Introduction

Access to the systems is via a text terminal in which the program ssh can be run. If you are on Linux, Mac OS X or Windows 10 (version 1809 or later) no additional software should be required. On Windows you can also use PuTTY or, particularly if you wish to start graphical applications, MobaXterm. To transfer data to and from the systems, scp or rsync are available on Linux and Mac OS X. Windows users can try WinSCP or another SCP client. Under both Windows and OSX Cyberduck can be used.

For all connection methods the IP address curta.zedat.fu-berlin.de must be used.

SSH

Access is only available via secure methods such as SSH and SCP.

Please note that the following will only work within the FU network. If you are outside the network, you need to set up a VPN connection (in German).

To connect to the HPC systems, the following command is used:

$ ssh <username>@curta.zedat.fu-berlin.de

e.g.

$ ssh schmidt@curta.zedat.fu-berlin.de

You will then be asked for the password for your FU account.  If you have any problems with this and want to contact us, please never send us your password.

If you want to start a program on the remote system which opens a window on your Linux computer under X, use the option -X. This also works on Mac OS X, but from Version 10.8 on the package XQuartz must be installed first.

X2Go

If you need access to a complete desktop on the HPC system, then it is possible to use X2Go.  Install the appropriate client for your computer or laptop and then start it.  You will need to create a new session using the following pieces of information:

• Host: login.curta.zedat.fu-berlin.de
• Login: schmidt (replace this with your user name)
• Session type: ICEWM

The other parameters may be left at their default values.

You should then be able to use this session to create a connection to a desktop on the HPC system.