You can use SSH (secure shell) to connect to the server. Windows users can use PuTTY and unix users can use OpenSSH (comes with all modern distributions)/
Connecting via Putty (Windows users):
You will need to connect to host “whiteout.sf.utas.edu.au”. Please see the attached flash file:
Putty is available from here as a small ready to use package.
Connecting via SSH (Unix users):
You will need ssh installed on your machine. Replace “$USERNAME” with your actual username
[$USERNAME@localmachine ~]$ ssh whiteout.sf.utas.edu.au -l $USERNAME
The authenticity of host 'whiteout.sf.utas.edu.au (131.217.9.3)' can't be established.
RSA key fingerprint is f0:89:38:1c:50:c5:98:6f:7e:0e:ab:57:18:86:1e:2a.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)? yes
Warning: Permanently added 'whiteout.sf.utas.edu.au,131.217.9.3' (RSA) to the list of known hosts.
Password:
Last login: Thu Aug 10 10:04:27 2006 from localmachine.utas.edu.au
$USERNAME@whiteout:~>
You have been given bash as your login shell, which is the most common default on Linux systems. If you wish to change your login shell you may do so using the “chsh” command.
Users may notice some differences in the options accepted by various commands (compared to other unix or linux machines), but for most purposes the system should be very similar to use.
To find out how to use a command try “man command”.
Finding help
man [command] - help on a command
man -k [keyword] – list of commands that contain that keyword
whatis [command] - quick one-liner about the command
Job control:
Job control allows you to suspend processes and continue at a later point, either in the foreground or in the background. To suspend a currently running foreground process, type CTRL-Z. You will return to the bash prompt.
Fg – run job in foreground
bg – run job in background
jobs – see list of jobs.
See also: % man bash -> JOB CONTROL
Directories and files:
cat – print files
less – view files a page at a time
more – view files a page at a time
diff – show differences between two files
du -h – show disk usage of a file/directory
ls – list directory contents
mkdir – create a directory
cd ~ / .. . - change directory
tail – show the end of a file
vi – visual editor
strings – show only the strings in a file (useful for binaries)
tar – a file archiver
chmod – change file permissions
rm – remove a file
cp – copy file
mv – move a file
Finding files:
locate – search for a file from system database
find – search for a file based on selection criteria
grep – search contents of a file
egrep – search contents of a file
Shells and Terminals:
ssh – secure shell into another system
xterm & - open a graphical terminal
gnome-terminal & - open a graphical terminal
bash – open a shell
exit – exit a shell
history – show history of commands
Limts on account
ulimit -a – display current shell account limits
quota $USERNAME - find file quotas for a user
Task management
top – display top linux tasks.
ps aux – list of all processes
User management
passwd – change your password
who - who is on the system at the moment.
last – last login times
whoami – who are you currently logged in as.
chsh – change your local shell
Internet access
wget – download a file from the internet (need to set http_proxy)
scp – secure copy of files
mozilla & - graphical web browser
Other references:
apac unix userguide
bash manual
Linux Commands
% man bash
hpc unix guide
howtos
