Connecting to HPC via Linux
- On-campus (main or VIMS) via Linux
- On-campus (main or VIMS) via Linux w/ X11 forwarding
- Off-campus through the IT bastion host via Linux
- Off-campus through the IT bastion host via Linux w/ X11 forwarding
Connecting directly to HPC clusters from on-campus (main or VIMS) via Linux:
Using ssh to connect to an HPC cluster front-end (such as bora.sciclone.wm.edu or james.hpc.vims.edu) consists of one command of the form:
ssh <username>@<hostname>
that you enter in a Linux terminal. Note that <username> can be omitted if it matches your local computer username. It will be explicitly included in all examples. For almost all HPC users, your <username> is your W&M username. Here is an example with <username> = ejwalt making an ssh connection to the HPC front-end with <hostname> = bora.sciclone.wm.edu :
This is now a command-line session on bora.sciclone.wm.edu.
Connecting directly to HPC clusters from on-campus (main or VIMS) via Linux with X11 forwarding:
From a Linux computer with X11 libraries installed, you can forward X11 from the remote host to your local computer by adding -Y to to the command-line:
ssh -Y <username>@<hostname>
Here is an example with the -Y passed along, note that the session is able to launch the program xterm from bora which opens a new terminal on my local computer (the white window):
This now an X11 capable command-line session on bora.sciclone.wm.edu.
Connecting directly to HPC clusters from off-campus via Linux through the IT bastion host:
To ssh through the IT bastion host to a HPC cluster front-end server (e.g. bora.sciclone.wm.edu), you must simply add -J <username>@bastion.wm.edu to the previous ssh command:
If you do not have an ssh key added to the bastion host (see https://code.wm.edu/IT/bastion-host-instructions for more information), you will need to authenticate via DUO after entering your W&M password. Once this is complete, you will then need to enter your W&M password again to log into bora.sciclone.wm.edu. In this case, the command is:
ssh -J <WM username>@bastion.wm.edu <username>@<hostname>
This is now a command-line on bora.sciclone.wm.edu that connected through the bastion host.
Connecting directly to HPC clusters from off-campus via Linux through the IT bastion host with X11 forwarding:
As above, X11 graphics can be forwarded by passing the -Y flag (i.e.):
ssh -Y -J <WM username>@bastion.wm.edu <username>@<hostname>
Here is an example with the -Y passed along, note that the session is able to launch the program xterm from bora which opens a new terminal on my local computer (the white window):
The is now an X11 capable command-line session on bora.sciclone.wm.edu connecting through the bastion host.
