Connecting to the cluster¶

Local Access¶

To connect to the BMRC cluster, while connected to a local wired network at the Kennedy Institute or Eduroam, run the following command replacing username with your username for the cluster in your local computer terminal. You can connect to either cluster1, cluster2 , cluster3 or cluster4 by changing the command accordingly:

ssh username@cluster1.bmrc.ox.ac.uk

Recommended Terminal Setup¶

In a new local terminal run; mkdir -p ~/.ssh/sockets this will create a subdirectory in your home directory to store socket configurations.
Open your ssh config file (e.g. nano ~/.ssh/config to open with the text editor nano) and add the following (replacing username with your username):

Host *
    ControlMaster auto
    ControlPath ~/.ssh/sockets/ssh_mux_%h_%p_%r
    ControlPersist 1

Host bmrc1
     User username
     hostname cluster1.bmrc.ox.ac.uk
     ForwardAgent yes
     ForwardX11Trusted yes
     ControlMaster auto
     ControlPath ~/.ssh/sockets/ssh-socket-%r-%h-%p
     ControlPersist 24h
     ServerAliveInterval 300
     ServerAliveCountMax 2

Host bmrc2
     User username
     hostname cluster2.bmrc.ox.ac.uk
     ForwardAgent yes
     ForwardX11Trusted yes
     ControlMaster auto
     ControlPath ~/.ssh/sockets/ssh-socket-%r-%h-%p
     ControlPersist 24h
     ServerAliveInterval 300
     ServerAliveCountMax 2

Host bmrc3
     User username
     hostname cluster3.bmrc.ox.ac.uk
     ForwardAgent yes
     ForwardX11Trusted yes
     ControlMaster auto
     ControlPath ~/.ssh/sockets/ssh-socket-%r-%h-%p
     ControlPersist 24h
     ServerAliveInterval 300
     ServerAliveCountMax 2

Host bmrc4
     User username
     hostname cluster4.bmrc.ox.ac.uk
     ForwardAgent yes
     ForwardX11Trusted yes
     ControlMaster auto
     ControlPath ~/.ssh/sockets/ssh-socket-%r-%h-%p
     ControlPersist 24h
     ServerAliveInterval 300
     ServerAliveCountMax 2

3. Ensure the permissions are correct by running

chmod 600 ~/.ssh/config

4. Now you can connect login node of interest with the aliases such as bmrc1 , bmrc2, etc. For an example, if you wanto to connec to cluster1.bmrc.ox.ac.uk which is bmrc1, execute

ssh bmrc1

Remote Access¶

For remote connections (when away from the University), you will need to connect to University VPN (such as MSD IT VPN) before running the command in your local computer's terminal:

Two-factor authentication¶

The BMRC cluster employs two-factor authentication. After your account has been created and you have received a welcome email, we will arrange an induction session where we will set up your two-factor authentication. For two-factor authentication you can use one of available smartphone apps (for example, Microsoft or Google Authenticator) or one of the supported authenticator applications, that can be run on a local computer.

More information on available methods can be found here.

Terminal multiplexer¶

After logging in to the cluster, it is recommended to start a terminal multiplexer, a software that allows creating and working in multiple terminal windows in the same single ssh session. There are two terminal multiplexers, tmux and screen on the cluster. To start a multiplexer session, run, for example:

tmux

Using a multiplexer has an advantage that if your ssh connection to the cluster breaks down or disconnects because of ssh session timeout, the mulitplexer session continues to run in the background. You can simply reconnect to the running multiplexer session after opening ssh connection to the cluster again.

tmux attach

Both tmux and screen have a wide range of options and commands to manage terminal and multiplexer sessions.