Accessing Course Account from Office Mac

This page describes some ways to connect to the course account from ISA office Macmini.

WatIAM ID: ...

Course Account (ex. cs115): ...

Put Submit button here

Connect using Samba (smb)

Samba lets you mount the course account as a drive/folder so you can work with the course files in a Finder window.

Samba can sometimes be glitchy (ex. random disconnects or it takes forever to connect). CSCF is unable to isolate the cause and fix it at this time, due to networking being outside their control and Apple having their own Samba setup. SSHFS is an alternative to Samba and is described below.

To get access: You will be given access automatically in your first week of work. If you don't have access, please ask your CSCF Point of Contact or your ISC (your ISC will then contact CSCF, because only CSCF staff can give access through Samba).

Step 1: Click on the desktop or the Finder icon in the Dock (bar at bottom of the screen). At the top of your screen, click on Go => "Connect to Server...".

Step 2: For Server Address, enter smb://smb-files.student.cs.uwaterloo.ca/csNNN. You can click the '+' button to save the address. Click Connect.

Step 3: For name, enter your WatIAM ID and student.cs password (reset password if needed). Click Connect.

Connect using SSH in a Terminal

You can work with files in a course account using the Terminal and by tying commands.

To get access: Find someone who already has access to the course account, like your ISC. They can add you to the /u/csNNN/.rhosts file in the course account. The next time the clock's minute hand hits 4, the /u/csNNN/.ssh/authorized_keys file will be updated to include you. Instead of waiting, you can edit the /u/csNNN/.ssh/authorized_keys file directly by adding your /u/questid/.ssh/id_rsa.pub key to the top of the authorized_keys file.

Step 1: SSH into your own account first. Open the Terminal, and run: ssh questid@linux.student.cs.uwaterloo.ca
For security, your password won't be shown as you type it in.
You can change your password here: https://www.student.cs.uwaterloo.ca/password/

Step 2: Once you're in your own account, run: ssh csNNN@linux.student.cs. If you've created a passphrase, you'll be asked to type it in.

Connect using SSHFS

SSHFS mounts the course account as a drive/folder like Samba, but it uses SSH to do it. You will be able to work the course files in a Finder window.

To get access: You just need to be able to SSH into the course account. See previous section.

Step 1: Open a Terminal and run these 3 commands:

mkdir

Explanation:

Step 2: You can disconnect from the course account by right-clicking the drive/folder, and choosing Eject.