Computer Science

Keck Lab How-To

The Keck Computer Science Lab serves as the hub for almost all LMU Computer Science activity. It is not only a physical computer laboratory, but also a full-fledged enterprise network infrastructure based on the latest standards and open source services. This page provides a guide for using many of the lab’s features.

File Transfer

Every Keck lab account comes with a home folder or directory, similar to the home folders and directories provided by other operating systems. Within the Keck lab infrastructures, the home directory is directly available on all Linux workstations. In addition, secure access to home directories and the rest of the Keck lab file system is available through the standard scp and sftp protocols.

Linux Workstations

Files can copied to and from the home folder when physically logged in to a Keck lab Linux workstation. A convenient file transfer mechanism is through a flash or thumb drive; insert your flash or thumb drive into an available USB port while logged in, then drag and drop files as needed.

Remote Access: Command Line

Files can be copied from anywhere on the Internet using the command-line scp and/or sftp commands. On Linux and Mac OS X computers, these programs are included “out of the box” and can be executed by running the Terminal application (in the Applications > Utilities folder on Mac OS X, and accessible from various locations [and names/variations] depending on your Linux distribution) then typing the commands directly into the prompt. These commands are fairly standard, and instructions for their use are available on the web.

Windows computers may download PSCP and/or PSFTP, available for free from this download page. These commands are scp and sftp workalikes, and can be run from the Windows Command Prompt (cmd).

In all cases, you will want to connect to keck.cs.lmu.edu and use your Keck lab account credentials (username/password) to login.

Remote Access: Graphical User Interface

Graphical user interface scp and sftp applications are also available. The following sections describe some specifics, although others are certainly available.

Again, in all cases, you will want to connect to keck.cs.lmu.edu and use your Keck lab account credentials (username/password) to login.

• Mac OS X: Cyberduck

  Cyberduck is a free, open-source file transfer client, including sftp, for the Mac OS X operating system. Upon downloading and copying the application, double-click on it then click on Open Connection, the first button on the Cyberduck window’s toolbar. The following dialog should appear:

  

  As seen in the screenshot, choose SFTP from the drop-down menu at the top of the dialog, then enter keck.cs.lmu.edu as the server as well as your Keck lab username and password below. Click on Connect to login.

  Once connected, you will see a browser window showing you the files that reside in your Keck lab home folder/directory. You may navigate these files to reach the desired folder or directory. Transferring files to and from the Keck lab is a matter of dragging files from folders on your Mac to and from this window, respectively. A Transfers window may appear, to show you what has been transferred.

  When finished, click on the Disconnect button in the toolbar and quit Cyberduck.

• Windows: WinSCP

  WinSCP is a free, open-source scp client for the Windows operating system. The Portable Executable option from its download page is probably the most straightforward option to use.

  Once you have downloaded and saved the executable winscp###.exe file (the “###” refers to the version number; this may vary depending on when you download the program), double-click on it to see the WinSCP login window:

  

  As seen in the screenshot, enter keck.cs.lmu.edu as the host name, as well as your Keck lab username and password below. You may choose either SCP or SFTP as the protocol (SCP is shown in the screenshot). Click on Login to connect.

  If, upon login, you see messages regarding the server’s host key, go ahead and click Yes; this is a normal aspect of scp and/or sftp. You may see one or more additional messages before you encounter the main WinSCP window.

  The WinSCP window consists of a view of your computer’s files on the left, and a view of your Keck lab files on the right. Navigate to the desired folder at both locations, and drag files from one side to another in order to upload or download files to/from the server.

  Close the window to disconnect. That’s it!

Remote Access: AFS Mounting

Users may mount their homes directly from a personal workstation. To do this, the appropriate AFS driver needs to be properly installed and configured on the client machine.

Lab Account Web Sites

Every Keck lab account is connected can be accessed by the infrastrucure’s web server. Files within the public_html folder/directory of every user’s home are served by the web server under the URL http://www.cs.lmu.edu/~username, where username is the Keck lab account’s login ID.

To populate this web site, copy your files to the public_html folder/directory using any of the mechanisms listed above.