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Available Software

• GenISys Layout Beamer
• Coventor SEMulator3D
• KLayout
• Software available for rent from the AWS Marketplace
• JetStream

Fees

CNF will rebill the hourly cost of the running virtual computer to your CNF project/account. Charges are only incurred while the computer is in a running state (uptime) – once shutdown, no more charges are incurred until the computer is again booted. The hourly cost itself varies depending on the specifications (number of virtual CPUs, amount of memory) of the virtual computer. You will also incur one hour of machine up time for CNF computing staff to setup the machine.

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AWS may also incur storage costs and data transfer costs. CNF will also rebill these costs. We do not expect normal disk usage to exceed $5/month. Data transfer costs from AWS to Cornell run $0.02 / GB. Data transfers to areas outside the Cornell network will be more expensive. There is no charge for data transfers from Cornell to AWS. As of 2024, AWS now charges for public IP addresses.

Getting Started

1. Contact any CNF staff member
2. Based on your memory, cpu, software, and cost requirements, CNF Computing will assemble an appropriate AWS virtual machine and set up a login account for you.
3. CNF Computing will boot the virtual machine for you at an agreed upon time.
4. At the agreed upon time, login via ssh and start computing. Remember, you are being charged for the uptime of the machine.
5. Transfer your data off the machine.
6. Shut down the machine.
7. If you need the machine to be rebooted, please contact CNF Computing to arrange a time for the machine to be rebooted.
8. Once you are completely done, please contact CNF Computing to delete the virtual machine.

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Logins are only available from the CNF Thin systems or CNF Windows systems. JetStream logins are additionally available from the public Internet.

You will receive an ssh private key for login.

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1. Login to the remote AWS server.

2. Set your separate VNC password with the following command:
   
   

   Code Block
   language bash
   vncpasswd

   Do not set a View Only password.

3. Start your VNC server with the following commandas follows:
   
   

   Code Block
   language bash
   [centos@ip-10-92-204-76 ~]$ vncserver New 'ip-10-92-204-76.ec2.internal:1 (centos)' desktop is ip-10-92-204-76.ec2.internal:1 Starting applications specified in /home/centos/.vnc/xstartup Log file is /home/centos/.vnc/ip-10-92-204-76.ec2.internal:1.log

   Make note of the display number output from the above command. In the above example, the display number is '1' ... denoted by the ':1' in the "desktop is" line of the output. 

4. Determine the VNC port number. The VNC port number is 5900 + the display number. In the example above, this would be 5900 + 1 = port 5901 .
5. Port forward VNC from your local computer to the remote system. There are several ways to do this:

   1. Start a new ssh session with using the -L option: EG -L 5901:localhost:5901
      
      

      Code Block
      language bash
      ssh -L <portnumber>:localhost:<portnumber> -Y -i </path/to/private_key_file.pem> <username>@<ip_address>

   2. In the existing ssh session from Linux or Mac, type in the following characters:
      ~C
      This will bring up the ssh command prompt at which you can start the port forward:
      
      

      Code Block
      language bash
      ssh> -L5901:localhost:5901 Forwarding port

   3. Start a new Putty connection with the port forward in place:
      1. Expand Connection - SSH and select Tunnels
      2. For source port, enter in the port number you determined above
      3. For destination, enter in localhost:<port number>
         EG localhost:5901
      4. Click "Add"
   4. Add a port forward to your existing Putty session
      1. Click the icon at the top left of the Putty window
      2. From the menu, select "Change Settings"
      3. Go to COnnection - SSH - Tunnels
      4. For source port, enter in the port number you determined above
      5. For destination, enter in localhost:<port number>
      6. Click "Apply"

Connecting with VNC

1. If you have not already done so, use the "Initial VNC Setup" instructions to start a VNC server.
2. If you have not already done so, use the "Initial VNC Setup" instructions to add a port forward to your ssh/Putty session.
3. Using vnc software of your choice, connect to: localhost:<port number>
4. Enter in your VNC password.

Transferring Files

The Except for JetStream computers, the lab transfer share is mounted as /cnflab , the same as on the CNF Conversion Computers and CNF Thin computers. Keep in mind disk space is limited on the Lab Transfer Share – do not use this share for large files. Instead, use SFTP to transfer files from any computer on the CNF network to the AWS conversion cloud. From the AWS conversion cloud, you can SFTP out to remote.cnf.cornell.edu or to jeol9500.cnf.cornell.edu for the JEOL9500 .

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sftp -o "IdentityFile=/path/to/keyfile.pem" username@ip_address 

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Windows

On Windows, we recommend using WinSCP .

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Use the following command from a prompt on the virtual computer (type the command exactly as shown below... reversing the order or arguments may cause the command to not work):

sudo shutdown -h now

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