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Windows resources

Secure Connections

    PuTTY is a lightweight command line SSH client for Windows. If you want to access a text console on gauss (or any other machine where you can login via SSH) in order to use a text editor, move/copy files or run text-based applications, PuTTY might as well be all what you need. Download from here or search the Web for PuTTY, in case the link is gone.

    WinSCP is a GUI program for secure connections. Its important feature is a built-in text editor, which is suitable for editing files on a remote UNIX/Linux machine (your mail filtering/forwarding settings in .procmailrc, vacation message .vacation.msg, web files in public_html etc.). Download WinSCP from winscp.net. Choose “Explorer interface” option while installing. Upon connection to remote, navigate to folder/file of interest, right-click on it, choose Edit, make necessary changes, Save (floppy disk icon).

    Cygwin is a UNIX-like environment for Windows. It provides an impressive range of traditional open source GNU software: from cat, cp, tar and rsync to compilers, PERL, TeX/LaTeX and X Window graphical system. Cygwin comes with a GUI setup.exe utility, which lets you select what packages should be installed (or added later). SSH is provided in 'openssh' package. Cygwin home.

    Filezilla is a GUI program for both FTP and secure-FTP file transfers. Download from filezilla-project.org, install and lauch the program. Choose File > Site Manager > New Site. Configure secure FTP connection to gauss:

    Host: math.dartmouth.edu
    Servertype: SFTP - SSH File Transfer Protocol
    Logontype: Ask for password
    User: your username on gauss

    Click OK to save configuration or Connect to save and connect at once.

VPN

    Dartmouth VPN

    Computing Services' page.

    Math VPN

    1. Download executable OpenVPN Windows Installer from openvpn.net > Community Software. It should be of at least version 2.1.
    2. Start the installer you have just downloaded and proceed accepting all the defaults.
    3. Math VPN authentication requires Dartmouth certificates. Using a web browser:
      1. Get Dartmouth root certificate at https://collegeca.dartmouth.edu.
      2. Get your personal certificate at https://collegeca.dartmouth.edu.
      3. In Firefox go to Tools - Options - Advanced - Encryption - Certificates - View Certificates - Your Certificates. Select your certificate and click Backup. Back it up as C:\Program Files\OpenVPN\config\mydccert.p12.
        (“Backup” is a way of saving certificates as disk files.)
    4. Get Math VPN configuration file mathvpn.ovpn and place it in
      C:\Program Files\OpenVPN\config\.
    5. Start OpenVPN GUI by right-clicking on Applications > OpenVPN > OpenVPN GUI and choosing Run as administrator.
    6. Right-click on red OpenVPN-GUI icon in your taskbar and select Edit Config. Find the line starting with pkcs12 and make sure it is pointing to the certificate file you have just exported.
    7. Right-click on the red icon again and choose Connect. You will be prompted for a password, and the password is the one you created while exporting certificate. If Math VPN has been successfully created, red icon will turn into green.
    8. You can check whether your PC is indeed using the MathVPN by going to, for example, http://www.whatismyip.com. Your IP address should be reported as 129.170.28.43.
    9. To stop using VPN, right-click on the taskbar icon and select Disconnect.

Math Email

    If you have a Math Dept. user account (AKA “gauss username”), you also have an Math email account. Your Math email arrives at and can be sent from math.dartmouth.edu server. It can be accessed instantly and globally via Webmail. Most email client applications, including mobile, can be configured to use your Math account using these generic settings:

    • Mail server type: IMAP
    • Incoming server: math.dartmouth.edu, port: 143
    • Connection type/encryption: TLS
    • Username: your Math Dept. username
    • Password: for the username above
    • Outgoing/SMTP server: math.dartmouth.edu, port: 25

    Below are step-by-step instructions on how to add your mathusername@math.dartmouth.edu account to Thunderbird and Outlook.

    Thunderbird

    Tested with Thunderbird 3.1.9 / Windows 7 SP2

    1. Tools → Account Settings… → Account Actions → Add Mail Account…
      Your name: Your real name
      Email address: mathusername@math.dartmouth.edu
      Password: password for the above
      Continue — Thunderbird will probe servers and should detect correct connection settings:
          Incoming: math.dartmouth.edu  IMAP  143  STARTTLS
    Outgoing: math.dartmouth.edu  SMTP  25   STARTTLS
      If settings were detected correctly — click Create Account.
      Otherwise click Manual Setup and enter correct settings under Server Settings and Outgoing Server (SMTP).
    2. Tools → Account Settings…
      Server Settings: Advanced: IMAP server directory: mail
      Composition & Addressing: Uncheck “Compose messages in HTML format”.

    Outlook

    Tested with Outlook 2007 SP2.

