Accessing your Terpconnect file space

The file space provided as part of your Terpconnect account can be accessed in a variety of ways, depending on what computer/OS you are using and what software is installed on your machine. Usually, multiple options should exist.

The following list is an attempt to enumerate the various options, and is roughly ordered from the simplest to the most complicated options, in terms of what software might need to be installed and/or configured. The "simplest" options are best if you need to upload or download one file, from a system which has not been configured specifically to access the TerpConnect/GLUE AFS filesystem. The "more complicated" might be harder to set up initially, but sometimes are much more convenient if you are accessing the files a lot. And the order is only an estimate. Some options are limited, and so each section starts with a listing of pros and cons.

This is also basically the same list given for GRACE users. Which should not be surprising, as GRACE and Terpconnect are both part of the Glue Unix environment on campus.

Here we will discuss accessing your Terpconnect home directory. It is also your home directory when you ssh into a Grace cluster system. It is not your GRACE course directory, however. Instructions on accessing GRACE course directories.

We also will discuss how to access the top of your personal web page directory.

In the documentation below, we will sometimes refer to USERNAME, which is your TerpConnect username, all lower-case (it is uppercase in the examples so that you will see it and know to replace it with your actual username). This is the left part (to the left of the @) of your @umd.edu or @terpconnect.umd.edu email address.

  1. From TerpConnect/GRACE/GLUE systems
  2. Using an sftp/scp client
  3. Using a AFS client

Accessing from TerpConnect/GRACE/GLUE systems

All the required software for access is already installed on TerpConnect/GRACE/GLUE systems.

Cons: This section is only valid for TerpConnect/GRACE/GLUE systems.

You are placed into your home directory as soon as you log into a TerpConnect/GRACE/Glue system. If you wander out of it, the path to your home directory is always /homes/USERNAME, but on the command line you can usually just type ~ (the tilde character).

Your personal web page directory is located at /pub/USERNAME. Unfortunately, there is no further standard abbreviation for it. Note, that as the pub in the name implies, anything you put there is by default available to anyone with access to the internet.

Accessing using SFTP or scp software

Most linux systems probably already have command line tools for this installed.

Cons: Windows and Mac users might need to install software for this. You need to upload/download files; it does not look like a local filesystem. You cannot alter access rights.

For information on installing/using SFTP or scp

The paths you need to use for your files are the same as indicated in the section for Terpconnect/GRACE/Glue systems, namely: /homes/USERNAME for your home directory and /pub/USERNAME for your web directory.

Accessing using an AFS client

This gives you full access, with ability to control access rights, etc. Files appear as if they were on your local drive, and because the client uses caching, repeated accesses usually occur at local drive speeds.

Cons: You need to install the (free) OpenAFS client for this.

This is actually how the TerpConnect/GRACE/Glue systems access the space, but on those systems we already installed the client software for you. But installing it is usually not that hard, and all of the TerpConnect/GRACE/Glue filesystems then become available to your PC.