Overview. Remote access and file transfer. SSH clients by platform. Logging in remotely

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1 Remote access and file transfer Overview Remote logins to Bio-Linux with ssh Running software from another machine Logging in from another machine Getting files on and off Bio-Linux Transferring files to and from a Bio-Linux machine Networked file systems and file-sharing Removable media (floppies and CDs) Backing up your data Logging in remotely SSH clients by platform To log in to your Bio-Linux machine from another machine, you need to use a Secure Shell (SSH) program. Secure Shell looks like telnet, but is secure - it uses encryption. How you access Bio-Linux remotely using SSH depends on what system you are logging in from. Windows: We recommend PuTTY ( It is a free, lightweight and capable SSH client. Mac Classic: MacSSH ( Mac OSX: Built in ssh at the command line Linux/Unix: OpenSSH ( is the Open Source ssh suite. It is installed on Bio-Linux by default.

2 Running graphical programs remotely You can run graphical programs remotely. If you want to launch graphical applications when logged in via ssh you will need to enable X11 forwarding You also need an 'X server' running on the local machine. For Windows, this probably means the Exceed package. Running the full desktop remotely What if you want a full Bio-Linux desktop to work with remotely? Simple: Just log in via SSH with X11 forwarding turned on and type the following command: gnome-session & You will get a full interactive Gnome desktop on your machine! It will be just like being on the Bio-Linux machine (but slightly slower!)

3 Working via SSH - summary Command line SSH basics Configuring a graphical SSH client is very easy You will need a username The IP address and/or hostname of the machine Some clients make you specify the SSH port (22 by default) If you want to use graphical applications over the ssh tunnel you will need to enable X11 forwarding, and have an X server running on the local machine. Logging into a machine using a SSH client from the command line is easy: ssh username@your.bio.linux.machi.ne To make sure X forwarding is turned on with OpenSSH ssh -X username@your.bio.linux.machi.ne (But the ssh on Bio-Linux does this by default) Getting data from remote machines - FTP Most likely you are familiar with FTP, eg. for downloading files off the Web. Mozilla can retrieve files from public FTP sites this is known as anonymous FTP. gftp is a good graphical FTP client which is part of the GNOME desktop. Getting data from remote machines - FTP Bio-Linux also has a command line FTP client. At a terminal type: ftp <hostname> You will be prompted for a username and password. You can also use wget to retrieve files with a single command wget ftp://ftp.ebi.ac.uk/pub/databases/swissprot/release/sprot42.dat wget

4 sftp SCP If the server supports it you should use sftp instead of FTP. sftp = secure FTP sftp <username>@<hostname> The rest of the commands are just like FTP Relies on sshd. scp also copies files between machines scp <filename> <username>@<host>:<dir> scp myfile.txt manager@biolinux.nox.ac.uk:docs Great for shunting single files around between Linux machines. This is a secure way to transfer files. WinSCP For getting files from Windows to Bio-Linux there is a great (free!) program called WinSCP It looks just like a regular windows file manager. You can drag and drop files to and from your Bio-Linux machine. Handles SCP and SFTP transparently

5 Using networked file stores Removable media You may have shared drives at your place of work. These may be NOVELL shares A novell client is available for Linux so you can access these. smbclient : allows you to access Windows Shares NFS : Bio-Linux can be easily set up to connect NFS shared drives. Ask us for advice on all of these! Bio-Linux reads 'regular' windows floppies see the FAQ for more details. You can write CDs use GCombust. CD-R cheap write-once very compatible CD-RW cheapish not compatible with older drives Zip buy a USB drive if needed Backing Up Data Looking after your /home The EGTDC cannot be held responsible for any loss of data on the Bio-Linux machines, be it from user error, hardware failure or software failure. Users are responsible for their own data The nominated system administrator should ensure all users of the system backup their data. Talk to your local support staff, and make use of networked backup facilities. Save your files to a floppy disk, if they fit, or else a CD. Save files to networked file stores. Use tar and bzip2 to compress your files into archives, saving space. Save backup copies of files in your home directory in case of accidental deletion.

6 Disaster recovery on Bio-Linux There is a built-in backup system in Bio-Linux. Once daily, an image of the primary hard drive is stored on the secondary disk. This is designed for disaster recovery in the case of hard disk failure, not for recovering individual files. The advanced course has more information.