Connect and login

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Please note: Your physical or mobile token must be activated or enrolled before you can connect to an ALCF system.

Logins, or front-end nodes, are the nodes that users access through the SSH command when connecting to ALCF systems. These nodes allow for interactive activities such as editing files and compiling. The compute nodes are not directly accessible to the user, but are where users code is executed when submitted with the qsub command. Note that the hardware and operating systems of the login and compute nodes differ.

Follow the steps below to log in to ALCF systems (note that filesystems do not have login nodes. You can either use one of the compute login nodes or Globus to directly access data on the filesystems)

1. Open an SSH client (such as PUTTY).

2. To log into an ALCF system, enter the ssh command: 

ssh [username]@[system].alcf.anl.gov

3. If using a physical token, press the button on your CRYPTOCard to generate an eight-digit, one-time passcode. Enter the passcode onscreen, prepending it with your four-digit PIN.

If using a mobile token, enter your four-digit PIN in the mobile token application to generate a passcode. Enter the passcode onscreen.

4. Press Enter.