# Creating an Account on Lewis

**URL:** <https://ask.cyberinfrastructure.org/t/creating-an-account-on-lewis/1369>\
**Category:** University of Missouri - Columbia\
**Created:** [May 18, 2020, 6:28pm UTC](https://ask.cyberinfrastructure.org/t/creating-an-account-on-lewis/1369 "2020-05-18T18:28:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bjmfg8](https://ask.cyberinfrastructure.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/ecb155/32.png) [@bjmfg8](https://ask.cyberinfrastructure.org/u/bjmfg8)\
**Post date:** [May 18, 2020, 6:28pm UTC](https://ask.cyberinfrastructure.org/t/creating-an-account-on-lewis/1369/1 "2020-05-18T18:28:18Z")

</div>

## Get an Account

- **Step 1: Open a terminal**
  - Open your favorite terminal app. For our Windows users we recommend [MobaXterm](https://ask.cyberinfrastructure.org/howto/mobaxterm)

- **Step 2: Find or create your SSH Public Key**
  - Find your existing SSH public key with the command `cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub`.  
If you don’t have a key you will need to [create a new SSH Key Pair](https://ask.cyberinfrastructure.org/howto/ssh).

- **Step 3: Request an account**
  - Fill out the [Lewis Account Request Form](https://missouri.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_d3WPojWHK5G33YV)
  - NOTE: If you do not have a University of Missouri System login please  
contact us at mudoitrcss@missouri.edu

- **Step 4: Check your email**
  - You will get an email from Research Computing once your account is ready.

## Logging into Lewis

To log into Lewis, type the following in a local terminal:

```bash
ssh <username>@lewis.rnet.missouri.edu

```

The first time you log in you will see a message like this:

```bash
[<username>.<your_computer_name_here>] ➤ ssh <username>@lewis.rnet.missouri.edu
Warning: Permanently added 'lewis.rnet.missouri.edu' (ECDSA)
to the list of known hosts.
Enter passphrase for key '/home/mobaxterm/.ssh/id_rsa':
Last login: Fri Aug 19 13:08:52 2016 from mu-092185.dhcp.missouri.edu
* ********************************************************************
* Welcome to lewis4-r710-login-node223.cobalt.lan, CentOS, 7.6.1810
* Archive of news is available in /etc/motd-archive
* University of Missouri Division of IT Research Computing Support Services
*
...
   <message of the day will appear here>

[<username>@lewis4-r710-login-node223 ~]$

```

That warning is telling you that you are logging into a computer you have never  
seen before - it is expected on your first login. The passphrase is the one  
created in step 3.

## Transfer Your Data to the Cluster

There are multiple ways to transfer your data to the cluster. On Windows drag  
and drop files into your MobaXterm window. For Linux and Mac OS use the  
`rsync` or `scp` commands to copy data to the cluster.

For `rsync` use these options for best results:

```bash
rsync -ahvP /source/path <username>@lewis.rnet.missouri.edu:/storage/hpc/data/<username>/destination/path

```

Example:

```bash
[2016-09-27 16:06.54] ~
[DOIT-TCB-JG] ➤ rsync -ahvP /home/mobaxterm/science_data/ testuser@lewis.rnet.missouri.edu:/storage/hpc/data/testuser/
sending incremental file list
./
file1
          31 100% 0.00kB/s 0:00:00 (xfer#1, to-check=2/4)
file2
          23 100% 22.46kB/s 0:00:00 (xfer#2, to-check=1/4)
file3
          19 100% 9.28kB/s 0:00:00 (xfer#3, to-check=0/4)

sent 292 bytes received 72 bytes 242.67 bytes/sec
total size is 73 speedup is 0.20

```

> Note
> 
> **LARGE TRANSFERS** : Transfers to/from the cluster that include large files  
> (gigabyte or larger) and/or many files (hundreds or more) will need to use  
> a DTN. Please see [Partition Policy](https://ask.cyberinfrastructure.org/policy/partition-policy) for more information.