Scientific Computing and Data / High Performance Computing / Documentation / Logging In

Logging In

Connect to the Mount Sinai network either by connecting  to the LAN or MSSM Green while on campus or by using the VPN connection if not on campus. If using VPN, make sure you click on the “Tunnel” button on the VPN splash screen.

Use minerva.hpc.mssm.edu as the host name. This is a round-robin redirect to one of the 3 actual login nodes.

Start up your terminal emulation program and enter:

ssh yourUserID@minerva.hpc.mssm.edu

 

When prompted for your password, enter you Mount Sinai password followed immediately by the 6 digit VIP credential:

Password:  myH@rd2gu3$$p@$$word123456  (← this will not be echoed to the terminal.)

where 123456  would be the 6 digit credential from your VIP token.

 

If you are using X11 graphics, you will need to use the  -X  option to allow X11 forwarding to your workstation.

ssh -X yourUserID@minerva.hpc.mssm.edu

 

Two Factor Authentication

Minerva requires Two-Factor authentication at all times to log in. The first component is a memorized password. The second component is a one-time use, time sensitive, generated credential. Mount Sinai uses Symantec VIP to generate the one time use credential.

To set up two factor authentication for Symantec VIP, visit the ASCIT website. Symantec VIP produces a 6 digit code using a software token which can be installed via the ASCIT link on a variety of devices.

 

Virtual Private Network (VPN) Tunneling

Connection to Minerva from off campus requires the use of VPN and the F5 Big-IP software to be installed on your local workstation.

To setup VPN access, see https://itsecurity.mssm.edu/vpn-steps/

To setup the F5 Big-IP software to enable tunneling on Windows or MAC, see https://itsecurity.mssm.edu/vpn-access-selection/

 

Instructions on F5 Setup on Ubuntu

On your local workstation, go to https://mshmsvpn.mssm.edu and log in with your password and VIP credentials. The welcome page will have many boxes. Click on linux_deb and download the f5 software. Open a terminal on your workstation and enter one of the following commands:

 sudo apt install /absolute/path/to/deb/file
or
 sudo dpkg -i /absolute/path/to/deb/file

/opt/f5 will be created. Click on “tunnel” and on the f5 popup, “Choose” /opt/f5/vpn/f5vpn and you should be in.

Instructions for F5 Centos/Red Hat systems

On your local workstation, go to https://mshmsvpn.mssm.edu and log in with your password and VIP credentials. The welcome page will have many boxes. Click on linux_rpm and download the f5 software. Open a terminal on your workstation and enter one of the following commands:

For Centos:

	sudo yum localinstall /absolute/path/to/rpm/file
or
	sudo rpm -i absolute/path/to/rpm/file

For Red Hat/Fedora:

	sudo rpm -i /absolute/path/to/rpm/file
or
	sudo dnf localinstall /absolute/path/to/rpm/file

/opt/f5 will be created. Click on “tunnel” and on the f5 popup, “Choose” /opt/f5/vpn/f5vpn and you should be in.

 

Login Nodes:

Minerva currently has several login nodes which are used to access the compute cluster. Some are for general use and others are private to specific groups. Both the public and private login nodes are connected to the campus network allowing access only on campus or via tunneling over Mount Sinai’s VPN if off campus.

There are currently three login nodes available for general use, minerva12, minerva13 and minerva14.You may connect to one of them through one of two round-robin Domain Name Server (DNS) load balancing names or you may specify one of them explicitly, if you prefer one over the other.For example, if you have a disconnected screen session running on one of the nodes, you will want to log onto that particular node if you want to reconnect.

The addresses of the nodes are:

  • minerva.hpc.mssm.edu – round-robin redirect
  • chimera.hpc.mssm.edu – round-robin redirect
  • minerva12.hpc.mssm.edu – specific login node
  • minerva13.hpc.mssm.edu – specific login node
  • minerva14.hpc.mssm.edu – specific login node

Suggestion: Use the name minerva.hpc.mssm.edu for your connections, as it will continue to work in the future even if the login nodes are changed.

From Windows
To log in from a Windows machine, you will need a terminal emulator. There are two that we recommend.

MobaXterm ( https://mobaxterm.mobatek.net ) an all-in-one product that provides a terminal emulator, builtin X11 server, multiple tabbed windows, scp, sftp, etc.

PuTTY ( https://www.putty.org/ ) a widely used SSH client and associated utilities (scp, sftp, etc). PuTTY does not come with a built in X11 server. Users will have to install Xming ( https://sourceforge.net/projects/xming/ ) if they wish to use X11 graphics.

From MAC
MAC machines come with a console window already installed. However, you may want to install a more versatile terminal emulator such as iTerm2 ( https://iterm2.com )

As with the Windows environment, macOS does not come with an X11 server. So, if you want to use X11 graphics you will need to install the XQuartz X11 server ( https://www.xquartz.org/ ) .