SPO600 Servers

Backup Your Data
These computers are NEVER backed up. Please save all important files on other storage. These machines may be removed or reinstalled at any time.

Access Changed Jan 16, 2015
Access to the host "Red" was changed on January 16, 2015 -- the gateway host is now Morocco.proximity.on.ca instead of Iraq.proximity.on.ca. You will need to change your ~/.ssh/config file if you set it up before that date.

In SPO600, remote access to two servers is provided for learning and project work. It is recommended that you also set up a personal Fedora system.

Preparatory Steps

In order to gain access to these computers, you must send an SSH key to your professor.

1. Follow the steps outlined under Using Public Keys with SSH to create your key.
2. Save the key in a file named yourUserId.pub -- for example, if your Seneca user ID is "jldoe", save the key in the file jldoe.pub using a command such as: cp ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub jldoe.pub
3. Attach that file to an e-mail message and send it to chris.tyler@senecacollege.ca including the course code "SPO600" in the subject line.

An account will be created within a couple of days of sending the key.

Check Your Key!
Your professor uses an automated script to create accounts, so the key must be valid and correctly named in order to work successfully.

Available Servers

AArch64: Red

The first server is an ARMv8 AArch64 system known simply as red. This machine is accessible via SSH using port 2222 on the host Morocco.proximity.on.ca (note that Morocco is just the gateway - your connection will be forwarded automatically to Red). To connect from a command-line ssh client:

ssh -p 2222 username@morocco.proximity.on.ca

If you are using the OpenSSH client, you can simplify this process by creating an entry in your ~/.ssh/config file:

Host "red"
    hostname "morocco.proximity.on.ca"
    port 2222

You can then simply:

ssh username@red

Why Red?
When the first three servers arrived for the EHL, we named them Red, Green, and Blue, after the colours of the ethernet cables we had - so that we could tell them apart easily. In the EHL cabinet, they're labelled x1 (Blue), x2 (Red), and x3 (Green), along with the other 1u ARM64 servers.

x86_64: Australia

The other server is an x86_64 system known as Australia.proximity.on.ca. To connect to it, issue this command:

ssh username@australia.proximity.on.ca

Why Australia?
The CDOT servers are all named after countries; the person who installs the OS gets to pick the country. When there's a network issue in CDOT, it always sounds like a major international incident!

Sudo Access

To perform operations which require privilege, such as installing software, use the sudo command to execute the desired instruction as the root user.

For example, to install the software packaged ncurses-devel, execute: sudo dnf install ncurses-devel or sudo yum install ncurses-devel

Danger! Use Superuser privilege at your Own Risk.
Note that the use of the superuser account via sudo removes almost all restrictions on what you can do. It is easily possible for you to completely destroy the operating system! Take your time, double-check your commands, and if in doubt, ask. Be aware that your actions may affect other users and vice-versa.

Do Not Build or Install Software Except Via RPM (dnf/yum)
Do not build or install software as the root user (using sudo), except in RPM form using the dnf or yum commands. Building or installing software as root may overwrite system files and be very difficult to track down.

It is OK to install software into your own directories (e.g., ~/bin or ~/local), which can be done without root privilege.

In order to use sudo, you will need to know your password. An initial password is provided in the file ~/password (different on each server) -- feel free to change this with the passwd command.

Multiuser Access

Remember that these machines are multi-user systems. Use the w or who commands to see who else is using them; you can also try using the write command to communicate with another user if required.