SSH Connection using a terminal

SSH (Secure Shell) is a network protocol that allows for secure access to a computer over an unsecured network. This is the protocol for connecting to the CRC login nodes.

Clients running Windows can use MobaXterm or PuTTY to access a terminal emulator. Clients running MacOS can use the built-in Terminal app (in Applications/Utilities) or iTerm2.

To render graphics from the remote session, you will also need an X server on your client. MobaXterm comes bundled with an X server. For MacOS, you will need to install XQuartz.

Here are the connection details:

• connection protocol: ssh
• remote hostname: h2p.crc.pitt.edu or htc.crc.pitt.edu
• authentication credentials: Pitt username (all lowercase) and password

The syntax to connect to the CRC login node from your terminal commandline is

ssh -X username@h2p.crc.pitt.edu

where username is your Pitt username in lowercase and the answer to the prompt is the corresponding password. The -X option enables X forwarding for applications that generate a GUI such as xclock. If you encounter success, this is what your MobaXterm will look like

If you encounter success, this is what your MacOS client session will look like

Definitions

• terminal emulator -- a software program that provides a text-based interface to the system, allowing users to type commands into a shell prompt to run programs and to manage files without a graphical user interface (GUI)
• Linux shell -- a text-based user-interface that interprets user commands and scripts. CRC supports bash and csh, with bash being the default
• Linux commandline -- this is the shell prompt line where your cursor is highlighted and where you input commands to the remote host