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Login to the Bianca console environment using SSH keys

There are multiple ways to log in to Bianca.

This page describes how to log in to Bianca using a terminal and an SSH key pair.

1. Get inside SUNET

When inside SUNET, one can access a Bianca console environment using SSH and SSH keys.

Forgot how to get within SUNET?

See the 'get inside the university networks' page here

This is considered a bit harder to setup, but one only needs to type one password to login to Bianca. If you don't mind typing your UPPMAX password twice, an easier setup is log in to the Bianca console environment with a password.

2. Use ssh to log in

From a terminal, use ssh to log in:

ssh -A [user]-[project name]@bianca.uppmax.uu.se

For example:

ssh -A sven-sens2023598@bianca.uppmax.uu.se
How does it look like when outside of SUNET?

Here you can see how this looks like when outside of SUNET.

Spoiler: quite dull, as nothing happens until these is a timeout.

Why no -X?

On Rackham, one can use -X:

ssh -X username@rackham.uppmax.uu.se

However, on Bianca, this so-called X forwarding is disabled. Hence, we do not teach it :-)

3. Type your UPPMAX password and 2FA

Type your UPPMAX password, directly followed by the UPPMAX 2-factor authentication number, for example verysecret678123, then press enter. In this case, the password is verysecret and 678123 is the 2FA number.

4. You are in

Enjoy! You are in! To be precise, you are on a Bianca login node.

How to behave on a login node

On a login node, one can and should do simple things only: it is a resource shared with all other users on that node.

If you need to do more intense calculations, use the Slurm job scheduler.

If you need to do more intense calculations interactively, use an interactive node.

In a Bianca console environment:

  • Text display is limited to 50kBit/s. This means that if you create a lot of text output, you will have to wait some time before you get your prompt back.
  • Cut, copy and paste work as usual. Be careful to not copy-paste sensitive data!
Why does one need two passwords?

The first password is needed to get into the shared Bianca environment. This password contains both an UPPMAX password and an UPPMAX 2FA number.

The second password is needed to go to the login node of a project's virtual cluster.

flowchart TD

    %% Give a white background, instead of a transparent one
    classDef node fill:#fff,color:#000,stroke:#000
    classDef focus_node fill:#fff,color:#000,stroke:#000,stroke-width:4px

    subgraph sub_bianca_shared_env[Bianca shared network]
      bianca_shared_console[Bianca console environment login]
      bianca_shared_remote_desktop[Bianca remote desktop login]
      subgraph sub_bianca_private_env[The project's private virtual project cluster]
        bianca_private_console[Bianca console environment]
        bianca_private_remote_desktop[Bianca remote desktop]
        bianca_private_terminal[Terminal]
      end
    end

    %% Shared subgraph color scheme
    %% style sub_outside fill:#ccc,color:#000,stroke:#ccc
    %% style sub_inside fill:#fcc,color:#000,stroke:#fcc
    style sub_bianca_shared_env fill:#ffc,color:#000,stroke:#ffc
    style sub_bianca_private_env fill:#cfc,color:#000,stroke:#cfc

    %% Shared Bianca
    bianca_shared_console --> |UPPMAX password|bianca_private_console
    bianca_shared_remote_desktop-->|UPPMAX password|bianca_private_remote_desktop

    %% Private Bianca
    bianca_private_console---|is a|bianca_private_terminal
    bianca_private_remote_desktop-->|must also use|bianca_private_terminal