Engineering IT offers a small pool of Linux virtual machines for remote access. These machines are command line only so you will need some knowledge of Linux commands to use this resource. If you are new to Linux or the command line there are some basic commands to get you started in this article Linux Command Line Quick Reference. If you are looking for a remote option with a graphical interface please use Fastx, information on accessing Fastx can be found here Connecting to EWS Linux with Fastx. These resources are meant to be used for instructional purposes only if you are looking for resources to use in your research please see our Campus Research Computing Options.

Connecting to Remote Linux

EWS users should use SSH and/or SFTP clients to connect to linux.ews.illinois.edu, this will allocate you the first available Linux virtual machine. From there you can access instructional software modules to use with your class materials. For connections from Windows machines, Engineering IT recommends using MobaXTerm as your SSH/SFTP client.

• For Linux or Mac OS
  
  1. Open a terminal session. (Applications->Utilities->Terminal on Mac or Applications->Terminal on Linux)
     
     
     
     
  2. In the terminal window that pops up run the command: ssh NETID@linux.ews.illinois.edu (replacing NETID with your NetID)
  3. If this is your first connection, it will prompt you to accept the public key from the host; type yes at this prompt and hit enter.
  4. At this point you should be prompted for your university password; note that you will not see any characters displayed as you type.
  5. If your password was accepted you should have a fully functioning EWS shell.
     
     
• For Windows
  
  1. Open a terminal session by either searching for terminal and clicking on the app or right click on your start menu and select terminal
  2. In the terminal window that pops up run the command: ssh NETID@linux.ews.illinois.edu (replacing NETID with your NetID)
  3. At this point you should be prompted for your university password; note that you will not see any characters displayed as you type.
  4. If your password was accepted you should have a fully functioning EWS shell.

Please Note: Other course staff/students may be using this resource at the same time you are so please keep that in mind when executing commands or performing complex requests on these resources. 

SSH from Off-Campus

On May 30th, 2017, the campus Office for Privacy and Information Security (OPIS) implemented a campus firewall change to block off-campus SSH connections to on-campus resources. A VPN connection is now required.