Linux Logins
Logins are required for terminal sessions or file transfers.
Accounts and Login Hosts
Logins require a Sociology Linux account. The three hosts listed below are available for login from anywhere. A login to any of these hosts always takes you to your Linux home directory.
login.soc.duke.edu - a general purpose login system for email, file transfers, editing, web page development and password management
paradigm.soc.duke.edu - the primary compute server for statistics and data management
verstehen.soc.duke.edu - the secondary compute server for statistics and data management
SSH Logins
Logins require use of SSH (Secure Shell) connections from your client PC to the Linux server host. SSH connections are encrypted and quite secure. SSH is a native facility on Mac and Linux desktops. Windows users must install an SSH client.
OIT provides several Windows SSH applications for this purpose. We recommend installation of F-Secure software. The F-Secure product installs two components. The F-Secure SSH Client provides a terminal function, and the F-Secure SSH FTP Client provides a file transfer facility.
Terminal logins provide a command line prompt. User commands are parsed and executed by an underlying shell program running on the Linux host. The shell is a rich command environment that can be customized and extended through user-written scripts. Typical use the prompt is to launch an application.
File transfer sessions are based on the Secure File Transfer Protocal (SFTP), which sets up an encrypted network connection between your PC and a Linux host. This is represented by a graphical interface, with browseable local [PC] and remote [Linux] directory structures in separate screen areas. Drag and drop file transfers are performed between your desktop and the Linux host.
Linux Graphics Display Facility
SSH cannot display graphical output (such as an interactive SAS or Stata session) from a Linux host. This requires a separate facility called an X-Windows server, to which SSH can hand off graphical output. X servers are native to Mac and Linux desktops, but not to Windows. OIT distributes a product called X-Win32 to fill this need.
There are several important X-Win32 considerations:
License Type: When installing X-Win32 on a remote desktop or a laptop, specify a node-locked license. A node-locked license allows you to use X-Win32 from any location without having to pre-load a VPN client. The node-locked license key is distributed with the X-Win32 installation materials from OIT, which includes a document explaining how to apply the key using the Activation Key method.
Annual License Renewal: X-Win32 licenses expire annually on December 31. Update your license in December from the OIT download site and install the latest version (if it differs from your current installation) to get the best performance and reliability.
SSH Tunnelling: After installing X-Win32, you must make sure your SSH terminal client is configured to ["tunnel"] X11 connections.
Login Specifics
When logging in from a Windows PC:
- Preload X-Win32.
- Load your SSH application.
- Select the connect option.
- Specify the desired host.
- Enter your userid and password to complete the login.
When logging in from a Mac or Linux PC:
- Open a terminal window.
When your PC login ID is the same as your Sociology userid, specify at the terminal prompt: ssh -Y <hostname>
where <hostname> is from the list above
When your PC login ID differs from your Sociology userid, specify at the terminal prompt: ssh -Y <userid>@<hostname>
where <userid> is your Linux userid and <hostname> is from the list above
The -Y permits forwarding of graphics to the X-server on your local machine. Omit this parameter when graphics are unneeded.