How To Configure Exceed

If you need assistance, call the Helpdesk at 974-9900, send email to stathelp@utk.edu, or
stop by the SCC walk-in support area at 200 Stokely Management Center. We provide
installation assistance to the UT community at all campuses. Also, at the Knoxville
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assistance each semester in the areas of statistics, computing, data file conversion, data
mining, data acquisition, graphics, mathematics, scan form test scoring, text analysis,
thematic mapping, visualization and web survey design. See http://oit.utk.edu/scc for
details. We also offer training courses each semester. See http://web.utk.edu/~training for
details.
This document assumes that you have installed Hummingbird Exceed 2007 and
Hummingbird Connectivity Secure Shell 2007 on your PC. If you have not installed
the two products which are included on the OIT distribution CDs labeled Hummingbird
Exceed 2007 For Windows Includes Install Code and Hummingbird Exceed 2007
Connectivity Secure Shell For Windows, see the document How To Install
Hummingbird Connectivity Secure Shell 2007. To follow the instructions below, both
products must be installed.
Configure Exceed using Xconfig
The instructions below detail a set of OIT recommended Exceed settings for use at UTK.
These settings are appropriate for many of the common tasks that Exceed is used for on
Campus. These settings may not be entirely suited to your particular situation. Some
Exceed settings are merely a matter of user preference and you are encouraged to
experiment with them. However, keep in mind that if you get into a situation where
something doesnt work, using the settings described here is likely to fix the problem.
Also, the settings below are given, for the most part, without much explanation about the
specific setting. For more information, click the Help button under the Common
Actions menu on the left side of the Xconfig window.
You are now ready to configure Exceed for access to UNIX and Linux hosts. To begin,
open Xconfig by selecting
Start>>All Programs>>Hummingbird Connectivity 2007>>Exceed
Tools>>Xconfig
The Exceed.xcfg Xconfig window opens.

From the Pick a Category menu, select Security, Access Control and
System Admininstration.

o In the Host Access Control List area, click the radio button File,
then click the Edit button to the right of the xhost.txt box. This
opens the xhost.txt file in Notepad.
o Add the UNIX or Linux computer names that you will be using.
Typically, for UNIX you will enter the following three OIT UNIX
names
unix.cas.utk.edu
larry.cas.utk.edu
moe.usg.utk.edu
o After you have entered the computer names, save the changes
(File>>Save) and close the Notepad window.
o In the Common Actions area in the left side of the window, click
Validate and Apply Changes. This takes you back to the Pick a
Category menu.
Note: If you have an instance of Exceed running, you will see an
Xconfig warning message. Click Yes to Perform a server reset
now? prompt.

From the Pick a Category menu, select Display and Video.

o In the Window Mode area, check the Multiple radio button if it is
not already selected.
o This is the default; however, if it was not selected, click Validate
and Apply Changes to save the new setting and to go back to the
Pick a Category menu.
o If you did not make a change, you can get back to the Pick a
Category menu by clicking on the BACK arrow button on the
toolbar.

From the Pick a Category menu, select Network and Communication.

o
o
o
o

Click the Communication tab.

In the Startup area, the Mode should be Passive.
If not Passive, select Passive and click Validate and Apply Changes.
If Passive is already selected, use the Back button to go back to the
Pick a Category menu.

No other changes for Xconfig are required. Close the Xconfig window.

Initialize the Exceed X client

To start an Exceed X client, select
Start>>All Programs>>Hummingbird Connectivity 2007>>Exceed
The Exceed icon will appear in the application list at the bottom of the screen.
Exceed and Server Keys
If you have never done a secure log on to UNIX using security software such as SSH2,
server keys may be new to you. They are basically transparent. The keys supply twoway authentication. After exchanging keys, your entire login session is encrypted,
including your password and everything that you send to the UNIX machine and
everything it sends to your PC. SSH2 simply provides a secure replacement for telnet.
Securing an X session requires that you create an Exceed Xstart profile that specifies
Secure Shell as the startup method. The next section Configure a secure Xstart
session tells you how to create and run the profile to test it.
Be aware that the first time you log on using the Xstart profile and the Secure Shell
method, you will be presented with a Server Key and you will be given two choices:
1. Add the key and connect: Adds the key permanently to the local server key
database and continues with the connection.
2. Do not add key and connect: Continues with the connection without adding the
key.
If you will be logging it to the machine multiple times and you do not want to see the
message again, you should choose the first option. Thereafter, if you are prompted again,
then something has changed on your machine, something has changed on the host
machine, or someone has gained access to your account. Hence, option 1 is the best
choice for the OIT UNIX servers both for convenience and added security. Option 2
can be used for computers that you log on once or rarely use.
Configure a secure Xstart session
An Xstart session is required for UNIX hosts that accept only secure logins. For
example, moe.cas.utk.edu is a secure host. To configure a secure Xstart session,
select
Start>>All Programs>>Hummingbird Connectivity 2007>>Exceed
Tools>>Xstart

The Xstart window will open.

o In the Startup area, for Method, select Secure Shell.
o Click on the Settings button to the right of the Method box.

o In the Xstart Settings window, click on the Security tab.

