Research Computing At HBS

This is page provides a rough guide for competent users to get going with HBS's RCS (Research Computing Services) remotely.

VPN

Getting the VPN up was problematic for me (there were account issues), but it should be as simple as going to:

vpn.hbs.edu

Enter your username and password. And clicking "start".

SSHing onto Research Grid

Just do it. Open Putty and SSH onto researchgrid.hbs.edu. Give your username and password.

Connecting to MYSQL

Type:

 mysql -h rcsmysql.hbs.edu -u username -p --ssl-ca=rcsmysql

(with your username!).

Then work away on any databases which you have permissions for. Useful MYSQL specific commands include:

SET PASSWORD = PASSWORD('newpassword');   #Change your password
SHOW GRANTS FOR username;  #See your access permissions
SHOW DATABASES;   #See all the databases you can see
USE somedbase;   #Use a database
SHOW TABLES;    #See the tables in a database
DESC sometable;   #Describe a table
SHOW PROCESSLIST;   #See a list of processes you have running
KILL xxxx;   #Kill process number xxxx

Export and Import to MYSQL

Create two symbolic links to the MYSQL import and export directories:

ln -s /export/mysql/export export
ln -s /export/mysql/import import

Map a drive (Mount)

With the VPN up, map two drive letters to:

\\research.hbs.edu\username
\\research.hbs.edu\projects

Connect using different credentials:

HBS\username
yourpassword

Note the HBS workgroup/domain above - this will be crucial. In theory you shoudl be able to map to the samba share \\research (i.e. without the full domain), but this didn't work for me.