CSC 315 – Database Systems

Accessing Your Linux Virtual Machine

You will need access to a computer with Firefox. This can be a Windows, Mac, or Linux machine.
If you are off-campus, you will need to connect first to the campus VPN.

Point Firefox to this URL:

https://moose.hpc.tcnj.edu:8006/

You should get a login screen like the following:

Pull down the Realm option and choose TCNJ LDAP authentication server.

In the User name and Password fields enter your regular TCNJ username and password. Click
Login.

Note: You may get a pop-up message about “No Valid Subscription.” This is okay since we are
using the community edition, not the enterprise one. Just click Ok to dismiss the pop-up.

You should see a page that looks similar to the one below. You may need to expand the menus
on the left side under hpc-moose1, hpc-moose2, hpc-moose3 or hpc-moose4 to see your
server. It should match the one you were assigned.
Click on your server name to get additional info.

You can open a console window by using one of the following methods:

1. Right-click on your server name and choose >_ Console.

2. While your server is selected, click on >_ Console in the upper right side of the page.
3. While your server is selected, click on >_ Console in the menu toward the middle of the
page.

The first two options will pop-out a separate console window. You may need to allow pop-ups in
the browser (it will warn you). Option 3 will display the console in the page itself. It is
recommended that you use option 1 or 2.

If you have any issues opening a connection or encounter other “funkiness” with the console
window, close it and try to open it again. If problems continue, try using a Firefox “private
window” to access the server since there may be issues with the browser cache or other
browser hiccups.
Once the console is open, you can login using the credentials provided to you in class. You may
experience some lag but it should get more consistent as you use it. When done, simply close
the pop-out console window (you may also want to logout of the Linux GUI first) and click the
Logout button in the upper-right corner of the Proxmox page.

You can also Stop and Start your VM (in case it goes unresponsive or crashes) by right-clicking
on the VM name at the left side of the page and choosing the appropriate option from the
popup menu. Alternately you can click the power button in title bar of the console window and
choose an appropriate action.

Finally, the Snapshots option on the main Proxmox interface should be available if you would
like to take a snapshot of your virtual machine prior to performing a risky change.

Option: Install the Linux Virtual Machine on Your Own Workstation

The identical VM image can be installed locally on your own Windows, MacOS, or Linux
workstation. This option eliminates the keyboard lag and "stuck" keys that sometimes occur
using noVNC with the cluster, and allows the VM to be used without an internet connection.
From off-campus it also eliminates the TCNJ VPN requirement.
Installing the local Linux VM requires a minimum of 10 GB free space on your local disk and at
least 4 GB RAM.

1. Download the Linux VM image

• https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Iaa_xxSpcFVKttKjVgdMuZTjSvF87cn5
2. Download VirtualBox
• https://www.virtualbox.org/
3. Install VirtualBox; accept all the default responses
4. Run VirtualBox
5. Select “File | Import Appliance” and open the Linux VM image file downloaded in step 1;
accept all the default responses
6. When the import completes, select your Linux VM and press "Start"