Accessing Computer Science and Math Linux Data on a Non-HWS Computer

HWS offers Linux lab computers for many Computer Science and Math courses. When using these computers, your home directory and the classes directory are universally accessible on all of the lab computers. However, there are times where you may need to copy files to the lab environment, or retrieve files from it when using a non-HWS computer. This article explains how to do that.

There is a server that you can connect to which is also connected to the home and classes directories. Via this server you can SSH (interactively run terminal commands) and SCP (copy files).

SSH from a Windows Computer

To SSH from a windows computer, you will need an SSH client, such as Putty.

To Download and Install Putty:

1. In a web browser, navigate to the Putty download page
2. Under package files, click on the correct installer for your system (If you are unsure, then select 64-bit x86)
   
3. Find the downloaded file and install the application
    

To SSH to the server using Putty:

1. Open the Putty application on your computer
2. In the Host Name Field, enter csmath-terminal.hws.edu
   
3. Click Open
4. If you receive a Key notification, click Accept
5. At the login as prompt, enter your HWS user name and press enter
6. At the Password prompt, enter your HWS Password and press enter
7. When you are done, you can log off the SSH session by typing exit and pressing enter

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To SSH From a MacOS or Linux Computer

1. Open the Terminal application
2. Enter the command ssh username@csmath-terminal.hws.edu. Replace "username" with your HWS user name
   Example: ssh ab1234@csmath-terminal.hws.edu
3. If you receive a key notification, type yes and press enter
4. At the password prompt, enter your HWS password and press enter
5. When you are finished, log off by typing exit and pressing enter

To SCP from a Windows Computer

To SCP from a Windows computer, you will need to use a client, such as WinSCP.

To Download and Install WinSCP:

1. In a web browser navigate to the WinSCP download page
2. Click the download WinSCP link
3. Find the downloaded file and install the application

To Transfer Files using WinSCP:

1. Open the WinSCP application
2. In the Host name field enter csmath-terminal.hws.edu. In the user name field, enter your HWS User name. In the Password field, enter you HWS password
3. Click login
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4. If you receive a key warning, click yes.
5. When WinSCP connects, you will be presented with the file systems of your computer (left), and the server (right). You can drag and drop files to copy them between the two.
   To navigate to the /classes directory, you can use the up arrow to go up levels in the directory tree.
    
6. When you are done, you can close the application and click Yes at the prompt

SCP from a MacOS or Linux Computer

You can SCP individual files or folders using a single command.

1. Open the terminal application
2. The structure of the SCP copy command is: scp <source file> <destination directory>
   Whether the HWS Linux environment is the source or destination, it must be formatted as: username@csmath-terminal.hws.edu:/path/to/file
   
   Example of copying a file from your computer to the HWS Linux environment
   scp /home/username/file.txt ab1234@csmath-terminal.hws.edu:/home/ab1234/Desktop
   
   Example of copying a file from the HWS Linux environment to your computer
   scp ab1234@csmath-terminal.hws.edu:/home/ab1234/Desktop/file.txt /home/username/
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3. If you receive a key notification, type yes and press enter