To connect to a Linux server, you will need to install a External Link[ Secure Shell] client. For Windows systems, a good client is PuTTY. Mac and Linux systems should have a Secure Shell client installed which can be used with the

ssh

command in a [http://wiki.econ.umd.edu/cluster/index.php/Getting_Started_with_Linux#For_Mac_Users terminal window]. You can find a comparison of SSH clients on this Wikipedia page.

The Economics Department Cluster is located at cluster.econ.umd.edu.

PuTTY.png (a centered image of the putty user interface)

To connect to the Cluster on Windows, open PuTTY and do the following:

1. Click on “Session” on the left hand side
2. Under “Host Name” enter “cluster.econ.umd.edu”
3. Choose “SSH” for the “Connection Type” (ensure the port is now set to 22)
4. If this is your first time logging into the cluster, you will get a warning that the server's host key is not cached. This is OK, since we don't really think anyone malicious is pretending to be the cluster. Click “Accept”. Your PuTTY window (if you're using PuTTY) should look about like the image above.
5. You will be prompted for a username. Enter your Cluster username from your initial email and press Enter.
6. You will then be prompted for your password. If you have not reset it, enter the password from your initial email and press Enter. Note that as a security feature, PuTTY will NOT show your password as you type, so that nobody can see how many characters your password has. As the initial password has letter that look similar(e.g. 'l', '|','I'), it may be easiest to copy-and-paste. Pasting into Putty is by doing a right-click (not Ctrl-V).

You are now (hopefully) at the UNIX prompt in your home directory! You should see a prompt that looks like:

**[username@econ<  - > ~]:**

The < - > will be a number 0 through 18. This refers to the physical server that you have been connected to. For more information see the Hardware Configuration Page.

As mentioned above, there is no need for a separate client. Open the Terminal, and type: ssh cluster.econ.umd.edu -l [your username]

You will then be prompted for a password. An alternative, is to type: ssh [your username]@cluster.econ.umd.edu

Note that what you type for your password will not be visible.