Accessing the System

The platform can be accessed in a number of ways:

  1. Physical access

  2. Remote access within the Douglas

Physical Access

Physical access to a suite of workstations is available inside the Douglas CIC, contact the CIC Administrative Assistant (Louis Théroux) louis.theroux.comtl@ssss.gouv.qc.ca for keycard access.

Remote Access within the Douglas

All platform hardware is accessible within the Douglas Research Centre network via ssh. The main user server is available at cicus03, the storage server at cicss05 and workstations are available in the range cicws[01..48] and dnpws[01..12].

Playing nice

Neuroinformatics workstations all allow for multiple simultaneous users, please make a best effort to choose a workstation not already being used by others.

The command who can list currently logged-in users, while htop will show a graphical display of the current state of CPU and Memory utilization.

In general, fewer users is better, as well as low CPU and memory utilization (represented by the length of the horizontal coloured bars in htop)

Graphical Access

In addition to shell access on workstations via SSH, access to a full graphical desktop is available via X2GO which rides on SSH. Install the local client, create a connection to a workstation and specify the LXDE desktop type for a minimal-graphical-features remote desktop with features equivalent to sitting at a workstation.

Connecting via VS CODE

To use VS Code’s Remote-SSH feature to connect to internal hosts, it is imperative that you avoid connecting directly to cicus03.

Notes on Connecting via the Gateway

When connecting to the gateway directly, you are automatically redirected to cicus03.
To access a different host (e.g., cicws01), you must use the jump host flag (-J) and explicitly specify the desired destination in your SSH command.

Please follow these steps to properly configure VS Code’s Remote SSH extension:

  1. Open Visual Studio Code

  2. Press F1 (or Ctrl+Shift+P) to open the Command Palette

  3. Type and select: Remote-SSH: Connect to Host... Alt text

  4. Click on: Add New SSH Host... Alt text

  5. When prompted, enter the following command:

    ssh yourUserName@cicWorkstation

    OR

    ssh -A -J yourUserName@GatewayHost:portNumber yourUserName@cicWorkstation

Important

Replace yourUserName, GatewayHost, and portNumber with your desired values.

  1. Select a file to store this configuration to. Alt text

  2. Click on the Open a Remote Window icon located at the bottom left of the editor. Alt text

  3. Select Connect to Host… Alt text

  4. When prompted, select Linux as the platform, and answer fingerprint and password prompts. Alt text

  5. You can verify that you are connected to a host in the bottom left-hand corner. Alt text