Getting access to NeoLab-Server 1

• Write to incharge (Krishna B) and get the your username added to the server. Receive username and password.
• Install MobaXterm on your Windows machine if you are using one. In linux you need to do nothing
• Open MobaXterm and start a new SSH session with ip address: 10.220.80.212 and port 22. In the advanced settings ensure that the X11 forwarding is active. For linux, login using ssh -Y username@10.220.80.212
• Enter the username and password received by you.
• Once logged in, you are inside and you can access all the files and softwares

Installation of SIESTA 4.1.5

This was a effort to do it. So I am logging the information here. Most of the things were taken from the installation manual as well as the link provided here: https://github.com/bgeneto/siesta-gcc-mpi.

• Do not use the github distribution. It never worked. Get the one from the launchpad site.
• First install all the dependencies. Install special openblas and scalapack from source into a custom location. This was suggested by these folks. Not sure if its of any help. Also install python2 since the scalapack_installer will only work on python2!
• You need to install the flook and netctl using the scripts provided. The scripts were present in Docs/install_xxx.bash
• Copy what was printed out after the installation into the arch.make file you will be using
• Installed the lapack, openblas and scalapack from sources. They need to be installed separately to have an efficient calculation. They are all installed in /opt/Siesta/openblas and /opt/Seista/scalapack. I am attaching here the most important arch.make file for the ease of installation the next time.
• One thing I needed to solve was the location of scalepack. Look at the arch.make attached. Things will be clear
• Finally, read the installation manual of the siesta webpage
• The compilation will fail for gcc 10+, to solve this, you need to FFLAGS += -fallow-argument-mismatch

Using VNC Viewer with the Server 1

VNC viewers are excellent tools to have a desktop access to server, in contrast to the command line one. VNC viewers will permit every user to permenantly have his own private desktop on a server such that any window opened/script run will always be active. They can close the viewer, but the desktop will remain active.

Remember, this is an alternative to mobatermX, wherein, you use command line to interface with the server, and you can have the server display softwares directly to your windows desktop. Choose which ever method you want to use

The steps to use vncserver is presented below. You need to do this only once. Subsequently, you only open the viewer software and the desktop will be available.

• In windows, you need two softwares. (1) putty and (2) vncviewer (any thing will do, realvnc,tightvnc, tigervnc and such)
• Open putty software in windows 11.
• Login to the server by entering the IP: Eg: 10.220.80.218
• Enter the uname and pass
• type the following commands
• vncserver
• if you are using for the first time, it will ask for a password: remember what you give
• vncserver -kill :1
• cp /home/krishna/.vnc/xstartup .vnc/
• chmod +x ~/.vnc/xstartup
• vncserver
• Close the putty window

Do the following everytime you want to use the vncviewer. If you are in windows 11, you can use the built-in powershell. Else, It is possible you save these configurations in putty

• if you are on win 11, open powershell and type: ssh -L 5901:localhost:5901 uname@serverip
• Else Open putty software
• enter the server IP: eg: 10.220.80.218 in the main connection tab
• Open the ssh tab on the left side of putty window (press the + sign) and click on tunnel
• Enter in the source port: 5901 and in the destination port: localhost:5901
• press open button below
• open the vncviewer software (say realvnc) and type the address as : localhost:1

Thats it. This should work. As long as the putty is connected to the server with the ssh tunnel, the vncviewer should happily work.

Using VNC in Neoslab-TCAD1

The TCAD server currently housed in MGGP has a much newer VNCSERVER. The setup is slightly simplified.

• Contact the adminstrator and get a display number associated to the user
• If the display number is x, then login to server: ssh -L 590x:localhost:590x username@10.198.80.68
• If using vnc for the first time, type vncserver and set up the password
• If you have already set the password, do not start vncserver again by typing vncserver
• Open any vncserver and connect to your session by typing localhost:590x