You can use SSH and SFTP for simple connections - both available from MobaXTerm a recommended SSH/SFTP and RDP client (+more) for Windows. Similar tools are available for Mac and Linux users. Connections without a VPN can be made to ssh.geos.ed.ac.uk. Once connected use ssh hostname to connect to a fully-equipped School server. SFTP can be used to transfer files to/from your School home dir (on a UNIX server) simply by connecting to ssh.geos.ed.ac.uk alone.
To connect directly to named School UNIX servers (in one step) either use a VPN connection, then ssh directly to the specified server, or you can use the full-blown XRDP Linux Remote Desktop service - either using Windows' built-in Remote Desktop client, an RDP session in MobaXTerm or similar tools for Mac/Linux.
Alternatively you can access School directories (e.g. home directories or other shared directories) directly in your OS using SAMBA - e.g. mapping \\students.geos.ed.ac.uk\s1234567 to M: in Windows' File Explorer.
If you require to run University software then the options are either a) connect to a virtual Windows environment using the Apps.Ed service or b) see the relevant software deal protocol (where applicable) in order to download available software (e.g. Office, Adobe Creative Cloud, or specialist software such as GIS or Remote Sensing/Earth Observation programs) to your own desktop or laptop computer. See the links below for more detailed/in-depth information.
Short-hand link to IT's web pages
IT's info on home working for EO and GIS students
Note1: You will have to make a VPN connection in order to map School network drives and the general Universtiy U: drive
Note2: You will have to register with the VPN service (as a user) before first use.
Note3: The University is in the process of migrating from the older Cisco provided platform to a newer system VPN@Ed. Some devices/OS platforms may need to use the older service for now. Once migration is complete however existing users may therefore be required to setup a new connection.
Note4: Use SSL - There is a choice of connection security protocols available however IS recommend the SSL method in general (and good for poor connections) which requires users to download a standalone VPN client rather than rely on their inbuilt own client provided on their device by default.
See Also:
Using the Old [Cisco] VPN Service
If you need to use specialist Windows software available within UoE and which cannot be either downloaded to your own machine at home, or alternatively licencsed over a VPN connection or emailed licence file etc. then you can use the new Apps.Ed service.
See Apps.Ed pages from UoE IS for more info.
If you wish to access network drives within Windows (or directly within your own computer's desktop environment) then you will need to make a VPN connection - see above. Making a VPN connection also enables you to connect directly by simple SSH command line interface (CLI) to various GeoSciences servers - see below.
Ensure that your computer is connected to the internet, this will mean connecting first to University wifi if on campus, then make the VPN connection. Once connected you can open a File Explorer window then click on This PC (or click Up to reach This PC). You should see a Computer menu above the ribbon. Click on this then you can click on Map Network Drive from the ribbon.
While you may be able to type the network address of the shared folder in the File Explorer window it's generally easiest and best (works best!) to map it to one of Windows' drive letters. You can use G: for netdata as usual, M: for your home dir, and U: for the University drive. This should ensure all software works as it it were being run natively on the Edinburgh network in-house.
The folder addresses to use are:
netdata: //groups.geos.ed.ac.uk/netdata
homedir*: //students.geos.ed.ac.uk/
University: //ed.ac.uk/dst/shared
* Note that for staff simply replace students by staff - although you may find either works!!
Also note that you will need to connect with different credentials - i.e. your own PC logon will most likely not be the same as you Edinburgh logon (username/password). You should therefore enter
As an alternative you can enter ED\
To be completed - In short:
If you need Windows see IT's working from home page or see earlier/below guidance on obtaining e.g. GIS software for your own computer or using Apps.Ed.
The new Apps.Ed Virtual Windows service can also run in a web browser thus this may be an option for running (Windows) software remotely from a Mac. Macs also have a number of emulation/dual-boot solutions (as well as Linux's WINE) for running Windows software.
Remote native-Mac software is unlikely to be possible as no known service exists however Macs run a form of UNIX thesse days allowing access to other software.
If you need a full-blown graphical desktop/need to leave complex UNIX software running and return to it in the same state later, or on the same server* you can use the XRDP remote desktop service. You can do this using Windows' Remote Desktop Client, or similar clients on Mac/Linux. Alternatively you can use another client, e.g. MobaXTerm on Windows which offers all of alternative graphical RDP client, local UNIX-like shell on your own PC, and also a basic SSH client for command line access which may be all you need. As it also includes what is called an X-Server graphical programs will also run as required.
