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Connect to the HPCC

This tutorial requires that you have an SSH client present on your system. It will walk you through connecting to the HPCC's gateway, moving on to a development node, and testing your system's X Windows server.

Connect to the gateway

Open the SSH client on your local computer and run ssh -XY <username>@hpcc.msu.edu, where <username> should be your HPCC account name. The first time you connect, SSH will ask if you trust the SSH key fingerprint of the HPCC. After validating it is one of the current fingerprints listed below, type yes and press enter to continue. SSH will prompt for your password. Please type the password of your MSU NetID (the password will be invisible). Upon a successful login, you will see a welcome message and current usage load for each development node.

Our gateway is for entrance to the HPCC system only. Running programs and other tasks should be done on development nodes (see the next section).

Current ssh host identification key fingerprints

  • SHA256:tALdkdMnzJUbJpCIkfgfcnWk1G/q9F1kx/miC3b3f4I - 2024 RSA
  • SHA256:Z+I9j5o0+P93y8e4vW+wsk41ZQCVapg5q1wfYnHxVag - 2025 ED25519
  • SHA256:bWaEpc+YCgTvppCmDyIbnFTCnjhsGCQOsGGGHjMFqes - 2025 RSA

SSH to a Development Node

To access a development (dev) node from gateway, pick one and type ssh -X node-name (if you don't need to launch a GUI program, omit -X). See here for dev-node usage and policy.

Testing your X Windows System

An X Windows System allows graphical user interfaces (GUIs) to be shared over SSH. X Windows Systems can be part of any operating system - Windows, Mac, or Linux. You may also hear references to "X11" when people are talking about X Windows Systems, as this is the most common protocol used to implement an X Windows System.

If your local computer has an X Windows client installed (such as Xquatz or MobaXterm) and you log into the nodes with the -X option, you can test if GUI will work by running xeyes on the command line. If everything is set correctly, you should see a pop-up window containing a pair of eyes.

If you see an error about X11 forwarding when logging into the gateway (e.g. "Warning: untrusted X11 forwarding setup failed: xauth key data not generated"), please check your local machine's "config" file ($HOME/.ssh/config) setting. It should look like

$HOME/.ssh/config
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Host *
ForwardAgent yes
ForwardX11 yes
ForwardX11Trusted yes
XAuthLocation /opt/X11/bin/xauth