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Using the Cygwin X Windows Client with the HPCMP Kerberos Kit

This document describes how to download and install a free X Windows client known as Cygwin for MS Windows machines. Cygwin is compatible with the HPCMP Kerberos kit. 

Contents

Downloading and Installing Cygwin

Cygwin is a Linux-like environment that runs on Windows PCs.   An X11 client is available within the Cygwin distribution, allowing you to run many X windows applications remotely from a Windows machine. The following steps cover downloading and installing the Cygwin software.

  1. Download the Cygwin setup.exe executable from www.cygwin.com
  2. Run the setup.exe executable.  This will prompt you to select a download method.   'Install from Internet' usually works well if you are currently connected to the internet.



  3. Select a mirror to download the packages.
  4. Set the 'Root Directory', 'Install For' and 'Default Text File
    Types'.  Choose the defaults if you have no preference.



  5. In the 'Select Packages' dialog box, select 'xterm' under the 'X11' category.  This will include all of the necessary dependencies for the X11 client including the Cygwin base requirements.  You might also check through the other options to see if there are any you would like to download. If you select the minimum set of tools to support X11, the total installation will require less than 200 MB of disk space.

    Select the 'X11' category


    Select the 'xterm' package

  6. Once you have selected all of the packages to download, select 'Next'.
  7. The last step will allow you to create Cygwin shortcuts on the start menu and desktop.  If you choose to not create a shortcut, you can start Cygwin by running cygwin.bat in the Root Directory (C:\cygwin by default).

Connecting with the HPCMP Kerberos Kit

The HPCMP Kerberos kit can be obtained from https://www.hpcmo.hpc.mil/security/kerberos/
Follow the download and installation instructions found on the HPCMP Kerberos kit webpage.

  1. To connect with the HPCMP Kerberos Kit, first start Cygwin.  You can use the shortcut from step 7 above if you created one.  If not, there will be a batch file called cygwin.bat in the 'Root Directory' (default is C:\cygwin)
  2. The script 'startxwin.sh' will start the X11 client. If the X11 server does not start automatically, try typing 'startx' at the prompt.



  3. Obtain a ticket by executing the krb5.exe file.  




  4. Once you have a ticket, open Putty.   Click on the 'Session' tab under the 'Category:' tree on the lefthand side of the putty window.  Enter a 'Host Name' and verify that the 'SSH' option and port 22 are selected.



  5.  Under the 'X11' tab, check the 'Enable X11 forwarding' box.  Type 'localhost:0' in the 'X dislplay location', then click 'Open'.  The terminal window that opens will support X11 applications.



  6. To verify that X is working properly, try starting 'xclock' or your favorite X11 application on the machine you just connected to.


More Information

 

Arctic Region Supercomputing Center
PO Box 756020, Fairbanks, AK 99775 | voice: 907-450-8600 | email: info@arsc.edu

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