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Accessing the login node (ssh)

On this Page

  • How to Access the login node for 'lightweight' tasks
  • How to SSH through a terminal
  • How to SSH with OnDemand

Use of the login node should be limited to 'lightweight' tasks such as file browsing/copying/moving or submitting jobs into the SLURM scheduler.

You can access the Research Cluster login node remotely through the two below mechanisms.

SSH through a terminal

To SSH to the login node from your local computer, first open a terminal/commandline and then use the ssh command with username being your Otago username and the address for the remote computer being aoraki-login.otago.ac.nz which will look like this: ssh lasfi12p@aoraki-login.otago.ac.nz

Terminal

ssh <otago-username>@aoraki-login.otago.ac.nz
<otago-username>@aoraki-login.otago.ac.nz's password:
ssh <otago-username>@aoraki-login-stu.uod.otago.ac.nz
<otago-username>@aoraki-login-stu.uod.otago.ac.nz's password:

Info

If you are using Student Wi-Fi or VPN, you will need to use the alternate address aoraki-login-stu: ssh <otago-username>@aoraki-login-stu.uod.otago.ac.nz

First time connecting

The first time you ssh from a computer you will likely see output extremely similar to:

Terminal

The authenticity of host 'aoraki-login.otago.ac.nz (X.X.X.X)' can't be established.
ED25519 key fingerprint is SHA256:WXAGQmlR5C7rvCOiSSL8PtiuxytA368rjozXXO0NckE.
This key is not known by any other names.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no/[fingerprint])?

Warning

Double check the fingerprint matches one of the following:

(RSA) SHA256:pzUx1abRS35sbM9n/3OqMpGiF9zegvlG4jQrr78cGFg
(ECDSA) SHA256:g/BKtsqcMchX7l7YRqDJ98azAumTxzQT0hCCCgVIKxc
(ED25519) SHA256:WXAGQmlR5C7rvCOiSSL8PtiuxytA368rjozXXO0NckE

Type 'yes' and Enter, where you will then be prompted for your password (or need to re-ssh) depending on your ssh client.

Password not showing

When typing in your password when prompted there will be nothing outputed on the screen. Once you have typed your password press Enter to submit and continue. If you mistyped your password you will be prompted to re-enter it.

SSH within OnDemand

To use the cluster shell access within OnDemand, first connect to the Otago OnDemand web portal and then from the top menu bar select the menu Clusters > Aoraki Cluster Shell Access.

You will then be prompted to input your password, similar to SSH through the terminal

Open OnDemand Shell
Figure 1: Open OnDemand Shell