Logging into isbrae

So, someone's told you to find something on isbrae.  Huh?

isbrae is our group linux server- it's got many CPU cores, and more importantly, many Tb of data storage space.  So it's a good place to store our data, and if you want to, since it runs matlab, python, and has most of the popular compilers and many graphical visualization packages you can do all of your computing there as well. 

But first you have to get there.  From a mac, open the "terminal" application, which is under Applications -> Utilities.  From Windows, you can use a freeware program called "Putty". 

Once you open the terminal, you can type your command to ssh or "secure shell" into isbrae:

HawleyMBP:~ bo$ ssh bo@isbrae.dartmouth.edu
Last login: Tue May 15 09:57:34 2012 from hawleymbp.kiewit.dartmouth.edu
[bo@isbrae ~]$

Note that in this case, my username on isbrae is 'bo' so you will need to replace this command with "ssh your-username@isbrae.dartmouth.edu"  You will be asked for your password, which you will have set when you got your account. 

If you want to run programs on isbrae that contain graphical output (like matlab running in graphics mode, for example), you need to "pipe" the graphical display from isbrae to your local machine.  This can be done easily by using the "-X" switch on ssh:

HawleyMBP:~ bo$ ssh -X bo@isbrae.dartmouth.edu
Last login: Wed May 16 10:36:46 2012 from c-66-31-143-92.hsd1.nh.comcast.net
[bo@isbrae ~]$

It's got to be a capital X, not lowercase, because lowercase means explicitly "do _not_ forward graphics". 

Note that you need to have "X-windows" installed on your local machine.  For macs, this comes with the developer tools and extras and may not have been installed by default, but should be on your install CD.  For windows, you will need an "X emulator", and will need more help than this blog post can provide...