Creating an account

    The primary way of interacting with the GHPC cluster is via SSH. You need a unified GHPC account created by the GHPC admin team before you can log in and use the cluster. If you are a new member of QGG or one of our research partners, please follow the instructions below.

Request a GHPC account

New GHPC user accounts must be requested through the GHPC User Account Request Portal. The request is checked against the GHPC username database and reviewed by the GHPC admin team.

Request a GHPC user account

Please prepare your full name, email address, PI/contact person, team/access area, and SSH public key before submitting the request.

Before you start

GHPC uses SSH public-key authentication. You will create an SSH key pair on your own computer:

  • Public key: this is safe to share and must be submitted in the GHPC user request form.
  • Private key: this is your personal login credential. Never share it with anyone, including the GHPC admin team.

The sections below explain how to create or find your SSH public key on Windows, Mac, and GNU/Linux.

Windows icon If you are a Windows user There are two methods

Method 1: PuTTY-based setup

Step 1: Download PuTTY and PuTTYgen

Puttygen icon Download PuTTYgen: https://the.earth.li/~sgtatham/putty/latest/w64/puttygen.exe

Putty icon Download PuTTY: https://the.earth.li/~sgtatham/putty/latest/w64/putty.exe

Step 2: Generate SSH keys

SSH generate
Double click puttygen.exe and click the Generate button. 
Keep moving the mouse to generate some randomness.

Step 3: Enter passphrase

SSH pubkey save
Enter a passphrase. This can be a word or sentence of your choice. Repeat the same passphrase in the Confirm Passphrase field.

Then click Save public key.

Step 4: Save public key

SSH pubkey save
In the save window, save the file as id_rsa.pub on your Desktop.

Step 5: Save private key

SSH private key save
In the same window, click Save private key.
SSH private key save
In the next window, save the file as id_rsa on your Desktop.

Step 6: Submit the GHPC user request form

Understand how SSH works

SSH
Alert: Your private key is your personal login credential. Never share your private key with anybody, including the GHPC admin team.
Alert: Do not keep your private key in shared locations such as Dropbox, OneDrive, or network drives.
Note: Your public key, for example id_rsa.pub, is the key you must submit in the GHPC user request form.

Open your saved public key file, id_rsa.pub, and copy the full contents of the file.

Then submit the GHPC user request form:

Request a GHPC user account

Paste the public key into the SSH public key field in the form.

Step 7: Wait for the GHPC admin team

wait

After submitting the request, please wait for the GHPC admin team to review and create the account. You cannot connect to the cluster until your account has been created and your SSH public key has been added.

Method 2: Using Windows Terminal

This method is recommended for Windows 11 and newer Windows systems where OpenSSH is already available.

Step 1: Open Windows Terminal

Open the Windows search bar and type Terminal.

SSH generate

Click to open it.

SSH generate

Step 2: Generate an SSH key

In the Terminal window, type the following command and press Enter:

ssh-keygen -t ed25519

When prompted, provide a passphrase and press Enter. This can be a word or sentence of your choice.

SSH generate

If your system does not support Ed25519 keys, you can use RSA instead:

ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096

Step 3: Complete the process

You will be asked to confirm your passphrase by entering it again.

After confirmation, your SSH keys will be created successfully.

SSH generate

Step 4: Copy your public key and submit the request form

Type one of the following commands to print your public key.

If you generated an Ed25519 key:

cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

If you generated an RSA key:

cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub
SSH generate
Copy the full output of the public key. It should start with something like ssh-ed25519 or ssh-rsa.

Then submit the GHPC user request form:

Request a GHPC user account

Paste the copied public key into the SSH public key field.

Important: Do not copy or share your private key. Only the .pub file or the output from cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub or cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub should be submitted.

Linux icon / Apple icon If you are a Mac or GNU/Linux user

Open Terminal.

First check whether you already have an SSH public key:

ls ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub 2>/dev/null

If you see a .pub file, you already have a public key. Print it with one of the following commands.

For Ed25519:

cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

For RSA:

cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub

Copy the full output and submit it through the GHPC user request form:

Request a GHPC user account

Paste the copied public key into the SSH public key field.

If you do not have an SSH key, generate one:

ssh-keygen -t ed25519

When prompted, enter a passphrase. A passphrase helps protect your key if someone gets access to your computer.

If your system does not support Ed25519 keys, you can use RSA instead:

ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096

After the key is created, print your public key.

For Ed25519:

cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

For RSA:

cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub

Copy the full output and submit it through the GHPC user request form:

Request a GHPC user account

Important: Never share your private key. Only share the public key, which normally ends with .pub.

wait

After submitting the request, please wait for the GHPC admin team to review and create the account. You cannot connect to the cluster until your account has been created and your SSH public key has been added.