Installing and Using No Machine to connect to the Redhawk Cluster

Windows version

No Machine (also called NX) is a tool that can be used to connect to Miami’s Redhawk cluster when a

graphical interface is needed. This document outlines how to install and use No Machine on a Windows

computer

Download required files

Visit http://www.nomachine.com/download-client-windows.php to download the NX Client for

Windows:

NX Client download page

On the download page, download the NX Client for Windows along with the four additional downloads.

The currently available version of the NX Client is 3.5.

Install downloaded software

The NX Client package should be installed first. During the installation, all of the default options can be

used. Next, the add-on downloads should be installed. The nxfonts-75dpi package should be installed

first. For all of these installations, the default options can be used.

Initial Setup of NX Client

To setup a NX Client session to connect to the Redhawk cluster, run the “NX Client for Windows” using

either the desktop shortcut that was created during the installation process or by selecting it using the

Windows start menu.

Select “Next” to start the NX Connection Wizard.

Here, enter a name for the session in the “Session” box, enter “redhawk.hpc.muohio.edu” in the Host

box, and drag the slider at the bottom to “LAN” if you will be connecting from on campus. For other

connections select the type of connection – ISDN or ADSL are appropriate for a cable modem or DSL

connection. Access and changing this setting are discussed later in this document.

Click “Next” to continue with the setup.

Use the drop down option to change from the Linux desktop type from “KDE” to “Gnome”. (Note that

the KDE desktop can be used on the cluster, but all setup and testing for NX has been done using the

Gnome desktop.)

Click “Next” to continue with the setup.

Click “Finish” to complete the setup and create a desktop shortcut labeled with the session name

assigned in the first step.

NX will automatically start a new session using this connection.

Connecting to the cluster using the NX Client

You can start a new NX client session using the desktop shortcut or by using the Windows start button

to start the NX Client for Windows.

Enter you Miami unique ID in the “Login” field and enter your password in the “Password” field. Note

that the last login used may be filled in automatically.

Click “Login” to connect to the cluster.

As the connection is established, the NX window will show the progress.

Once a connection is established, the Linux desktop will display:

Working with the Linux desktop

To open a terminal session, right click on an empty part of the Linux desktop and select “Open

Terminal”. You can also start a terminal using the “Accessories” sub-menu on the “Applications” menu.

To start a file browser in the Linux desktop, double-click the home folder on the desktop or select a

location from the “Places” menu.

Other applications including file editors (Emacs and Gedit) and web browsers can be found under the

“Applications” file menu.

Connecting to other cluster nodes when using the NX Client

When connected to the cluster using the NX Client, if you need to connect to the interactive node of the

cluster using the “ssh c-0-0” command, no additional setup is needed to display graphical output from

commands executed on the c-0-0 node in your NX session.

If you wish to run an interactive batch job to connect to one of the cluster’s compute nodes, add the “-

V” option to your qsub command (for example “qsub –IV”) so that graphical output from the compute

node will be routed back to your session on the cluster head node and displayed in your NX session.

Ending your NX session

When you have finished working on the cluster you can choose to “disconnect” or “terminate” your

Linux desktop. If you disconnect your session, your Linux desktop and all open programs continue to

run. The next time you connect using the NX Client, you will re-connect to the running desktop. If you

choose to terminate your desktop, all running programs will be terminated and you will be logged out.

The next time you connect using the NX Client, a new desktop session will start.

Note that if your session is accidentally disconnected (for example, your PC crashes), your NX session

will be disconnected, and the next time you run NX, you will be re-connected to your previous session.

Also, the disconnect option will allow you to disconnect from a session and then re-connect to it from a

different computer.

Please note that when you disconnect from a session, it continues to run on the cluster head node, and

will consume a small amount of resources on this system, so if you do not plan on re-connecting to a

session within a few days, please go ahead and terminate the session.

To disconnect or terminate your session click the “X” in the upper right corner of the NX Client session:

A dialog box will open and ask if you wish to disconnect or terminate the desktop session. Click on a

button to select that option:

Changing your NX Configuration to accommodate a slower network connection

To access the NX Configuration settings for a stored connection profile, you must run the NX Client for

Windows. The NX installation process should have created a shortcut to this on your desktop:

Otherwise, it can be found in the NX Client for Windows program group using the Windows start button.

When the NX Client for Windows starts, make sure that the appropriate session name is selected, and

click on the configure button.

The configuration options will be displayed:

Drag the slider control in the “Desktop” section to change the settings related to the network

connection performance. When the slider is set for lower performance connections like “Modem”, the

NX client will automatically adjust communications between your PC and the cluster to reduce the

amount of network bandwidth that is used.

Click “OK” to return to the NX Client login screen where you can provide your password and connect to

the cluster. If you would like to create an additional NX Client profile – for example “Redhawk Modem”

- rather than changing the settings for an existing profile, run the “NX Connection Wizard” found in the

NX Client for Windows program group and repeat the steps described above to create a new connection

profile.