Access Network Data from Home and Personal Computers

VPN

Windows 10 Cyberduck for Mac
WinSCP Mac OS X
  Linux

Windows 10

NOTE: Off-campus users may need to start a VPN connection first because of firewalls.

  1. Within the Start Menu, type "File Explorer".
  2. Click on File Explorer.
  3. Click This PC.
  4. Click Computer on the top bar.
  5. Select Map network drive from the top bar options.
  6. In the Folder text field, type what drive you want to map based on the table below.  Your username is needed to map network drives.
  7. Click Connect using different credentials. Click Finish.
  8. In the User name field type UM-AD\Username. In the Password field, use your University password. Then, click OK.
  9. Click Finish.
Account Type Path
Individual User Storage \\minerfiles.mst.edu\dfs\users\<Username>
Departmental Network Storage \\minerfiles.mst.edu\dfs\dept\<deptID>

WinSCP

  1. Run WinSCP by double-clicking the executable file you downloaded
  2. In the "Host Name" box, type minersftp.mst.edu

NOTE: minersftp.mst.edu is the only way to access files from off-campus without a VPN connection.

  1. In the "User Name" box, type your username.
  2. In the "Password" box, type your password.

NOTE: For security reasons, do not save your password when creating saved sessions.

  1. Click Preferences. This opens a preferences window.
  2. Click the Explorer-like radio button. Alternatively, you may click Norton Commander to display a WinSCP client similar to the WS_FTP interface. The main advantage to Norton Commander view is that you can see both the local directory and the remote directory simultaneously. In Explorer view you can only see the remote directory. You will need to open another Explorer windows (e.g. My Computer) to see the local directory. In either case, you may switch back and forth from Explorer view to Norton Commander view by returning to the Preferences window when you login to WinSCP.
  3. Click Save and type a name to identify the session. This information is saved to the current user registry.
  4. Click Advanced Options.
  5. Click the Executing dummy protocol commands radio button.
  6. Click Save and then OK.

Connecting to your Session

  1. Click Session. A list of saved sessions appears.
  2. Highlight a session and click Login.
  3. The first time you run WinSCP, a window will ask whether to accept the host key or not.
  4. Click Yes to accept the host key.  It is possible to drag-and-drop files to and from the network drive from another My Computer window.
  5. To disconnect from the session, close the application.

Connecting to Other Locations in Network File Storage

  1. Start the application and Click Stored Sessions in the Sessions list.
  2. Click New
  3. Type the host name minersftp.mst.edu in the Host Name box.
  4. Type the username and password of the account you wish to connect with in the appropriate boxes.
  5. Click Directories underneath "Environment".
  6. Type the location in Network File Storage that you wish to connect to in the "Remote directory" box.

    Common locations are:

    /users/< username > - This is the user's your Home Drive (equivalent to the S: drive).
    /deptweb/< deptid > - Departmental web storage space. This is where many MST web pages are stored.
    /dept/< deptid > - This is the Departmental network shared storage space (equivalent to the Y: drive). Shared user data is usually stored here.

  7. Click Preferences and click the Explorer-like radio button.
  8. Click Save... to save this session and enter a name to identify this session, then click OK.
    The application returns to the Stored Sessions view.
  9. Repeat to create additional sessions to additional locations in Network File Storage.
  10. Highlight a session and click Login to connect.

NOTE: More documentation and the latest version of WinSCP can be found at https://winscp.sourceforge.net/eng


Mac Cyberduck

  1. From the menu bar, select Go, then select Applications to open the Applications folder. The shortcut to get to the Application folder is SHIFT+COMMAND+A.
  2. Open Cyberduck. A prompt will appear asking if the user wishes to set Cyberduck as the default application for FTP and SFTP.
  3. Select any option.
  4. In the next prompt, click Open Connection and fill in the following fields:
        Protocol: SFTP
        Server: minersftp.mst.edu     
        Username:
     Username
        Password: University Password
        Path: The desired path: /users/< username > for home directories ("S" Drive)
        /dept/< DeptID > for department directories ("Y" Drive)
  5. When connecting for the first time, a prompt concerning the host key fingerprint will appear.
  6. Click Allow to connect once or click Always to connect and never see the prompt again.
  7. Once connected, you may browse folders. Click and drag files to copy files to and from network storage. When you start a file copy you will get a dialog box that looks like this:

NOTE: Notice that Windows uses backslashes while UNIX-based systems use forward slashes for file paths. Example: smb://minerfiles.mst.edu/dept/ 


Mac OSX

NOTE: Off-campus users may need to start a VPN connection first because of firewalls.

Connect to your network user space (s: drive for PC users)

  1. On the Finder bar, click Go
  2. Click Connect to Server
  3. On the pop up type on the server line, Enter:
    1. smb://minerfiles.mst.edu/dfs/users/Username
  4. Click Connect
  5. Enter your Missouri S&T password
    • Please use UM-AD\username for your username
  6. Click Connect
  7. An icon labeled with your username should appear on your desktop to facilitate file access.


Connect to your Dept. Volume

  1. On the Finder bar, click Go
  2. Click connect to server
  3. On the pop up type on the server line, Enter:
    1. smb://minerfiles.mst.edu/dfs/dept/your_dept_volume
  4. Click Connect
  5. Enter your Missouri S&T password
    • Please use UM-AD\username for your username
  6. Click Connect
  7. An icon labeled "DFS" should appear on your desktop to facilitate file access.

Linux

How do I access network file storage from off-campus?

  • Linux users have two fundamental ways of accessing network file storage from an off-campus location: SFTP (secure FTP).
  • SFTP clients also establish a secure connection. Users can use SFTP tools to securely move/copy files in network file storage to a local machine and vice versa.
  • When using an SFTP client, you will need to point to "minersftp.mst.edu". You will also need to change directories to the appropriate file location, depending on your need. The four main volumes are: users (personal file storage), userweb (personal Web file storage), dept (departmental file storage), and deptweb (departmental Web volumes).
  • Copy files from the network to your local machine if you need to work on them when you are off the campus network. When you are finished, simply upload those files back to the network file storage.

How do I access my user account?

  • On CLC machines-- Linux CLC machines are installed with a software package that will automatically mount your network user directory when you login to a Linux CLC machine. By default, $HOME is set up to access your network file storage.
  • On non-CLC installs of Linux -- By default, $HOME is set up for local file storage on the machine. In order to access the network file storage, you will need to use SSH/SFTP to access your DFS user volume.

How do I access departmental shared volumes?

  • For either CLC or non-CLC machines -- you will need to access file storage through SSH/SFTP or PuTTY/WinSCP

How do I access departmental Web volumes?

  • CLC machines -- Departmental Web volume files are stored in: /nethome/deptweb/ where is replaced by your department's unique Web identifier (e.g. "umrit" for Information Technology--note that may or may not be the same as). Access is granted based on the access permissions established for you by your department.
  • Non-CLC machines -- You will need to access file storage through ssh/sftp or PuTTY/WinSCP.

How do I recover old versions of files or files that I have accidentally deleted?

  • Linux does not have a supported file recovery utility. If for some reason you need to restore files to an earlier state, please use the Shadow Copy Client utility installed on all campus standard Windows machines. This utility will allow you to recover deleted or corrupted files.

How do I backup my files?

Where is my user profile?

  • By default, your Linux user profile is stored in $HOME/.bash_login