Access

HPC OnDemand Web Portal

ManeFrame II can be accessed directly from a browser via the HPC OnDemand Web Portal.

Terminal Access via SSH

SSH is the only way to access ManeFrame II. There are many SSH clients available for different operating systems. The details for Linux, macOS, and Windows are given below. In all cases, ManeFrame II is accesses via m2.smu.edu using your SMU credentials.

Users using SSH via a terminal application such as Terminal and iTerm on macOS, Terminal on Linux, or PuTTY, MobaXTerm, and WSL on Windows will be prompted in their terminal session for their password followed by a request for a Duo passcode or 1 for a Duo push. The passcode can come from the Duo app or from an OIT procured hardware token (faculty and staff only).

Linux

Specific access instructions vary by different Linux distributions, but generally the steps are as follows.

  1. Open a terminal

  2. Type ssh -CX <your_username>@m2.smu.edu where <your_username> is your username, which is the first part of your SMU email address.

Setting Up Key-Based Authentication

SSH keys to be used for SSH and SFTP clients, which allows for password-less access, but still requires Duo authentication.

Run the following commands from a terminal on the local computer that you want to have key-based access to ManeFrame II.

  1. m2_username=<your M2 username> “<your M2 username>” is set to your M2 username to be used for the subsequent commands.

  2. ssh-keygen -q -t ecdsa -f ~/.ssh/id_ecdsa_m2 You will need to press enter twice.

  3. cat ~/.ssh/id_ecdsa_m2.pub | ssh ${m2_username}@m2.smu.edu "mkdir -p ~/.ssh && chmod 0700 ~/.ssh && touch ~/.ssh/authorized_keys && chmod 0700 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys && cat >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys && chmod 0400 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys" Press enter and you will be prompted for your M2 password.

  4. printf "Host *m2.smu.edu\n   User %s\n   IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ecdsa_m2\n" "${m2_username}" >> ~/.ssh/config

  5. ssh-add -k ~/.ssh/id_ecdsa_m2

macOS

macOS requires the one-time installation of XQuartz to provide X11 for graphical applications.

  1. Install XQuartz

  2. Log out and back into the Mac or reboot

  3. Open the Terminal app at /Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app

  4. Run the command defaults write org.macosforge.xquartz.X11 enable_iglx -bool true to enable indirect GLX, which is disabled by default

The SSH steps are generally as follows:

  1. Open the Terminal app at “/Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app”

  2. Type ssh -CX <your_username>@m2.smu.edu where <your_username> is your username, which is the first part of your SMU email address.

Setting Up Key-Based Authentication

SSH keys to be used for SSH and SFTP clients, which allows for password-less access, but still requires Duo authentication.

Run the following commands from a terminal on the local computer that you want to have key-based access to ManeFrame II.

  1. m2_username=<your M2 username> “<your M2 username>” is set to your M2 username to be used for the subsequent commands.

  2. ssh-keygen -q -t ecdsa -f ~/.ssh/id_ecdsa_m2 You will need generate a password for accessing the key (not SMU nor computer password).

  3. cat ~/.ssh/id_ecdsa_m2.pub | ssh ${m2_username}@m2.smu.edu "mkdir -p ~/.ssh && chmod 0700 ~/.ssh && touch ~/.ssh/authorized_keys && chmod 0700 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys && cat >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys && chmod 0400 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys" Press enter and you will be prompted for your M2 password.

  4. printf "Host *m2.smu.edu\n  User %s\n  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ecdsa_m2\nHost *\n  UseKeychain yes\n  AddKeysToAgent yes\n" "${m2_username}" >> ~/.ssh/config

  5. ssh-add --apple-use-keychain ~/.ssh/id_ecdsa_m2 You will be asked for the key’s password, if present.

Windows

Windows requires the one-time installation of an SSH client and X11.

  1. Putty is the most popular (and free) SSH client available. Download and install the newest version.

  2. In order to view graphics from ManeFrame, you will also need to install an X-server. The most popular, again free, X11 implementation on Windows is Xming. To install Xming, download and install the newest versions of both the Xming X server and the Xming Fonts.

