Instructions to remotely access VLSI lab machines

1.      Open SSH client software (i.e. terminal on Mac or PuTTY on Windows)

2.      Connect to VPN following the instructions: https://it.umn.edu/downloads-guides

3.      Connect to CSE computer using SSH software and then connect to VLSI lab machine.

                                i.            You can find the host names of the CSE lab machines at http://cselabs.umn.edu/labs/unix_machines. Example: connect to csel-kh4240-03.cselabs.umn.edu through PuTTY by typing in host name and hitting ‘open’. If connecting from a Mac, you can connect by typing the following command in terminal: SSH x500@csel-kh4240-03.cselabs.umn.edu

                              ii.            Enter x500 credentials to connect to CSE machine

                            iii.            Now, to connect any VLSI lab machine, type in the command: ssh x500@nyon.ece.umn.edu where, x500 is your UMN ID and nyon.ece.umn.edu is one of the many VLSI lab machines you can use. VLSI lab machine names:
basel.ece.umn.edu                   bern.ece.umn.edu                    biel.ece.umn.edu                     brienz.ece.umn.edu

brig.ece.umn.edu                     brunnen.ece.umn.edu              chur.ece.umn.edu                    davos.ece.umn.edu

fribourg.ece.umn.edu              geneva.ece.umn.edu                gstaad.ece.umn.edu                ibach.ece.umn.edu

lausanne.ece.umn.edu             locarno.ece.umn.edu               lucerne.ece.umn.edu               lugano.ece.umn.edu

martigny.ece.umn.edu             montreux.ece.umn.edu            nyon.ece.umn.edu                   sion.ece.umn.edu

spiez.ece.umn.edu                   stgallen.ece.umn.edu               stmoritz.ece.umn.edu             thun.ece.umn.edu

visp.ece.umn.edu                    zermatt.ece.umn.edu               zug.ece.umn.edu                     zurich.ece.umn.edu

                            iv.            Any one of them can be picked, for example, if you choose the machine “davos”, then the command would look like the following:

 

liux3300@csel-kh4240-03:~$ ssh liux3300@davos.ece.umn.edu

The following message will appear:

 

The authenticity of host 'davos.ece.umn.edu (192.168.71.169)' can't be established. RSA key fingerprint is SHA256:B0K1tybPZTwhfcOthnmzgmTDihUjB4roVJjwhpfEMcA.

Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)?

 

Type in “yes”, and the following message will appear:

 

Warning: Permanently added 'davos.ece.umn.edu,192.168.71.169' (RSA) to the list of known hosts.

liux3300@davos.ece.umn.edu's password:

 

Now type in your password to get the following message (ignore what it says as we now have permission to use Cadence tools remotely) and log in to the target VLSI lab machine.

 

4.      Now that you are logged on to the lab machine, you can begin a VNC session. Type the following command:

 

vncserver –geometry 1300x700 –depth 24

 

Geometry can be adjusted depending on your monitor screen size. Type a password when prompt. This password will be required later when logging in to the desktop using the VNC client. Note: the typed password won’t be visible. You can later change the password using the “vncpasswd” unix command. Keep your passwords strong to maintain security of the VLSI lab. After typing the above command, you will be given the name of the VNC process (for example, ece-nyon:1 on machine nyon). You will need the name of the process later to connect to a VLSI lab workstation.

 

The format for VNC server name is: <name of the server>.ece.umn.edu:<serial number of the opened desktop>. So for this particular example, the name would be nyon.ece.umn.edu:1. If the process created in step 1 were ece-basel:19 (“basel” is another VLSI lab machine), the VNC server would have been “basel.ece.umn.edu:19”.

 

Note: To kill a vnc process, type in the following command in Secure Shell Client

 

vncserver –kill :1

 

The command ‘kill :1’ should be modified depending on the process name. For example, to end a desktop name ece-basel:19, the command would be:

 

vncserver –kill :19

 

Note: Make sure to kill unused vnc process

 

5.      Install and run Tightvnc from http://tightvnc.com/download/php

6.      Launch your VNC viewer and type the VNC session you created earlier (example, nyon.ece.umn.edu:1)

7.      Click “connect” and a pop-up prompting for your password will appear. Type the password you created earlier.

8.      You should now be able to log in to your remote desktop

 

Setup Cadence in VLSI lab:

Welcome to the class “EE5333 Analog Integrated Circuit Design”. This part of the tutorial will help you to setup and the cadence environment. We will use the dummy NCSU-PDK named “FreePDK45” for this course. This PDK is of a representative 45nm process.

Let us begin!

Following are the four steps to setup the cadence and corresponding PDK first time.

 

Step 1. Create a local working directory in your home folder named as EE5333. Type in the following command in terminal to create such a directory.

$ mkdir ~/EE5333

Copy the folder named “FreePDK45nm” from home/class/ee5333ta to the home directory.

$ cp –r  /home/class/ee5333ta/FreePDK45   ~/

Step 2.Copy the file named setup.csh from ~/FreePDK/ncsu_basekit/cdssetup/setup.csh to the directory EE5333.

$ cp  ~/FreePDK45/ncsu_basekit/cdssetup/setup.csh  ~/EE5333

Step 3. Now, go to the working directory created in step 1, and “source” the file named setup.csh (which you just copied in step 2).

$ cd ~/EE5333

$ source setup.csh

Step 4. Launch virtuoso CIW.

$ virtuoso &

Done! You should be able to see the cadence virtuoso screen now.

From next time onwards, just use step 3.

Note:

In Design Framework II, your project consists of a library containing the cells used by your circuit. Your cells can also contain components from other libraries. Each cell can have different views (schematic, symbol, etc), accordingly to their purpose. The library Manager can be used to select cells, copy, delete, rename, etc.