Connecting to Nero via Interactive Session (SSH)

Prerequisites Must be Fulfilled

Please complete the User Prerequisites and Data Prerequisites.

Credentials

All users must have a Stanford SUNet ID and a Nero account to log in to the Nero On-Premise Cluster.

Connection

You MUST be connected to the Stanford VPN to connect to the system; information about setting up the VPN is available at Stanford VPN

Access to Nero is provided via Secure Shell (SSH) login. Most Unix-like operating systems provide an SSH client by default that can be accessed by typing the ssh command in a terminal window.

Additional information about SSH clients can found here SSH client

To login to Nero, open a terminal and type the following command, where <sunetid> should be replaced by your actual SUNet ID:

$ ssh <sunetid>@nero.compute.stanford.edu

Authentication Overview

Password

To ease access and increase compatibility with different platforms, Nero allows a simple password-based authentication mechanism for SSH.

Upon connection, you will be asked for your SUNet ID password with the following prompt:

<sunetid>@nero.compute.stanford.edu's password:

Enter your password, and if it’s correct, you should see the following line:

Authenticated with partial success.

Second factor (2FA)

Nero implements Stanford’s Minimum Security Standards policies which mandate two-step authentication to access the cluster.

Two-step authentication protects your personal information and credentials by combining something only you know (your password) with something only you have (your phone, tablet or token). This prevents an attacker who would steal your password to actually use it to impersonate you. For more details about two-step authentication at Stanford, please refer to the University IT two-step page.

After successfully entering your password, you’ll be prompted for your second authentication factor with a message like this:

Duo two-factor login for <sunetid>

Enter a passcode or select one of the following options:

 1. Duo Push to XXX-XXX-9999
 2. Phone call to XXX-XXX-9999
 3. SMS passcodes to XXX-XXX-9999 (next code starts with: 9)

Passcode or option (1-3):

If your second factor is accepted, you’ll see the following message:

Success. Logging you in...

Congratulations! You’ve successfully connected to Nero. You’ll be greeted by the following message of the day:

Welcome to

            ███╗   ██╗███████╗██████╗  ██████╗
            ████╗  ██║██╔════╝██╔══██╗██╔═══██╗
            ██╔██╗ ██║█████╗  ██████╔╝██║   ██║
            ██║╚██╗██║██╔══╝  ██╔══██╗██║   ██║
            ██║ ╚████║███████╗██║  ██║╚██████╔╝
            ╚═╝  ╚═══╝╚══════╝╚═╝  ╚═╝ ╚═════╝

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  Nero is designed and approved for High Risk and PHI data; you still
  must comply with all applicable Stanford policies for High Risk and
  PHI data. Users should not download High Risk or PHI data from Nero
  to other non approved systems.
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  This system is for authorized users only and users must comply with all
  Stanford computing, network and research policies. All activity may be
  recorded for security and monitoring purposes. For more information, see
  https://doresearch.stanford.edu/policies/research-policy-handbook and
  https://acomp.stanford.edu/about/policy
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           Office Hours: Wednesdays from 3-4 PM online at
                         https://calendly.com/srcc-officehours

           Docs:         https://nero-docs.stanford.edu
           Support:      srcc-support@stanford.edu

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Start computing using Slurm

To start computing, there’s still a extra step required, which is requesting resources via Slurm.
It’s all described in Slurm Basics.