All Linux servers run “secure shell” (ssh). Anyone with a CS account may log into the department's servers.

Users on a Windows PC can use a Terminal application like SecureCRT, Cmder, KiTTY, or Putty to ssh to our servers.

Users on a Mac can use an application like Terminal or iTerm2 to ssh to our servers.

If you'd like to use a graphical windowing interface to our servers, see: Nomachine Remote Desktops

You can ssh to CS servers.

Use your CS domain userid (identical to your UVA userid) and password to ssh to portal. For example:

ssh -l abc1de portal.cs.virginia.edu. Alternatively, ssh abc1de@portal.cs.virginia.edu

Start a VPN session to UVA using the UVA VPN. Once the VPN is established, you can ssh to CS servers directly. Note that you should use the UVA “Anywhere” VPN, not the “More Secure” VPN.

You can ssh directly into portal.cs.virginia.edu without having to use the UVA VPN. Once you are logged into the portal cluster, you can then ssh to other CS servers. Your username on the Mac or PC may be different from your CS/UVA userid. So be sure to include your CS/UVA userid on the ssh command line.

For example:

[abc1de@outside-uva ~]$ ssh abc1de@portal.cs.virginia.edu
abc1de@portal.cs.virginia.edu's password: 
Last login: Mon Jul 29 14:12:10 2021
abc1de@portal04 ~ $ hostname
portal04                                               <-- you are logged into the portal cluster
abc1de@portal04 ~ $ ssh gpusrv01                       <-- you can now ssh to gpusrv01
abc1de@gpusrv01's password:
abc1de@gpusrv01 ~ $                                    <-- you are logged into gpusrv01

The ssh command has an option -J to specify a server to use as a “jumphost” that lets you access other servers directly with one command. This combines two steps (for example, ssh into portal.cs.virginia.edu and then ssh to gpusrv01).

Here is how we use this option to “jump” from portal to another CS server. Let's repeat the example of logging in to gpusrv01.

[abc1de@outside-uva ~]$ ssh abc1de@gpusrv01 -J abc1de@portal.cs.virginia.edu
abc1de@portal04.cs.virginia.edu's password:                  <-- first asked to authenticate to portal
abc1de@gpusrv01's password:                                  <-- immediately able to log into gpusrv01
abc1de@gpusrv01 ~ $                                          <-- you are logged into gpusrv01

If you are on the Computer Science network just use the hostname of a server (ex. portal). If you are outside of the CS network (on wireless for example), use the hostname's fully qualified name (ex. portal.cs.virginia.edu).

For a listing of generally available servers in CS, see Computing Resources