How to connect to the SIBYLS NX server

Eight easy steps to connect to the SIBYLS NX server through the beamline firewall.

1. Download and Install NoMachine NX Client for your computer OS.
2. Open a terminal on your machine.
3. Enter the following command:

# ssh -L 2222:graphics1:22 your_username@bl1231.als.lbl.gov

4. Launch NX Client.
5. Open the configuration dialog box and set the NX Server to localhost and the port to 2222.
5. Ensure that the SSL encryption of all traffic is enabled in the NX Client GUI or session will fail to start.

By using this setup, the traffic will be encrypted and compressed twice, the first time by the NX server, the second time by the ssh tunnel established between the client and the firewall. To be sure that at least compression of the traffic is not performed a second time, you can add the Compression option when creating the tunnel on the client:

# ssh -o 'Compression=no' -L 2222:graphics1:22 your_username@bl1231.als.lbl.gov

6. The first time you connect you will likely be asked about the validity of the server key. Just press "Yes".

7. You should now be presented with a Linux desktop that looks very familiar if you've ever collected data at the SIBYLS beamline.

8. Have fun kids and don't break anything.