Logging In

Access to Gaea requires an RDHPCS account. Please review the Obtaining an Account page for details.

Obtaining an Account

User gets NEMS/Gmail account from sponsoring lab’s process. (Get this done before starting the Gaea account request process.)
User uses NEMS/Gmail (First.Last username and password) to access the RDHPCS Account Information Management system, or AIM
The principle investigator (PI) of project approves.
HR approves.
The Information System Security Officer (ISSO) approves.
The resource manager (RM) approves. This last is the system owner for e.g. Gaea, Hera, Jet, Niagara.
Automation and manual account creation processes proceed. If needed, an RSA fob is issued.

Note

NOAA RDHPCS systems use a long user name which is usually the same as your NOAA email user name. These pages frequently refer to this long user name as First.Last.

First Time Login

Access to most RDHPCS systems require a signed x.509 certificate. The first login attempt will generate a master certificate and send a request to have it signed. Users cannot fully log on to a system until that certificate is signed. It can take up to one business day for the certificate to be signed.

The prompt will ask you to create a passphrase. Create a minimum of three words pass phrase for your grid certificate. This only occurs if you did not already generate a passphrase. Confirm the passphrase. Once confirmed it will take up to 24 hours for the certificate to be processed. Once the certificate is processed, login using the regular login instructions.

Note

If your certificate is not processed in a timely manner, please contact support

Connecting

Connecting with a CAC

The preferred method to to access RDHPCS systems is to use the CAC bastion. This uses your CAC for authentication. This method requires the TECTIA SSH client. RDHPCS has obtained licenses for all RDHPCS users.

sshg3 host.url

When propted, enter your CAC PIN.

RDHPCS System	CAC Bastion URL
Jet	jet.princeton.rdhpcs.noaa.gov jet.boulder.rdhpcs.noaa.gov
Jet	jet.princeton.rdhpcs.noaa.gov jet.boulder.rdhpcs.noaa.gov
Gaea	gaea.princeton.rdhpcs.noaa.gov gaea.boulder.rdhpcs.noaa.gov
Gaea
Niagara	niagara.boulder.rdhpcs.noaa.gov niagara.princeton.rdhpcs.noaa.gov
Niagara
Hera	hera.boulder.rdhpcs.noaa.gov hera.princeton.rdhpcs.noaa.gov
Hera

Connecting with an RSA token

Users who do not have a CAC, or are connecting through a system that does not have a TECTIA client (e.g., Mac OS, Android, ChromeOS, etc.) will need to use the RSA bastion.

ssh host-url

When propted, enter your PASSCODE which consists of your PIN+RSA_CODE. The RSA_CODE is the 6-8 digit code from the RSA fob or RSA app.

RDHPCS System	CAC Bastion URL
Jet	jet-rsa.boulder.rdhpcs.noaa.gov jet-rsa.princeton.rdhpcs.noaa.gov
Jet
Gaea	gaea-rsa.boulder.rdhpcs.noaa.gov gaea-rsa.princeton.rdhpcs.noaa.gov
Gaea
Niagara	niagara-rsa.boulder.rdhpcs.noaa.gov niagara-rsa.princeton.rdhpcs.noaa.gov
Niagara
Hera	hera-rsa.boulder.rdhpcs.noaa.gov hera-rsa.princeton.rdhpcs.noaa.gov
Hera

Note

At the first connection with an RSA token, you will be prompted for a new PIN, which must be at least 6 alphanumeric characters.

Selecting a Node

Many RDHPCS systems allow users to select a specific host at login. After successful authentication at the bastion host, the output displays a list of available nodes, and then waits for 5 seconds. An example is below.

The gaea bastion host then displays the menu:

The RDHPCS destinations are:
Hostname            Description
rdhpcs01              RDHPCS head nodes
rdhpcs02              RDHPCS head node
rdhpcs03              RDHPCS head node

You will now be connected to OneNOAA RDHPCS: RDHPCS system.
To select a specific host, hit ^C within 5 seconds.

To select a specific host, press Control+C (^C) and enter the desired host. The last selected node will be the default node.

Note

After the 5 second wait, the bastion node will use a load balancer to select a node.

X11 Graphics

Users can use SSH X11 forwarding to open GUI-based applications (e.g., xterm, ARM Forge). This is typically done using an SSH option. For the TECTIA client sshg3 or OpenSSH-based clients, use the -X option:

gsissh -X host.url

or

ssh -X host.url

Other clients, like PuTTY, will have an option when configuring the host.

The base SSH X11 forwarding is typically slow. RDHPCS systems use X2Go for improved X11 performance. Some users have found it difficult to use X2Go. Please submit a support issue if you have issues using X2Go.

Note

Microsoft Windows users can use any of the X11 servers available for Windows. The SSH client will need to be configured to use the X11 server for forwarding X11.

SSH Port Tunnels

To allow users to easily transfer small files to and from the RDHPCS systems, the bastion configures SSH port-forwarding tunnels. To use these tunnels, the user must configure their local SSH client to create tunnels to/from the bastion.

See the Port Tunnel section of the Tectia page for details.