SCIAMA
High Performance Compute Cluster
Logging in to Sciama
SCIAMA has in total dedicated 8 login servers that you can reach under the URL
They vary slightly in the available hard- and software:
- login1-login4: Intel Westmere CPUs with 12 cores, 24 GB memory per server
- login5-login8: AMD Opteron CPUs with 12 cores , 16 GB memory per server
Depending on the login server, SCIAMA can be remotely accessed via a Command Line Interface (CLI) shell, or a Graphical User Interface (GUI) such as X2Go.
CLI shell (SSH)
All SCIAMA login servers are providing services for access via SSH clients. Windows 10/Linux/Unix/macOS usually have such clients installed as command-line tools. Thus, logging into SCIAMA can be done by the following simple command:
e.g: ssh smithj@login3.sciama.icg.port.ac.uk
There is more information for Windows users here.
CLI shell + graphical support (SSH+X-forwarding)
Some programs on Sciama come with graphical user interfaces. Thus cannot be run via a pure CLI. Fortunately, SSH allows to forward any graphical interface from Sciama to a remote computer via so-called X-forwarding. This requires that the remote computer runs an X server for the graphical support. (Most) Linux systems come with this pre-installed, but for Windows and macOS. a third-party X server software needs to be obtained (e.g. Xming for Windows and Xquartz for macOS). X-forwarding can then be activated using the ‘-Y‘ argument for the CLI ssh clients i.e.
or enabling it in the PuTTY configuration.
Graphical shell: X2Go
X2Go services providing a full virtual desktop environment are available on login3, 4, 5 and 6. Details on downloading and configuring X2Go Client can be found here: X2Go.
