ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ

IT FAQs

ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ

Μύ

For issues that are not related to ECE IT please visit the

Contact Information

Which e-mail address to be sent to:

ContactΜύlabs.ece [at] mcgill.caΜύfor any course, lab and general requests.

ContactΜύit.ece [at] mcgill.caΜύfor computer hardware and software support.

ContactΜύ3d.ece [at] mcgill.caΜύfor all 3D printing projects.

Remote Access to ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Resources (useΜύVPN)

If you are accessing ECE resources from outside of ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ’s network, make sure that you are connected to ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ’s VPN.
For other VPN related problems, contact itsupport [at] mcgill.ca (subject: VPN%3A%20) (ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ IT Support)

Trottier Labs Remote Access

Consult your professor or instructor in regards to what range of assigned computers your course-group has access to in Trottier labs and remotely connect to the given range as shown below:

  1. Connect to ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Cisco VPN before remote desktop connection as shown in the following linkβ†’
  2. Visit and select your lab from the list
  3. ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ an available workstation from the list and click on 'Connect'
  4. An RDP file will be downloaded to your computer, which you can click on for accessing the lab's workstation

*If you are using an operating system, different from Windows (macOS, linux) you must first download a compatible RDP client for your operating system.
**The PDF version of this guide can be downloaded here: PDF icon ece-rdpguidefall2020.pdf

For other issues and queries related to Remote Desktop Sessions, email it.ece [at] mcgill.ca (subject: From%20FAQ%3A%20Remote%20Desktop%20to%20Trottier%20Computers) (ECE-IT)

CAD software

Available software for users with graduate Unix accounts:

  • ΜύISE and EDK - also available for Windows

How to start CAD tools

To run Cadence for example, do the following:

  • Follow the steps under Linux system -> How to login (X2Go Desktop Session is recommended)
  • SSH to C10.ece.mcgill.ca (or C01.ece.mcgill.ca, C02.ece.mcgill.ca, C03.ece.mcgill.ca or Solo.ece.mcgill.ca )
  • Login with firstname.lastname @ mail.mcgill.ca and your e-mail password
  • Run the following commands:
    > exec tcsh
    > source /CMC/scripts/cadence
    > cadence or > cadence -t cmosxxx (whichever technology you need)

CADActivate

Students requiring access to CAD software will need to run CADActivate, so that the student’s ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ account is added to the license access list. Please refer to the document below for instruction on CADActivate.

CADActivate document

CADpass

Students requiring access to CMC software that does not have central network licenses available will need to use CADpass to gain access to these licenses through CMC.Μύ

CADpass Document:Μύ cadpass.pdf

ECE policies

Network connection -- policy for graduate students and researchers:

When a new graduate student or researcher arrives at the department, he/she needs to contact the ECE IT Services team atΜύit.ece [at] mcgill.caΜύwith their supervisor affiliation and their desk/office location in the McConnell bldg.
ECE IT Services will assign each computer used by a graduate student or researcher an IP address and provide them with basic setup instructions.

If a graduate student or researcher connects a computer to a network jack using a random IP address without contacting the IT Services team, the network jack he/she used will be disconnected (the corresponding switch port will be shut down) immediately after the student/researcher is notified.Μύ

If we fail to reach the user the disconnection will be done within 24 hours at the most (unless the IP address conflicts with another one that is already in use, in which case it will be disconnected immediately after notification).

No IP address hijacking or any other IT protocol violation will be tolerated.

Email

To which e-mail address will the ECE System Administrators send official messages?

From time to time we send important announcements, updates, or emergency messages to ECE students and staff. These messages and all other official ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ communications will only be sent to your ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Email Address. Your e-mail address will be in the format ofΜύfirstname.lastname [at] mail.mcgill.caΜύfor students, andΜύfirstname.lastname [at] mcgill.caΜύfor staff.

If you do not wish to use the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Email Address given to you upon admission, you can forward your ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Email Address to your preferred e-mail.

For e-mail help please follow this link:

How do I configure my e-mail client software?

Visit theΜύ.

Email best practices

Refer to the followingΜύΜύfor e-mail best practices.

    Linux systems

    If you are accessing ECE resources from outside of ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ’s network, make sure that you are connected to ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ’s VPN before proceeding with the following steps.

    The ECE Unix user environment:

    Your default shell is bash. However, you can switch to tcsh (by running "exec tcsh" after you login).

