Tutorial for Using Storm, UNIX commands and C4.5/C5.0

HOW TO LOG ONTO STORM

• First you need an account on storm. If you are a CS student, you may already have one. If not, I will have you fill in some information in an on-line form. Once this is done I will get the account information and hand you a paper with your username and initial password.

• To log into the storm machine, you will need SSH software. This software is on the machines in our CIS labs and in the computer classrooms and may also be on other computers (e.g., public access computers) on campus. You may need to download it to your home computer. If you want to do that, you can download it for free. After you click on the link, you can just select run to install it.

• Now that you have the required software, run the "SSH Secure Shell Client" to log into storm (don't run the "SSH Secure File Transfer" program, which is used for transferring files from your PC to storm and back. The easiest way it to double-click on the icon that was probably put on your desktop as part of the installation process. If there is no icon, then click on start and then select programs. There should be a listing for SSH and then one for the SSH client.

• Once the program opens, click on "Quick Connect" at the top or just hit the carriage return.

• Set the host name to "storm.cis.fordham.edu" and set the username to your username (specified on the paper I gave to you"). Hit carriage return and it will then prompt you for your password. Enter it and hit OK. A window should then pop up. This is a window connected to storm. You are now ready to roll. You can now type in UNIX/LINUX commands.

HOW TO CHANGE YOUR PASSWORD

• Log into storm, as outlined above.

• You will want to change your initial password. The first step is to type in "passwd" to run the password program. Do not type in the quotes and stands for carriage return.

• The system will now prompt you for three things. First it will ask you to type in your current password. Type it in and hit return. Note that for security it will not echo back the characters you type in. Then it will prompt you to type in a new password. There are some requirements on the password, in terms of the number of characters and on how easy it is to guess. It will not accept passwords that are based largely on words in a dictionary. Now, type in a new password and hit return. If it doesn't like it, it may ask you to re-enter a new one or just exit the password program. If it exits it, you must start over by typing in "passwd". It will then prompt you to re-type in the new password again, to ensure that you did not make a mistake. If all works, it will confirm that the change took place.

HOW TO TRANSFER FILES TO/FROM STORM

You can transfer files to/from storm and your PC by using the "SSH Secure File Transfer" program, downloaded with the SSH Client. It is pretty intuitive to use. Once you run it, you log into storm as with the SSH client. Once connected, the left side of the screen corresponds to files on your PC and the right side to files on storm. You can move up and down the directory structures as you normally would in Windows (click on the directories to go down a level and click on the icon in the toolbar with the up-arrow to go up a level). Then, just drag files from one side to the other. You can transfer files in either direction.

BASIC UNIX COMMANDS

Many of you will not be familar with UNIX. Here is a super-brief tutorial. Note that UNIX uses a hierarchical directory structure, just like Windows. UNIX was written for technical but lazy people, so the command names are very short and often non-descriptive.

• The "ls" command (short of list) will list the contents of the current directory. Try "ls -l" for more detailed information. NOTE: the first character in the "ls" command is the letter ell, not the number one.
• The "pwd" command list the path to the current directory (short for Print Working Directory).
• The "cd" command changes the directory you are in and generally takes one argument. If you type in just "cd", it will take you back to your home (initial) directory. If you type in "cd data", it will take you to the data subdirectory, if there is one in the current directory. You can alternate the "cd" and "ls" commands to see what subdirectories exist. The command "cd .." takes you up one level.
• The "cat filename" command will print out the contents of filename to the screen (e.g., "cat test.data"). If it is a big file, it may scroll of the screen. You can use either "more filename" or "cat filename |more" to print it to the screen and have it stop once the screen is full. Hit return to have it display the next page. Note that if you use "more filename", you should then use the space bar to scroll a page at a time. If y ou hit the letter "q", it will end the more command and return you to the command prompt.
• The "cp file1 file2" will make a copy of file1 and call it file2. You can use "mv file1 file2" to rename file1 to file2. You can always specify a path for these commands, so "cp test.data mytests/test.data" would copy the test.data file to a subdirectory named mytests.
• The "mkdir dirname" command makes a subdirectory named dirname.
• If you have a program named program.exe, then "./program.exe" will execute the program. You can specify a path to the program, like "programs/program.exe".
• You may want to edit a file, like you would do in notepad. The UNIX editors require that you know a bunch of commands, so we will avoid them. The two most popular editors are "vi" and "emacs". Instead, you can transfer files to/from your PC using the "SSH Secure File Transfer" Program.

Running C5.0

To become familar with C5.0 and how to run it on storm, follow this simple step-by-step tutorial.