Connecting to decius.sci.usq.edu.au

If you do not have access to a Linux machine then you can login to the Department's server decius.sci.usq.edu.au which is running the latest version of Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 "Etch".

The only way to connect to decius is via a secure shell — this means that all traffic between you and decius will be encrypted. There are a number of freeware Windows tools that can be used—

PuTTY — SSH client

PuTTY is a free implementation of SSH and a terminal emulator for Win32 platforms. The version below is for Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP and Vista on Intel x86.

Once connected PuTTY will open a terminal window to the server which will give you a command line interface. PuTTY will also give you the ability to move files back and forth securely using Secure FTP, again a command line interface.

To login to decius and start your web server running PuTTY is required.

To install PuTTY download the following installer and run it.

putty-0.60-installer
putty documentation

This software and additional information can be obtained from http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/

WinSCP — SCP client

WinSCP is an open source Secure FTP (SFTP) and Secure Copy (SCP) client for Windows. Its main function is the secure file transfer between a local and a remote computer. Beyond this, WinSCP offers basic file manager functionality.

WinSCP is not required as it duplicates some of the features of PuTTY but it does provide a more familiar Windows interface for moving files between two machines.

To install WINSCP download the following installer and run it.

winscp406setup.exe

This software and additional information can be obtained from http://www.winscp.com/