The AVIDD-B Cluster
Using SSH for More Secure Connections
For secure connections to the AVIDD-B Cluster, users must use SSH version 2 clients. Telnet, rlogin and rsh are not permitted for security reasons.
To connect to the AVIDD-B Cluster from your PC, Mac, or Unix or Linux workstation, you will need to have an SSH version 2 client installed. OpenSSH source code is available locally, or from OpenSSH.
SSH Version 2 precompiled binaries and source code are available for Windows 9x/NT/2000/XP systems.
NOTE: The following information is valid for OpenSSH Version 2 only.
- SSH connections to the AVIDD-B Cluster from your Unix workstation
- SSH connections to the AVIDD-B Cluster from your Windows workstation
- Intranode AVIDD-B SSH connections
- Converting an ssh.com public key
SSH connections to the AVIDD-B Cluster from your Unix workstation
- Open up your terminal application, (xterm, rxvt, etc).
- Type ssh -X username@aviddname where username is
your IU network id and aviddname is avidd-b.iu.edu
and hit enter.
NOTE: The "-X" option for SSH enables automatic X11 forwarding so you may run X windows applications and have them display on your local workstation.
- You will be prompted for your password. After entering your password and hitting return you should be connected to the system.
SSH connections to the AVIDD-B Cluster from your Windows workstation
- After installing the commercial ssh client, double-click on the
SSH Secure Shell Client icon, not the SSH Secure File Transfer Client icon.
- This will bring up the SSH client window. You should then click Quick Connect
on the upper left side of the window.
- A dialog box will then appear and your should enter the host name
of the AVIDD-B Cluster login node that you would like to connect
to, and your university username. After doing so click Connect.
NOTE: Interactive host names for the AVIDD-B Cluster is avidd-b.iu.edu.
- A dialog box will then appear prompting from your password. Enter
your password and click OK.
- You should then be connected to the AVIDD-B Cluster and see the login banner and your shell prompt.
Intranode AVIDD-B SSH connections
A public/private keypair will be generated for you the first time you login to the AVIDD-B Cluster. These keys are stored in your ~/.ssh directory as id_rsa.pub and id_rsa. Additionally, the public key is added to your ~/.ssh/authorized_keys file, enabling public key authentication between AVIDD nodes.
Converting an ssh.com public key
If you use public keys and run ssh.com's SSH clients on your workstation, you will need to convert your ssh.com public key to a format that the OpenSSH server on the AVIDD-B Cluster supports. Here are the steps:
- Using ftp, sftp or scp, transfer your ssh.com public keyfile on your workstation to the .ssh subdirectory under your home directory on the AVIDD-B Cluster. On Unix workstations, your ssh.com public key is located in your ~/.ssh2 directory with a filename ending in .pub.
- Login to any AVIDD-B Cluster node and cd to your .ssh directory.
- Type /usr/bin/ssh-keygen -X -f yourfilename.pub > ssh.com.pubkey
- Type cat ssh.com.pubkey >> authorized_keys2
