Accessing the Cluster

To access Rāpoi, you'll first need to get an account provisioned for you by contacting the CAD research support team with your VUW staff username. If you don't have a VUW staff account, it may still be possible to be given access - please contact us to determine options.

Access is via SSH

  • Hostname: raapoi.vuw.ac.nz
  • IP Address: 130.195.19.14
  • Port: 22
  • Username: Your VUW username
  • Password: Your VUW password

NOTE: On-campus wired network connection or VPN. VPN is required if connecting from campus wifi or from off-campus. Some users have had issues with using the hostname and instead need to use the IP address, eg harrelwe@130.195.19.14

More information on VUW VPN services can be found here.

SSH Clients

Mac OSX SSH Clients You can use the built-in Terminal.app or you can download iTerm2 or XQuartz. XQuartz is required to be installed if you wish to forward GUI applications (matlab, rstudio, xstata, sas, etc), aka X forwarding.

  • Terminal.app is the default application for command-line interface
  • To login using the built-in Terminal.app on Mac, go to
    • Applications --> Utilities --> Terminal.app
    • Or use Spotlight search (aka Command-Space)
  • iTerm2 is a good replacement for the default Terminal app
  • XQuartz is a Xforwarding application with its own terminal. XQuartz can be used in conjuction with the Terminal.app for GUI apps. NOTE: Mac users should run the following command: sudo defaults write org.macosforge.xquartz.X11 enable_iglx -bool true We have found that this allows some older GUI applications to run with fewer errors.

NOTE: Once at the command prompt you can type the following to login (replace "username" with your VUW user):

ssh username@raapoi.vuw.ac.nz

Windows SSH Clients

  • Recommended Clients:
  • Git Bash is a great option and is part of the Git for Windows project
  • MobaXterm is a good option, especially if you require access to GUI applications such as MATLAB or xStata. This also has a built-in SFTP transfer window.