Connect a Linux or Unix computer to UCT network drives

UCT hosts several network drives – such as an individual F: drive (personal storage space for each student) and the G: drive (which contains storage space for each department).

NOTE:
For shared areas – such as the folders on your department’s G: drive – you’ll need access to the department’s common drive.

How to access the drives

Connect to the UCT file services cluster

Before you begin, ensure that you have the following:

• a Linux or Unix box capable of running smbclient, or with the cifs-utils package installed
• a network connection
• a valid UCT username and password
• the file path of the server you want to connect to – for example: //srvnvscfs000//datstf000

NOTE:
You can get the file path of your server from your IT Liaison or the IT Helpdesk.

You can connect to the file server using one of three methods:

1. Command line for smbclient (Root access required)
2. Command line to mount using cifs (Root access required)
3. Command line to auto-mount using cifs (Suitable for shared machine)

Method 1: Command line for smbclient (Root access required)

1. To access the your F: drive (applicable to UCT students only) from a shell, run the following command:
   
   smbclient //srvnvscfs00#/datstf00# -U "user"
   (Where # is the last digit of your staff number and "user" is your username, without the quotation marks or the network context.)
    
2. To access your G: drive from a shell, run the following command:
   
   smbclient //srvnvsshr20#/datshr20# -U "user"
   (Where # is the share code of your faculty and "user" is your username, without the quotation marks or the network context).
    
3. To access the drives, use smbclient:
   • Type help for a list of commands.
   • Use cd to navigate.
   • Use dir to list files and folders.
   • Use [m]put or [m]get to upload and download files.
      
4. To shut down the session, type exit.

Method 2: Command line to mount using cifs (Root access required)

1. To access your F: drive (applicable to UCT students only) from a shell, run the following command:
   
   mount -t cifs -o user= "user" //srvnvscfs00#/datstf00# /tmp/"shr"
   (Where # is the last digit of your staff number, "user" is your username – without the quotation marks or the network context, and "shr" is an arbitrary name of your choosing.)
    
2. To access your G: drive from a shell, run the following command:
   
   mount -t cifs -o user="user" //srvnvsshr20#/datshr20# /tmp/"shr"
   (Where # is the share code of your faculty, "user" is your username – without the quotation marks or the network context, and "shr" is an arbitrary name of your choosing.)
    
3. To access the drives, from the shell, browse to the mount point.
    
4. To unmount the mount point, type umount /mnt/F.
   (You can replace "F" with any other drive location you want to unmount.)

Method 3: Command line to auto-mount using cifs (Suitable for shared machine)

1. On the shared machine, as administrator, add the following line(s) to the /etc/fstab file:
   
   //srvnvscfs00#/datstf00# /mnt/F cifs credentials=/home/user/.novell,file_mode=0640,dir_mode=0755,user,noauto 0 0
   (Where "user" is your local username – without the quotation marks or the network context, and "shr" is an arbitrary name of your choosing.)
    
2. Create a credentials file: /home/user/.novell with these contents:
   
   username=your UCT username
   password=your UCT password
    
3. Create a mount point by running the following command:
   
   mkdir /mnt/F
   (You can replace "F" with any other drive location of your choice.)
    
4. Mount the share point by typing:
   
   mount /mnt/F
    
5. To access the drives, from the shell, browse to the mount point.
6. To unmount the mount point, type umount /mnt/F.
   (You can replace "F" with any other drive location you want to unmount.)

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