MIT - Academic Computing

Remote Access to Athena


Note: The information below is intended as a quick reference guide only. Computer security is taken very seriously at MIT, and it is important that you use secure programs to avoid compromising your own account, machines you access remotely, and MITnet as a whole -- in particular, you should be aware that regular telnet and FTP clients transmit data (including your password) across the network without any protection. Please see our pages on secure methods of remote login and file transfer before using the information below.

If you are connecting via:

The following addresses can be used for general remote access to Athena through a network connection. For information on supported programs for connecting securely, see the ACS Notes on remote login and file transfer. 

        athena.dialup.mit.edu           [regular access, no X]
        express.dialup.mit.edu          [short sessions, no X]
        athena-x.dialup.mit.edu         [for X applications]

The addresses above connect you to a pool of machines known for historical reasons as the Athena "Dialups". There are three varieties in this pool: regular, express, and x-enabled. The "express" dialups are designed to give better performance to users who only need to log in briefly (e.g., to read or send mail). Users are limited to 15 minutes of connect time when there are more than 10 users logged on the same machine; for more information, see the OLC stock answer on Dialup Express The athena-x dialups are the only dialups on which use of X windows is enabled; this keeps the load down on the regular and express dialups for general use.

Running X Windows applications remotely

As noted above, remote use of X Windows is not enabled on the regular and express dialups. If you need to run X applications remotely, log into athena-x.dialup.mit.edu or a private workstation, and follow the instructions in the OLC stock answer on running X Windows remotely.

Alternatives for course staff

ACS maintains a few remote-access Athena workstations for the use of faculty and TAs doing course-related work; see ACS Course Work systems for more information.

If you are connecting via:

If you are not using Tether or an outside ISP, you can access Athena with a modem or ISDN phone as described in the the Dialing into Athena (AC-15) publication. There is also an OLC stock answer on dialing into Athena from an ISDN phone.

For help with...

connecting to Athena,
general Athena questions		 Athena Consultants
phone: x3-4435
from Athena, type: olc
Tether/MITnet help,
Mac and PC software		 Computing Help Desk
Mac: x3-1101, mac-help@mit.edu
PC: x3-1102, pc-help@mit.edu
ACS course work systems,
instructional computing		 Faculty Liaisons
x3-0115, f_l@mit.edu
related ACS notes: Remote Login Guide | File Transfer Guide | SSH Overview
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Last modified: Mon Oct 19 16:33:10 1998