Connecting and Logging in to Sleipnir

You can connect and log in to Sleipnir from machines that have a connection to the Internet. From home and campus PCs, you can establish a text-only terminal session with Sleipnir using a variety of programs that support SSH such as Putty. With the new systems in Science III, you can also establish an X-windows session, which allows graphics and text.

Connecting to Sleipnir

The following sections detail connecting from remote machines to Sleipnir using the SSH protocol. SSH will encrypt your password and session so that no one can sniff the traffic. To log in to Sleipnir, you first establish a connection and then authenticate yourself. You will be given an account sheet with your username and password to use to authenticate yourself. Make sure to have the account sheet with you or to memorize your username and password.

The password is case sensitive so enter it exactly as shown on the account sheet, including all upper case letters. Make sure the caps lock key is off as well. If you type your password correctly, you will see the text prompt for Sleipnir which looks like: 

<username>@sleipnir:~$
If you get the "Permission denied" message, double check that your caps lock key is not on and try your password again. Sometimes a 1 (one) looks like an l (lower-case L) and vis versa, so look for that as well.

Connect from Linux/MacOS X

These instructions assume you have the OpenSSH client software installed on your system. Most Linux distributions and MacOS X installations have this software installed by default. If you do not have this software, consult the documentation for your system to learn how to install the software. The Computer Science lab machines have OpenSSH installed.

Open up a terminal window and type the following to connect to Sleipnir: 

ssh <username>@sleipnir.cs.csubak.edu
Enter your password when prompted. The password is case sensitive, so enter all upper and lower case letters as shown on the account sheet. Also make sure the caps lock key is not on.

If you wish to use X-Windows applications on Sleipnir, you will need to activate X11 forwarding. Use the following SSH command to activate X11 forwarding: 

ssh -Y <username>@sleipnir.cs.csubak.edu
Both these methods will log you into a text interface on Sleipnir. If using X11 forwarding, you can then launch X-Windows applications by giving the application's command on the command line.

Connect from Windows

At home or in campus PC labs, you will need to install Putty or another SSH client on the machine. If you can install software and the machine has no SSH client already installed, download the Putty SSH/telnet client from the CS department download page. When you launch Putty, it will present a connection dialog. Enter "sleipnir.cs.csubak.edu" for the Host Name and select "SSH" for the Protocol type in the top of the dialog. Optionally, you can save this information by entering a name for the session and clicking save in the bottom of the dialog. Click Open to initiate the connection. You will see a dialog box about saving the key for Sleipnir. This is to protect against something called a "man in the middle" attack. Click Yes to connect. Once you connect, log in with your username and password when prompted.

NOTE: Make sure you ONLY enter your username, as printed on the Sleipnir account sheet, when prompted for a login by Putty. Do NOT enter "ssh <username>@sleipnir" as you would to log in from the labs. You have already done the ssh command by double-clicking Putty and you have already told it to connect to Sleipnir by entering "sleipnir.cs.csubak.edu" as the Host Name. You only need to tell it the username when you see the login prompt.