How To Connect To A Remote Server

• Connect with NX Client (recommended)
• Connect with SSH
• Connect with X-forwarding

Some things to know first:

• You must first connect to the Engineering network before you are able to connect to these servers.
• You will always login using your Engineering user name and password.
• You may need to use the computer's full name machine_name.engr.colostate.edu instead of just machine_name to connect.
• See what servers and software applications are available.

Connect with NX Client (recommended)

From a Sun Ray or Lab PC

• NoMachine NX Client is installed on the ENS Windows computers, including the Windows Desktop on the Sun Rays.
1. Open NX Client for Windows from the Start Menu. (Tip: Click the Windows button and type 'nx'. When you see the program name, click on it.
2. The NX Connection Wizard will start. Click Next.
3. For Session, type a friendly name such as 'linux8'. This name can be whatever you want.
4. For Host, type the full hostname of the Linux workstation to which you want to connect, e.g., linux1.engr.colostate.edu. (Linux workstations are linux1 - linux8.)
5. Ensure the port is listed as 22.
6. Move the slider to LAN and click Next.
7. Select UNIX and GNOME for the first two settings. Click Next.
8. Uncheck 'Create shortcut on desktop', and check 'Show the Advanced Configuration Dialog'. Click Finish.
9. On the Advanced Configuration dialog, click on the Key button. A window will pop up that will have a default key. Erase the existing key and replace it with the appropriate key, based on the machine you are connecting to. (See below for keys.)
10. Click Save to save the key settings, then click Save again on the dialog to save your settings for that server. Click OK.
11. The Nomachine login screen will open. Enter your Engineering login name and password, then click Login.
12. If a dialog box appears asking about the authenticity of the host, answer Yes.
13. You will see the desktop of the Linux server. Perform your work on the Linux server as necessary, but remember to log out of the Linux server session.

From your personal computer

• Download the appropriate NoMachine NX Client for your computer.
• Follow the instructions to create connection profiles as per the 'Sun Ray or Lab PC' instructions, above.

Server Keys for NX Client

Please click here to receive the server keys for the Linux workstations.

Connect with SSH (command-line only)

From a Sun Ray or another ENS server

• OpenSSH is installed by default on the ENS Linux and Solaris systems, including Sun Rays.
• Open a terminal window and type:
  ssh machine_name
• Log in with your Engineering user name and password.

From Windows

• Download and install PuTTY. NOTE: PuTTY is installed on the Windows computers in the ENS labs.
• Open PuTTY from the Start Menu.
• In the box labled "Host Name (or IP address)", type the host name of the machine you want and click "Open" to connect.
  
  View screenshot
• Log in with your Engineering user name and password.

From Linux

• Download and install OpenSSH, if it is not already installed on your system.
• Open a terminal window and type:
  ssh machine_name.engr.colostate.edu
• Log in with your Engineering user name and password.

From Mac OS X

• OS X comes with SSH preinstalled. See your system manuals for configuration directions.
• Run /Applications/Utilities/Terminal to start xterm. This should bring up an xterm window.
• At the prompt in the xterm, connect to a computer server by typing:
  ssh username@machine_name.engr.colostate.edu
• Log in with your Engineering password.

Connect with X-forwarding

Windows (method 1)

• Download and install Xming
• Download and install PuTTY
• Start PuTTY.
• Under "Connection," expand SSH and click on X11. Check "Enable X11 forwarding."
  
  View Screenshot
• Go to the section Session at the top left and under saved sessions, click on "Default Settings" and click save. This will save the setting for next time.
• Start Xming (this will put a "X" icon in the taskbar), use Putty to ssh into the server that you would like.
• Log in with your Engineering user name and password.
• Once you are connected, check that applications will open on your computer by typing xclock. This should display a small analog clock.
  
  View Screenshot
• Note: You do not need to have Xming running before you start PuTTY. You can start PuTTY and then start Xming.

Windows (method 2)

• Download and Install cygwin. Here are some instructions.
• Double-click on the cygwin icon (this opens up a terminal window, where you have a more Unix-like command-line environment within Windows)
• Type startxwin.bat (this will open up another terminal window with all the X display information already configured by cygwin)
• In this new terminal window, type
  ssh -Y username@machine_name.engr.colostate.edu
• Log in with your Engineering user name and password.
• You can now run the application of your choice.

Linux or Solaris (Sun Ray)

• Option #1
  • Open up a terminal window and type:
    ssh -XC machine_name.engr.colostate.edu
  • Log in with your Engineering user name and password.
• Option #2 (from a Sun Ray only)
  • At the login window click on "Options > Remote Login > Choose Host from list".
• Option #3 (from a Sun Ray or other workstation)
  If already logged into a Sun Ray session, open a terminal window by clicking on the black "Terminal" icon at the bottom of the screen, and at the command prompt type the following commands:
  1. hostname - This shows the host name of the server you are currently logged into. Remember this for step 4.
  2. echo $DISPLAY - This shows your display number for the Sun Ray session you are on. Remember this for step 4.
  3. ssh machine_name - Log in with your Engineering user name and password.
  4. export DISPLAY=hostname:x
     Use the hostname you got from step 1. The "x" at the end should be replaced with the display number you got from step 2 above. For those using csh or tcsh shell, type the following:
     setenv DISPLAY hostname:x
  5. You can now run the application of your choice.

Mac OS X

In order to run programs with X-forwarding on Macintosh OS X, you need SSH (which is installed by default) and X11 for Mac OS X, which is freely available from Apple.

• Download and install X11 for Mac OS X.
• Run /Applications/Utilities/X11 to start X11. This should bring up an xterm window.
• At the prompt in the xterm window, connect to a compute server by typing:
  ssh -X username@machine_name.engr.colostate.edu
  or, if the -X gives you problems
  ssh -Y username@machine_name.engr.colostate.edu
  Note: The -X enables X-forwarding. Sometimes, you might need to use -Y instead, which enables trusted X-forwarding.
• Run the application you wish to use from the command prompt.