SSH Access

Note: Access to our systems is likely to change in coming months, as we are extending and re-structuring our resources. Please revisit this page occasionally to stay abreast with any changes.

The standard way to access our resources is through ssh.

For security reasons, we are currently operating only one login node that is accessible from the outside through ssh. The IP address for this (Solaris) login node is 130.15.59.64, the node name is sfnode0.hpcvl.queensu.ca:

$ ssh -X hpcXXXX@sfnode0.hpcvl.queensu.ca

|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| This system is for the use of authorized users only.            |
| Individuals using this computer system without authority, or in |
| excess of their authority, are subject to having all of their   |
| activities on this system monitored and recorded by system      |
| personnel.                                                      |
|                                                                 |
| In the course of monitoring individuals improperly using this   |
| system, or in the course of system maintenance, the activities  |
| of authorized users may also be monitored.                      |
|                                                                 |
| Anyone using this system expressly consents to such monitoring  |
| and is advised that if such monitoring reveals possible         |
| evidence of criminal activity, system personnel may provide the |
| evidence of such monitoring to law enforcement officials.       |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|

hpcXXXX@sfnode0.hpcvl.queensu.ca's password: **********

Last login: Thu Jul  7 13:05:21 2016 from 130.15.59.215
       This is sflogin0, a dedicated login host on the HPCVL grid
         SunFire E2900, 24 x 1.8 GHz UltraSPARC-IV+, 192 GB RAM
   ------------------------------------------------------------------

    * Please contact HPCVL User Support with questions about usage

        http://www.hpcvl.org/contact-us

        Email help@hpcvl.org

    * For system status updates, see

        https://www.hpcvl.org/protectedpages/users-section

    * Available packages can be listed with "use -l"


hpcXXXX@sflogin0$

The first time you connect to a new system using SSH, your client will ask you something along the lines of: "do you want to connect to a system with host key fingerprint xxxxxxxx?". Pick/type "yes" to continue connecting.

Make sure X-forwarding is enabled, either by using the -X option in the ssh command, or including it in the default settings of the ssh client. This is necessary if you want to use any software with a graphics component. You will need your username and your system access password to get in (here, we use hpcXXXX).

Other nodes, particularly the Linux login/workup node swlogin1 need to be accessed from sflogin0 through ssh. This requires typing your password again:

hpcXXXX@sflogin0$ ssh swlogin1
hpcXXXX@swlogin1's password:
hpcXXXX@swlogin1$

Linux and Mac systems have an ssh client installed by default and don't require a special setup for this to work. On Windows systems, we suggest using MobaXterm, which is free for individual usage and has many useful features (such as an Xserver client, file transfer tool, and even a local "bash shell") built in.

Note for Mac Users

If you are using a Mac to login to our systems through ssh you may have to install XQuartz X11 Support on your computer. This is necessary to enable the display of graphics that was generated on a Unix server. Unfortunately, newer versions of OSX don't come with native X11-Windows support.