BiggAndyy the Magazine

Few average users realize that Pitt utilizes AFS for their network access. Fewer still realize that YOU can also use OpenAFS to access your Pitt Webspace and network filespace. You have access now to the Pitt filespace but odds are you were told that you had to use FTP or WS-FTP or Macromedia Contribute to gain access to that area.

Wouldn’t it be great to be able to just “drag and drop” files directly from your desktop to your Pitt filespace? Why? First, it is convenient. No extra programs to open and log into each time you want to save something. Second, and more importantly, is that the AFS filespace is backed up by CSSD on a nightly basis. The files that are most important to you and to your department can be accessed via back up in case your desktop computer crashes completely.

Now there is a downside, the Pitt filesystem doesn’t grant a tremendous amount of file quota for us regular users. So we need to pick and choose carefully what gets saved to AFS. Auntie Edna’s recipe for creamed spinach should NOT be stored there.

Fortunately, the process of getting access is easy and only involves downloading a program from OpenAFS.org and installing it on your computer for access to the Pitt file system. For Windows 2000/XP/2003 you can download the latest stable version from the OpenAFS website (latest stable version).

Make sure you have Administrator Rights on your Windows machine and make sure all other programs are closed, OpenAFS requires a reboot after installation. After downloading the latest stable version run the file. It will ask for your language of choice (English in this example).

After you see the Welcome screen you can just accept all the default values until you get to screen 5, Client Cell Name Configuration. Here you are going to remove whatever default value they have listed in the Enter AFS Cell Name box and replace it with the value PITT.EDU. Everything else involved in the installation is accepting all the default values.

Next you need to configure your AFS client to map the drive letter of your choice to the Pitt filespace. Double click the AFS Tray Icon in your system tray and the AFS Dialog box will appear.

On the Tokens Tab click on Obtain New Tokens. The PITT.EDU cell will appear as the default AFS Cell. You simply need to fill in your MY.PITT.EDU username and password and click OK.

You have valid tokens in the Pitt AFS Cell, now you need to define which account you want to make your network drive. I am going to use in this example the username NETADMIN. Click on the Drive Letters Tab. The field showing which drive letters are assigned should be blank. Click on ADD and choose a Drive Letter. Better to pick a letter further down the alphabet (like W or X or Y rather than one closer to the front). In the AFS Path field the user NETADMIN would enter this:

/afs/pitt.edu/home/n/e/netadmin/

The pattern is easy. “/afs” is always the start of the address. “/pitt.edu” is the name of the cell. “/home” tells us that we are accessing users files. The next three parts “/n/e/netadmin” is simply the first letter of the username, the second letter of the username and finally the username separated by a slash.

So if your username is jjgst99 your AFS path would read:

/afs/pitt.edu/home/j/j/jjgst99/

Simple when you know the pattern.

When all of this is done you will now have a Drive W where you can either save files directly from programs like Microsoft Word or can open in an Explorer Window and drag and drop files directly and securely. Any computer that is running the OpenAFS client can access the Pitt AFS filespace anywhere in the world.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 10th, 2006 at 12:56 pm and is filed under Computer, Pitt. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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