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Linux CIM
SSH Alias
You can easily create an SSH alias to make it easier and more convenient to connect to the Linux servers. 👎 Normally, you'd authenticate to the Linux servers as such:
ssh USERNAME@linux.cim.rhul.ac.uk
👍🌟 By creating an SSH alias, all you have to type in is this:
ssh rhul
To do this, you'll need to modify your ssh config. (~/./ssh/config) Make sure to create it doesn't exist, then append the following to the file, replacing USERNAME with your RHUL username (e.g: ZLAT262 or similar)
Host rhul
User zlac218
HostName linux.cim.rhul.ac.uk
That's it! You can now access the Linux server by just typing in ssh rhul ✨
Want to be able to login without typing in your password everytime? See the next section 😜
SSH Authentication
Using SSH public key authentication is more secure and more importantly -- means you don't have to type in your password everytime you authenticate to the CIM servers!
To generate a new SSH keypair, you can run the following command on Linux:
ssh-keygen
Once you have your keypair saved, you can upload it to the Linux servers using the following command, replacing USERNAME with your username:
ssh-copy-id USERNAME@linux.cim.rhul.ac.uk
You can confirm the SSH key has been added by authenticating to the server. If it doesn't ask you for your password, it's all set!
Accessing Linux server off-campus in the evening
The RHUL Linux machines aren't able to be accessed off-campus in the evening due to security reasons. To circumvent this, you can connect to the RHUL VPN by following this guide. The following information in this section is copied verbatim from that guide.
On Linux, download and install this file to connect to the VPN.
On Windows, follow these instructions to download and install the VPN:
- Open your web browser and visit https://student-vpn.royalholloway.ac.uk. Please note that you must use 'royalholloway' and not 'rhul'
- Log in using your university username and password
- Download and open the installer for your operating system
- You will be guided through the process to install GlobalProtect. Leave all of the options as the default and complete the process with the installer wizard
- Once GlobalProtect has been installed open the app
- The app will ask you for a Portal address. Enter student-vpn.royalholloway.ac.uk in the box and press Connect
- You will be prompted to log in. You will need to use your university email address (username@live.rhul.ac.uk format, e.g. abcd123@live.rhul.ac.uk) to access the university’s virtual private network (VPN). Enter these details, and press Sign In
- Follow the instructions here to sign in with MFA.
Change resolution and display settings on NoMachine
xfce4-display-settings
Change default shell on the terminal
On most Linux systems including the CIM servers, bash is used as the default shell. Normally you'd use the chsh command to do this, however this is locked down by CIM for security reasons.
You can bypass this by modifying your ~/.profile then relogging in. For example to change the default shell to zsh:
export SHELL=/bin/zsh
exec /bin/zsh -l
Adding new fonts on NoMachine
To add new fonts, for example for use on Visual Studio Code or Eclipse, you'll need to add the font (.ttf or .otf) to your ~/.local/share/fonts directory. Then, run this command to refresh your font cache:
fc-cache -f -v
Restart the application and you should be good to go!
Accessing the filesystem through Dolphin
You can access the Linux CIM server in Dolphin by using the fish server. To test this, access this protocol in Dolphin, replacing USERNAME with your username (e.g: ZLAT262):
fish://USERNAME@linux.cim.rhul.ac.uk:22
You can add this as a remote directory in your Dolphin places panel by right clicking on Remote, pressing Add Entry and adding as such: