ITTC Resources

ITTC Resources

Introduction

Welcome to the Information and Telecommunication Technology Center (ITTC).

Email

You can access your ITTC e-mail via IMAP, POP, or Webmail.

Webmail

Webmail allows you to access your e-mail using a web browser from any location in the world. You can use either Webmail or Webmail2. Webmail requires general authentication to access the login page. Please e-mail mailto:help@ittc.ku.edu to request the login and pass, if you do not already know it.

IMAP & POP

You can access your ITTC email through your favorite e-mail program using the secure IMAP or secure POP protocol.

• Incoming Configuration:

Server: mail.ittc.ku.edu
Type: IMAP (port 143 or 993) or POP (port 110 or 995)
Encryption: Required; This server requires an encrypted or secure connection using SSL or TLS.

• Outgoing Configuration:

Server: mail.ittc.ku.edu
Type: SMTP or SMTPS (port 25 or 465)
Encryption: Optional; This server provides optional encryption for sending email
Authorization: If you are outside of ITTC, SMTP-AUTH can be used for authentication, allowing you to relay mail from anywhere on the Internet. SMTP-AUTH requires a secure connection (SSL or TLS) using either the LOGIN or PLAIN authentication method.

Pine with IMAP

Historically Pine has accessed e-mail from the mail spool. In order to user IMAP, you need to reconfigure your ~/.pinerc as follows:

  user-domain=ittc.ku.edu
  smtp-server=mail.ittc.ku.edu/ssl/novalidate-cert
  inbox-path={mail.ittc.ku.edu/ssl/novalidate-cert/user=YOURUSERNAME}inbox
  folder-collections="imap mail" {mail.ittc.ku.edu/ssl/novalidate-cert}[]

If you want to store your sent mail in the same folder as Webmail, then reconfigure your ~/.pinerc as follows:

  default-fcc={mail.ittc.ku.edu/ssl/novalidate-cert}Sent

Wireless Access

A unsecure wireless network called "ITTC-guest" is available for all guests. The guest network should NOT be used by students. For all ITTC personnel, a secure WPA2 network is available. The network uses your username and password for authentication.

For Windows users, you can access the secure wireless by using the following settings (if available):

Network Name (SSID): ITTC-wpa2
Network Authentication: WPA2
Data Encryption: AES
EAP type: Protected EAP
Authenticate as computer when computer information is available: unchecked
Validate server certificate: unchecked
Authentication Method: Secure password (EAP-MSCHAP v2)
Automatically use my Windows logon name and password (and domain if any): unchecked
Domain: ITTCKU
Connect Even If the Network Is Not Broadcasting (SP3): checked

For OSX users, use the following settings:

Network Name: ITTC-wpa2
Wireless Security: WPA2 Enterprise
User Name: <your username>
Password: <your password>
802.1X Configuration: TTLS - PAP

For Linux users, please e-mail (help@ittc.ku.edu) for access.

Remote Access

Two methods are available for accessing the ITTC network from external machines. Neither is enabled by default; both are available only upon request .

SSH

ITTC maintains an SSH gateway, ssh.ittc.ku.edu, which allows indirect access to machines in Raymond Nichols Hall. To access Linux machines, one first logs into the ssh server, then connects to the intended Linux machine from there. For more information, see http://www.ittc.ku.edu/remote/ .

Forwarding Ports

The above link automatically generates configuration files for Windows clients; for Linux clients, ports can be forwarded easily from the ssh command line using the following syntax:

ssh -p62 -Y <username>@ssh.ittc.ku.edu -L <localport>:<ittchost>:<remoteport>

to forward arbitrary ports ("remoteport") on machines in Nichols Hall ("ittchost") so they appear temporarily to be ports ("localport") on your personal machine.

VPN

A VPN connection works as though the remote machine was fully a part of the ITTC network. Since this carries additional risks, VPN access is now available *ONLY* with administrative approval. More information is available at http://www.ittc.ku.edu/remote/ .

