IGM IT

Anyone using smtp services for notification of things gone bung via smtp should note the following server names and numbers. Existing smtp addresses are being added as aliases to them so it should be business as usual unless you have hard coded the dotted quad ip address in – naughty naughty if you have, get it ‘sorted’!

mailhub-ncl1.ncl.ac.uk 10.3.192.247
mailhub-ncl2.ncl.ac.uk 10.3.192.253
mailhub-ncl3.ncl.ac.uk 10.3.192.254
mailhub-ncl4.ncl.ac.uk 10.3.193.34

nslookup smtp.ncl.ac.uk

resolves to these numbers now.

eMedLab VPN Access via Cisco AnyConnect VPN Client and Centos 6.8

This document is meant as a guideline for connecting a remote Centos 6.8 Desktop machine through eMedlabs Cisco VPN and connect to the Ubuntu terminal to gain access to the eMedLab HPC Cluster.

Where input is required from the end user to type into a terminal it is shown as boxed out Preformatted text.

Preformatted text example

Installation of Centos 6.8 Graphical Desktop with updates and repositories

Install Centos 6.8 x86_64 – http://isoredirect.centos.org/centos/6/isos/x86_64/

Select the Desktop option when prompted and the installation will proceed until you are prompted to create a User Account, add or amend the  NTP service for time synchronization and finally prompting for a restart.

Restart the machine and log in as root.

From the Desktop Menu select Applications > System Tools > Terminal

At the command prompt type in: –

yum update

The machine will come back with any packages that need updating to which respond ‘Y’ to install. After that has completed type in: –

yum install epel-release

Respond ‘Y’ to install the epel repository (Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux)

Creation of Public and Private ssh keys

Log out from your root session and log in as the user account you created earlier. To create the ssh passwordless login you need to create a public and private key pair to send to eMedLab along with your request for a login account on the Cisco VPN Gateway.

From the Desktop Menu select Applications > System Tools > Terminal

At the command prompt type in: –

ssh-keygen -t rsa -f ~/.ssh/id_rsa.eMedLab

This creates two files in your /home directory in a hidden subdirectory .ssh

.ssh/id_rsa.eMedLab
.ssh/id_rsa.eMedLab.pub

The first one is your private key which you keep to yourself, the second one with the .pub extension is your public key and is the one to email to eMedLab. This key pair can be copied between multiple Linux machines and is named as eMedLab so that you can keep a handle of which key belongs to which service should you ever have a future need for a key pair for a different server at a different facility.

Installation of the Cisco AnyConnect VPN Client

Log in as root and from the Desktop Menu click the Firefox Icon .

browse to https://vpn.emedlab.ac.uk

From the drop down menu select your Group and enter the Username and Password provided by eMedLab for the Cisco VPN gateway: –

Click the Login button.

You should then see the following menu: –

Click the AnyConnect button in the lefthand menu..

Click the Start AnyConnect button.

The java automatic connection will try and connect and fail and give you the option to manually download the software as above. Click the AnyConnectVPN link to download to your machine. The default download location is /root/Downloads – we need to know this location for installation as it needs to be modified.

From the Desktop Menu select Applications > System Tools > Terminal

At the command prompt type in the following: –

cd /root/Downloads
chmod +x vpnsetup.sh
./vpnsetup.sh

The script will run to completion ending with a Done! as below, there is no user interaction required.

**Centos 7 installation requires package pangox-compat to be installed for the graphical user interface**

There will now be a new icon for the VPN in Applications > Internet > Cisco AnyConnect Mobility Client > Cisco AnyConnect Mobility Client as below: –

Follow the menu path and click on Cisco AnyConnect Mobility Client as above. You will be presented with the following Window: –

Fill the Connect to: details in as vpn.emedlab.ac.uk
Click the two yellow cog button at the end of the Connect to: Dialog Box and adjust as per the second picture.

