Remote desktop servers

The remote desktop server environment  (RDS) is a cluster of high-performance servers running resource-intensive simulations and applications. These servers feature Dual AMD EPYC 7502 32-Core Processors (64 core) with 512 GB of RAM, and 16GB NVIDIA T4 GPU. The following applications are available:

  • Anaconda 3 (64 Bit)
  • Arena 16
  • Ansys 
  • Ansys Electromagnetics Suite
  • Ansys Optics
  • Code Meter
  • CompuCell 3D
  • Gurobi
  • ImageJ
  • Inkscape
  • Java
  • JetBrains
  • Julia
  • Matlab
  • Microsoft Office w, Visio, and Project
  • ParaView
  • PyCharm
  • R, RStudio
  • Visual Studio Community
  • XEI 

How to request access to the Remote Desktop Servers

Faculty can use the following link to submit a support request for access to the RDS server.  Access is included when requesting a virtual research workstation.  Cost for a virtual workstation can be found here. Students must have a faculty sponsor submit the request on their behalf.

Watson College Support Center for requesting a virtual workstation. Be sure to include your student's contact information:

Accessing the Watson View and the RDS environment from your personal computer

Connect your personal computer to the campus network or a personal internet network.

When connecting from the student wireless network or from off-campus, the Watson View server will first prompt for your username and BingOTP Two Factor Authentication (2FA) password.

Connect to Watson View
Two methods for connecting are supported:

  1. VMware Horizon View Client (Preferred)
  2. HTML5 Web browser

Connecting via the VMware Horizon View Client

  1. Open a web browser and connect to the server鈥檚 web page (). Select the option 鈥淚nstall VMware Horizon View Client.鈥
  2. From the download page, select and download the VMware View Client appropriate for your system. Clients are available for the following operating systems:
  • Windows 32 and 64 bit
  • Mac
  • iOS
  • Android
  • Linux users should check their OS distribution repository for a client

3. Download the latest version of the VMware Horizon View client appropriate for your system.
4. Start the application that was just downloaded to begin the installation procedure.
5. Accept the default settings
6. Depending on your operating system, you may be prompted to restart, do so before proceeding. 
7. Start the VMware Horizon client and select 鈥New Server.鈥
8. Enter the name: WatsonView.binghamton.edu and select Connect
9. Login with your BU username and BingOPT (2FA) password
           a. Note that the 2FA password is prompted for first
10. At the next prompt enter your BU password
11. Select Watson RDS from the list of available system.  

Connecting via HTML5 Web browser
1. The following web browsers are supported:

a. Chrome 28 or later
b. Internet Explorer 9 or later
c. Safari 6 or later
d. Mobile Safari on iOS devices running iOS 6 or later
e. Firefox 21 or later

2. From your system, open a supported web browser
3. Connect to connection server's web page. ().
4. Select the option "VMware Horizon View HTML Access"
5. Login with your BU username and BingOPT (2FA) password
6. At the next prompt enter your BU password
7. Select Watson RDS or other available systems

Note: Not all of the virtual machine pools are available via the web interface.

Remote Server Data Storage

Data must be stored on the "Home Drive (Z:) or to your network storage drive.

WARNING: Server assignment is random, for subsequent logins you may be assigned a different server.  Any files saved locally may be unavailable or deleted during system maintenance.