playbooks

Remote Access

In a hybrid working world, we require solutions to use our powerful computers from anywhere. CU Anschutz OIT office has a solution for us. Follow these steps to enable ssh or remote desktop access.

Secure Socket Shell (SSH)

Step 1A. On your home computer, install ssh.

If typing ssh in the terminal does not work, install by:
- sudo apt-get install openssh-client
For Mac users, you can install by:
- brew install openssh

Step 2 - Install OpenSSH server on Waylab computer

Step 2A. On your Waylab machine, install openssh-server.

If typing ssh localhost prints the following error (see below), install ssh-server
- ssh: connect to host localhost port 22: Connection refused username@host:~$
- Install ssh server with:
  - sudo apt-get install openssh-server ii.
Test the install with sudo service ssh status

Step 3 - Connect to Waylab Computer

Step 3A. Obtain the IP address for your Waylab computer

Existing IP addresses (document)
Or type ifconfig -a and find inet number (looks like XXX.XXX.XX.XXX)
- This is the Waylab Machine’s IP address

Step 3B. On your home computer, open a terminal

Step 3C. Connect to the University VPN prior to establishing a connection to your Waylab Machine.

Download Global Protect from CU anschutz website (link)
Follow the instructions provided CU anschutz (based on Operating System type)
Once download it, open up Global Protect VPN
- Enter CU anschutz username and password (this step assumes you have already follow the installation instructions)
- Once you see the `connected` message, your VPN is active!

Step 3D. Login using your Waylab computer username on your home computer

ssh WAYLAB_USERNAME@WAYLAB_COMPUTER_IP_ADDRESS
If you are connecting for the first time you will need to hit ENTER to add the appropriate ECDSA key fingerprint
You should see the name of the remote computer in your terminal.

For more details see this post: https://phoenixnap.com/kb/ssh-to-connect-to-remote-server-linux-or-windows

Remote Desktop

Step 1 - Is remote desktop enabled?

Step 1A. Check waylab computers to see if remote desktop is enabled.

Step 1B. If not, reach out to OIT office by filing a ticket (go to the OIT portal and submit a ticket include details of computer name and IP address in the ticket)

Step 2 - Download xRDP on your Waylab Machine

Step 2A. Follow these instructions: https://c-nergy.be/blog/?p=16637

Step 3 - Download vmware horizon on your home computer

Step 3A. Navigate to https://remote.ucdenver.edu/

Step 3B. Click on “Install VMware Horizon Client”

Step 3C. Download the client according to your home computer operating system (e.g. mac)

Step 4 - Connect to server

Step 4A. Open VMware horizon and connect to new server

Step 4B. The server name is https://remote.ucdenver.edu/

Step 4C. Use your University credentials to login

Step 4D. Fill in tokencode using Duo 2FA

Step 4E. Either “complimentary” or “Remote Desktop Client” will work (we have not tested either yet to know which we prefer).

Step 4F. If you selected “complimentary”, you will need to run “Remote Desktop” on the new windows machine that boots.

Step 5A. Open VMware horizon and connect to new server

Step 5B. Enter computer name (e.g. fig) or IP address, connect

Step 5C. ???

Step 5D. Profit

(we actually don’t know what happens next since we haven’t tested it)

VS Code SSH remote editor

This will allow you to write and execute code to a remote computer through vscode.

Step 1- Download SSH plugin

Step 1A. Open VS code and head to the extension page by clicking the four square icon on the left sidebar panel.

Step 1B. type `ssh` in the search bar at the top and download “Remote remote” by clicking “install”

Step 2 - Set up SSH on your VScode editor

Step 2A. After downloading the extension, a small little icon should appear at the bottom left corner (look at the red arrow).

Step 2B. Then at the top, a drop down menu should appear and click on “connect to host”.

Step 2C. Then click where it says “ Add SSH host” and type your ssh command.

For example: ssh username@computer.ip.address
Then press enter

Step 2D. A new window will open and at the top of your editor it will be asking for your password.

This password is the same password you use to log into your Waylab machine.

Step 2E. After entering your password, the IP address should appear at the bottom left corner. This means you are connected to the remote machine via VScode! Next step is to look for the directory where you want to start coding!

Step 2F. To exit out from the remote editor, click on the IP address at the bottom left corner of your editor and click “close remote connection”

Chrome Remote Desktop

This will allow you to remote-desktop access Way Lab computer from another computer in Chrome Web browser. Works without VPN connection.

Step 1 - Set up via SSH

Step 1A. Set up SSH connection to Way Lab computer as described in “Secure Socket Shell (SSH)”

Step 1B. Go to remotedesktop.google.com and select “access my computer in the top right”.

Step 1C. Select “Set up via SSH” from menu on left of Chrome Remote Desktop home screen.

Step 1D. Follow steps to set up via SSH. May need to create a remote desktop pin for Google account by clicking “remote access” before being able to login to remote desktop on Way Lab computer.

Step 2 - Connect to Way Lab Computer

Step 2A. Select “Remote Access” from menu on left of Chrome Remote Desktop home screen.

Step 2B. Select Way Lab computer from remote devices. Ex: maple shown below

Step 2C. Upon first connection, select Pop OS for loading and enter Way Lab computer password when prompted. If any POP OS authentication does not work, click “cancel”. Some authentications do not seem to work but remote desktop still works. Might have to click cancel multiple times.

Microsoft Remote Desktop and xRDP

This will allow you to remote into a Way Lab Computer to use the desktop and all of the applications. This is an alternative to the Chrome Remote Desktop if that doesn’t work for your machine (this method requires VPN).

Important Note: Make sure you are logged out of your account as you can not use this method if you are still logged in on your Way Lab computer.

Step 1 - Install xRDP on Way Lab Computer

Step 1A. On your Way Lab machine, install xRDP.

Install ssh server with:
- sudo apt-get install xrdp
To see if the install worked properly, check the version with:
- xrdp -v

Step 2 - Install OpenSSH client on home computer

Step 2A. On your home computer, install Microsoft Remote Desktop from your computer’s specific digital distribution platform (e.g. App Store for Mac, etc.).

Step 2B. After opening the application, it should open the prompt to add a PC. If not, click the “+” button and click “Add PC” to pull up the prompt.

Step 2C. Make sure you are connected to the University VPN before inputting the information. Once you have inputted the info, click “add”.

Note: It might give you a warning saying “The identity of the remote PC can’t be verified. Do you want to connect anyway?”. Just connect anyway and select the do not ask for this PC again option.

Step 2D. Put the username and password to the Way Lab computer and hit continue.

Step 2E. Now you can use your computer! Make sure to log out after you have done remoting into the Way Lab computer.

How to reboot your machine remotely

If your remote machine ends up freezing or you forgot to log out of your machine before leaving work and now you can’t log into to your remote session, then these instructions are for you! This will show you how to use ssh in terminal to reboot your machine.

Step 1. Use ssh to remote into the machine terminal (see full instructions above).

Example: ssh username:IP-address

Step 2. Try to make sure any jobs you are running have finished unless you are okay with it stopping a run. The example below shows that the run had completed since there are two SQLite files in the folder.

Step 3: Perform the reboot using the command: sudo reboot

Step 4: Wait for 10 seconds and attempt to remote into the computer.

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