To log in to our Linux servers from a computer/laptop running an MS Windows operating system, you will first need to install an ssh client program.

ITS offers SecureCRT free of cost to students/faculty/staff members. It is available for download here.

Another option is to use PuTTY. This is a free and widely used ssh client for Windows. It is probably the simplest to use Windows ssh client.

Other popular programs are KiTTY and cmder.

After installing an ssh client, you can connect to any CS Linux server by using its fully qualified domain name (FQDN). This address is the server hostname followed by .cs.virginia.edu. To log into the server portal use the address portal.cs.virginia.edu.

You can find a list of generally available CS Linux servers on this page.

An ssh connection to “portal” does not require a VPN connection to connect from off Grounds. However, an ssh connection to other servers requires a VPN connection. See: Linux Server Access