Machine Environment

HW start: 02/09/2026

In the lab, we run Linux (Debian for those that are interested) on a student server that is "safely" isolated off the Internet.

The lab box is remotely accessible for you through ec440.bu.edu via ssh. WAIT! Don't ssh yet! Read on!

The server is NOT running on the default ssh port. It is running on port 10001. If you want to ssh per hand under Linux, you have to do ssh ec440.bu.edu -p 10001 -l terrierXYZ (of course you want to replace XYZ with your actual terrier number). If you are using a Windows ssh client such as Putty, then you have to enter ec440.bu.edu as host name and 10001 as port number.

You can put the following entries into your ~/.ssh/config file so that you don't have to enter the port each time you connect (Windows users can save a session with Putty):

Host bandit
     User terrierXYZ
     Hostname ec440.bu.edu
     Port 10001
     HostKeyAlias bandit

If you have edited your ~/.ssh/config file (and replaced XYZ), then ssh bandit should do it. We will frequently (e.g., in class, in hw assignments, office hours, etc.) refer to this machine with the label "bandit".

It is good practice to change your password once you get your account. We might try to crack your password so do change it.
More importantly, install/configure your public ssh key on that machine as we will turn off password based authentication approximately one week into the semester. Here is a handy tutorial: https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-configure-ssh-key-based-authentication-on-a-linux-server.

You will submit your challenge solutions using e-mail on the lab machines. Submission from any other server will not work. You will also receive automated feedback from our submission system (e.g., information about your submission, grading, success/failure, etc.) to your lab account. In order for you to be able to read your mails, we have installed alpine and mutt on the server. Feel free to use anything you prefer (e.g., the UNIX mail command for the experts/geeks should also do it :-)).