Getting Started on the GPC

  • Faculty & Staff
  • Students & Alumni

Accounts

SAS full-time faculty are eligible for GPC accounts and graduate students, postdocs, and undergraduates may request an account with an SAS faculty sponsor. To request an account on the GPC, please send email to .  

GPC accounts will be archived after six months of inactivity. An email notifying the user of the status change will be sent to the email of record one month prior to account archive.  All data owned by the user will be also archived along with the account. For users who are no longer affiliated with Penn, account holders will be notified by email that their account will be archived in six months. Accounts will be archived six months after their affiliation is terminated. As above, all user data will be archived before deletion.

If you have any questions about the above policy, please email

 

Connecting to the GPC

The GPC only accepts connections from computers on campus. If you want to be able to log in to the GPC from a computer that is off campus, you will need to connect via a VPN. You can use the UPenn VPN provided by ISC which requires a Pennkey and two-step authentication. If you already have or need an account on the SAS VPN it is also an option for connecting to the GPC. 

 

How to connect to the GPC, from a Mac

Command line only:

Launch the Terminal app and type:

ssh -A

Replace "pennkey" with your GPC username. You will then be prompted for your password, which is your PennKey password.

 

Graphically (using X Windows System):

Install XQuartz.  Open the Terminal app and type:

ssh -YA

Replace "pennkey" with your GPC username. You will then be prompted for your password, which is your PennKey password.

If you're running MacOS Sierra, you will need to edit /etc/ssh/ssh_config and add the line "XAuthLocation /usr/X11/bin/xauth" after the line "Host *".  You can edit this file from an administrator account using the sudo and nano commands:

sudo nano /etc/ssh/ssh_config

 

How to connect to the GPC, from Windows

Command-line only:

Install SecureCRT. Click the File menu, choose "Connect."

Choose "New Session".

 

Choose SecureCRT protocol "SSH2"

type "gpc.sas.upenn.edu" in the Hostname field. Leave Port set to 22, and Firewall set to None.

Click Next twice, then click Finish.

Double-click on the profile you just created and log in with your PennKey credentials.

Graphically (using X Windows Systems):

Install Xming or VcXsrv. Install SecureCRT and follow the instructions above to create a gpc.sas.upenn.edu profile.

Click the “Options” menu then “Global Options”. 

Under “General”, click “Default Session” then “Edit Default Settings...”. 

Under X11 forwarding, make sure “Forward X11 packets” is checked, and if present, make sure “Enforce X11 authentication” is checked.