Click Connect

You will then be prompted for your Cisco AnyConnect Group, Username and Password as before, fill those details in and click Connect.

The vpn will come up and say connected as below: –

At this point you can then connect to the Ubuntu server at eMedLab with the second Username you have been given by eMedLab. You shouldn’t have to use a password to connect, it should use your keyless pair that we created.

From the Desktop Menu select Applications > System Tools > Terminal

shh username@10.2.213.130

The picture below shows all the connections up with a session into the Ubuntu machine

The connection can also be brought up as an ordinary user, but there is only one person allowed at a time as far as I have found so far. This means that each user who can access the machine must bring down the vpn after use if someone else requires access.

Once the link has been established once, it also appears to skip a stage and go directly to the Group setting and fail to connect. This can be overridden by stipulating vpn.emedlab.ac.uk in the Connect to: dialog box where it will prompt you for the vpn gateway Username and Password. You may be prompted that it is an insecure connection in which case click the Connect Anyway button

Staff and Students are entitled to install up to 5 copies of Office 365 (basically Office 2013 for Windows; Office 2016 for Mac; Office for iPad) on home computers/devices.

STUDENTS should click on this link http://www.ncl.ac.uk/itservice/software/softwaredeals/office365proplus/

For STAFF, there are some useful points to be aware of:

* IGM staff have been upgraded to Office365 email accounts. Not everyone physically located at the Institute falls under the category of IGM staff, as we soon found out during the upgrade!

To keep this simple, some colleagues come under the remit of other Institutes/organisations, who have their own time frame, with regards to Office365 upgrades.

 

!!! Not sure if you have a newer Office365 type email account or the old owa/exchange account? Go to http://owa.ncl.ac.uk

Log in with your usual University login/password.

If you see your emails *immediately* then you have the old owa/exchange email account.
Those of you with the newer Office365 email accounts are prompted to follow a specific link.

 

* Colleagues who have already opted to purchase Office under the £9 work-at-home scheme, do not worry. That copy of Outlook is yours to keep, until Microsoft finally end support for a particular version of Office. Unlike the Office365 offer, it remains active, regardless of your status with the University.

* This Office365 offer is provided on a subscription basis, dependent on you being registered as student/staff, with an active IT account.

* For Offcie365 accounts, remember that your outlook username is based on your_login@newcastle.ac.uk
This is not an email address and it needs to be written out in full. Do not use @ncl.ac.uk

 

Finally, with all that out of the way, we can get to the actual links!

PC owners with OFFICE365 email accounts

Mac owners with OFFICE365 email accounts

Office for Mobile (iPad) ONLY for OFFICE365 email accounts

Mac and PC owners with OWA/EXCHANGE email accounts

For more information, please click here for the original NUIT web page.

All modern versions of Windows have the Microsoft Remote Desktop software pre-installed.  If you want the Apple Mac  instructions then please click here.

Microsoft Remote Desktop can be found via All Programs > Accessories.

Run the software.
Click on the Options icon (usually found in the bottom-left of the window)
Click Advanced tab
Click Settings, under Connect from Anywhere
Click Use these RD Gateway server settings

Server name = tsgateway.ncl.ac.uk
Logon method = allow me to select later
UNTICK “use my RD Gateway for remote computer”
OK button

General tab
Computer = lampredi2.ncl.ac.uk
username = your lampredi2 username, which is normally the same as your University username

Click Connect button. Since this is the first time you have connected, you will be prompted for your University username and password. It might help to precede your username with campus\

That is, if your username is nabc123, you would use campus\nabc123 as your username.
Enter your details and tick the “remember my credentials box”.
Click OK.
Click Yes when you receive the “do you want to connect advice”.
Enter your University password (and username if you forgot to add it previously)
Click OK

Remember to log out of your session properly rather than just closing the main menu. Sometimes logging out incorrectly causes the Remote Desktop service to malfunction, both for you and other users.