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 the command line, you may need to set up additional software if you want to be able to display any graphics from your programs.
The X Window System is a display protocol that 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 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 most CCR servers and web portals. 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 cases the -X flag will work. If this fails, then try the -Y flag.
X-Display from compute cluster to Windows machine using MobaXterm:
We recommend Windows users use the MobaXterm software which provides a number of features including shell access, X-display, file transfers, and remote file editing. It is free to download and use for academic purposes.
Start MobaXterm and click New Sessions under Sessions in Toolbar 
Click on SSH and enter Hostname (see options above) in "Remote Host" field and username in the "Specify Username" field.
Click on "Advanced SSH Settings" tab and check the box next to "X-11 Forwarding" and then click the OK boutton.
This will launch a session to the host specified. Enter your password when prompted and type the command xclock to verify that X-11 is working.
This setup will be saved for future use. You can change the settings of the session by clicking User Sessions > Session > Edit Sessions.
If you'd like to use SSH keys to connect to the cluster without specifying a password, please see these articles for setup instructions:
Managing SSH Keys in the Identity Management Portal