Public Login Servers

TIG maintains a public login server, login.csail.mit.edu, for the convenience of the community. The system runs 64-bit Debian GNU/Linux and provides access to the CSAIL AFS cell for accessing your directory space or managing your personal web page or your group's web hosting.

login32.csail.mit.edu is similarly configured, but runs 32-bit Debian GNU/Linux.

Accessing these servers

You must have a CSAIL Kerberos principal.

• From GNU/Linux and other unix-based systems (eg, Mac OS, *BSD, ...), insert your username for YOU in ssh YOU@login.csail.mit.edu
  • For repeated access, we recommend installing Kerberos (for Linux / for Mac OS).
• From Windows systems, use PuTTY
  • For repeated access, we recommend configuring PuTTY with Kerberos.

SSH RSA/DSA fingerprints

If your ssh client is configured for Kerberos ("repeated access" above), it will automatically verify the identity of the server you're connecting to using its Kerberos key. If not, and you wish to manually verify the RSA/DSA key of login / login32, read on:

NOTE: as of March 2012, the "login" alias and RSA/DSA keys were migrated to login64, a.k.a. scooby-doo.  The host shaggy.csail.mit.edu, the old "login", no longer exists.
RSA fingerprint for login.csail.mit.edu 
2048 88:4f:1e:d3:7c:92:05:a8:7b:ee:8c:ec:1b:93:d0:44

DSA fingerprint for login.csail.mit.edu
1024 a7:1a:55:5c:1e:96:61:26:11:2e:76:04:f9:09:86:59

NOTE: as of March 2012, the machine "login32", a.k.a. velma, was created for tasks requiring 32-bit libraries.
RSA fingerprint for login32.csail.mit.edu
2048 ec:f3:13:db:02:1e:d7:0f:51:18:f1:b1:a7:1f:74:45

DSA fingerprint for login32.csail.mit.edu
1024 78:20:09:81:73:20:cf:92:f8:41:75:fc:c0:12:d4:af

Notes

For continuous connections to login.csail.mit.edu and login32, Kerberos tickets and the AFS tokens that depend on them will expire every 10 hours. Run renew to obtain new credentials. After they expire, your session will remain open, but you will have very little access to files (as "system:anyuser", the AFS equivalent of "nobody".)

Many standard packages are available on these systems. Some packages can be added to your environment using DotSoftware; if you still don't see what you're looking for, contact TIG.