Acessing the cluster

Step 0: Getting an account

All DIFA staff members have the right to access the OPH computing cluster. However, the access must be explicitly requested in order to obtain a valid account.

More specifically, DIFA staff members should direct an access request email to the computing responsible of their research sector:

applicata: Nico Curti nico.curti2@unibo.it
astro: Marco Baldi marco.baldi5@unibo.it
atmos: Paolo Ruggieri paolo.ruggieri2@unibo.it
didattica: Olivia Levrini olivia.levrini2@unibo.it
materia: Cesare Franchini cesare.franchini2@unibo.it
nucleare: Lorenzo Rinaldi lorenzo.rinaldi@unibo.it
teorica: Pierbiagio Pieri pierbiagio.pieri@unibo.it
terra: Filippo Zaniboni filippo.zaniboni@unibo.it
esterni (INFN): Daniele Cesini daniele.cesini3@unibo.it

For students the request must be submitted by their thesis supervisor. For external users (i.e. non-DIFA staff members) the request must be submitted by a DIFA-staff reference person.

Valid UniBo credentials are in any case necessary to obtain an account and to be able to access the cluster (for external users temporary credentials must be obtained first).

New users will be able to access the cluster after 7.00am of the day after the one they have been added to the access group. The home folder of every new user is automatically created at the time of the first access to the cluster.

Individual accounts remain valid until termination of the conditions granting access rights to the cluster (as e.g. until termination of DIFA affiliation, end of the Master/Phd thesis, end of the research collaboration for external users) and the computing responsibles of each sector have the duty to remove users from the respective access groups upon expiration of such access rights.

In any case, the home folders and all the stored data of inactive users will be automatically deleted after 6 months from their last modification time without any further notice.

Step 1: Connecting to the cluster

The cluster can be accessed remotely through a Frontend Login node, through the ssh secure connection protocol, using UniBo institutional credentials (i.e. username and password used for all UniBo IT services).

There are multiple independent Frontend Login Nodes:

137.204.50.71 (ophfe1) under maintenance
137.204.50.177 (ophfe2) – will change address to 50.72 soon
137.204.50.73 (ophfe3)

NEW - The connection procedure is now identical for all users:

STAFF MEMBERS with e.g. UniBo email address donald.duck7@unibo.it can connect to the cluster with the command:
```
  ssh donald.duck7@137.204.50.177
```

STUDENTS with e.g. UniBo email address mickey.mouse4@studio.unibo.it can connect to the cluster with the same command:
```
  ssh mickey.mouse4@137.204.50.177
```

followed by their UniBo institutional password.

For some users in PERSONALE their account does not match the mail address (so called “cambio UPN”). It's always possible to use:

ssh -l mail.address@unibo.it 137.204.50.177

or even:

ssh mail.address@unibo.it@137.204.50.177

Graphic windows require a connection with X11 forwarding, which can be established with the ssh options -X and/or -Y. In general, connecting with:

ssh -XY albert.einstein9@137.204.50.177

ensures X11 forwarding.