Remote Access

Remote Access

• DialUp
• Remote Access Servers
• VPN
• VCL

Connecting from:

• Windows
• Linux/Solaris
• Macintosh

If you have ever tried to build anything, you know that it is next to impossible without using the right tools. When you are using a computer, it is no different--you need the right program for the file you are using. When you try to work on a file but do not use the specified program, functionality, and often times usability, is sacrificed.

But what happens you do not have the right program on your computer, but we here at NC State do? Well, simply put, you connect to our servers here Remote Access. When you remotely access a computer, you are inputting data into a computer other than the one you are physically sitting at. The other computer may be a friend's computer five feet away, or it may be an NC State server computer miles away.

Dial Up Services

Computing Services supports a free dialup service to the NC State network, but because the demand for this service has increased beyond the capacities of the university's resources, phone lines are often busy and callers may have to wait a long time to gain phone access to the system. To use the NC State Dialup Service, first make sure your computer has a modem, then create a dialup connection to 515-6320. When your computer connects with the campus dialup servers, you will be prompted to login to the system with your Unity/Eos userid and password.

Program>Accessories>Communications>Hyperterminal

Go with all the defaults -- should work.

http://www2.ncsu.edu/cc-consult/Tutorials/win95casppp/

Remote Access Servers

The process by which you connect to the school's server is different depending upon your operating system. The basic steps are listed below, but a more complete guide can be obtained via the Remote Access web page. The following is a list of servers that ECE and CPE majors have access to in order to run crucial applications from home computers.

compute.ece.ncsu.edu is a farm of multiple large Sun servers.(sample load below)

 ECE compute Cluster Stats ("compute_usage")

 host (GHz/#proc/memGB)   # users   load          1min 5min 15min
-------------------------------------------------------------------
 claymore   (1.0/2/4.0):  5 users,  load average: 0.07, 0.02, 0.02
 epee       (0.9/1/1.0):  2 users,  load average: 0.00, 0.02, 0.04
 falchion   (0.9/1/1.0):  0 users,  load average: 0.00, 0.01, 0.02
 gladius    (1.0/2/4.0):  1 users,  load average: 0.02, 0.03, 0.04
 headmaster (0.5/4/4.0):  3 users,  load average: 1.01, 1.01, 1.01
 rapier     (1.0/2/4.0):  2 users,  load average: 1.00, 1.01, 1.02
 sabre      (1.0/2/4.0):  3 users,  load average: 0.01, 0.02, 0.13

grendel.ece.ncsu.edu is a farm of multiple Red Hat Linux servers. (sample load below)

 ECE Grendel Cluster Stats ("grendel_usage")

 host (GHz/#proc/memGB) # users   load          1min 5min 15min
----------------------------------------------------------------
 grendel1 (2.8/2/4.0):  5 users,  load average: 11.46, 11.35, 11.29
 grendel2 (2.8/2/2.0):  5 users,  load average: 5.20, 5.57, 5.52
 grendel3 (2.8/2/2.0):  3 users,  load average: 1.03, 1.03, 0.96
 grendel4 (3.2/2/4.0):  4 users,  load average: 2.00, 2.00, 1.92
 grendel5 (3.2/2/4.0):  9 users,  load average: 1.01, 1.09, 1.08
 grendel6 (3.2/2/4.0):  6 users,  load average: 2.06, 2.04, 2.00

Alternatively, you can connect via SSH to either remote.eos.ncsu.edu or remote-linux.eos.ncsu.edu for access to Sun and Linux applications, respectively.

Connecting from Sun/Linux

Connecting from a Solaris or Linux box is not a very complicated procedure. You should first ensure that you have SSH installed on your computer by typing ssh into a terminal. If you get an error telling you file or command not found, refer to your user documentation on how to install SSH. To connect to the remote access servers here run the SSH command in your terminal. For instance, to connect to grendel.ece.ncsu.edu, in your terminal window simply type:

  ssh grendel.ece.ncsu.edu

If you are having problems running programs which require an XFree86 server, try connecting using the '-X' flag along with the SSH command.

Connecting from Windows

Due to major design differences in operating systems, Windows users do not have native support for the technologies used to remotely access these servers. Programs like WinSCP, PuTTY, F-Secure, WolfCall, OpenAFS, and X-Win32 are required for usage of the servers. These programs can be found at the Remote Access for Windows web page. Follow the instructions for each package. Please be sure that your machine is fully patched and has current AntiVirus software installed before connecting to NC State servers.

VCL

Virtual Computing Lab (VCL) services have been extended to all College of Engineering students. This is particularly important for anyone dealing with offsite students, or those with limited access to Windows labs. Several windows application environments are now available to all College of Engineering students. The windows application environments include Matlab, Maple, SAS, and Solidworks.

For a complete list of applications available to Engineering students visit: http://vcl.ncsu.edu/site/pages/project/engineering-application-list

Solaris and Linux environments are available to all NCSU users. A list of available applications on these platforms can be found at http://www.eos.ncsu.edu/software/apps.html

Course based access will continue to be available. Additional software can be made available for specific course usage. However, due to vendor licensing, Engineering faculty and staff are restricted from general access all possible applications (department specific applications for example).

Any faculty or staff in need of remote access to VCL applications will need to make a request to vcl_help@ncsu.edu.

Connecting from Mac OS X

With Mac OS X, there is very little that a user has to do in order to gain full access to the remote access servers. The user will need to download and install XFree86 for Mac OS X. Once this is done, start XFree86 and through a terminal window in XFree86, type

  ssh -x hostname

This allows you to run programs requiring XFree86 on your system.