Testbeds

Reserving Machines

You can check out systems at https://testbeds.ittc.ku.edu/checkout/index.php

Using the KVM

Presently, this procedure is intended for Microsoft Internet Explorer on win.ittc.ku.edu (email mailto:help@ittc.ku.edu if you need a login account for win), and only for testbeds 100-116:

1. Visit http://raritan in a web browser.
2. You will get a warning about the site's security certificate. Click Yes to accept the certificate and proceed.
3. A popup window will ask you for a username and password. Enter "testbeds" as your username, and "ittc2006" as your password, and click "Login".
4. Upon successful login, the resulting window will show a list of available testbeds in the left pane. Double-click the name of one of these testbeds to connect.
5. You should see the video output for the selected testbed, and keyboard and mouse activity will be forwarded through the web interface to the remote machine.
6. If you lose the display at any time, "Auto-sense Video Settings" under the "Video" menu can often successfully re-detect the display parameters.
7. When finished with the display, simply close the window(s) for the remote display, and select "Logout" from the "Session" menu at the list of testbeds. The system will log you out if your session is idle for a while.

Please forward any questions to help@ittc.ku.edu

Using the Remote APC PDU

In a web browser, go to: "http://testbed-power.ittc.ku.edu". The login is "testbeds" and the password is "Ittc2007!". Once logged in, you will be able to power cycle any node on the 8 outlet PDU.

RCS

RCS stands for Revision Control System. ITTC currently uses two, cvs and subversion.

CVS

CVS stands for Concurrent Versioning System. The purpose of CVS is both to store the history of the changes that are made to source files and to keep all the source files relating to the same project in one easy-to-reach location. This is extremely useful in situations where multiple people are working on the same project and a number of modifications are made to the same file by different people.

All CVS repositories are located in "/projects/cvs". A symlink exists for all pre-existing repositories from their original location to "/projects/cvs/[repo-name]". All group and user persmissions on the cvs repositories is set to "cvsd:cvsd". Local access to the files in the cvs repositories will not be available. If users need to access files in the repository, they will have to access them through the pserver connection.

• A CVS Quickstart Guide has been created to help introduce users to cvs.

Subversion

Subversion is a free/open-source version control system. That is, Subversion manages files and directories over time. A tree of files is placed into a central repository. The repository is much like an ordinary file server, except that it remembers every change ever made to your files and directories. This allows you to recover older versions of your data, or examine the history of how your data changed.

A subversion server resides on the primary public ITTC webserver. In order to access the subversion repositories, you need to have a ITTC user account. In addition, you need to be added to the svn-writer group. Email helpdesk@ittc.ku.edu to request addition to this group.

• You can browse through the subversion repository of your choice by going to https://subversion.ittc.ku.edu/<repo name>.

• A SVN Quickstart Guide has been created to help introduce users to subversion.

ViewVC

ViewVC is a browser interface for CVS and Subversion repositories. It generates templatized HTML to present navigable directory, revision, and change log listings. It can display specific versions of files as well as diffs between those versions.

• You can find viewvc at https://viewvc.ittc.ku.edu/viewvc.

Filesystem ACLs

ACLs are Access Control Lists for files and directories and are an addition to the standard Unix file permissions (r,w,x,-) for User, Group, and Other. ACLs give users and administrators flexibility and fine-grained control over who can read, write, and execute files. This can all be done without adding additional Unix groups. A ACL Guide has been created to help introduce users to the ACL tools and provides examples of usage.

Compiling Matlab

Matlab under Linux has the capability to be compiled. Once it is compiled the program runs like any other program under linux.

Compiling Matlab Cluster

• Cluster Usage: NOTE: You will need a cluster account to accomplish this.

Before doing this make sure that your code has the capability to checkpoint. Check pointing is used to save data periodically to the local disk. This gives your program the ability to restart from the last iteration instead of having to start over.

  #>mcc -m test_function.m
  The above command will compile the matlab function into an executable with the same name.

  Create submission script Script Howto
  submit script to cluster
  #>qsub pbs_submit

Compiling Matlab Compute Intensive Systems

• Bit Bucket Usage: NOTE: This works on all Linux systems except freestyle and benchmark

Adding checkpoint capabilities to your code is a very good idea before proceeding to the next steps. Since the "bit buckets" are used other users and could possibly crash, having the ability to start from the last iteration will make your life easier.

  #>mcc -m test_function.m

• Running compiled program

  #>./test_function&

• 64-bit usage (including freestyle and benchmark)

  #>/tools/matlab2006b/bin/mcc -m test_function.m

• Running compiled program

  #>./test_function&