Reed College Computing & Information Systems Help

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Table of Contents

• Setup
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  • Printing
  • Remote Proxy
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• Security
  • 10 Steps to Safer Computing
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  • Backup
  • Encryption
  • Safe Computing
  • Phishing
• Software
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  • LaTeX
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  • Software Help!
• Thesis
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  • EndNote
• Students
  • Webmail
  • Email Forwarding
  • Kerberos Accounts
  • Technology Survival Guide
  • Printing
  • Recent Graduates
  • FAQ
• Faculty
  • Printing
  • Phone Guide
  • Technology Survival Guide
  • FAQ
• Requests
  • Mailman List Request
  • Course Autolist Request
  • Course Folder Request
  • Moodle Request
• CUS Help Home
• CIS Home

Using AFS With a Web Browser

Reed's AFS can be accessed through most web browsers. Safari and Firefox are supported on Macs; Firefox is supported on Windows. You may find other web browsers work with AFS. The browsers listed above have been thoroughly tested and are the supported browsers for AFS at Reed.

Note: To see Reed's web version of AFS in action, please see our video tutorials.

• Accessing AFS via the web
• Navigating the filespace
• Uploading files
• Downloading files
• Deleting files
• Moving files
• Copying files
• Renaming files
• Creating a new folder
• Creating Favorites
• Sharing folders with other Reedies (Changing folder permissions)
  
• FAQs

Accessing AFS via the web

Reed's AFS can be accessed using most web browsers. Supported browsers include:

• Mac - Safari and Firefox
• Windows - Firefox

1. Open a web browser and go to https://files.reed.edu.
2. Type in your Kerberos username & password (the same as used for Reed email).

After logging in, you are directed to your Home folder. By default, you will see the following folders and sub-folders:

• Private - files and folders in your Private folder cannot be accessed by others
• Public - files and folders in your Public folder can be viewed and read by others
• html - your personal web space, available at http://people.reed.edu/~username
• Favorites - stores shortcuts to favorites locations in AFS (more information below)
• Private/Yesterday - a nightly, read-only backup of your entire home space
• Private/Migrated_Home - a copy of all your files and folders from your old Home server

If you create other files and folders at the top-level of your Home folder, they will be viewable by others. This means others can see file and folder names, but cannot open the files. To keep your files private, move them to your Private folder.

You may also access other community folders within AFS, including those for Departments, Courses, and Griffin. To see detailed instructions, please visit: http://web.reed.edu/cis/help/afs/servers.html

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Navigating the filespace

When you first log in to AFS, you are in your Home folder. By default, you have several folders, including: Private and Public (see a description of these above). To navigate inside these folders, click on the folder name.

To go up one level, click on the Go Up button.

 

To go back to your Home folder, click the Home Server icon.

To go to the top-level of Reed's AFS, click the Reed Servers icon.

 

You can navigate to other spaces within AFS using the Location Bar, located just under the Reed College logo.

Click on various parts of the path to navigate the AFS hierarchy:

• /afs is the root level for all AFS implementations, including those at other colleges and universities.
• /afs/reed.edu is the top-level of Reed's AFS from which you can access user home directories and community folders
• /afs/reed.edu/courses allows access to shared folders for Reed courses, if they have been set up.
• /afs/reed.edu/departments allows access to departmental folders, if they have been set up.
• /afs/reed.edu/griffin allows access to folders for campus organizations and committees, if they have been set up.
• /afs/reed.edu/user allows access to other users' Home folders (for file sharing). To find the user, select the folder that corresponds to the first letter of their Kerberos username and, in the next window, select the folder that corresponds to the second letter of the Kerberos username (ex: To find the home folder for user "jdoe" Go to the "j" folder and then the "d" subfolder). Please note you will only be able to access their Public folder, unless they have set up a shared folder that you can access (see below).

Those are the folders that you are most likely to find relevant. You may see other folders, which you may or may not have permission to access.

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Creating a new folder

Before you create a new folder, it is important to understand the default permissions of your Home folder and sub-folders:

• <username> - files and folders at the top-level of your Home folder can be viewed by others (they can see file and folder names, but cannot open the files)
• Private - files and folders in your Private folder cannot be accessed by others
• Public - files and folders in your Public folder can be viewed and read by others

To keep your files private, move them to your Private folder.

To create a new folder:

1. Navigate to the place you want to make a new folder.
2. Click on the New Folder icon.
3. In the dialogue box, type the name of the folder.
4. Click on the Create icon.