Once these two programs are installed, you can then log into ManeFrame II:

  1. Start the Xming program in the Start Menu. The Xming program runs from the System Tray.

  2. Start the Putty program in the Start Menu.

  3. In the Putty window:

    1. In the “Category” box:

      1. Scroll to the bottom and select “+” next to “SSH”.

      2. Select “X11”.

    2. In the “X11 forwarding” section, select “Enable X11 forwarding”.

    3. In the “Category” box, scroll to the top and select “Session”.

    4. In the “Host Name” field, type “m2.smu.edu”.

    5. In the “Saved Sessions” field, type “ManeFrame II (M2)”.

    6. Press “Save”.

    7. Press “Open”. Select “Yes” if you presented with a “Putty Security Alert” window.

    8. At the command prompt, type your username, which is the first part of your SMU email address, followed by enter.

    9. At the command prompt, type your SMU password followed by enter.

Setting Up Key-Based Authentication

  1. Open PuTTYgen.

  2. Press “Generate”.

  3. Move mouse around blank area in window as instructed until key has been generated.

  4. Select the “Conversions” menu and then “Export OpenSSH key”.

  5. Press “Yes” at the warning prompt.

  6. Select “Computer” and then the “U” drive under “Network Location”.

  7. Type “m2_ssh_key_private” for the file name.

  8. Press “Save”.

  9. Leaving the “PuTTY Key Generator” window open, open the PuTTY application.

  10. Type “m2.smu.edu” into the “Host Name” field.

  11. Press “Open”.

  12. Enter your SMU username (first part of your SMU email address).

  13. Enter your SMU password.

  14. At the command prompt type echo " (note the single double quote at the end).

  15. From the “PuTTY Key Generator” window, copy all the text in the “Public key for pasting into OpenSSH authorized_keys file:” section (select all the text, right-click, and select “Copy”).

  16. Select PuTTY window and right-click at the prompt to paste the copied text.

  17. At the command prompt type " >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys (note the single double quote at the beginning).

  18. Press the “Enter (return)” key.

  19. At the command prompt type exit to log out of M2.

  20. Close the “PuTTY Key Generator” window.

Accessing Files via SFTP

ManeFrame II has two separate file systems. The first, the “home” file system, contains user’s home directories (“~/”, “/users/$USER”, “$HOME”) and is what is seen when first logging into the system. The second, the “scratch” file system, is ManeFrame II’s high performance parallel file system (“/scratch/users/$USER” or “$SCRATCH”). The scratch file system is significantly larger and faster than the “home” file system and should be the file system used when running calculations. Files needed for running calculations or building software must be copied from your local computer to ManeFrame II. This is generally done using an SFTP client or the “scp” command where available.

SFTP Clients

There are several popular SFTP clients available and any file transfer client that supports SFTP will work with ManeFrame II. Several popular SFTP clients include WinSCP (Windows) and CyberDuck (Windows, macOS). These clients generally display two panes with the left side being your local files and the right side being your ManeFrame II files. When setting up access in these clients, SFTP must be chosen and your credentials will be your ManeFrame II credentials.

Users using SFTP clients such as Transmit and Cyberduck on macOS or Cyberduck and WinSCP on Windows will be prompted by the application for their password, if not saved, followed by a request for a Duo passcode or 1 for a Duo push. The passcode can come from the Duo app or from an OIT procured hardware token (faculty and staff only).

Reducing the Number of Duo Authentications

An initial SSH/SFTP connection to M2 can be reused for subsequent connections, which allows for multiple connections without being prompted by Duo repeatedly.

SSH

For those using OpenSSH (macOS, Linux, and Windows WSL), add the following to your local computer’s SSH ~/.ssh/config file:

Host *
  ControlMaster auto
  ControlPath ~/.ssh/sockets/ssh_mux_%h_%p_%r
  ControlPersist 600

Then make the sockets directory via mkdir -p ~/.ssh/sockets.

PuTTY

For those using PuTTY on Windows, check the box “Share SSH connection if possible” under “Category”; “Connection”; “SSH”; “Sharing an SSH connection between PuTTY tools.

Cyberduck

Cyberduck does not use SSH configurations, therefore the following setting can be used to enable connection persistence. Within Cyberduck:

  1. Select Edit, Preferences, Transfers, and then General.

  2. Under “Transfers”, use the “Transfer Files” drop-down to select “Use browser connection”.

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