MobaXterm

MobaXterm is Wharton Research Computing’s preferred Windows SSH (and SFTP, and VNC) client. It’s simple, easy and generally set up the right way out of the box for use in our environment.

Installing

  • Go to The MobaXterm Website, and browse to the Download Tab, then choose the Free Home Edition (we support this), and finally download the MobaXterm Installer (installer edition), either to your Desktop or Downloads folder.
  • Locate the file in your system, and double-click to install. All defaults are desirable.

Connecting with SSH to HPCC via MobaXterm

  • Start MobaXterm
  • In the console window that opens, type ‘ssh username@hpcc.wharton.upenn.edu<ENTER>’, where username is your Wharton username (mine is ‘hughmac’)

  • You will be prompted for a password. This is your Wharton password

Using SSH Keys (totally optional)

SSH Keys will allow you to login to the cluster without entering a password. In the MobaXterm console window, type:

ssh-keygen
# you will see:
Generating public/private rsa key pair.
Enter file in which to save the key (/home/mobaxterm/.ssh/id_rsa):
Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase):
Enter same passphrase again:
Your identification has been saved in /home/mobaxterm/.ssh/id_rsa.
Your public key has been saved in /home/mobaxterm/.ssh/id_rsa.pub.
The key fingerprint is:
17:84:90:36:30:9d:90:1b:c1:59:49:69:b7:b7:bc:b0 hughmac@hughwin701
The key's randomart image is:
+---[RSA 2048]----+
| .=X+* .. |
| =.X o. |
| = o .. |
| . . .. |
| So.. |
| ..o |
| o . |
| E . |
| |
+-----------------+

Now you’re ready to tell the server that your new key is ‘authorized’ to log into hpcc.wharton.upenn.edu without a password:

cat /home/mobaxterm/.ssh/id_rsa.pub
ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAADAQABAAABAQCrsnTzbh6ONjQwlhDw50IwbqEsnM5H54b9eIWasdfl9w345laskdjfalskej54masdfvI028w2VXIqE3Zr1kTNSzj6QL1PnR9z9J7FQYtjXq0H1CRYZ01ii71fboEUi58wMpTE25zIA7Pa58bEaw355WMaRE2Unasd343khHEI+HzCfeQm/91cPjwTsvXr8rt1emOpsq1TNEz+TOSM91s3pK74aBxNdUvhu24bW5CgnIgkK+FCjV hughmac@mypc

Copy (select with mouse, Ctrl-Insert) that whole line, including the ‘ssh-rsa’ and the ‘hughmac@mypc’ (or whatever your ‘comment’ says).

Log onto hpcc.wharton.upenn.edu (see Connecting With SSH to HPCC via MobaXterm, above), and once at the hpcc.wharton.upenn.edu console, type:

echo 'ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1...dkdk3 hughmac@mypc' >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

Make sure you use your key, Copied above. So that’s:

echo 'PASTE(Shift-Insert)' >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

Exit (‘exit’ or ‘logout’) of HPCC, and try sshing in again: you should no longer need a password.