Secure Network Access

Windows Software For Secure Access:

Login Shell Programs

File Transfer Programs

Mac OS X Software For Secure Access:

Open the Terminal application through Applications → Utilities → Terminal. From here you can use the ssh and scp commands as you would by following the Linux/Unix instructions.

Linux/Unix Software For Secure Access:

Login Shell Programs

To connect to the Courant servers from outside Courant, you need to first ssh to our access node. The command to do so is
ssh <username>@access.cims.nyu.edu
where username (without angle brackets) is your Courant username.

If you have an i6 class account, use the following command instead:
ssh <username>@i6.cims.nyu.edu

You will be asked to authenticate with your Courant password. You can then get to the compute server of your choice by executing
ssh <servername>.

For more information, execute man ssh from the command line.

File Transfer Programs

Using Putty: Some examples of commands

Connect to a host by adding the hostname you want to connect to. See our remote access servers for hosts available externally. When connecting you'll need to verify the host's identity.

Putty utilizes essentially the same commands as Unix does. Visit a UNIX tutorial page for information on navigating directories, copying, moving, and deleting files, etc. You can open text editors such as pico and vi.

Copying and Pasting from Putty to Putty

To copy and paste from one Putty screen to another, or within one Putty screen, simply move the cursor to the spot where you want to paste. After highlighting the text that you want to copy, just right click with your mouse. The text should now be pasted to where your cursor was.

Copying and Pasting to and from Putty and another Windows application

Highlight the text you want to copy, then press Ctrl + Insert. Move your cursor to where tou want to paste and press Shift + Insert. Your text should now be pasted.

Using PS-FTP: Some examples of commands

  • To log in: double click the icon. Then specify the server. For example: open access.cims.nyu.edu
  • Verify the Secure Connection
  • Note: When you use a file with spaces in the name (e.g. the cat.gif), the name must be enclosed in double-quotes. For example:
    get "the cat.gif" "the new cat.gif".
  • For help: type help or help <command name> for help on a particular command, e.g. help get
  • Use cd and pwd to change or display the path of your remote working directory (on the server).
  • Use lcd and lpwd to change or display the path of your local working directory (on the PC).
  • Use dir or ls to see a list of files in your remote directory.
  • Use del or rm to delete a file; e.g. del my_file.txt
  • Use mkdir to create a new directory on the server and rmdir to remove a directory.
  • Use ren to remotely rename a file.
  • Use ! to run local Windows commands. If any command line begins with the ! character, then the rest of the line will be passed straight to Windows without further translation. For example, if you want to rename an existing copy of a file on the PC before downloading an updated version, you would type psftp> !ren myfile.txt myfile.bak

To download a file from the server and store it on your local PC, you use the get command. In its simplest form, you just use this with a file name:
get myfile.dat

If you want to store the file locally under a different name, specify the local file name after the remote one:
get myfile.dat newname.dat
This will copy the file on the server called myfile.dat, but will save it to your local machine under the name newname.dat.

To copy a file to your server, you use the put command. In its simplest form, you just use this with a file name:
put myfile.dat

If you want to store the file remotely under a different name, specify the remote file name after the local one:
put myfile.dat newname.dat
This will send the local file called myfile.dat, but will store it on the server under the name newname.dat.