file transfer
• job submission

Linux / MacOS X clients

Use the Terminal or Konsole to SSH to the cluster using the ssh command in the form:

$ ssh username@hpc1.sun.ac.za

To transfer files, use Konqueror (if you are using KDE) and the fish command in the form:

fish://username@hpc1.sun.ac.za

If you are using Gnome, open Gnome Commander and create a new Remote Connection. You can also use the Terminal or Konsole to transfer files using the scp command.

To enable X11 forwarding, use the -X parameter with SSH:

$ ssh -X username@hpc1.sun.ac.za

Windows clients

Files are transferred with the Secure Copy Protocol (SCP). The excellent WinSCP program makes this really easy.

Jobs are submitted from the console (also called command line). PuTTY and TeraTerm Pro are two SSH clients which will allow console access.

PuTTY

Install from http://support.sun.ac.za/Utilities/PuTTY.

Use the following connection details to log in:

• Host Name: hpc1.sun.ac.za
• Port: 22 (the default)
• Connection type: SSH (the default)

You will be prompted for your username and password after you click Open. Please note that your username and password are the same as for your email.

TeraTerm Pro

Install from http://support.sun.ac.za/TeraTerm.

Use the following connection details to log in:

• Host Name: hpc1.sun.ac.za
• Port: 22 (the default)
• Connection type: SSH (the default)

You will be prompted for your username and password after you click OK. Please note that your username and password are the same as for your email.

WinSCP

Install from http://support.sun.ac.za/Utilities/WinScp.

Use the following connection details to log in:

• File protocol: SFTP (the default)
• Host name: hpc1.sun.ac.za
• Port number: 22 (the default)
• Username: Your username (same as for email)
• Password: Your password (same as for email)

Xming

Install from http://sourceforge.net/projects/xming.

Xming allows graphical programs to run on the cluster, but display on your own Windows machine. For it to work correctly, X11 forwarding must be enabled in your SSH client. In TeraTerm Pro enable it in the Setup|SSH Forwarding... menu (remember to Setup|Save setup... and restart TeraTerm Pro). In PuTTY, enable it in the Connection|SSH|X11 menu on the left when connecting to the server.

Once your SSH connection is open, check whether it works by seeing whether the DISPLAY variable is set:

[username@launch ~]$ export | grep DISPLAY
declare -x DISPLAY="localhost:10.0"

Make sure Xming is running in the system tray, and then run a program in your SSH console which has a graphical frontend (like xterm):

[username@launch ~]$ xterm

A graphical xterm console should open on your Windows desktop.

MobaXterm

Install from http://mobaxterm.mobatek.net/. A very nice client that combines SSH client with X11 server.