IBM p655 High Performance Computer (pcluster)

Connecting to the IBM pcluster

Connecting to the IBM pcluster
Logging In
Logging Out

Connecting to the IBM pcluster

Access to the IBM pcluster is through secure shell (ssh) to pcluster.rcc.uga.edu (note that connection via telnet is not safe and it is therefore disabled). If you have a local system that runs an X Window client or server, you can run X applications remotely.

To connect via ssh, you must have an ssh software and a connection to the UGA campus network. An ssh software is included in recent releases of Unix based operating systems (including Linux and Mac OS X). An SSH Secure Shell Utility is available for Windows on the UGA Sitesoft page (you will need to enter your UGA myID and password to download the software).

Open a connection to host:

pcluster.rcc.uga.edu

Examples of usage on Unix/Linux/MacOSX:

To open a connection to pcluster.rcc.uga.edu, first open a terminal and at the command prompt type

ssh username@pcluster.rcc.uga.edu

or

ssh -X username@pcluster.rcc.uga.edu

where username is your username on pcluster. The -X option might be necessary to allow X windows applications running on pcluster to be forwarded to your local machine. If your username on your local system and on the pcluster are the same, you can simply type

ssh pcluster.rcc.uga.edu

To run X Window applications remotely on your local machine:

If you have a local machine that runs an X Window client or server, you can forward X Window applications running on pcluster to your local machine. Recent releases of Unix based operating systems (including Linux and Mac OS X) come with an X Window client. For Windows OS, a free X Window server is Xming. More information on how to install Xming is available on the RCC FAQ page.

Your ssh may be configured to allow you to run X Window application on your local machine automatically. If it does not, try including the -X flag when connecting to the pcluster (ssh -X username@pcluster.rcc.uga.edu). Depending on your system, you may have to first connect to pcluster.rcc.uga.edu via ssh as described above and tell the remote X server where to send the X applications:

csh/tcsh: setenv DISPLAY yourhostname.dept.uga.edu:0

sh/ksh: DISPLAY=yourhostname.dept.uga.edu:0 ; export DISPLAY

You must then tell your local computer to allow connections from pcluster.rcc.uga.edu. This will vary according to the software that you are running, but on unix, you would type (on your system):

xhost + pcluster.rcc.uga.edu

Now you can issue commands to start up X applications on pcluster.rcc.uga.edu, such as xterm.

Logging in

When your ssh connection is established, you will be prompted for your password. The first time you login to pcluster you will be prompted to change your initial password. Afterwards your password can be changed with the passwd command.

Logging Out

To leave the system, be sure that all your open files are closed and all stopped jobs have been terminated then enter:

exit