Accessing Cecile
Accessing Cecile outside the OvGU network
To access Cecile outside the OvGU network, you need do it via the OvGU VPN, please follow the URZ instructions in here
Accessing Cecile from Linux
Open a terminal in your machine, then type the following command making sure to insert your correct username
If you want to use any software with a Graphical User Interface (GUI) in Cecile (e.g. Matlab), please use the following command known as X fowarding. Keep in mind that this usage mode is very sensitive to latency, thus outside the OvGU network you will likely experience a poor performance in softwares with GUI.
Accessing Cecile from macOS
Open a terminal in your machine, then type the following command making sure to insert your username
If you want to use any software with a Graphical User Interface (GUI) in Cecile (e.g. Matlab), you need to use the so-called X fowarding. Keep in mind that this usage mode is very sensitive to latency, thus outside the OvGU network you will likely experience a poor performance in softwares with GUI.
Issues with macOS
X fowarding does not currently work natively on macOS, in order to be able to use it follow the next steps: 1. Install XQuartz 2. By starting Xquartz a terminal should pop up, type the following command on the terminal:
3. To test whether the X-forwarding is properly working, typexclock and press enter, if everything is working a clock should appear.
Accessing Cecile from Windows
SSH option:
Windows 10 and 11 now include a built-in SSH client. To use it simply start a command prompt, type the following command and enter your password:
For further information about the SSH client, please take a look at the official page
If you want to use any software with a Graphical User Interface (GUI) in Cecile (e.g. Matlab), you need to use the so-called X fowarding. Keep in mind that this usage mode is very sensitive to latency, thus outside the OvGU network you will likely experience a poor performance in softwares with GUI.
Issues with Windows
X fowarding does not currently work natively on Windows, in order to be able to use it, you need to follow the next steps:
1. Install VcXsrv, once installed it will be called Xlaunch on your machine.
2. Install the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) by opening your power shall and typing the following command (see the next paragraph for more details):
Xlaunch, open the WSL terminal (you can find it in your windows menù) and type the following command:
4. To test whether the X-forwarding is properly working, type xclock and press enter, if everything is working a clock should appear.
Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) option:
Starting from Windows 10 (version 2004), you can easily install in your Windows operating system a subsystem that let you run a distribution of Linux (Ubuntu as default, but you can also choose a different one). WSL installation is very straightforward, you can find all the necessary information in the official microsoft page
Once you have installed the WSL on your pc, you can easily access Cecile via SSH as we explained above.
Using a WSL provides multiple advantages: it allows you to use a Linux environment like Cecile, without giving up your Windows operating system. Interacting with Cecile via WSL facilitates many procedures, such as file transferring from and to Cecile. Files transferred via WSL will be directly available to your Windows system. Furthermore working with the command line will surely speed up all your processes, given that you will not need to go through additional tools to interact with Cecile.
Avoid passwords, use SSH keys
A more secure way to access Cecile is by using so called public key authentication instead of a canonical password. In a nutshell, a criptographic algorithm creates for you a pair of keys: a private key and a public key, both of them will be stored in your machine. The private key must always be protected and not shared, while you will share the public key with the cluster administrator. See below how to set-up a pair of private/public keys.
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Run the following command in your terminal. The key pair will be generated inside a hidden
.sshfolder in a directory of your choice. You will be then asked to provide a passphrase, we strongly recommend you to set up a passphrase for further security. -
Check that your keys have been generated by typing within the directory that contains the
You should see a similar output listing both the private key.sshfolder:id_ed25519and the public keyid_ed25519.pub -
Now that you have the key pair, in case you do not have a password for the cluster you just need to provide the public key,
id_ed25519.pubin this case, to your cluster administrator. - If you already have a password, you can simply access the folder
.sshon our local machine, type the following command, provide the password and your public key will be transferred to the cluster: - You can now simply type the following command to access the cluster. The first time you access the cluster, you will be asked to provide the passphrase one time only.
Access with WSL
In case you use a WSL on your Windows system, you can directly refer to the Linux/Mac section to set up your SSH keys
If you want to set up a public key authentication via a GUI, you can use PUTTY, a straightforward explanation can be found in the official microsoft page
Using a graphical interface
Coming soon...
Access from medical campus
The OVGU medical campus uses a separate VPN from the OVGU VPN. To be able to access from there a network activation is set up from the URZ which has to be prolonged once a year.
Warning
The DNS name resolution for cecile.ovgu.de does not work from the medical campus. Workaround: use the IP address directly.