There are two methods of connecting to the HPC system. If you are using computer that is connected to the Grinnell College network, you can SSH to the cluster. Clients that are off-campus can connect to the cluster in a web browser by visiting https://hpc.grinnell.edu. If necessary, SSH connections from off-campus connections can be accomplished by jumping through an off-campus SSH gateway.

1. SSH (on-campus): Use a command line application (Terminal, Powershell, etc) to connect to the cluster. You'll be prompted for your Grinnell College account password. It is possible to configure publickey authentication for your account as well. Publickey authentication enables non-interactive (scripted or automated) connections.

  ssh [username]@hpc.grinnell.edu

You'll be prompted for your password and may be prompted to acknowledge that you're connecting to a remote host that you have not connected to before (a reference to a new host key or a known_hosts file).

2. Web-based access: Direct your browser to https://hpc.grinnell.edu. You'll be ushered through Single Sign On (including Duo MFA) and will be logged into Open OnDemand where various applications and functions are available.

3. SSH (off-campus): This connection requires a home directory on MathLAN and key-based authentication configured for your MathLAN account. Use a command line application to connect to ssh.cs.grinnell.edu. The connection to ssh.cs.grinnell.edu requires your authentication key and will prompt you for Duo MFA. After establishing a connection to ssh.cs.grinnell.edu, you can ssh from there to hpc.grinnell.edu. Once your authentication key is configured, this can be accomplished with one command using ssh.cs.grinnell.edu as a jumpbox:

  ssh -J ssh.cs.grinnell.edu [username]@hpc.grinnell.edu 

There are both command line and graphical options for managing your files on the HPC system. Which you choose will depend on how many files you have to move, how large they are, whether you want to script or automate the file management, etc.

1. One command line option is scp or secure copy. For example, to copy a file named example.txt from your local computer to your home directory on the HPC system:

  scp ~/example.txt [username]@hpc.grinnell.edu:~/

More information on scp is available here. Because this option relies on SSH, this option only works from a computer connected to an on-campus network.

2. Another command line option is rsync. rsync will synchronize files and directories between a source and destination (i.e. your local computer and the HPC system).

  rsync /local/directory [username]@hpc.grinnell.edu:/remote/directory

More information on rsync can be found here. Because this option relies on SSH, this option only works from a computer connected to an on-campus network.

3. If you prefer a graphical user interface, you can use SFTP clients such as FileZilla or Cyberduck The connection details for these applications will be:

1. Protocol: SFTP
2. Server: hpc.grinnell.edu
3. Port: 22
4. User: [username]

Because this option relies on SSH, this option only works from a computer connected to an on-campus network.

4. Open OnDemand is a graphical, web-based option for managing your files on the cluster. Direct your browser to https://hpc.grinnell.edu and login. From the 'Files' menu, select 'Home directory'. Here you'll have tools for viewing and managing the files in your home directory on the cluster.

Another convenient option for editing your files on the HPC is to take advantage of the Remote Development using SSH feature of VS Code. Detailed instructions for this process are outside the scope of this document, but you can find help in VS Code's documentation.