SSH SSH is “Secure SHell” Secure, compressed, widely supported, fast Allows both users to get jobs done, and also allows system administrators to sleep at night Clients for every platform

What SSH can do Allows you to remotely log into systems and run commands Forward traffic over the SSH link (tunnel) Copy files Run commands without logging in

SSH basics

Problems already 1.Always have to type my username in 2.Always have to type in full hostname 3.Always have to type in my password

Problems already Default behaviour – Tries to connect to remote server using the username of your current logged in user – This can be problematic, especially for Macs – Uses the domain name of your local machine (so can’t ssh ui from everywhere in world)

Problem solved You can override default behaviour by using a config file in your home directory – location is ~/.ssh/config

Problem solved 1.Username

Problem solved 1.Username Helps because Physics blocks/bans your IP address if you try connecting incorrectly more than 5 times common cause of this is wrong username

Problem solved 2. Full hostname

Problem solved 3. Password

Problem solved 5. Create private/public key pair (ssh-keygen) Upload public key to remote server (ssh-copy-id) Unlock private key (ssh-add) SSH using keypair – Perfect for automated jobs and scripts! – Won’t work with lxplus – Make sure you password protect your SSH private key – Keep private key secure!

Other config options Wildcards and regex is allowed – e.g. Host * and Host *.ph.unimelb.edu.au will both work – Note that it reads the file from top down, and stops at the first entry that matches

Background of network in Physics ui.atlas.unimelb.edu.au -> Tier 3 log in node – restricted to hosts on AARNet network (uni’s) baker.ph.unimelb.edu.au -> School of Physics SSH gateway – accessible anywhere All other hosts – firewalled (inaccessible) – May think that this restricts you....

SSH forwarding When you ssh, it opens a persistent connection with SSH server We can use this connection to make other traffic travel “through” it – e.g. VNC, NX, SSH, web, files SSH will secure this traffic too! (basis for things like TOR and VPN)

SSH forwarding ssh –L localport:otherhost:otherhostport

SSH forwarding

Connections to local port 2222 get redirected over SSH to remote ssh server, which then redirects to port 22 on ui.atlas.unimelb.edu.au – perfect for SSH’ing “directly” to UI, or for copying files from “non-Uni” places

SSH forwarding

Original connection must be still open! (i.e. can’t close window or disconnect) Can do funky stuff, like be a “catch all” forwarder, for things like web (investigate the –D option in ssh and SOCKS proxy)

NX X is the graphical display manager in Linux It is bulky, and insecure over network Can forward this display using NX (NoMachine) Heavily compresses data, making it easier to display overseas/at home

NX For Melbourne, baker[1-6] have NX servers From home, port forward to port 22 on baker[1-6] through baker.ph.unimelb.edu.au Use NX client ( to connect to forwarded porthttp://