Remote Access to the CDMS Student Linux Server
This guide explains how you can connect to the School of Computer, Data & Mathematical Sciences (CDMS) student Linux server from outside the CDMS computer labs.
In order to remotely connect to the CDMS student Linux server, you will need to be on the University network. Search for “SSTARS OPENVPN” at http://MyIT.westernsydney.edu.au for instructions on how you can connect to the University VPN provided for CDMS students.
Once you are connected to the SSTaRS VPN, the host you can connect to is student.cdms.westernsydney.edu.au
When connecting to the CDMS student Linux server, if you get the error message “The authenticity of host ‘student.cdms.westernsydney.edu.au (137.154.149.77)’ can’t be established”, just select “yes” to continue connecting.
Windows Users
For SSH terminal access to the CDMS student Linux server, it is recommended that you use the open source application PuTTY. PuTTY is available to download from https://www.ssh.com/ssh/putty/. Please note that when logging into the CDMS student Linux server, when you are asked for your SCEM password, no asterisks or stars will be displayed as you type your password. This is normal behaviour for most non-Hollywood Linux systems 
For Secure FTP access to the CDMS student Linux server, it is recommended that you use the open source application WinSCP. WinSCP is available to download from https://winscp.net/eng/index.php
If you have difficulty installing either PuTTY or WinSCP on your personal computer, both these programs are installed on the remotely accessible SSTaRS PC labs. Please see https://www.cdms/westernsydney.edu.au/remoteaccess for connection instructions.
If you need assistance using these servers, please contact the IT Service Desk via myit.westernsydney.edu.au.
Mac Users
Once you have connected to the School’s VPN, you can connect to the CDMS student Linux server by starting the in-build OS X application terminal. Once you have opened a terminal window, type
ssh YOUR_SCEM_USERNAME@ssh.student.cdms.westernsydney.edu.au
to connect to the server, where YOUR_SCEM_USERNAME is your actual SCEM username.
For example, if your SCEM username was jsmith, the command you would enter would be
ssh jsmith@student.cdms.westernsydney.edu.au
To transfer files between the CDMS student Linux server and your Mac, go to Finder, then select Go. Scroll down to the “Connect to server…” option and enter smb://unix.cdms.westernsydney.edu.au/homes as the server name. Enter your SCEM username and password when prompted, and this will mount your CDMS Unix home directory as a remote folder on your Mac. Once mounted, you can copy files to and from this remote folder.