Setting up access to hopper/turing.

CSCI hosts multiple Linux boxes.

Instructions for using Putty to access CSCI's systems.

For course work, use :

hopper.cs.niu.edu

turing.cs.niu.edu

For web services :

babbage.cs.niu.edu

Directories on babbage assigned to you are accessible from your hopper/turing account via the public_html and course_html links found in your home directory.

Web pages posted in public_html may be viewed using the url :

students.cs.niu.edu/~[your-id]

Logging in

Run Putty and enter or confirm the following :

Host Name (or IP address)

hopper.cs.niu.edu

Port 22

Connection type: (x)SSH

* If you wish to save this for future sessions, enter a label in the Saved Sessions edit box and click [Save]. You will have to repeat this when logging in from a different system.

Click [Open] to begin session

This should connect to the system.

First time access to a particular system from a particular copy of PuTTY will trigger a dialog for caching the server's host key.

If you are using a public system, you may want to skip remembering key,
Select [No]

When the terminal window comes up, it will prompt for your user id and password.

login as:

enter your Z-Id

system-id password:

enter password

First time logging into the CSCI cluster.

NIU.####Mon## where :

The 1st #### is the 4 digit year of your birth
Mon is the 1st three characters of you birth month with 1st character in caps
And the final ## is the 2 digit date of your birth.

The first attempt to log in to our systems will fail. The initial login triggers the system to generate your account and home directory.

Give the system about 15 seconds to complete this task and re-run the log-in process. The second attempt should work.

Changing password. If you are new to the CSCI Linux Cluster, you need to select a more secure password. The command for changing your password is :

passwd

A password should contain :

alpha, both upper and lower [a-zA-Z]
numeric [0-9]
and some other punctuation. Most punctuation should work but avoid the back slash \ and space.
And be at least 8 characters long.

Suggestions:

Use a phrase with hyphen, period, or comma between words. House-boat
Substitute zero for the letter o, 1 for i or l. H0use-b0at
Or abbreviate a phrase.
Phrase : It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
Password : Iwtb0t,1wtw0t
# This example used Caps for 1st character, zero for both o's, a one for the second i and a comma.

To change your password, run passwd at the prompt. The passwd command will prompt you for your (current) UNIX password:

Enter your current password. If first time, this will be your birthdate in the form described above.

You will then be prompted for the New password:

Enter a password following the suggestions above.

The passwd command will do some analysis of the new password for minimal security and reject it if too short or simple.

Once you have found a suitable password, the passwd command will prompt you a second time for the chosen password. If entered correctly, it will be implemented.

The passwd command is designed to limit consecutive failed tries, so you may have to repeat the command if not initially successful.

Which system to use :

Once you are logged in, run :

finger [your_zid] Among the things listed about you is your home directory.

Directory: /home/turing/z912730 When selecting a system to log in to, use the one your home directory resides on.