Project Student Access to Astrophysics Resources

An effective way of working would be log on to our Astrophysics/Particle Physics project server solva.phy.bris.ac.uk via the UoB Virtual Private Network (VPN) and the x2go remote desktop application.

However x2go does not work for everyone so some good alternatives are listed below.

VPN

The solva system is behind the University firewall. One way to get to it is via the UoB VPN. When you run this on a computer outside the University, it looks like you are inside the University, you will need to use your UoB username and password to make this work.

You can get the UoB VPN software from the link below along with instructions on how to install it. Windows, Mac and Linux are all supported. The link is https://uob.sharepoint.com/sites/itservices/SitePages/vpn.aspx if you want to test if the VPN is working, check that you read the message on this page: http://solva.phy.bris.ac.uk/userwww/vpntest/

This test is not working at present! Try https://www.star.bris.ac.uk/local/ instead.

X2go

X2go is a remote desktop program that allows you have the full desktop from a remote server on your local machines. The network traffic between you and solva is compressed by x2go giving you a more responsive experience.

The default Windows 10 version seems to have a problem where it crashes on connection with solva, I have found that the version marked X2Go Client nightly builds (Windows (untested)) works for me. The link is https://code.x2go.org/releases/binary-win32/x2goclient/releases/4.1.2.2-2020.02.13/x2goclient-4.1.2.2-2020.02.13-setup.exe.

There is a page on x2go and a VPN substitute here and there is a Youtube video as well as many others.

The parameters for solva are: 

session name: solva (or whatever you want, this is not really important)
hostname: solva.phy.bris.ac.uk
Login: your username eg ab12345
Session type: MATE
on the Input/Output tab set the screen width to something like 1400x900 or fullscreen if you want to try that. You can resize the x2go window after it starts.
On a Mac, you will need to have XQuartz installed for x2go to work.

One potential problem is that x2go does not like Anaconda python, or any other python3, being the default python. If x2go used to work for you before you installed Anaconda python, and then no longer works, then you will have to edit your .bashrc file in your home directory to stop Anaconda being automatically initialised. The parts that Anaconda inserted are clearly marked, so start up an editor like nano and use the hash symbol at the start of each line to comment out the lines. Then at the end of your .bashrc put the following line: 

alias ana3='export PATH=/home/XXXXX/anaconda3/bin:${PATH}'
substituting your username for XXXXX, which will make the Anaconda python your default python after you type 'ana3'. If you can't get x2go to work for you, there are other ways to use the solva server.

Connecting from Windows using MobaXterm

If you are not using a remote desktop, then you can have graphics windows from solva pop up on your Windows laptop or desktop. You need an ssh client (like putty, see below) and what is called an Xserver (like Xming see below). Or you can run a combined tool called MobaXterm which has both already installed. Go to https://mobaxterm.mobatek.net/download.html and click 'Download Now' on the Free Home edition. Then click on the 'Portable Edition' box to get a portable application which you can put on your desktop.

Once you have started the application all you need is the hostname (solva.phy.bris.ac.uk) and your username. Once you have succesfully connected to solva, type xclock to see if a clock pops up on your screen, if so, all is well and you can do ctrl-C to stop xclock and use solva for your project. Remember you will still need the VPN running or you will not be able to log on to solva. There is a youtube video on using mobaXterm here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycUBjqyjORE.

Connecting from Windows using putty and Xming

If connecting from Windows, MobaXterm is the best solution, see above. If for some reason, you cannot use mobaXterm, then you will need the putty program from here grab the 64-bit putty.exe and put it on your desktop.
You will also need the Xming program from here. The putty program is a Secure Shell (ssh) client which gives you a terminal command window on solva and Xming makes your windows machine accept and display graphics.

There is a web page explaining their setup here.
Remember to use solva.phy.bris.ac.uk as the hostname in putty. Setting up the X11 forwarding is also important.

You can test whether remote graphics are working using the xclock command which will pop up a clock on the screen you are sitting at, use ctrl-C to terminate this program.

Connecting from a Mac using ssh

If you are connecting from a Mac, you can connect to solva.phy.bris.ac.uk using the ssh program from a Mac terminal and if you use the following form of the ssh command, you can pop up graphics on your local screen. 
ssh -CXY xx12345@solva.phy.bris.ac.uk
Use your UoB username instead of xx12345 and you will need the UoB VPN running and XQuartz installed.

You can test whether remote graphics are working using the xclock command which will pop up a clock on the screen you are sitting at, use ctrl-C to terminate this program.

Testing your SSH client and Backup Plan

How to test whether the VPN is working is covered above. If you would like to check that your SSH client is working, try connecting to the University gateway machine which is called seis.bris.ac.uk using your UoB username and password. You should be able to get a terminal on seis from anywhere in the world. The backup plan if you cannot get the VPN working is to start a session on seis.bris.ac.uk and then ssh from seis to solva.phy.bris.ac.uk. 
in a Mac terminal type:

ssh your_username@seis.bris.ac.uk

substituting your username. On a windows machine, in MobaXterm, set
the remote host to seis.bris.ac.uk.

File Exchange

There are many ways to move files between your local machine and solva. On Windows you can use winscp from https://sourceforge.net/projects/winscp/ to give you a drag and drop interface.

On a Mac you can use filezilla from https://filezilla-project.org/download.php?type=client to give you a similar drag and drop interface. If you need a port number, use 22.

You can exchange files via the web interface to OneDrive, you can go to https://www.microsoft.com from the Linux machines or 2.20 ore remotely on solva and put your files on OneDrive.

You can run the rclone command after ssh-ing into solva to put your files in the cloud. Please read the rclone setup instructions for OneDrive.

Jupyter Notebooks

You can run a Jupyter notebooks to access files on the solva server `while displaying on your laptop or home computer screen. You will need the VPN running. Open an command window on Mac, Windows or Linux and log into solva via ssh. Once you get your prompt on solva, this will be your server window, type the following at the solva prompt: 
 
module load anaconda/3-2024 
jupyter notebook --no-browser --port=8080
Leave that running and open another terminal window for a 'ssh tunnel'. In that window type the following: 
ssh -L 8080:localhost:8080 your_username@solva.phy.bris.ac.uk
using your UoB usename.
Leave that window running, and in a browser tab, go to https://localhost:8080/
and there should be a jupyter notebook. You can set up a password for jupyter now if you want. When you are finished, type 'exit' in the ssh tunnel window, type ctrl-C to kill the jupyter notebook process running on the server, say 'y' if asked to confirm that you want to shut down the server process, then type 'exit' to leave solva.

Rhys Morris
Last modified: Monday, 30 September 2024