Remote Access to the CS Linux Machines

This page describes how to access the CS department's Linux machines remotely, i.e., how to use them if you are not sitting in front of them. For more about various options, or if anything described here doesn't work, see the section Questions below.


Contents

What machines are available

The department maintains a number of computers that are accessible to anyone with an account on our system(s). Such machines include:


Logging in


From another UNIX/Linux system

To connect:

The man page for ssh has complete information. Normally ssh will prompt you for a password; you can find instructions for setting up access using keys instead in my notes on passwordless login.

Once you've logged in, you can execute any text-based program (ls, vi, etc.). Depending on how your local machine is set up, you may also be able to run programs that need a graphical environment (firefox, gvim, etc.). If you have trouble, first try re-executing the ssh command with the -Y option and then ask for help if it doesn't work. Also note that running graphical-environment programs over a network is apt to be slow.


From Windows

What you need is a “terminal emulator” that can connect via SSH to a remote machine. You have some options:


From Mac OS X

For Mac OS X, starting the Terminal application gives you something very like a Linux terminal window, from which you can connect using the command in section (Logging in) From another UNIX/Linux system. Running programs that need a graphical environment may or may not work; you may need to install additional packages.


Transferring files


From another UNIX/Linux system (command line)

Options here include:


From Windows (command line)

Tools that allow you to log in remotely typically come packaged with something for file transfer:


From Mac OS X (command line)

The commands in section (Transferring files) From another UNIX/Linux system (command line). should work in a Terminal window.


With a GUI program

If you want a program with a GUI, there are many options; the term to search for is probably “SFTP client”. We plan to install FileZilla on the department computers for fall 2019; we chose it because versions are available for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X.


Remote access from off-campus

All of the above assumes that you are trying to log in from a computer inside the Trinity domain. For security reasons, ITS disallows direct access to most machines from outside this domain. There are two mechanisms for getting access from off-campus:


Questions

For more information about anything described in this document, or if something doesn't work, you should probably start by talking to your instructor or research supervisor; if he or she can't help, communicate with the department's ITS liaison and occasional Linux admin Dr. Massingill (bmassing@trinity.edu).



Footnotes

... .1
In UNIX-speak, an X server is a program that runs on a local machine and services graphical programs (the X clients) -- somewhat unusual use of “server” but reasonable in context?)



2019-06-10