Labs
Lab Infrastructure Setup
Linux VM: Setting Up SSH

Linux VM: Setting Up SSH

Warning

If you are opening up the ssh port, then it is recommended that you change the password of the student user to something other than the default!

Bash
# To change the current user's password run:
student@hacs408e-vm ~> passwd

Get the IP address of your Linux VM.

Bash
student@hacs408e-vm ~> ip -c a

Navigate to https://ams.aces.umd.edu from a browser to get your jump box information.

Note

You will need to be on UMD’s Wi-Fi or connected to their VPN to access the site.

Setting up port forwarding is not necessary to use ssh to connect to your HACS408E VM. All you’ll need is the port number from the main page of the ACES management system.

SSH connect information for ACES class VM

The above picture shows:

  1. Your username for the ssh connection
  2. The port number used to connect to the ssh server running on your class VM

Try connecting to your VM:

With the above information you should be able to connect to your HACS408E VM:

Run in a Terminal
ssh -X -J <USERNAME>@vm.aces.umd.edu:<PORT> student@<HACS408E_VM_IP_ADDRESS>

Note

You will need to replace the following fields (including the angle brackets <>):

  • <USERNAME>
  • <PORT>
  • <hacs408e-vm_IP_ADDRESS>

This will prompt you for two passwords:

  1. The first sets up a connection to the jump box and this will be your normal UMD login password.
  2. The second connection is the one to your HACS408E VM and will be the password to the student account.

Here is an example walking through the connection:

Screenshot of a terminal setting up the variables mentioned above and connecting to the HACS408E VM over ssh.

The box in purple shows how to set envrionment variables corresponding to the fields mentioned above. These variables are then used in the ssh command to connect to the VM. The boxed in red show the places where you enter user input when connecting to the VMs for the first time. Make sure to enter the correct passwords for each username when prompted.

(Optional) Save settings in your ssh config:

$HOME/.ssh/config/
# This is the connection info for your AMS aces vm:
Host aces-vm
  HostName vm.aces.umd.edu
  User <USER>
  Port <PORT>
  ForwardX11 yes

# Fill in the ip address you got earlier here:
Host hacs408e-vm
  HostName <HACS408E_VM_IP_ADDRESS>
  User student
  ProxyJump aces-vm
  ForwardX11 yes

Note

You must fill in everything in brackets (<...>) in the above config file! Again, don’t forget to remove the angle brackets.

Bash
ssh hacs408e-vm

Tip

Check out the ssh-copy-id man page if you want to be able to automatically sign in as the student user without entering your password.

You will need to run ssh-copy-id for each ssh connection:

# Enter UMD password to copy private key to Aces class VM
ssh-copy-id -p $PORT lmains@vm.aces.umd.edu

# Enter `student` password to copy private key to HACS408E VM
ssh-copy-id -J lmains@vm.aces.umd.edu:$PORT student@hacs408e-vm

Viewing GUI Programs over SSH

You will need an X11 server running on your host machine to view GUI programs over ssh. Here are the recommended programs for each OS.

OSProgram
WindowsFree Option: MobaXTerm
MacOSFree Option: XQuartz
LinuxIf you set up your ssh config as above, you should be good to go! Otherwise, make sure to add -X when you ssh to the VM.
Windows VM: Setting Up RDP