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X11-forwarding

Follow the directions in X11-forwarding for Linux/Mac and Windows. Be sure to add the -X flag to your SSH command when connecting to login node.

Then request an interactive session as described above, but add the --x11 flag to the srun command. Example:

$ srun --x11 --time=01:00:00 --nodes=1 --cpus-per-task=8 --pty bash

Linux or MacOS

To use SSH with X11-forwarding on your Linux or macOS personal computer to run an X client application installed on an HPC Vega:

Open your SSH terminal client. On the command line, enter your username:

$  ssh -X username@login.vega.izum.si

Log in.

To test if X11-forwarding is working, try running xclock; on the command line, enter:

$ xclock

If X11-forwarding is working, the xclock graphical clock will appear on the desktop of your personal computer.

VSCode or PuTTY for Windows

  • Launch your X server application (for example, Xming or vcXsrv). Download and install one of them. We will use vcXsrv.

After installing launch the server. If you're using vcXsrv, the shortcut is called xLaunch. Select your prefeered way to open windows and set a display number. Remeber what you set it too, we will need it in the next step.

xsrv1

Proceed by pressing next, until you finish the setup. The server will stay open in your system tray.

PuTTY for Windows:

  • Make sure your connection settings for the remote system have Enable X11-forwarding selected; in the "PuTTY Configuration" window, see Connection > SSH > X11. Also setup:

    • X display location = :10.0 (match this number to whatever you set it to in your x server)
    • MIT-Magic-Cookie-1
    • X authority file for local display = point to the Xming.exe executable

  • Open an SSH session to the desired remote system:

    System Hostname
    Vega login.vega.izum.si

  • Log in normally with own username and SSH-key.

VSCode for Windows:

Note: When using VSCode allocate an interactive session using salloc without the --x11 flag. Then connect to the allocated node using ssh -X <node>

  • First open your user setting in VSCode and open user settings as Json (you can do that by typing "> Open user settings" in the top search bar) and add this:
    "terminal.integrated.env.windows": {
        "DISPLAY": "127.0.0.1:10.0"
    },

Replace the number 10.0 with whatever you set the display to.

Then open your ssh settings in VSCode (you can do that by typing "> Open SSH configuration file") and add the following to your login.vega.izum.si connection:

  ForwardX11 yes
  ForwardX11Trusted yes

Then connect to vega and check if X11 forwarding is working.

To check if X11 forwarding is working run xclock in the terminal:

xclock

If X11-forwarding is working, the xclock graphical clock will appear on your personal computer's desktop.