For the easiest way to display graphics, we recommend you use the CCR OnDemand portal. More details about the OnDemand portal can be found in this article
The ability to display a graphical user interface (GUI) from a CCR server to your local machine requires logging in to the cluster with X-Display enabled. Since all connections to the CCR machines are done via command line, you may need to setup additional software if you want to be able to display any graphics from your programs.
The X Window System is a display protocol which provides windowing or graphical user interfaces (GUIs) on most Unix-like operating systems, including those maintained by CCR.
Below are instructions for running an X-window environment on CCR's production supercomputers. If you are logging into the academic cluster, use the hostname: vortex.ccr.buffalo.edu. If you are logging into the industry cluster, use the hostname: presto.ccr.buffalo.edu
NOTE: You must be on the UB or Roswell Park networks to connect to CCR servers. If you are off-campus, please use the UB VPN to connect
X-Display from compute cluster to a Mac or Linux/Unix machine:
Use the terminal program that comes with your operating system
ssh -X vortex.ccr.buffalo.edu
In most case the -X flag will work. If this fails, then try the -Y flag.
X-Display from compute cluster to Windows machine using PuTTY/XMing:
You can use the Xming program in conjunction with the SSH client PuTTY. Download and install them and configure according to these instructions but using an appropriate host name (vortex for academics, presto for industry). To check that the putty/xming combination is working correctly: launch a putty terminal after separately launching xming as a background task. Now type "xeyes" from the putty terminal. If you get a display error, it's not working. If a set of eyes that tracks the movement of your mouse pops up then you know it's working properly.
Please note, this is intended for basic GUI use. We recommend you check out the CCR OnDemand portal especially if you require access to more graphics-intense software products. More details about the OnDemand portal can be found in this article
X-Display from compute cluster to Windows machine using MobaXterm:
You can also use the MobaXterm program instead of the PuTTY/XMing combination. MobaXterm provides a number of features including: shell access, X-display, file transfers, and remote file editing. Download and install MobaXterm according to the instructions in the "Accessing_UB_CCR_Using_MobaXterm.pdf" but using an appropriate host name (vortex for academics, presto for industry).
Please note, this is intended for basic GUI use. We recommend you check out the CCR OnDemand portal especially if you require access to more graphics-intense software products. More details about the OnDemand portal can be found in this article