PuTTY

Learn how to use PuTTY to connect to NREL's high-performance computing (HPC) systems via a secure shell (SSH) gateway.

The PuTTY installer comes with several utilities that you can use to improve your HPC workflow. For now, we'll focus on the PuTTY application that will allow you to SSH to the HPC systems. With PuTTY and SSH, you'll get a command line prompt that you can use to run your codes and programs on the HPC systems.

Download and Install

From the PuTTY website, download and execute the PuTTY Installer. You can install with the default settings.

Once the install is done, you can start the PuTTY application. If you used the default settings, there should be an icon on your desktop to start the application.

Kestrel Instructions

Here are instructions for using PuTTY to connect to Kestrel via SSH.

When you start the PuTTY app, the program will display PuTTY's Configuration menu. When this comes up, you'll add the name of the machine you want to access (e.g. kestrel.hpc.nrel.gov) in the Host Name (or IP address) box:

Internal (NREL) users, type in kestrel.hpc.nrel.gov

External (non-NREL) users, type in kestrel.nrel.gov

To save the connection for later use, type Kestrel in the box under Saved Sessions as in the following example and click on the [Save] button:

Now you can select the Kestrel option from the Saved Sessions list and click on the [Open] button:

Opening the Saved Session bring up a terminal screen.

The first time you connect to any new system, PuTTY will ask you to authorize using the server's RSA key. This will happen only once, but it's worth mentioning.

Just hit the [Yes] button and proceed.

Everything you've done so far has been the set up to the most important part: logging in!

PuTTY should now be connected to the system, and you'll see at the top of the terminal screen a prompt to Login as:

Type your HPC username, then press the <return> key.

When prompted, type your password again followed by <return>.

External users will be prompted for Password+OTP. Enter your HPC password immediately followed by your OTP token with no spaces or separators, then press the <return> key.

Note: to increase security, no characters are displayed when typing your password. If everything has been entered correctly, you should find yourself at the Kestrel command line prompt.

Congratulations!