DeltaAI Login Methods

Warning

DeltaAI is currently in pre-production. The system is still being configured, with additional services and resources being added and enabled.

Once you have a DeltaAI allocation, the primary methods for logging into DeltaAI are:

Direct Access Login Nodes
Open OnDemand
VS Code

Direct Access Login Nodes

Direct access to the DeltaAI login nodes is via SSH using your NCSA username, password, and NCSA Duo MFA. The login nodes provide access to the CPU and GPU resources on DeltaAI. See the NCSA Allocation and Account Management page for links to NCSA Identity and NCSA Duo services.

ACCESS awarded projects - Your NCSA username is in your ACCESS Profile; once logged in, scroll to the bottom of the page to the “Resource Provider Site Usernames” table. If you don’t know your NCSA username, submit a support request for assistance.

Login Node Hostnames

Login Node Hostnames
Login Node Hostname	Description
dtai-login.delta.ncsa.illinois.edu	Preferred hostname. Alias that round-robin logs in to one of the DeltaAI login nodes.
`gh-login[01-04].delta.ncsa.illinois.edu`	There are four DeltaAI login nodes, `gh-login01`, `gh-login02`, `gh-login03`, and `gh-login04`. The “gh” refers to “Grace Hopper”; DeltaAI is powered by the NVIDIA GH200 Grace Hopper Superchip.

SSH Examples

In the examples below, replace username with your DeltaAI login (NCSA) username.

Round-robin log in to a login node
```
ssh [email protected]
```
-l <user> <host> is an alternative syntax for <user>@<host>
```
ssh -l username dtai-login.delta.ncsa.illinois.edu
```
-Y allows X11 forwarding from Linux hosts
```
ssh -Y [email protected]
```

SSH Key Pairs

Use of SSH key pairs is disabled for general use. This means that most individual users, even principal investigators (PIs), are not allowed to use SSH key pairs instead of 2-factor authentication to log in.

The one exception is if you are the PI of a Science Gateway allocation (this is not most projects). In that case, please submit a support request to get the Gateway account’s key pairs set up.

Maintaining Persistent Login Sessions: tmux

The tmux utility is available on login nodes to maintain persistent login shells. This is a great technique to keep your shell alive for days and between network disconnects.

After making note of the hostname, use the targeted login hostnames to attach to the login node where you started tmux. Avoid the round-robin hostname when using tmux.

See the tmux man page for more information.

SSH Keyboard-Interactive

For command line SSH clients, use the following settings if you have trouble logging in to DeltaAI:

ssh -o PreferredAuthentications=keyboard-interactive,password

Open OnDemand

With Open OnDemand (OOD), you can access DeltaAI, in a web browser! Go to Open OnDemand on DeltaAI for more topics including:

Shell interface.

Interactive apps: Jupyter Lab (Code Server (VS Code) and Desktop (virtual Linux desktop) coming soon!).

Jupyter Lab customization for conda Environments.

How to Log In to the DeltaAI OOD Dashboard

Navigate to the Open OnDemand dashboard.
Log in through CILogon with your NCSA username, password, and Duo MFA.
Once logged in, navigate the dashboard using the menu bar at the top of the window.

VS Code

Refer to VS Code - Remote SSH