    Where to login:

    All ECE students can login to the following systems:

    • 156TRLinux.ece.mcgill.ca – shell only
    • 156TRPowerLinux-1.ece.mcgill.ca – Desktop Session (KDE or XFCE)
    How to log in:

    Login to the UNIX workstations with your ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ account firstname.lastname [at] mail.mcgill.ca and your e-mail password.

      How to run UNIX based X-Windows applications on Windows workstations

      To run Matlab for example, do the following:
      • Enable for Windows 10 or install (All our Trottier workstations already have an SSH client installed)
      • Make sure X-Win32 (or equivalent, such as XMing [.pdf]) is running
      • SSH to XXXX.ece.mcgill.ca [where XXXX is the server name]
      • Alternativley, open putty, enter XXXX.ece.mcgill.ca ssh hostname and Enable X11 forwading under Connection -> SSH -> X11
      • Login with firstname.lastname [at] mail.mcgill.ca and your e-mail password
      • Run the following command:
        > matlab

      You can use the same procedure to run any X based application available to you.

        MobaXterm - SSH client with built in X-Windows system
        1. Open a web browser and go to to download the software or go to ()
        2. Click on Downloads and select the Home Edition
        3. Install the software and then launch the software by clicking on the short-cut on the desktop
        4. Once the software has started, click on "session" to start the connection process.
        5. Make sure that SSH is selected and enter the server information and user information (first.last [at] mail.mcgill.ca) --> click OK to start your SSH session.
        6. Start your CAD software like normal and MobaXterm will take care of the rest.
        To logon to an X-Session (Linux Desktop Session) with MobaXterm:
        1. Open MobaXTerm and click on session
        2. Select SSH, enter the name of the remote host, and user name
        3. Click on the "Advanced SSH" settings tab
        4. Find where it says "Remote Environment" and change it to a supported desktop of your choice (KDE or XFCE)
        5. Click ok to connect to the server and show the desktop
        X2GO Desktop Session on Windows workstations:
        1. Download and install Windows (All our Trottier workstations already have X2Go client installed)
        2. Under New Session window enter name of the remote host and your user information (first.last [at] mail.mcgill.ca)
        3. Plect KDE under the session type (please, note that gnome is not supported by X2Go)

        If you use Mac OS workstation, you will also need to install .

        How to mount your Unix home directory on a Windows PC (SAMBA):

        • Right click on My Computer and select "Map Network Drive".
        • Select any free drive letter for "Drive" and type in \\storm.ece.mcgill.ca\DAS_username under "Folder" (e.g. \\storm.ece.mcgill.ca\jdoe1)
        • Click on "Connect using a different user name" and type in CAMPUS\DAS_username (e.g. CAMPUS\jdoe1) and your DAS password for credentials.
        • Click on OK and then Finish.Μύ

        Mounting shares

        Mounting a Windows share on a Mac client

        • Open Finder, click on Go and select Connect to Server
        • TypeΜύsmb://<IPΜύAddress|Computer Name>/<Share>
          Example:Μύsmb://expo.campus.mcgill.ca/research
        • Enter your CAMPUS/DAS_username (e.g. CAMPUS/jdoe1) and ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ e-mail password
        • DAS stands for Dialup Access Services and DAS username can also be refered as Short username. DAS username is issued to every registered student. Please see for more information. To find your DAS username, please read this

        Mounting a Windows Share on a Linux client

        • Login to your Linux system as the root user or use the su command
        • Create the required mount point
          i.e: mkdir /mnt/share
        • Use the mount command with your DAS username as follows
          mount -t cifs //server/share -o username=campus/DAS_username /mnt/share
        • After running the mount command you'll be asked for your ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ e-mail password
        • Access the share by changing to the mounted directory
          i.e.: cd /mnt/share

        Mounting a Windows Share on a Windows client

        • Right click on "My Computer" and choose "Map Network Drive.."
        • For "Drive" choose an available letter from the drop down list (i.e. M)
        • For "Folder" type \\<Computer Name>\<Share>
          Example: \\Expo.campus.mcgill.ca\HOME1\ECE\Your DAS (short) username
        • Enable (checkmark) the "Reconnect at logon" if you want this drive to appear next time you logon to your machine
        • Click on the "different user name" link
        • For "User name" enterΜύfirst.last [at] mcgill.caΜύ(orΜύfirst.last [at] mail.mcgill.ca)
        • For "Password" enter your ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ e-mail password.
        • Click OK
        • Click Finish

        Mounting your Unix home directory on a Windows client

        • Right click on My Computer and select "Map Network Drive".
        • Select any free drive letter for "Drive" and type in \\storm.ece.mcgill.ca\DAS_USERNAME (e.g. smb://storm.ece.mcgill.ca/jdoe1) under "Folder"
        • Click on "Connect using a different user name" and type in CAMPUS\DAS_username (e.g. CAMPUS\jdoe1) and your ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ e-mail password for credentials.
        • Click on OK and then Finish.

