ssh is "Secure Shell", a program that lets you log in to computers remotely, from other computers. It's a lot like telnet, which you might also have heard about, only it wraps all your communications in a layer of encryption, so it's harder for someone listening on the network to figure out what you're sending.
It's not perfect, and there are ways of breaking or intercepting ssh transmissions, too, but it's a lot better than plain telnet.
ssh is installed already on all of our UNIX systems. To use it, just type "ssh remote.system" at the prompt. (Use the real name of the remote.system, of course.) If your username is different on the remote system, you can type "ssh -l username remote.system" instead.
For Windows users, we have a couple of ssh clients available on our launchpad, on the software page. Download both "puTTY" and "WinSCP", they'll both be useful.
puTTY is a zipped package of executable files, so you should be able to just unzip it and use putty.exe. You may want to put them all in a folder called "Putty", or some such, and make a shortcut from there to the desktop for putty.exe. (Or you may not.) You probably won't need the other files in the archive, but we include them just in case.
WinSCP is a single executable file, so you can just save it and use it.
Another neat package you may want to check out is "Cygwin". It's basically a set of programs that emulate a Unix environment on a Windows system, including the X11R6 server that lets you open windows and run things like xansys or Matlab remotely, but display graphical output on your own computer. For information about it, have a look at Cygwin/X's home page; for help installing it, come see us at 280 F. Paul Anderson Tower.
Cygwin has support for both SSH and SCP built-in, but they're UNIX-like (command-line) programs, so you may want to get one of the graphical SCP programs too.
It's a more-secure replacement for Windows FTP, the same way puTTY's a more-secure replacement for telnet. WinSCP uses "scp", a command-line scp (Secure Copy) client, but wraps it in a graphical user interface that's a lot like Ipswich's WS-FTP.
You can find out more about putty at the PuTTY home page, WinSCP at the WinSCP page, and FileZilla at SourceForge.
You can find more information about using WinSCP or FileZilla here.
Send e-mail to help@engr.uky.edu asking for a UNIX account. Include your UKID in that e-mail, please, so we know who's asking.
UNIX is an operating system that developed on mainframe computers, beginning in the late 1960's. It is very good at doing many things at once, and so is popular in environments (like universities and research laboratories) where many people need to be working on the same computer at the same time.
For a more detailed answer, find one of the UNIX history sites on the Web, such as this one.
Our UNIX workstations are:
skyhawk and seahawk run one or another flavour of Linux, subject to change at our administrators' whim. For more details on these systems, check out our system resources page.
skyhawk is currently unavailable. We anticipate that it will return to service in some form sometime in the summer of 2012.
There are many applications available on the engineering UNIX servers: ANSYS, MATLAB, Maple V, Tecplot, Pro/Engineer, NASTRAN and Sysnoise. To find out which servers these application are on, check our system resources page or come to our office at 280 FPAT and ask us.
None. Applications such as Matlab, Ansys, etc. can only be installed on University-owned Faculty and Staff computers or laptops. This is because of the limited number of licenses that the College of Engineering has for these applications. Students who are current can download and install Windows software from their MSDNAA account or from the download.uky.edu website.
You can access your UNIX account from any of the campus computer labs. You can even access it from home if you use ssh.
To find out where the Microlabs are, check out the SCS homepage.
By using it. It really is the best way.
Some of the more important commands to know are "ls" (list the files in a directory), "cp" (copy, requires two arguments - the 'copy from' filename and the 'where to put it' filename), "rm" (remove; deletes the file), "cd" (change directory), and "man" ('manual', the built-in online help system; "man command" will show you the manual pages for whatever command you type; "man man" will teach you how to use "man").
There are a few more detailed resources scattered about the Web, if you'd like to do a bit of reading about it. One good place to start is the Unix Guru Universe, which has a good collection of links to introductory essays, and a searchable database so you can find help on a particular command quickly.
Send an e-mail to help@engr.uky.edu with your UKID, asking us to set up a web account for you. We'll set it up and let you know how to access it.
If what you meant was "How do I write my own web page?", then you're pretty much on your own. Most recent versions of word processing packages such as Microsoft Word or OpenOffice.org will let you save a document as a web page. If you need more than that you'll either need to learn HTML, or invest in one of several programs that do the HTML for you, such as MacroMedia's DreamWeaver.
Link Blue and myuk accounts are not maintained by the College of Engineering. You should contact the UK IT department for such requests. You can also visit the customer help desk in person at 111 McVey Hall.
Supercomputers are maintained by the UK IT department too. You can request an account by going to their account request page.
Send email to help@engr.uky.edu or fill out our form at http://www.engr.uky.edu/helpdesk. We'll respond as quickly as we're able to.