Page Contents
Hint
If you do not know what ssh is we recommend that you read up on it . However, the simple material presented here will help you getting started quickly on FutureSystem. Some screencasts about this topic are available in section s-screencast-accounts.
To access the various FutureSystem resources, you need to provide a public ssh key to FutureSystem. We explain how to generate a ssh key, upload it to the FutureSystem portal and log onto the resources. This manual covers UNIX, Mac OS X, and Windows Users.
Hint
For Linux users, please skip to the section s-ssh-generate
Hint
For Mac users, please skip to the section s-ssh-osx
Windows users need to have some special software to be able to use the SSH commands. If you have one that you are comfortable with and know how to setup key pairs and access the contents of your public key, please feel free to use it. The most popular software making ssh clients available to Windows users include
- putty
- cygwin
- or installing a virtualiztion software and running Linux virtual machine on your Windows OS.
Putty is a single file to run. It does not require installation. You simply download a file and run it to open a SSH session. Cygwin provides Linux-like environment for Windows and both Putty or Cygwin will ease your experience with FutureSystems.
If you have cygwin already installed, please use it, but make sure you have ssh installed. If not, we have made it even easier for you as we prepared a special Cygwin version that is ready to use. Once you have installed it, you can follow the same instructions as given in the rest of the sections presented to access FutureSystems from SSH. You can install cygwin with the following steps.
| Step | Description | Supporting Screenshot |
|---|---|---|
| Step 1 | Download Cygwin from our Portal sites/default/files/cygwin.zip. |
|
| Step 2 | Uncompress the file. |  |
| Step 3 | Execute the file the 'Windows Batch File' called Cygwin.bat | |
| Step 4 | You may get a warning. Click on the Run button |  |
| Step 5 | You get a Linux-like terminal that will allow you to continue with this manual. Hint: When showing examples of commands, the $ symbol precedes the actual command. So, the other lines are the output obtained after executing the command. |  |
Mac OS X comes with an ssh client. In order to use it you need to open the Terminal.app application. Go to Finder, then click Go in the menu bar at the top of the screen. Now click Utilities and then open the Terminal application.
Hint
In case you do not want to type in your password everytime, please learn about ssh-agent and ssh-add.
First we must generate a ssh key with the tool ssh-keygen. This program is commonly available on most UNIX systems. It will ask you for the location and name of the new key. It will also ask you for a passphrase, which you MUST provide. Also, please use a strong passphrase to protect it appropriately.
If you already have a ssh key in your machine, you can reuse it and skip this section.
To generate the key, please type:
Example:
ssh-keygen -t rsa -C localname@indiana.eduThis command requires a user input like:
Enter file in which to save the key (/home/localname/.ssh/id_rsa): We recommend using the default location ~/.ssh/ and the default name id_rsa. To do so, just press the enter key.
Hint
Please note that your localname is the username on your computer and may be different from your portalusername.
The second and third questions are to protect your ssh key with a passphrase. This passphrase will protect your key because you need to type it when your key is used. You can skip these if you want not to have passphrase. To avoid security problems, however, you MUST choose a passphrase. Make sure not to just type return for an empty passphrase:
Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase):and:
Enter same passphrase again:If you executed correctly, some output messages will be displayed similar to:
Generating public/private rsa key pair.
Enter file in which to save the key (/home/localname/.ssh/id_rsa):
Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase):
Enter same passphrase again:
Your identification has been saved in /home/localname/.ssh/id_rsa.
Your public key has been saved in /home/localname/.ssh/id_rsa.pub.
The key fingerprint is:
34:87:67:ea:c2:49:ee:c2:81:d2:10:84:b1:3e:05:59 localname@indiana.edu
The key's random art image is::
+--[ RSA 2048]----+
|.+...Eo= . |
| ..=.o + o +o |
|O. o o +.o |
| = . . . |
+-----------------+Once, you have generated a new key, you should have them in the .ssh directory. You can check it by :
$ ls -al $HOME/.ssh/To confirm a public key with a default name id_rsa.pub, run:
$ cat $HOME/.ssh/id_rsa.pubIf everything is normal, you will see something like:
ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAADAQABAAABAQCXJH2iG2FMHqC6T/U7uB8kt6KlRh4kUOjgw9sc4Uu+Uwe/EwD0wk6CBQMB+HKb9upvCRW/851UyRUagtlhgythkoamyi0VvhTVZhj61pTdhyl1t8hlkoL19JVnVBPP5kIN3wVyNAJjYBrAUNW4dXKXtmfkXp98T3OW4mxAtTH434MaT+QcPTcxims/hwsUeDAVKZY7UgZhEbiExxkejtnRBHTipi0W03W05TOUGRW7EuKf/4ftNVPilCO4DpfY44NFG1xPwHeimUk+t9h48pBQj16FrUCp0rS02Pj+4/9dNeS1kmNJu5ZYS8HVRhvuoTXuAY/UVcynEPUegkp+qYnR user@myemail.eduIn case you need to change your change passphrase, you can simply run “ssh-keygen -p” command. Then specify the location of your current key, and input (old and) new passphrases. There is no need to re-generate a key:
ssh-keygen -pYou will see the following output once you have completed :
Enter file in which the key is (/home/localname/.ssh/id_rsa):
Enter old passphrase:
Key has comment '/home/localname/.ssh/id_rsa'
Enter new passphrase (empty for no passphrase):
Enter same passphrase again:
Your identification has been saved with the new passphrase. Next you need to upload the key to the portal. You must sign in the portal to do so.
| Step | Description | Supporting Screenshot |
|---|---|---|
| Step 1 | Log into the portal |  |
| Step 2 | Click in the "ssh key" button. or go directly to https://portal.futuresystems.org/my/ssh-keys |  |
| Step 3 | Click in the "add a public key" link. |  |
| Step 4 | Paste your ssh key into the box marked Key. Use a text editor to open the “id_rsa.pub”. Copy the entire contents of this file into the ssh key field as part of your profile information. Many errors are introduced by users in this step as they do not paste and copy correctly. |  |
| Step 5 | Click the submit button. IMPORTANT: Leave the Title field blank. Make sure that when you paste your key, it does not contain newlines or carriage returns that may have been introduced by incorrect pasting and copying. If so, please remove them. |
At this point you have uploaded your key. However you may wait till the key is activated. You will receive notification emails once there are progress. You can also check the status at the portal and see if the boxes in your account status information are all greens. Contact course team or issue a ticket at FutureSystems if you think there is an error.
If you are a first time user on FutureSystems, you may wait one-two business days until your account is activated. Otherwise, using your new key is almost instantaneous on india.futuresystems.org. For other clusters e.g. juliet it can take upto 30 minutes to apply your new ssh keys.
To log into india simply type the usual ssh command such as:
$ ssh portalname@india.futuresystems.orgThe first time you ssh into a machine you will see a message like this:
The authenticity of host 'india.futuresystems.org (192.165.148.5)' can't be established.
RSA key fingerprint is 11:96:de:b7:21:eb:64:92:ab:de:e0:79:f3:fb:86:dd.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)?You have to type yes to confirm host key verification. Then you will be logging into india. Other FutureSystem machines can be reached in a same fashion. Just replace the name india, with the appropriate FutureSystems resource name e.g. juliet.