/
Local VNC Viewer

Local VNC Viewer

  • This guide provides a step-by-step instructions on how you can connect to RIS compute serivces through local PC/Laptop through GUI.

  • This guide details step-by-step instructions on connecting to RIS compute services via VNC GUI through a local Linux/MacOS computer. Windows platform is currently not supported.

Pre-requisites

Connecting to WashU Network

  • If you are off campus, you will need to use a VPN to access compute1.

  • Instructions for accessing the WashU VPNs can be found here.

  • If you run into issues using the VPN, you will need to follow the directions in the previous link to contact WashU IT proper.

Compute/Storage Allocation

  • User must have a compute/storage allocation.

  • If you do not have one, You can request here.

Install TurboVNC Viewer

brew install --cask turbovnc-viewer

  • Validate that installation is successful. There should be an application under Finder -> Applications.

  • Install expect, on local computer run:

brew install expect

  • Validate that installation is successful.; run:

which expect /usr/bin/expect ## output

  • (Optional) Add vncviewer in the PATH variable, Open Terminal then run:

echo 'export PATH="/opt/TurboVNC/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.zshrc source ~/.zshrc

Add SSH Private-Public Key Pair

  • If you do not have SSH private-public key pair already setup. Please refer our guide here

Connecting through NoVNC

  • User should be either connected to campus network or WashU VPN.

  • Download LaunchDesktop.zip to a desired location, preferably, on the Desktop. (note: WashU login required)

  • Unzip LaunchDesktop.zip or just double-click on the zip file.

  • This will output an executable file LaunchDesktop.

image-20250411-142420.png

  • Now open the LaunchDesktop file with any text editor and enter your WashU Key in the first line as below example:

# Set a WASHU key set WUSTLKEY "WASHU_KEY"

This viewer was created before the change to WashU Key and so the variable name that should be used is still WUSTLKEY.

  • Double-click the executable. It will open a terminal session, connect to RIS platform, submits a job and output a command to connect VNC viewer. (Refer example screenshot below)

image-20250411-142505.png

  • Now, copy the command that starts with /opt/TurboVNC/… in another instance of terminal and run it.

image-20250411-142543.png

  • You shall be able to now access desktop GUI on the compute node.

image-20250411-142557.png