Using a full-blown RDP client howeer allows you to be connected to the same server, or in the case of new connections to a server with low demand on it so that stability is better-guaranteed. You can however adjust the number of colours used or screen resolution should you need to consider poor connections or bandwidth issues.
If your needs are modest then a simple SSH client may suffice - see below. You may in fact only need simple file transfer using SFTP. As noted, MobaXTerm allows the use of graphical programs (via SSH and X Server) as well as command line only programs, however there are many other SSH terminal programs (and other X Servers) including those built into some Text editors such as VSCode but there are others. You can even use ssh at the Mac/Linux/DOS command line to connect or to setup special tunnel connections allowing you to access various services as if running on your own PC (localhost).
While SSH is quick and easy, if you also make a VPN connection [you can set up more than one and use whichever seems to work fastest at the time depending on the number of other users!] then you should be able to ssh directly from off-campus sites to a named server, e.g. burn, achray etc.
Should this not work or for any other reason the normal option is to connect to ssh.geos.ed.ac.uk which currently is an alias for the gateway server 'adder'. This is a basic access point to the GeoSciences cluster and therefore has very little software installed to deliberately gaurantee its availability. Once connected you can simply then make a further connection by "hopping" on to another dedicated compute server, e.g. once connected to adder simply type ssh burn to reach the burn server. In terms of your location in the filesystem you will be located in your usual home dir upon each new connection.
Use tunnels - e.g. type CMD in the Windows search box then: e..g. for access to our Postgres dbms
ssh -L 6333:coy.geos.ed.ac.uk:5432 -l ssh.geos.ed.ac.uk
This will allow you to make a connection in e.g. a GIS package or database client such as DBeaver to localhost on port 6333. You will also need to know the database name - e.g. mscgis.
You can do the same for MySQL by using remote port 3306 instead of 5432. You may wish to set up a separate local connection e.g. on port 6444.
Oracle connections are currently limited to command line - though we may be able to effect access from a Geos UNIX server once you have connected to that.
Probably worth learning - QGIS' OSGeo Shell is a DOS box incl GDAL - Some useful comands are:
dir - use instead of ls
copy
ren - short for rename (bulk rename prob better and safer than Linux's mv!)
subst - Also useful is the subst command for faking a local directory as a Windows network drive for example!
ArcGIS Desktop - see IS Software Service (goole Edinburgh Main Software Deals/see below email)
ArcGIS Pro - can just download from ESRI and licence with UoE edgeosci Organisational Account login
GDAL - available on Geos Linux, Windows exes in U:\SCE\GEOS and code (incl. Python on both); also via OSGeoShell DOS Box within QGIS on Windows/possibly QGIS on Mac/Linux too
FME (incl. FME Data Inspector) - available within ArcPro
ArcPy - Python install with Desktop 2.7, with Pro 3.x. Pro Installer allows using existing Python install but may be best kepot separate - thus Python in QGIS, Python in Arc and also standalone Python possible!
Python virtualenv's also possible for custom libraries/some degree of containerisation - see IT web pages/MSc GIS Teams programming channel for more
QGIS (inl. GDAL) and DBeaver Community and ESA Snap, CloudCompare, Points2grid (lidar), VisualSFM - or use Python OpenSFM, Python (e.g. Anaconda), R/RStudio are all free to download!
Some software may be available through Educational deals while you are a student: MS Office, Alteryx (impressive data flow software), standalone FME, and many others.
For commercial/non-freely available software, see IT's Remote Working info linked at the top of the page or contact them via it.geos@ed.ac.uk
****************************************
1) Learn 'Open Classroom' under RPPP
2) Connecting from Home - Remote Desktop/SSH Clients incl. low bandwidth/simple options
3) Simple DOS SSH (useful for easy tunnelling) - GIS to DBMS etc.
4) GIS (and other) packages for download
***
1) Learn 'Open Classrroom' under RPPP
I'm actually currently available in the Open Classroom for RPPP on Learn - look out for regular sessions being announced tomorrow. (I'll be there for a bit testing it works, but just email if you miss me today. Other options are also available: Teams, Skype etc. though perhaps there are too many platforms to try!)
I haven't included a link here to the clasroom as I want to encourage folks to be able to find this themselves in Learn, however I've added a link to the top of the Course Materials page (it's also linked as normal under Course Conversations).
