Accessing the University Network Servers Through Your Web Browser Using "Netstorage"
Upon enrollment at the University of Mary Washington, each student is given file sharing space, and Web space, on the University servers. Once your system has been configured to access the Internet, you can easily view, download from, and upload to your personal and shared folders on the University Network right through your browser. We strongly recommend using Internet Explorer 6.X and higher, Firefox 1.0 or higher, or Netscape 7.X and higher (Mac users may also use Safari 1.0 and higher).
Connecting to NetStorage
Ccreating and accessing your personal web space
Uploading files to the network
Downloading files from the network
The screenshots in this tutorial are taken in Internet Explorer 6.0 on Windows XP. However, since the NetStorage interface is Web-based, the directions are identical in all browsers, and on both Mac and Windows operating systems.
CONNECTING TO NetStorage
Step 1 - Go to the University Web site, and click on "Computing and Technology" in the list of Useful Resources at the bottom center of the page:
Step 2 - Click on "PERSONAL WEB SPACE" in the links at the upper left.
Step 3 - You will be prompted for a password. Type in your NetID (Username only--you do not need the full context) and password.
Step 4 - Upon logging in, you will see three directories on the network to which you have access:
- Home-Drive: Your personal files that only you can access. Your Web space is included in here.
- Drive_S: A place for files you can share with others on campus.
- Drive_W: Dowloads of various software applications available for UMW community use.
Creating and Accessing Your Personal Web Space
To create Web space in your personal "Home" drive, you will need to create a new folder called "public.www". This folder will be recognized by the Web server as the root folder of your personal Web site. Here's how to create that folder:
Step 1 - Click on the yellow folder icon to the left of "Home-Drive@MARY" to highlight it. Then, under the "File" menu, select "New Folder."
Step 2 - You will be prompted to name the folder. Type in "public.www".
Step 3 - You will now see the folder inside your Home Drive in the NetStorage window.
The Web server needs to know which Web page inside your public.www folder is your home page. It defaults to recognizing pages named "index.htm." Make sure the home page for your Web site has this name.
Uploading files to THE NETWORK
Step 1 - Select the drive into which you want to put your files by clicking on the yellow folder icon directly to the left of the directory name. In this example, we are selecting the public.www directory:
Step 2 - Under the "File" menu, select "Upload."
Step 3 - You will be prompted to browse your computer for the file that you want to place on the server. (REMEMBER: IF THE FILE YOU ARE UPLOADING IS YOUR WEB HOME PAGE, IT SHOULD BE NAMED "INDEX.HTM"). Browse to the file, Click "OK" and then click "Upload."
Your file will now be displayed on the server. Repeat this for all other documents that you want to place in the network drive space. Note: only one document at a time may be uploaded. If you want to upload multiple files at once, use FTP (file transfer protocol) software.
DOWNLOADING FILES FROM THE NETWORK
Step 1 - Browse the folders at the left of the screen to find the file you wish to download.
Step 2 - Under the "File" menu, select "Download."
Step 3 - You will be prompted to browse your computer for where you would like to download the file to locally. Select the appropriate directory, and click "Save."
The selected file will now be saved on your computer. Repeat this for all other documents that you want to download from the network drive space.