How to connect to UCI ICS Openlab

Openlab.md

Openlab

Openlab is a Linux server that ICS students can connect to and use for coursework.

Prerequisites

• Must be an ICS student at UC Irvine
• Know your ICS password
  • If you don't have one, active your ICS Account.
  • If you forgot, reset your ICS Password.

How to connect to Openlab

1. Connect to the UCI VPN
2. Open up your terminal
3. Type ssh ucinetid@openlab.ics.uci.edu (swap out “ucinetid” for yours)
4. It will ask for your password. This is your ICS Password, not your regular UCI password.

If your prompt looks something like this, you’re in!

ccarnaro@circinus-30 22:42:38 ~ 
$ 

How to add an SSH Key to Openlab

It is highly recommended to add an SSH Key to Openlab. With an SSH Key, you won't need to connect to the VPN or type in your password everytime you connect to Openlab.

1. Create an SSH Key (you can skip this if you already have one) $ ssh-keygen
2. Get your SSH Key and copy it to your clipboard $ cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub
3. Connect to Openlab using the instructions above.
4. Add your SSH Key to the list of Authorized Keys $ mkdir .ssh; echo "paste your ssh key" >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

Next time you SSH into Openlab, it should automatically use your SSH Key and you won't need to type your password!

[Optional] Create an SSH Config File

An SSH Config file makes it easier to connect to SSH hosts by allowing you to create settings for each host.

1. Create a file in your .ssh directory called "config".
2. Add the following to ~/.ssh/config. You can make the hostname whatever you'd like. I chose "ics".

Host ics
  User ucinetid
  HostName openlab.ics.uci.edu

Now you can connect to Openlab by simply typing ssh ics

Additional Resources

• How to create a website on Openlab
• What are SSH Keys

@natecodes it worked in 2022, so it should still work now!

Many networks (like ICS’s) are configured to expose SSH connections directly to the internet. This bypasses the need for a VPN.

PasswordAuthentication on the openlab cluster is universally disabled, set to no, so you are forced to use an ssh key.

There is a caveat, there is a matchhost clause that sets PasswordAuthentication: yes for clients with a uci.edu domain name or a VPN ip address.