Connecting on Windows#

Before you can connect to the HPC on a Windows computer, you’ll need to download a terminal program, such as MobaXterm or PuTTY. We recommend MobaXterm, as you can also use it for file transfer, whereas with other SSH programs, you would need a separate file transfer program.

To connect to cluster with MobaXterm#

  1. Open MobaXterm.

  2. Click Session, then click SSH as the connection type.

  3. In Remote Host, type login.discovery.neu.edu, make sure Port is set to 22, and click OK. (OPTIONAL: You can type your Northeastern username and password on MobaXterm, and it will save that information every time you sign in. If you opt to do this, you will be connected to Discovery after you click OK.)

  4. At the prompt, type your Northeastern username and press Enter.

  5. Type your Northeastern password and press Enter. Note that the cursor does not move as you type your password. This is expected behavior.

You are now connected to the cluster’s login node.

Watch this video to see how to connect to the cluster with MobaXterm. If you do not see any controls on the video, right-click on the video to see viewing options.

X11 on Windows#

If you use MobaXterm on Windows, X11 forwarding is turned on by default.

Tip

You can test to see if x11 forwarding is working by typing xeyes. This will run a small program that makes a pair of eyes appear to follow your cursor.