        Mounting your Unix home directory on a Mac client

        • Open Finder, click on Go and select Connect to Server
        • TypeΜύsmb://storm.ece.mcgill.ca/DAS_USERNAME (e.g. smb://storm.ece.mcgill.ca/jdoe1)
        • Enter your CAMPUS/DAS_username (e.g. CAMPUS/jdoe1) and ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ e-mail password

        Printing

        Printing for Graduate Students:ΜύIf you do not know the IP address of the printer you wish to access, please send an e-mail toΜύit.ece [at] mcgill.ca (ECE IT services)Μύ, requesting the IP address for the printer located in your room number.

        Using a ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ network printer from a Mac client

        • Press Command+P
        • ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Add Printer from the popup menu, this will open the Printer Setup wizard
        • Click on IP Printer, and enter the IP Address and information related to the printer.
        • Print a test page to ensure that the printer works properly

        Using a ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ network printer from a Windows client

        • Open your printer control applet (Start Menu ->Control Panel->Printers and Faxes) and click on the Add Printer button to launch the wizard
        • At the Wizard click on the β€œNext” button and at the next screen select "Local printer attached to this computer" then click Next.
        • Select "Create a new port: " and specify the type of port as "Standard TCP/IP Port" then click Next. The computer will launch the Port Wizard for the creation of a new port for use by the printer. Please Click Next
          • Enter the IP address of the printer (i.e. 132.206.76.13) and enter the name for the Port as well (i.e. Office 633), then click Next.
          • Select β€œHewlett Packard Jet Direct” from the pull down menu, then click Next. Review the information and if everything looks good click Finish
        • Now select the type of printer from the next screen, then select Next.
        • You will need to assign a name to the printer, and you can set it to default if so desired then click next
        • At the Sharing screen, select no and click next.
        • Print a test page to make sure that the printer works properly
        • After the test page prints, click OK, and then review the information, and click Finish if every thing works correctly.

        Using a ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ network printer from a Windows client (wireless connection)

        • Connect to to get access to the network printer.
        • Open console window (by typing "cmd" after pressing "windows" key). Ping the printer by typing "ping <printer DNS name>.ece.mcgill.ca (e.g. ping lp620.ece.mcgill.ca). If you receive the response (four packets), then you can reach the printer and may proceed with the next step. Othervise, you do not have access to printer. It can be related to your VPN connection. Please send an e-mail toΜύECE IT servicesΜύand ask to place your IP address to the ECE VPN Pool.
        • In your web browser open http://<printer DNS name>.ece.mcgill.ca. From tab "HP Smart Install" download a package to install the printer driver and software on your machine. If there is no driver package provided, try to find it at the website of apropriate printer manufacturer.
        • At the end of the installation, direct the installer to search the printer on a wired network by host name "<printer DNS name>.ece.mcgill.ca". The installation is over and you should be able to print documents.
        • If you have problems please contactΜύECE IT services.

        Printing for Undergraduate Students:Μύ

        uPrint - Campus Printing

        ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ offers a Campus Printing (uPrint) solution for students, faculty and staff. This campus-wide copy and print management solution allows any member of the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ community with a valid ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ ID card to send a print job to the central print queue, and pick it up from the Xerox device of their choice.

        Computers & Servers

        Course

        Lab Name

        Lab Room

        Qty

        222

        Digital Systems

        TR4060

        17

        433

        Photonics & Semiconductors lab

        TR4070

        5

        307/308

        Test & Measurement Lab

        TR4090

        11

        324/552

        Computer Lab 2

        TR4110

        20

        420

        Computer Lab 3

        TR4120

        14

        444/546

        Microprocessor Systems Lab

        TR4160

        23

        325/416/408

        Digital Signal Processing Lab

        TR4180

        23

        331

        Test & Measurement Lab 2

        TR5060

        16

        335

        Microelectronics Lab

        TR5070

        2

        Μύ

        Computer Lab 1

        TR5090

        25

        403

        Control & Robotics Lab

        TR5110

        8

        Μύ

        Projects Lab

        TR5130

        4

        362/470

        Power Lab

        TR5140

        6

        354

        Electromagnetics Lab

        TR5150

        8

        Remote Desktop to Trottier lab computers

        Consult your professor or instructor in regards to what range of assigned computers your course-group has access to in Trottier labs and remotely connect to the given range as shown below:

