Configure SSH for easy access to DEV machines

Table of contents

Setting up SSH configuration
Forwarding a port (tunneling)
Remote coding in Visual Studio Code

Please follow this guide: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1C3IK38d5XiEIafktjJ6LxXVFMrj77unXm_9VAjGe3Ww/edit?usp=sharing
Annotated video: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ue1g0i24kpaco4g/setting_up_ssh_vscode_remote_matlab_editing_executing.mp4?dl=0

Setting up SSH configuration

The following should be set up on a local machine.

Create an SSH config file like below and save in ~/.ssh/config file. On Windows machines, ~ corresponds to C:\Users\<your_name>\ directory, so you should create the file C:\Users\<your_name>\.ssh\config. Note that the file name does not have any extension like .txt.

Replace <campusid> with your GSU username in all the commands/configs below.

# for dev node access
host arctrdgndev101
	hostname arctrdgndev101.rs.gsu.edu
	user <campusid>

# for login node/SLURM access
Host arclogin
    HostName arclogin
    User <campusid>
    ForwardAgent yes
    CertificateFile ~/.ssh/id_<campusid>-cert.pub
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_<campusid>

Now run the following command to create SSH keys:

$ ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -f id_<campusid>

On Mac, add the key to your ssh-agent:

ssh-add -K ~/.ssh/id_<campusid>

It may complain that the option is deprecated, in which case try this instead:

ssh-add --apple-use-keychain ~/.ssh/id_<campusid>

Copy the key to the server:

$ ssh-copy-id -i id_<campusid> arclogin

If ssh-copy-id is not available in your local machine, open the file ~/.ssh/authorized_keys on the cluster manually, and append the content of your public key ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub on your local machine to it.

Test the configuration, you should now be able to login without having to type password:

$ ssh -XY arctrdgndev101
$ ssh -XY arclogin

Forwarding a port (tunneling)

Update the ssh config like below to forward a port:

host arctrdgndev101
    HostName arctrdgndev101.rs.gsu.edu
    user <campusID>
    LocalForward <port> localhost:<port>

Remote coding in Visual Studio Code

Install VS Code and then the Remote Development plugin. Make sure the above configuration is working. Then go to the “Remote Explorer” tab to the left panel of VS Code and connect to arctrdgndev101.