Getting Started
Authorized users (users with a valid cluster account) can access the HPCF Cluster Front-End Node (FEN) using secure shell ssh:
An ssh client must be installed on the user's machine. Unix/Linux/Mac OS X usually come with a pre-installed ssh client. For windows workstations, putty is a popular ssh client. A list of ssh clients is available here.
Authentication
Password authentication is not permitted on the cluster. The only supported authentication method is the use of SSH keys. An ssh private/public keypair must be generated on the user's machine and the public key must be deployed by the admins on the cluster Front-End Node.
ssh Keypair Generation on Unix/Linux systems
ssh keys can be generated using the ssh-keygen command:
user@genomic:~$ ssh-keygen -t dsa Generating public/private dsa key pair. Enter file in which to save the key (/home/user/.ssh/id_dsa): hit enter to accept the default Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase): enter a passphrase Enter same passphrase again: re-enter passphrase Your identification has been saved in /home/user/.ssh/id_dsa. Your public key has been saved in /home/user/.ssh/id_dsa.pub. The key fingerprint is: 17:78:a8:54:c7:ae:39:25:4c:4b:6c:78:21:24:6d:fa user@genomic The key's randomart image is: +--[ DSA 1024]----+ | .ooooo. | | .+o*+. | | o.*ooo | | .. .+.o. | | .. S=. | | E +. | | . | | | | | +-----------------+
The generated public key is located in file ~user/.ssh/id_dsa.pub. This file must be attached in an email to hpc_admins@nyumc.org. The user will be notified when the public key has been deployed on the cluster FEN and will be able to login on FEN for the first time:
[user@genomic# ssh user@fen.nyumc.org The authenticity of host 'fen.nyumc.org (10.134.252.50)' can't be established. RSA key fingerprint is 59:95:fa:10:67:9e:d7:12:58:b7:c4:54:54:a6:6e:69. Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)? yes Warning: Permanently added 'fen.nyumc.org,10.134.252.50' (RSA) to the list of known hosts.
When prompted the user should enter the passphrase that was used during the SSH keypair generation process. If you get prompted for a password instead of a passphrase you should contact the HPC admins for help. There is a number of reasons that the user is being prompted for a password rather than a passphrase and this needs to be looked at by one of the admins.
