UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER

DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE

betaweb FAQ


Frequently asked questions about connecting to and working on the betaweb server

What is betaweb?
How do I see web pages on betaweb?
How do I transfer files to and from betaweb?
How do I log into betaweb?
How do I talk to my database?
How do I change my betaweb passwords?
How do I create or edit files on betaweb?

What is betaweb?

betaweb is a Linux server in the Computer Science department. Its full name is betaweb.csug.rochester.edu. It is primarily used for class projects and research. It provides software and services that are potentially fragile, buggy, experimental and/or university-confidential. Therefore it is accessible in only two ways:

  1. From another computer in the cs.rochester.edu or csug.rochester.edu domain.
  2. From the university's VPN server.

To use method 1, you need a CS network user account, which you can only have (and, indeed, already have) if you are a CS major or a CS grad student.
With a CS network account you can log in to any CS computer, such as cycle1, and from there access betaweb using ssh or sftp. For web access to betaweb, you must be physically on a computer directly connected to the CS network (because you need a window-based system so you can run a browser - an ssh connection won't let you do that.)

To use method 2, you need to have VPN capability on your computer. See University Tech Services about that. Your computer can access betaweb directly (ssh, sftp, or web) whenever you have an active VPN connection to the university.

For either method, you also need a betaweb user account if you want terminal or file access. Having a CS user account does NOT automatically get you a betaweb account. Student user accounts on betaweb are typically created for a particular course, and deleted at the end of the semester.


How do I see web pages on betaweb?

To see web pages hosted on betaweb, you must be either physically on a computer in the Computer Science network, or connected to the campus via a VPN connection. (It will not work if you are remotely connected to a computer in the CS network such as cycle1.)

Simply point your browser to http://betaweb.csug.rochester.edu/.

If you wish to see user dduck's pages, point it to http://betaweb.csug.rochester.edu/~dduck/.

If you are user dduck and you want to make a web page available, say soup.html or soup.php, put that file in the directory public_html which must be in your home directory on betaweb. If the directory public_html is not there, you need to create it.
Don't forget to set the file's access permission to world read.

		    $ chmod a+x ~		    
$ chmod a+rx ~/public_html
$ chmod a+r ~/public_html/soup.php


How do I transfer files to and from betaweb?

To transfer files to and from betaweb, you must be either on the Computer Science network or connected to the campus via a VPN connection.

You can use SFTP (Secure File Transport Protocol) to transfer files to and from betaweb. That means you need to have an SFTP Client.

My default browser is Mozilla Firefox so my preferred SFTP Client is the Firefox extension FireFTP.

A stand-alone alternative I can recommend is the open-source program FileZilla Client, available for all computer platforms.

Mac users might also like to use the open-source program Cyberduck or the commercial program Fetch.

The Mac OS, as well as any Linux OS, also has a built-in command line tool, /usr/bin/sftp, which you can use from a Terminal window.

MS Windows users may wish to install Cygwin to get access to a Unix-like environment providing many of the same tools.


How do I log into betaweb?

To start an interactive session with betaweb, you must be either on the Computer Science network or connected to the campus via a VPN connection.

Open a Terminal (Command Prompt on Windows) and type

		    $ ssh YourBetawebUserName@betaweb.csug.rochester.edu
		    

to connect. You will be prompted for your password.
Note: the flag is "-l", not "-1"! (lower-case L, not the number one).
Also note that the "$" is part of the Terminal prompt; don't type it!

If you try to log in and you get the "Connection refused" message, then either you are not connecting via a CS computer or via VPN, or you've tried to log in unsuccessfully (e.g. wrong password) too many times so betaweb blocked your account for 10 minutes.

If you have a CS account, or you are using your own computer to access betaweb, you can save yourself some recurring headaches by setting up a couple things to streamline access.

  • Create a shell script (BAT file on Windows) to make access convenient. Here's the content of my
    gobetaweb
    script:
    			    ssh tbiswas2@betaweb.csug.rochester.edu 
    			
    Now I just open a Terminal and type
    $ ./gobetaweb
    to connect.
    Make sure you change the script's permissions to be able to execute it:
    $ chmod u+x gobetaweb
  • If you don't like having to provide your betaweb password every time you connect, create an RSA public/private key pair using the
    ssh-keygen
    tool and copy the pubic key (in the file
    ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub
    ) to betaweb.
    See www.thegeekstuff.com/2008/11/3-steps-to-perform-ssh-login-without-password-using-ssh-keygen-ssh-copy-id.

Once you're logged in, you're in the Bash shell (command processor) so you can start typing Linux shell commands!

(Btw, spending a bit of time learning the command line editing commands will yield big savings in time over the semester!)


How do I talk to my database?

If you are logged into betaweb, you can connect to the sql database server using the mysql program, as follows, where YourMySQLUserName and YourDatabaseName are same as your cs server id:

		    $ mysql -u YourMySQLUserName mysql -h localhost -pPASSWORD YourDatabaseName
		
Note: No space between p and your password. This password is diffrent from your login password. For details see here

If all goes well, you'll see the mysql prompt, which will look something like

		    mysql>
		

Now you are ready to type in all your favorite SQL commands!


How do I change my betaweb passwords?

You have two passwords on betaweb: one to log into the betaweb computer, the other to log into the sql DBMS. if you change one of them, the other doesn't change with it.

You can change your betaweb login password as follows, after you logged into betaweb using ssh and your old password:

		    $ passwd
	

This command first prompts you for your current password, and then it prompts you for your new password, twice (in order to detect typing errors; as usual with passwords, you will not be able to see what you type.)

You can change your MYSQL DBMS password as follows, after you logged into the DBMS using mysql and your old password (assuming you are user abc123):

		    mysql> SET PASSWORD FOR 'abc123'@'localhost' = PASSWORD('YOUR_NEW_PASSWORD');
		

You can continue to use the DBMS at this point, but once you exit the mysql program you will need your new password for any subsequent connections.


How do I create or edit files on betaweb?

If you are logged into betaweb, and you need to create a file or make some modifications to an existing file, you can use a text editor on betaweb, rather than transferring the file to your computer, making the changes, and transferring it back to betaweb.

There are many choices for text editors. Many users use the old, universally available vi editor.

If you'd like to explore some alternatives, check out http://www.thegeekstuff.com/2009/07/top-5-best-linux-text-editors/ .


Adapted from here. Modified details for MySQL setup.