Computational Cluster Programs

Setting X11 Forwarding for GUI Applications

You can run interactive applications on ATS-hosted clusters that have Graphical User interfaces (GUI) in the following ways:

• By connecting to the cluster from the UCLA Grid Portal. Click on the Interactive tab and then either:
  • select the application you want
  • select xterm and enter the command that starts the application in the xterm window
  
  
• By connecting to the cluster head node via ssh and enabling X11 Forwarding.

  You can enable X11 Forwarding by adding the -X flag to the ssh command you use to connect to the Cluster as follows:

  ssh -l loginid -X cluster.address.ucla.edu

  Alternatively, you can override the ssh default for all your sessions by making a file named config in the .ssh subdirectory of your home directory on your local machine and adding the option:

  Host *    ForwardX11 yes
  

  Note for Mac OS X users: for Max OS 10.4 (Tiger) you must:

  • Install X11 from the OS CD.
  • Connect to the Hoffman2 Cluster from and X11 window, NOT from a Mac Terminal window.
  • Specify -Y, not -X, in the ssh command to enable X11 Forwarding.

There is no need to enable X11 Forwarding if you are only running applications with a command line or text interface or if you are using the cluster to run batch jobs.