Can I ssh into a specific computer on server?

Question

When ssh into a collection of computers on my University server I get assigned a particular machine and the machine changes every time (I assume based on how much each is being used). In other words when I type,

ssh username@servername

I get,

username@nws##:~$

where ## is some number between 1-25. However, I would like to create processes on several machines and would rather select which computer I am ssh'ing into. Is there a way for me to choose which machine I want to use?

Answer 1

you could probably ssh into the desired machine once you've already ssh'd into the server, as all the computers are likely connected under a NAT and probably know each others' names. so e.g.

me@me: ~ $ ssh me@uni_server
logging in etc
me@random_machine_in_server: ~ $ ssh me@desired_machine

Answer 2

Servername is not a real server but a load-balancer that re-directs you to one of the servers in the pool. At least.. That is what it looks like.

2 ways to get the same real machine:

1) Talk to the server administrator and ask nicely. They may have a way to make this happen if you really need this functionality for your university work.

2) After you login check the ip-address of the node you are on. ("ifconfig -a" might help). Try connecting again using explicitly this ip-address in stead of the servername. This is not guaranteed to work. There are multiple ways in which this can be setup and this only works for a few of them.

3) See the answer by "erp". Credit where credit is due :-)