    1. Tools → Options → Mail Setup → E-mail Accounts…
      E-mail → New…, select MS Exchange, POP3, IMAP, or HTTP
      Check Manually configure…
      Select Internet E-mail
      User Information:
      User Name: Your real name
      E-mail Address: mathusername@math.dartmouth.edu
      Server Information:
      Account Type: IMAP
      Incoming mail server: math.dartmouth.edu
      Outgoing mail server (SMTP): math.dartmouth.edu
      Logon Information:
      User Name: mathusername
      Password: password for the above

      Click More Settings…
      General tab:
      Check “Purge items when switching…”
      Outgoing Server tab:
      Check “My outgoing server (SMPT) requires auth.…”
      Select “Use same settings as my incoming mail server”
      Advanced tab:
      Incoming server (IMAP): 143
      …type of encrypted connection: TLS
      Outgoing server (SMTP): 25
      …type of encrypted connection: TLS
      Root folder path: mail
    2. Tools → Options → Mail Format
      Message format: Compose in…: Plain Text


Vacation Autoreply

  1. Start WinSCP. Connect to gauss using Math username and password.
  2. Edit autoreply message text:
    • Find .vacation.msg (viewing hidden files must be enabled, Ctrl+Alt+h)
    • Right-click on it, choose Edit, make any changes, save, close editor window.
  3. Enable autoreply:
    • Find .procmailrc
    • Right-click on it, choose Edit, find these two lines:
      #:0c
      #|/usr/bin/vacation username
    • Remove any leading # characters from both lines, save, close editor window.
  4. Send an email to yourself from another mail account as a test.
  5. To disable autoreply, edit .procmailrc and comment out the two lines by putting back # characters at the beginning of each line.


Backing up Your Files

    James Graham can help with backups of your Mac or Windows machine.


Making X Connections to Linux Machines

    We recommend using Cygwin/X. Cygwin installer can be downloaded from cygwin.com. After installation is comlete, start Cygwin and you should be presented with a command prompt window. Start X system by running startxwin.bat (supplied with Cygwin). An xterm window will appear where graphical X applications can be run, both local (type 'xclock' to test) and remote. To run X application on gauss type ‘ssh -Xl username@gauss appname’.


Printing

    Math printers can be accessed via Windows printing service on GAUSS. Drivers are provided automatically.

    Instructions for setting up Math Department printers in Windows 7

    1. From the Devices and Printers dialog choose Add a printer.
    2. Add a network, wireless or Bluetooth printer.
    3. A list of available printers will appear. Ignore the list and choose The printer that I want isn't listed.
    4. Choose Browse for a printer, click Next.
    5. Type "\\GAUSS" in the Printer field; Click on a printer to install. Accept Install driver, when prompted. Appropriate Windows driver files will be automatically copied to your PC.
    6. Next, Finish.



Postscript

    If you really want to view postscript files on Windows, then you will have to install ghostscript and ghostview. The main site is here.



Condor

    Installation

    1. Download “Current Stable Release” from www.cs.wisc.edu.
    2. Start the installer and click through usual “Next >” prompts. Here are the important ones:
      • Choose install type: Join an existing Condor pool.
      • Hostname of Central Manager: math-01.grid.dartmouth.edu.
      • Submit jobs to Condor pool: check.
      • Hosts with Read access: *.dartmouth.edu
      • Hosts with Write access: *.dartmouth.edu
      • Hosts with Administrator access: $(FULL_HOSTNAME).
    3. Restart Windows. Condor service should start automatically. Installer should have also added several exceptions to Windows firewall (service names starting with “condor_”).
      N.B.: Condor can be started/stopped from the Command Prompt by, for example, “net start condor”. For some reason stopping/restarting fails when attempted from Control Panel - Administration Tools.
    4. Check whether Math Condor pool is accessible (Command Prompt):
          c:\condor\bin\condor_status
      Response should be similar to this: 
          Name               OpSys  Arch   State     Activity LoadAv Mem   ActvtyTime
    
    slot1@math-01.grid LINUX  X86_64 Unclaimed Idle     0.020  1024  0+03:25:04
    slot2@math-01.grid LINUX  X86_64 Unclaimed Idle     0.000  1024  5+23:27:12
    slot1@math-02.grid LINUX  X86_64 Unclaimed Idle     0.000  1024  0+03:05:04
    slot2@math-02.grid LINUX  X86_64 Unclaimed Idle     0.000  1024  6+00:41:04
    slot1@math-03.grid LINUX  X86_64 Unclaimed Idle     0.000  1024  1+03:05:24
    slot2@math-03.grid LINUX  X86_64 Unclaimed Idle     0.030  1024  0+03:05:05
    ... ... ...

    Job Submission

    Jobs are submitted by preparing a so-called “submit” file and then issuing a command: 

        c:\condor\bin\condor_submit <submit-file>
    Here are some examples of job submission files.