First login to UPPMAX

N.B. You are NOT supposed to log in to any webpage with the password and username you get via UPPMAX support, with the exception of the ThinLinc webinterface. 

In order to use the UPPMAX resources you must login to a dedicated login computer (or 'login node') using ssh ("secure shell"). On Linux/Unix computers this is done in the terminal with the 'ssh' command. On Windows you can download a small free program called MobaXterm (or an alternative of your choice) to connect via ssh.

Another option is to use the ThinLinc client, either the webbased one or one you download, to get access to a full graphical User Interface with a desktop, webbrowser, terminal etc. The ThinLinc client download is available for Linux, macOS and Windows. For more information and to see which of our systems support ThinLinc please refer to our graphical connection guide.

If you are using Windows a more advanced option would be to install WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) which gives you a Linux-installation you can use on Windows. Please refer to Microsoft's documentation on WSL for more information.

The hostname used to login via SSH is:

rackham.uppmax.uu.se

Note: This is a "round robin" address which will direct you to one of the physical login nodes, rackham1.uppmax.uu.se or rackham2.uppmax.uu.se, etc. (If needed, you can also login directly to one of these, by using their respective hostnames.)

Specific for a Linux/Unix or a Mac computer

On Unix/Linux and Mac OS, start a terminal and use the ssh command, like so (substitute 'username' with your own username):

ssh username@rackham.uppmax.uu.se

• Note: change "rackham" to the name of the machine you want to connect to.
• In order to run graphical programs through SSH, you need to enable X11 forwarding, i.e. use ssh -X username@rackham.uppmax.uu.se

Specific for a Windows computer

If you are running windows you could download and install a terminal program like MobaXterm.After downloading and extracting the zip archive you will have 2 files; MobaXterm_Personal_X.X.exe and MobaXterm_Personal_Customizer_X.X.exeThe Customizer file is only used if you have bought a license and can safely be deleted.Double click the MobaXterm_Personal_X.X.exe and you should see a terminal window. Use the ssh command, like so (substitute 'username' with your own username):

username@rackham.uppmax.uu.se

Common for all systems (Windows, Linux, OSX)

If it is the first time you connect, you will also need to confirm the host key by pressing 'Yes' if you get pop-up question or by typing 'yes' if you get the question on the command line.After this, it will ask you for your password. When you type your password, it will look as if nothing is happening. This is to keep others from seeing how many characters your password has, so just keep typing and press enter when you think you have typed it correctly.

A note for people using MobaXterm: It will ask you if you want to save your password. Press 'No' and check the box 'Do not show this message again'.

If you log in from outside of Sweden, or from a network that does not support forward and reverse DNS lookups, you will be asked to set up and use two factor authentication. Read about setting up two factor authentication.

Now you are logged in! To log out again, type 'exit'.

Note: The information displayed in the welcome screen contains very important information about the usage of UPPMAX, which might affect your jobs, such as scheduled downtime etc, so please read very carefully, and look out for any announcements!

Changing your password

You should regularly change your password. This is done in the standard Linux way. Type:

passwd

The system will prompt you for your current password, after which it will ask you for a new password and a confirmation of the new password. If you lose your password and need to reset it, follow this link (which you can also find on our homepage).