Remote Desktop Servers

The department offers 3 Remote Desktop servers named cheterm1, cheterm2  and cheterm3 to supply undergraduate and graduate M Eng chemical and nano engineering students with remote/home access to campus/faculty/departmental licensed software applications used for course and project work. Once you have connected your remote computer via the campus VPN these servers are accessible via a remote desktop connection from the wireless campus network or via remote access from off campus.

Cheterm1 is available to all on term chemical and nano engineering undergraduate students. Cheterm2 is available to all on term 4th year chemical and nano engineering undergraduate students. Undergraduate chemical and nano engineering students on coop term can request access to cheterm1 and cheterm2 by contacting  r5singh@uwaterloo.ca or dherman@uwaterloo.ca .

Cheterm3 is restricted to M Eng graduate students.

  Available software applications include those available on public Nexus workstations and all department licensed software including all 28 Aspen products, Statistica, Polymath, Perry's Handbook and Control Station.

• See connecting to ChETerm1/2 for details about how to remotely connect to ChETerm1 or cheterm2.
• See ChETerm1/2 policy restrictions for a list of usage policy restrictions.
• See ChETerm1/2 available application sofware for a complete list of available application software.

Please contact dherman@uwaterloo.ca if you require additional software packages installed, have access problems or have any comments or concerns about "ChETerm1" policies or usage.

How to connect and use ChETerm1/2/3

To Connnect and use these terminal servers do the following:

1. Connect to one of cheterm1, cheterm2 or cheterm3 via remote desktop. If you are connecting from off campus ensure that you are connected to the campus via the VPN before you attempt the Remote desktop connection.
2. Enter your Nexus credentials as Nexus\userid ( note the use of backslash \ and not forward slash/)
3. Use the available programs, switch between your local and remote session and transfer files between your local computer and remote session.
4. Please logoff your remote session when you are done via the Start/Logoff procedure. If you disconnect by clicking the big red X in the top right hand corner of the session window  rather than logoff from your session you continue to consume CPU, memory and disk resources unnecessarily.

Connecting to cheterm1/2/3

To connect to cheterm1 or cheterm2  simply open the Microsoft Windows Remote Desktop Connection application and specify the host name cheterm1, cheterm2 or cheterm3. Then log on using your Nexus user ID and password. Mac users can download a remote desktop client from Microsoft at https://apps.apple.com/us/app/microsoft-remote-desktop/id1295203466?mt=12 . Linux users can find several available RDP clients by doing a web search for "Linux RDP client".  

To run the Microsoft Windows remote desktop client ensure that your computer is connected to the UW network via the campus network ie wireless Eduroam network , public NExus workstation or wired self managed workstation  while on campus or via the VPN while you are off campus. Then search for "remote desktop" and  left Click on  Remote Desktop Connection

In the Remote Desktop Connection dialog box click the "Computer:" field box and type CheTerm1.uwaterloo.ca, cheterm2.uwaterloo.ca or cheterm3.uwaterloo.ca and left click the Connect button.

Entering your credentials

You should then be presented with a dialog box where you should enter your Nexus credentials in the following form

Nexus\userid

where userid is your Nexus userid and then your Nexus password in the second box.

Using programs, switching between local and remote

Once logged in you can start and use any of the programs listed in All Programs. To revert your display to the local PC move and hold your mouse cursor to the top of the screen and a small tab bar will occur then click the minimize icon to minimize the remote session window and show your local desktop. To restore the remote session double click the minimized button in the task bar labeled as Remote Desktop Connection. To log off the remote session click Start-Logoff in the remote session window.

Transfering files between local and remote sessions

If you want to be able to transfer files between your home/local computer and ChETerm1/2 then click the Options button in the Remote Desktop Connection dialog box and click the Local Resources tab then click the More button and click the + symbol next to "Drives" and check off any drives you want to share with the remote session. Once you have connected to ChETerm1/2 you will see your local disk drives available under My Computer listed as "C: disk on Local Computer". You can then drag and drop files between CheTerm1/2 and your local Personal Computer (PC).

If you require large amounts of disk work space while running programs on CheTerm1/2 then you can use the E: disk while logged on to ChETerm1/2. There is 750 Gig of space there but you are quota limited to 1 Gigabyte. If you require more please send a request to Dennis Herman.

ChETerm1/2/3 usage policies 

Usage policies enforced on ChETerm1 are as follows:

1. Disconnected sessions will be terminated within 1 hour.
2. Access restrictions as listed in the table at the top of this page. 
3. Sessions idle for more than 15 min will be terminated.
4. Active sessions active for more than 2 hours will be terminated.
5. No modifications/updates to Internet Explorer allowed.
6. Only one session per user ID.
7. Your Nexus profile is unavailable and a default profile is used. You do have access to your N: drive.

Usage policies enforced on CheETerm2 are as follows : 

1. Disconnected sessions will be terminated after 8 hours.
2. Access restrictions as listed in the table at the top of this page. 
3. Sessions idle for more than 8 hours will be terminated.
4. Active sessions active for more than 8 hours will be terminated.
5. No modifications/updates to Internet Explorer allowed.
6. Disk quota limit of 10 gigabytes per user.
7. Only one session per user ID.
8. Your Nexus profile is unavailable and a default profile is used. You do have access to your N: drive.

Available application software

Aspen/Hysys, Matlab, Comsol, Statistica, Autocad P&ID, Microsoft Office, Control Station, Polymath, Maple, Anaconda, R, SuperPro Designer.