        1. Connect to ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Cisco VPN before remote desktop connection as shown in the following linkβ†’
        2. Visit and select your lab from the list
        3. ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ an available workstation from the list and click on 'Connect'
        4. An RDP file will be downloaded to your computer, which you can click on for accessing the lab's workstation

        If you are using an operating system, different from Windows (macOS, linux) you must first download a compatible RDP client for your operating system.

        For other issues and queries related to VPN and Remote Desktop Sessions, email it.ece [at] mcgill.ca (subject: From%20FAQ%3A%20Remote%20Desktop%20to%20Trottier%20Computers) (ECE-IT)

        Software for staff and research

        To obtain software distributed by the department

        The software licensed to the department can be found on the following network share: \\expo.campus.mcgill.ca\research\

        Make sure that you are on the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ LAN (connect to the first if you are trying to access the drive over the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ wireless network or from a remote PC)

        To open the network share go to Start-> Run, enter \\expo.campus.mcgill.ca\research\ in the Run box and click on OK. Alternatively you can map the network share to a drive letter by following the steps below

        • Right click on "My Computer" and choose "Map Network Drive..."

        • For "Drive" choose an available letter from the drop down list

        • For "Folder" type β€œ\\expo.campus.mcgill.ca\research" (no quotes)

        • If you are not logged in to your computer with your domain account, click on "Connect using a different user name" and type in CAMPUS\DAS_username (e.g. CAMPUS\jdoe1) and your DAS password for credentials.

        • Enable (checkmark) the "Reconnect at logon" option if you want this drive to appear next time you logon to your machine

        • Click OK

        • Click Finish

        • If you now double-click on β€œMy Computer” you will see the drive under β€œNetwork Drives”

        Matlab

        1. To install Matlab and authenticate through our license server follow the instructions above ("To obtain software distributed by the department").

        2. To install Matlab locally (stand alone) without needing access to a license server follow the instructions from this article:

        User and course web pages

        What is the first step in creating my own web page on the ECE server?

        You must create a directory called www - must be lowercase - directly under the root of your UNIX home directory

        The link to your web page isΜύ.

        For the site to load automatically you must name your startup file one of the following names: index.html, index.htm, index.shtml

        How to make it viewable by the world?

        In order to have your site viewable by the world you must give 711 permissions to the www directory and all the html and image files below.

        We suggest creating the following directories in order to keep your site organized:

        html - for all your html files

        images - for all your picture files

        forms - if you want to use html/cgi forms

        cgi-bin - for all your cgi/perl scripts

        How to protect my directories?

        Protecting your directories by means of .htaccess

        In the directory /home/<yourusername> type in the following command:

        htpasswd -c .htpasswd <USER>

        Use for <USER> whatever user name you like and type in the password. This will create the file called .htpasswd that will contain your credentials. If you want to add other users, use the htpasswd without the -c switch, running htpasswd command with -c is going to rewrite the file if it already exists. To change tpassword for an existing user, simply issue the same command as when you added the user and to delete an user choose switch -D. For additional help how to use httpasswd, please find basic instructions at .

        Type chmod 644 .htpasswd

        Create an .htaccess file in the directory you want protected - vi .htaccess

        Type chmod 644 .htaccess

        Put the following lines in it:

        AuthUserFile /home/<yourusername>/.htpasswd
        AuthGroupFile /dev/null
        AuthName "Restricted Area"
        AuthType Basic
        Require valid-user

        In the third line, starting with AuthName, "Restricted Area" can be replaced with whatever you may want to call your restricted group. Last line, starting with AuthType is for the usernames used above the .htpasswd file.

        Regarding .htaccess file encoding, it is important to keep it saved with Unix encoding if it is prepared on Windows or Mac. Both files .htaccess and .htpasswd will be hidden files, therefore "Show Hidden Files" has to turned on if there is a need to work with them out of the terminal.

        In case if you need to protect multiple directories, then you can create a different password file for each password directory (e.g. /home/yourusername/.htpasswd.another). For each protected directory .htaccess Μύfile has to be created in directory that should be protected amd AuthuserFile lines in .htaccess file have to be modified with appropriate path to the .htaccess file.

