Connect to the SCC

You can use the secure shell protocol (SSH) to connect to the shared computing cluster and remote file storage. You can also connect via the browser using SCC OnDemand.

GNU/Linux & macOS

Use the terminal. Type:

ssh [email protected]

You can enable X-forwarding with the -X option on Linux-based machines or the -Y option on MacOS

ssh -X [email protected]

Windows

You will need MobaXterm or some other software.

Transfer files to/from the SCC

GNU/Linux

On GNU/Linux machines, you should use the secure file transfer protocol. From the local machine:

# transfer from local to remote
scp /path/to/origin/on/local [email protected]:/path/to/destination
# transfer from remote to local
scp [email protected]:/path/to/origin/on/remote /path/to/destination/on/local

You can also mount the cluster directly to your file system. To mount /projectnb/hasselmogrp at /mnt/hasselmogrp, first create the location and then mount the cluster.

# create the location (only must be done once)
sudo mkdir /mnt/hasselmogrp
# mount the cluster
sudo sshfs [email protected]:/projectnb/hasselmogrp /mnt/hasselmogrp -o allow_other

You will need both your super user password and your BU/Kerberos password. It will stay mounted until you unmount or shut down.

macOS

You can use the scp method as noted above, but can also use Fetch which is provided by BU.

Windows

The easiest method is to use MobaXterm which is provided by BU.

Mounting the SSC on a local computer

On a GNU/Linux or macOS computer, you can mount the cluster to a directory, so that it can be accessed like any other folder from a graphical file explorer.

GNU/Linux

First create the directory. In this example, we will be creating a folder named hasselmonians.

sudo mkdir /mnt/hasselmonians

You will need your administrator (super-user) password.

Second, you will need to edit your ~/.bash_profile file. This file contains instructions that are run each time you open a terminal. Open the file with a text editor. If you are on Debian-based systems (e.g. Ubuntu, pop!OS), you can use gedit.

gedit ~/.bash_profile

At the bottom of the file (do not edit anything else), add new code that looks like this:

# automatically mount the SCC
sudo sshfs [email protected]:/projectnb/hasselmogrp /mnt/hasselmogrp -o allow_other

Here, username is your BU/Kerberos username. If you do not have sshfs (secure shell file sharing), you will need to install it for your distribution. Carry on with the instructions for now, and if you encounter a problem, this could very well be it.

To test if this worked correctly, in your terminal, type:

source ~/.bash_profile

You should be prompted to type in up to two passwords: one being the super-user password and the other your BU/Kerberos password.

There shouldn't be any fanfare. It should just complete. You can check if it worked by finding /mnt/hasselmogrp in your file system and seeing if it has been populated with the contents of the SCC. When your computer restarts, open the terminal and you will be prompted for your passwords again. Once you've typed in your passwords, the cluster should stay mounted until you restart again.

macOS

First install osxfuse or similar software.

Then follow the instructions for a Linux machine above. You can cross reference them with the osxfuse documentation at the above link.