Gaining Access to Workstations in the Computer Science Department Network
by Dr. Sarraille


DIRECTIONS:

Use this document to look up ways to log on to a workstation.

THE USE OF QUOTATION MARKS:

This document may use quotes ("...") to delimit the exact characters you must type to give a particular command to the computer. Usually you are not supposed to include these quotes in what you type. In the very few cases where you are supposed to type the quotes, the directions will say so explicitly.

THE USE OF THE WORD ENTER:

If you are supposed to press the Enter key after typing a command, the directions will use the word enter. For example,

Enter "vt100"

means type "vt100" (without the quotes) and then press the Enter key. Commands typed while the editor JOVE is running are not usually completed by pressing the Enter key.

CS SUN ULTRA'S:

The CS student network of Sun Ultra workstations consists of twenty computers housed in the main computer science lab, P-288. You will need an account and a password to use any of these machines:

Sun Ultra's: altair, arcturus, barnard, capella, castor, centauri, ceti, deneb, omicron, polaris, pollux, regulus, rigel, saiph, sirius, sol, soleil, spica, vega, and zaurak.

New computer science majors receive a "network account" which allows them to log in to any of the Sun Ultra's.

The Sun Ultra's are configured so that users get the same home directory and set of files, no matter which Sun Ultra they log in to. Also, all the Sun Ultra's use the same machine language and have identical C++ and other compilers. Therefore any program that you write should run on all of the Ultra's if it will run on any one of them.

There are two basic ways of gaining access to these computers: Procedures for logging in through the network vary depending upon the computer you are using to gain access.

LOGGING IN AT THE CONSOLE:

One very important rule is the same for all CS Department computers:

Please do not turn a computer on or (especially) off, without permission from someone in charge. Most especially, never turn off a unix computer, such as a Sun Ultra.

To use a console, go to the CS lab in P-288 and find an available Sun Ultra workstation. If the screen is dark, make sure it is turned on and also press the shift key a couple of times in case the screen-saver is on. On some of the models, the monitor switch is just below the screen in the center of the "frame" around the screen. If the login panel becomes visible, enter your login name and password. If not, ask someone to help, or find another workstation.

The first time you login at a console, you need to make sure you choose between "Common Desktop Environment" and "Sunview." You need to choose "Common Desktop Environment." You will probably see a panel prompting you to make your choice. If not, look on the login panel for confirmation that you are logging in as a "Common Desktop Environment" user, and not a "Sunview" user. If it appears that you are about to log in as a "Sunview" user, then click on the "Options" button and select "Common Desktop Environment" as your login preference.

LOGGING IN FROM A MACINTOSH IN THE MAIN CS LAB:

(middle of P-288): The computer will probably already be logged in to a default guest account. Logout from that account (choose the logout option from the apple menu) and then login again with the username and password of your Sun Ultra Account. This will give you access to the same home directory you would get if you logged in at a Sun console. You can start up the Safari web browswer by clicking on its icon in the dock (picture of a compass). If you will be needing to use the compiler on the Sun Ultra's, start up the Terminal program (picture of a computer screen on the dock) the dock. Then type

ssh castor.csustan.edu

to get a secure shell session. (For "castor" you can substitute the name of any of the other suns.) If you need some help, ask me, the assistant in the lab, or the lab administrator Julie Gorman.

LOGGING IN FROM A "WINTEL" MACHINE IN THE MAIN CS LAB:

(middle of P-288): use the program called "Putty" to do your login. There should be a shortcut to Putty on the Windows desktop. If you have any difficulty ask someone for help.

LOGGING IN FROM A MAC OR WINTEL IN ONE OF THE CAMPUS GENERAL STUDENT COMPUTING LABS:

(L145, L130, P-106, P-120): Ask the lab assistant in the red vest how to get an ssh connection to a CS Department computer such as altair, castor, pollux, etc.

INTERNET ACCESS:

Check with your Internet service provider. Basically, you just need to use ssh or telnet to login, and sftp or ftp to transfer files to and from your computer at home. When you make a request for a connection, you will have to refer to the campus computers using their fully qualified domain names. You do this by adding .csustan.edu to the simple hostname of the computer. For example, give the name castor.csustan.edu instead of castor when trying to access castor through your Internet service provider.

It is often easier to give help about this sort of thing in person, and maybe with the help of a little "show and tell." If you have more questions on these topics, please have a chat with me (Professor Martin), or ask at the Call Center of the Office of Information Technology: (L-150, 209-667-3687, OIT_Call_Center@csustan.edu)