I was also going to forward on IT's earlier email with lots of useful info about working from home but it is all here:
https://www.ed.ac.uk/geosciences/intranet/it/working-from-home
They've also updated their XRDP instructions (from a PDF which I was going to try sharing via Collaborate) to an online blog entry linked from the above page - this includes options to reduce the bandwidth requirements (fewer colours/lower screen resolution). [Alternative simpler solutions are also outlined below]:
https://blogs.ed.ac.uk/geos-it-remote-desktop/windows-to-xrdp/
2) Connecting from Home - Remote Desktop/SSH Clients incl. low bandwidth/simple options
Alternative (simpler/less resource hungry) solutions:
Connecting to School UNIX/Linux servers - SSH clients (terminals):
Bruce also mentioned connecting with a simple SSH client if you are only needing to run simple programs on the School Linux servers, or don't need to be logged in again to a previous session etc.
For this, while Bruce and I both use and love a program called PuTTY (TTY is UNIX-shorthand for terminal and putty is a sticky substance for connecting your windows to your home...), we are supposed to recommend the following:
MobaXTerm (as installed on lab PCs)
or possibly
mosh - a terminal that doesn't disconnect if you experience temporary loss of wifi connection
MobaXTerm offers both a simple ssh client, a local Linux bash command line on your local PC, and an alternative Remote Desktop (RDP) client to Windows' own RDP client.
If you *do* need a full remote desktop remember that the instructions outlined earlier from IT detail how to do this with less demand on broadband/wifi etc. You may find Windows' client most useful for this.
Remember also that there are some useful Linux instructions at:
https://www.geos.ed.ac.uk/~gisteac/wkzero/practicals/
3) Simple DOS SSH (useful for easy tunnelling) - GIS to DBMS etc.
Lastly (for SSH info) - given that QGIS includes an OSGeo Shell DOS window (DOS is Window's traditional comand line environment), and that many folk use Windows it is probbaly worth knowing some basic DOS commands, e.g.:
dir - use instead of ls
copy
ren - short for rename (bulk rename prob better and safer than Linux's mv!)
subst - Also useful is the subst command for faking a local directory as a Windows network drive for example!
Usefully you can also make a basic connection using DOS' built-in SSH client. This can be useful for easily making connections known as tunnels which allow you to connect to a local 'port' and to forward this connection, but authenticating securely using your login id. This alows you for instance to connect to remote databases using GIS or Database clients on your own PC/laptop.
E.g.
In the Windows search box type cmd (short for command window/DOS box)
ssh -L 6333:coy.geos.ed.ac.uk:5432 ssh.geos.ed.ac.uk -l
login as normal and leave the window alone
Now start QGIS and make a connection to Postgres using hostname of localhost, database of mscgis and port of 6333.
If you must - you can do similar with MySQL using remote port 3306 but sadly not IS' new Oracle instance at present - watch this space. You can however connect from the command line as normal.
4) GIS at home
Some of this (and wider EO software) is covered on IT's Working From Home page but essentially for GIS software you can now:
a) Quickly download ArcPro (incl. built-in FME) from ESRI directly (prob quicker than getting us to send download links to our dedciated portal), then licence the program using your edgeosci ArcGIS Online organisational account (as used for Storymaps).
or, if you really need Desktop (10.7/8) you can
b) contact IS' Software Services team here:
You can google "edinburgh main software deals" to find this:
https://www.ed.ac.uk/information-services/computing/desktop-personal/software/main-software-deals
and then browse to this:
https://www.ed.ac.uk/information-services/computing/desktop-personal/software/main-software-deals/arcgis/arcgis-staff-students
The relevant part for you all is:
"Staff or students from schools with school wide licenses can get a subscription for installation on a personal computer without cost, please contact software services confidential codes email with the request, mentioning your uun and school."
For other software please check the IT Working From Home blog in the first instance.
https://www.ed.ac.uk/geosciences/intranet/it/working-from-home
And of course QGIS (inl. GDAL) and DBeaver Community and ESA Snap, CloudCompare, Points2grid (lidar), VisualSFM - or use Python OpenSFM, Python (e.g. Anaconda), R/RStudio are all free to download!
Some software may be available through Educational deals while you are a student: MS Office, Alteryx (impressive data flow software), standalone FME, and many others.
Phew! See you in Virtual Class(room)!