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server-accounts.md

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Connecting to a Linux server

First, make sure that you can get an account on the server. Contact your supervisor for the specifics. If you use Windows, you will need to install a Terminal application called Cygwin first.

Windows only: installing Cygwin

  1. Download Cygwin from https://cygwin.com/install.html. Most likely you will need the 64-bit version.
  2. Open the installer.
  3. Choose next on the first screen.
  4. Choose ‘Install from Internet’ when selecting an Installation Type. Click next.
  5. You can leave the installation folder to the default option. Click next.
  6. On the next screen you can install packages in Cygwin. Select the checkbox next to openssh (under ‘Net’) and xinit and xorg-server (under ‘X11’). Click next.
  7. Leave ‘Select required packages’ on and click next again. The installation will start.
  8. After the installation has completed, you can optionally let the installer create icons on the Desktop and Start Menu.

Logging in

From the prompt, type the following command:

ssh -X [email protected]

This will let the user amalia login to the server at the address saruman.bmt.tue.nl using the secure shell. Of course, you will have to replace this with your name and the correct address for the server you want to use. The -X is there to make sure you can view plots and figures on the server later. Now you need to type the password the administrator gave you. There will be no real indication that you are actually typing anything, but that is normal. Once you have typed the full password, press enter.

The first time you log-in the system might ask you to replace the password by a new one. You will need to type the password twice.

You will now see some text that indicates your login was succesful. It will also display which machine you are connected to and which operating system it uses. Depending on the operating system, there may be a more text that you can ignore for now.

Below all that text is a new prompt. By default, it will look something like this:

amalia@saruman:~$

From this prompt you can type commands like whoami or date. Now, these commands will run on the server. The results will be send back to your own PC and show up on the screen like normal. It is virtually indistinguishable from running commands on your own system, except for the difference in prompt. If you are not sure if you are running things on the server or your own PC, you can use the hostname command to figure out what system you are using.

To quit the connection and log out, press Ctrl-D. This will return you to the prompt on your own PC.