        Managing your ECE user webpage

        Linux SSH:

        • Connect via ssh to one of the Linux workstations: 156TRLinux.ece.mcgill.ca
        • cd to the www directory (where the web pages are) and create files locally or use sftp to move pages up and down.

        Μύ

        Samba:

        • Mount your home drive through Samba (instructions under Linux system section of FAQ)

        Μύ

        FTP:

        To upload your website via FTP you will need to use an FTP client configured to connect using a secure (SSH) connection. Here is the information needed to connect:

        • Host: 156TRLinux.ece.mcgill.ca
        • Connection type: FTP over SSH
        • Port: 22
        • Username: firstname.lastname
        • Password: your e-mail password
        • Path to your webpage files: /home/DASusername/www

        You can useΜύΜύto upload your files. Once you download and install it, open FileZilla and click File > Site Manager. Select New Site > enter a descriptive name, and fill out the rest of the information on the General tab, as indicated above.

        Once the connection is established you can transfer the files by dragging them into the Remote site pane. Your website's address will beΜύ

        Note: the FTP process can be used for both course and user webpages (for course webpages you would use /home/infoXXX/www as the path to your webpage files)

        Managing your Course Web Pages

        Editing virtual (infoxxx) web pages

        Samba:

        To map your directory in samba please use the following information \\samba.ece.mcgill.ca\infoXXX, and then click on the use β€œdifferent user name” and enter your short DAS name and your DAS (e-mail) password. Then click finish.

        Windows accounts

        How do I login to the Windows Computers at the ECE facilities in the Trottier Building?

        All registered ECE students have accounts on our systems; to login to a Windows machine simply use the following:

        Username:

        • Staff:Μύfirstname.lastname [at] mcgill.ca
        • Students:Μύfirstname.lastname [at] mail.mcgill.ca
        • Password: Your ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Email Address Password

        Windows disk space

        Graduate students have up to three network drives available. Once logged in with your domain account (first.last [at] mail.mcgill.ca) you should be able to see two network drives (M: and R:).

        • The M: drive from ECE, which is your main Windows Storage. The actual path to the drive is \\Expo.campus.mcgill.ca\HOME3\ECE\Short_Username. The quota on this drive is currently 1 GB.
        • The R: drive from IT Services, which you can use as your backup Windows Storage. The quota on this drive is currently 100 MB.
        • Linux System -> How to mount your UNIX home directory on Windows (SAMBA). The quota on this drive is currently 10 GB.

        Faculty and Staff

        Faculty and Staff have up to three network drives available. Once logged in with your domain account (first.last [at] mcgill.ca) you should be able to see two network drives (M: and R:).

        • The M: drive from ECE, which is your main Windows Storage. The actual path to the drive is \\Expo.campus.mcgill.ca\HOME1\ECE\Short_Username. The quota on this drive is currently 1 GB.
        • Faculty and staff receive an R: drive from IT Services with 1GB of space for their personal use. For more information please seeΜύΜύ
        • Linux System -> How to mount your UNIX home directory on Windows (SAMBA). The quota on this drive is currently 10 GB.

        Manual Drive Mounting

        If you do not see your network drives (M: & R:) mounted (or your PC is not part of the Campus.Mcgill.CA Domain), you can still mount the M: and R: drives manually:

        M: Drive:

        • Right click on "My Computer" and choose "Map Network Drive.."
        • For "Drive" choose an available letter from the drop down list (i.e. M)
        • For "Folder" type "\\Expo.campus.mcgill.ca\HOME1\ECE\YourShortUsername" (no quotes)
        • Enable (checkmark) the "Reconnect at logon" if you want this drive to appear next time you logon to your machine
        • Click on the "different user name" link
        • For "User name" enterΜύfirst.last [at] mcgill.caΜύ(orΜύfirst.last [at] mail.mcgill.ca)
        • For "Password" entry your ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ e-mail password.
        • Click OK
        • Click Finish

        R: Drive:

        Using the same procedure as above, you can manually map the R: drive using this location \\file.campus.mcgill.ca\staff\group#\<ShortUserName>, where <ShortUserName> is your short username and where group# is the number found in the ReadMeFirst.htm file located on your R drive, or onΜύΜύView Account Information,ΜύHome Directory, and ShortUserName is your short username (eg. jsmith5)

        Your drives should be mapped and available to you now.

        ΜύFaculty and staff get an R: drive from IT Services with 1GB of space for their personal use. For more information please seeΜύFile Storage and File Management

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