In the Secure Shell area, check the boxes to the right of
Use for Authentication only and Create Shell.
o In the Xstart Settings window, click on the Network tab.
Although the following change is generally not needed, it is
listed here for convenience in case you encounter the runtime error: EXCEED Connection Closed (Close
Timeout). If you see this error, in the Timeouts box, enter
a higher timeout value (10 seconds is the default) or try
using -1 which disables auto closing.

Check the boxes to the right of Show Progress and Show

Host Reply. These settings are helpful for troubleshooting
your Xstart session, in case you encounter problems.

Click OK and the Xstart Settings window closes.

o In the Connection area of the Xstart window, fill in the following

boxes:
Host: The machine you are connecting to, such as
larry.cas.utk.edu or moe.usg.utk.edu or unix.cas.utk.edu.
User ID: Your UNIX or Linux userid on the machine you
are connecting to.
Password: Your UNIX or Linux password on the machine
you are connecting to.
Command: A command that you want to run on the UNIX
or Linux host when you connect.
o You must supply a command. The command you enter
depends on what you want to do after you make the
connection. Some examples are given here but there are
many other choices.
o To check the connection after entering a command,
from the Xstart menu, select Action>>Run. Be sure to
remember to save for later use when you are finished
configuring Xstart (explained below).
o For testing purposes, you can type xclock to verify that
your session is working. A clock should appear on your
PC screen after the connections are made. If the clock
appears, your connection is working and you are ready
to give another command in the Command box.
o For example, if you simply want to run the MATLAB
program, you could enter setup matlab;matlab and the

MATLAB user interface should appear on your PC

desktop.
o If you want a UNIX Terminal window or if you want
your PC to display a UNIX desktop, see instructions in
the section How to Start a UNIX Terminal Window
or a UNIX Desktop Environment.
Save your Xstart settings for later use
When you are satisfied that your Xstart session is working for you, be sure to
save your Xstart configuration file. To save, click the SAVE button in the Xstart
dialog window and choose a name and location for the file. For example, if you
are using the host unix.cas.utk.edu, you could save and name the file unix.xs (the
filetype .xs is the default filetype).
How to start a UNIX Terminal window or a UNIX Desktop Environment
If you want to display a UNIX Terminal window, in the Xstart window
Connection/Command box, enter
/usr/dt/bin/dtterm
If you want to display a UNIX Desktop Environment, use one of the two
following commands.
To start the default SUN Common Desktop Environment (CDE), in the Xstart
window Connection/Command box, enter
/usr/dt/bin/dtsession
To start a Gnome session, in the Xstart window Connection/Command box,
enter
/opt/csw/bin/gnome-session
Performance
For some applications, the Secure Shell environment will slow the output display
or response time more than you are willing to tolerate. If your session is
satisfactory, you should continue your session as configured. If unsatisfactory, an
option is to use the Secure Shell for login only and then switch to a non-secure
session while running your application. The OIT UNIX machines require only
secure logins. To switch your session to a non-secure one after login, see the
instructions in the section How to switch to a non-secure session after login
below.

How to switch to a non-secure session after login

On secure computers that require only secure logins, you can switch to a nonsecure environment after a successful login. Thereafter, the transfer of
information between the PC and UNIX computers will not be encrypted. Hence,
the computer response time should improve.
Since Secure Shell tunneling will no longer be used, you must define where you
want the information from UNIX to be sent; i.e., you must define the display that
you are using for your output. This is done in a Terminal window on UNIX. For
instructions on getting a Terminal windows, see the section How to start a
UNIX Terminal window or a UNIX Desktop Environment above.
In a Terminal window on the UNIX machine, use one of the following
commands depending on which UNIX shell you are using to define your display.
Upper/lower case is important!
For the Korn/Bourne shell, in the Terminal window, type
DISPLAY=YourComputerName:0;export DISPLAY
For the C-shell, in the Terminal window, type
setenv DISPLAY YourComputerName:0
Note: The text YourComputerName is for illustration purposes; yours will be
different.
More about Performance for off-Campus usage
On Campus, TCP/IP is used for communication between the host computer and
your computer. Your connection method, should you use Exceed off-Campus,
should be through DSL or CableModem. Phone line transmission is too slow to
make the connection worthwhile.