Remote Acces to Athena

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.

connecting from MITnet, Tether, or an outside ISP

This section applies to you if you have a direct network connection (MITnet), or if you use either MIT's Tether service or High Speed Remote Access. If you are dialing in directly, see the next section.

Logging in remotely to Athena

Mac and PC users should generally use a Kerberized telnet program.

If you have a Java-enabled web browser, you can make a terminal-style secure connection to Athena through http://athena.dialup.mit.edu or http://express.dialup.mit.edu.

For other options and more information, see the remote login section.

Transferring files to/from Athena

Mac users should use Kerberized Fetch. Secure options for other users are detailed in the file transfer section.

Addresses for connecting to Athena

        athena.dialup.mit.edu           [general pool]
        express.dialup.mit.edu          [for short sessions]
        athena-x.dialup.mit.edu         [for X applications]

Note: None of these machines are intended for computationally intensive work; such work should be done by coming to campus, or by remote login to a private workstation (see the OLC Stock Answer What to do and not to do on dialups for guidelines).

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

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

dialing in (no ISP)

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.

Help

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
course work systems, instructional computing	Faculty Liaisons x3-0115, f_l@mit.edu

Remote Access Overview | Remote Login Guide | File Transfer Guide | SSH Overview

Comments and feedback to olh-suggest@mit.edu