Remote Access

Purpose

The purpose of this page is to help you log into a remote machine from home or work, and transfer files to and from the machines. Three topics are covered:

Obtaining Software

Secure SHell (ssh) is a protocol for logging into a remote machine and for executing commands on a remote machine. There is also a command in Unix ssh which implements this protocol. You will find useful information for installing a program which will allow you remote access on the department's machines on the Computer Science website, SSH. On this website you will find a hyperlink that will allow you access to a CS machine, or to the university wide Harper machine.

Logging In

Once you have the software you need to know the name of a machine to log onto. You will find a long list of machines at machines for the CSPP program.

Now you are ready to login. If you are using Unix or Linux, you can login to a remote machine by
       ssh -l name   machine
You may recieve the message
       The authenticity of host 'abyss.cs.uchicago.edu (148.331.7.724)' can't be established . . .
and a prompt asking if you would like to continue. Type yes, and you should be prompted for your user name then password. If this checks out you will be given the prompt for the machine you requested

Transferring files

At some point you'll want to transfer files from your home machine to a host machine. You do not need to login to the host machine. You will use a program for copying files between remote machines. The name of the Unix program is scp. On your home computer, the program you use to login will have additional support for transferring files. You will need to know the name of the remote machine you wish to transfer files with. You will find a long list of machines at machines for the CSPP program.

Suppose you want to transfer a file from your home machine to a remote machine. On your home machine you can follow the directions of your remote connection software. If you are on a Unix or Linux machine you will use the following command line will transfer a file from your home machine to a remote machine into your home directory on that remote machine:
       scp   file   username@remote_machine:~
The response will be a prompt for your user name (or a message.) Be aware: you need the colon (:) separating username@remote_machine from the destination of the file, in this case, your home directory (signified by ~.) You may replace ~ by any other location you want for your file.

Suppose you want to transfer a file to your home machine from a remote machine. If you are on a Unix or Linux machine you will use the following command line to transfer file to your home machine from a remote machine into location on your home machine:
       scp   username@remote_machine:file  location  
The response will be a prompt for your user name (or a message.) Be aware: you need the colon (:) separating username@remote_machine from the source file.

If you want to transfer directories you will need to include an option: scp -r. The rest of the command line is the same as for transferring files.