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Uploading files

You can upload up to 5 files at a time:

 

1. Navigate to the folder where you want to upload the file(s).
2. Click the Upload File(s) icon from the toolbar at the top.
3. Click the Browse button in Firefox (or Choose File button in Safari) and select the file you want to upload.
4. To upload another file, click the Add Another File link and browse to another file to upload. Repeat for all files you want to upload.
5. If you want to overwrite previous versions of the file with the same name, check the Overwrite Files box.
6. Click the Upload Files(s) button.
   

Note: The maximum uploadable file size from the web is 256MB. When uploading from the native client, there is not file size limit.

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Downloading Files

To download a file, simply click on the download icon, just to the right of the file name.

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Deleting files

1. Select the file(s) you want to delete by placing a checkmark next to the filename.
2. Click the Delete button.
3. In the box that pops up, verify that you are only deleting the file(s) you want to and then click OK.

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Moving files

To move files, you have to Cut and then Paste them.

1. Select the file that you want to move by placing a checkmark next to the filename.
2. Click on the Cut button.
3. Navigate to the folder where you want to move the file.
4. Click on the Paste button and your file has been moved.

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Copying files

To copy files, you have to Copy and then Paste them.

1. Select the file that you wish to copy by placing a checkmark next to the filename.
2. Click on the Copy button.
3. Navigate to the folder where you want to copy the file to.
4. Click on the Paste button and your file has been successfully copied.

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Renaming files

1. Select the file that you wish to rename by placing a checkmark next to the filename.
2. Click on the Rename button.
3. Rename the file as you wish.

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Creating Favorites

If you need to frequently access a specific folder in AFS, you can add it to your list of Favorites for easy access. Your favorites can be accessed from any location in AFS by clicking the Favorites icon in the toolbar.

Adding a Favorite

1. To create a Favorite, navigate to the folder you'd like to add as a Favorite. Note: the location listed in the Location bar will be added as the favorite.
2. Click on the Favorites icon in the toolbar.
3. Click on the Add icon at the top of the Favorites window.
4. Enter a name for your favorite location and click OK.

Navigating Favorites

1. Click the Favorites icon from the toolbar at the top.
2. Click the favorite location to highlight it, then press the Go icon at the top of the Favorites window.

Deleting Favorites

1. Click the Favorites icon from the toolbar at the top.
2. Click the favorite location to highlight it, then press the Delete icon at the top of the Favorites window.

Note: Your Favorites are stored in the Favorites folder in your Home folder. If you delete the Favorites folder (or the files inside of it), all of your Favorites will be deleted.

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Sharing folders with other Reedies (Changing folder permissions)

One of the benefits of AFS, is that it provides a straightforward way for controlling other people's access to your files. You do this by controlling the "permissions" on the folder containing the files you wish to share. You can give individual users access to a folder, or create a group of users and give the whole group access to a folder.

Note: The folder you share needs to be publicly available so users can browse to it (ie, in your Public folder, not in Private).

Giving permissions to individual users:

1. Navigate to the folder you want to give access to.
2. Click the Security icon from the toolbar at the top.
   
3. Click the User grant button from the top of the Folder Permissions window.
4. Enter the full name of the user you want to give access to or their Kerberos username and click OK.
5. For read-only access, place a check in the Read box. For read and write access, place a check in the Read and Write boxes.

Note: Write permission also implies Read permission. So if you simply check the Write box, the Read box will be automatically checked as well.

Creating groups of users:

1. Click the Security icon from the toolbar at the top.
2. Click the Edit Groups button from the Folder Permission window.
3. Click the Create button in the Groups window.
4. Enter a name for your group and click OK.
5. Click the group name from the list on the left and then click the Add member button.
6. Enter the full name of the user (or their Kerberos username) and click OK. Repeat until all members have been added.
   

Giving permission to a group of users:

1. Navigate to the folder you want to give access to.
2. Click the Security icon from the toolbar at the top.
3. Click the Group grant button from the top of the Folder Permissions window.
4. Select the name of a group from the list and click OK.
5. For read-only access, place a check in the Read box. For read and write access, place a check in the Read and Write boxes.
   

Note: Write permission also implies Read permission. So if you simply check the Write box, the Read box will be automatically checked as well

Permissions Hints:

• You should NOT change the permissions on your main Home folder, instead you should create a new folder so the person(s) will only have access to the files in that folder (and not your entire home directory).
• If you check Read, the person or group will be able to see and download your files, but not be able to upload files.
• If you check Write, the person will be able to upload files.
• If you wish to revoke someone's permissions, you simply select the person or group and click on the Revoke privileges button in the Folder Permissions window.
• The Advanced Mode to Folder Permissions should be only be used if you know exactly what you are doing! If not, you could prevent yourself from accessing your own files. Contact CUS if you need help setting advanced permissions.

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FAQs

For questions about AFS, check out our list of FAQs.

If you have additional questions or problems, please contact CUS at x7525 or cus@reed.edu.