Introduction
There are a number of different computing facilities available at the University of York. Ask yourselves if you have found the following when conducting your research on your local machine?
Your workload is taking a long time to run on either your local machine or the Linux managed Service. (>6hrs)
It uses all your machines resources (CPU/Memory)
You need access to lots of memory
You need access to GPUs
You are either using or producing a lot of data
- You think you could cut your job into smaller chunks and process them at the same time
- You know you want to analyse larger datasets in the future.
We have a few different machines to use when have found you are in the above position. For this tutorial we will focus on the Linux machines such as research/teaching servers and Viking. Here will will give you a very brief introduction on how to access these machines.
The research and teaching servers
These servers are also known as the Linux Managed Service or LMS for short. Detailed information on the server specifications can be found here. These machines are Desktops, similar to what you may have at home or in your office but with a large number of CPUs and memory. This means that work that your local machine is struggling with may easily be run on one of these machines. Some caveats
- They are a shared machine which means a number of users may be logged on at the same time
- They get rebooted on the first Tuesday of every month
- They run Linux so you may have to learn a little bit of Linux command line to get started.
- If you are a undergraduate you will only have access to the teaching servers.
Exercise 1 - Logging into the research or teaching servers.
There are different ways to login to the LMS depending on what operating system you are running. We will break down the different options here.
Before You Login
If you have not changed your IT Services password since August 2013 then you must do so before you will be able to login. All user password changes are manage via the My IT Account web page. Click on the Password Management (IDM) link in the Manage Your Password field to change your password. You may be given the option to 'synchronise' your password, please use this if you do not want to change your password. The password change (or synchronisation) may take a few minutes before it is visible to the servers.
Accessing research and teaching servers from off-campus
To access the research servers from Off-Campus you can either use the Virtual Private Network - VPN or the SSH gateway service (registration required).
Access from a Windows desktop
Command-line access using PuTTY
PuTTY is available on all IT Services Managed Windows systems: it is pre-installed on Classroom PCs, on Office PCs you can install it from Run Advertised Programs / Software Center. It appears under "Internet Tools" on the start menu.
On unmanaged PCs you can download the installer from the PuTTY Website
When you run PuTTY for the first time, enter the following settings (teaching0 uses the same settings):
- Add the name "research0.york.ac.uk" to the 'Host Name' field
- Check the 'Connection Type' to SSH
- Type the name "research0" in 'Saved Sessions'
- Click 'Save'
- Expand the 'SSH' tab from the 'Category' list
- Choose 'X11' from 'SSH' list
- Check 'Enable X11 Forwarding'
- Choose 'Session' from 'Category' list
- Click 'Save'
Connecting to Research0
- Start PuTTY
- Select 'research0' from the 'Saved Sessions'
- Click 'Open'
- The first time you connect you will get a security alert showing the fingerprint of the server, labeled as 'ssh-rsa' or 'ssh-ed25519'. Check the fingerprint below for the label shown and click "Yes" to proceed if it matches.
ssh-rsa 2048 5c:43:e5:e6:57:e0:4d:9f:f8:b5:ca:52:2f:30:39:ef research0
ssh-rsa 2048 bb:1f:6e:58:fa:d7:23:0d:ae:b2:b2:e8:62:a0:e7:5c research1
ssh-rsa 2048 13:42:77:57:ad:33:67:12:a4:8f:d3:26:24:37:2c:e0 research2
ssh-rsa 2048 99:da:16:61:09:e0:19:1f:53:0e:2b:e9:2a:22:50:99 research3
ssh-rsa 2048 ac:7e:1e:2a:05:d8:a1:3b:cf:b5:77:48:d0:bb:8a:22 teaching0
ssh-rsa 2048 bb:de:33:ff:07:23:6b:0a:73:ad:1f:8a:57:b2:c7:77 teaching1
ssh-ed25519 5a:c9:c1:76:16:00:42:45:f9:e5:bd:63:5d:87:db:8a research0
ssh-ed25519 f4:51:59:b7:b5:74:1c:14:a7:2c:78:1c:11:1f:72:cc research1
ssh-ed25519 76:93:b3:2d:e0:73:cb:25:a5:9e:c7:bd:ce:76:8f:a2 research2
ssh-ed25519 64:b2:f0:11:93:fc:d7:ea:12:bb:90:bc:7d:06:75:cc research3
ssh-ed25519 f4:ff:10:59:1e:5f:21:10:14:59:6e:04:16:63:7d:95 teaching0
ssh-ed25519 bc:73:f8:4f:40:7a:6b:41:73:90:f6:77:2b:4f:aa:d5 teaching1
Graphical login using x2go
x2go client is available on all IT Services Managed Windows systems : it is pre-installed on Classroom PCs, users on Office PCs can install it from Run Advertised Programs / Software Center. It appears under "Internet Tools" on the start menu - and there are pre-defined menu entries for research0 and teaching0
On unmanaged PCs you can download the installer from the x2go Website You will need to configure the settings as follows (teaching0 uses the same settings):
- If the "New session" panel does not appear, select the menu item "Session | New session..."
- Enter "research0" in the 'Session name' field at the top
- Enter "research0.york.ac.uk" to the 'Server: Host Name' field
- Change the 'Session Type' to XFCE
- All other settings can stay on default.
If you wish to change any settings:
- Cancel any login dialogs
- Click the pull-down on the corner of the panel and select "Session preferences..."
Access from a Mac
Go to 'Finder | Applications | Utilities' and run the Terminal application. Then type the following:
$ ssh research0.york.ac.uk
For a graphical login, install and configure the x2go client software as described in the unmanaged Windows section above.
Teaching0 can be accessed in the same manner.
Access from a UNIX server or desktop
To login from a terminal window, type the following from your local device with your university username (abc123):
$ssh username@research0.york.ac.uk
If you require X forwarding, type:
$ ssh -X username@research0.york.ac.uk
You will be prompted for your IT Services password.
Accessing teaching0 is done in the same manner.