WinSCP (WIP)

Web Publishing for Stern Pages

There are many different methods and applications that can be used for creating and publishing web pages. This how-to guide provides information on how to publish to the Stern personal webpage located at https://people.stern.nyu.edu/netID.

For information on publishing to departmental pages and videos see bottom section of this page.

Introduction

Before you get started, be sure to activate your Stern account at http://start.stern.nyu.edu.

As a member of the Stern community, you are allocated 5 GB of space on the web server for storage of web pages. Web page files are stored in your public_html folder located on webcontent.stern.nyu.edu. To access your webpage on the web, type in the following URL:

http://people.stern.nyu.edu/username/

(where username is substituted by your net ID or club login ID)

When entering the above URL, the default page that loads is index.html. If you do not have an index.html file, then a default page will be displayed instead.

All users are responsible for any and all content on their web pages. The web space cannot be used for any profit-generating or illegal activities. If a user is found to be violating any of these rules, appropriate action will be taken.

Secure Publishing with WinSCP

WinSCP is a free SCP client for Windows that allows secure file-transferring. It can be downloaded and installed on your computer. You do not need to change the setup defaults, simply continue clicking Next until the installation is complete. You may need to restart your computer after it has finished.

After the program has installed, click on SSH in the left-side menu and change the "Preferred SSH Protocol Version" to 2.

Start WinSCP by double clicking the icon labeled WinSCP on your desktop.

1. In the field labeled Hostname enter the name of the server you want to connect to.

The host name is: sales.stern.nyu.edu (for students) or eureka.stern.nyu.edu (for employees)

2. Click on the selection button in front of SFTP under Protocol.

3. For the Username and Password fields, enter your Stern NetID and password. Click Login to connect.

4. If asked to add a port, make sure to set the Port to 22.

Accepting A Server Key

If this is the first time you have ever connected to a particular server, you will be prompted to accept the server's host key to connect. This host key is a unique key for each server, and it ensures that every future attempt to connect to the server will always be to that server, and not some other server pretending to be the server you want to connect to. You will only need to accept a key once for each server you connect to. Click Yes to accept the key and continue the login process.

Transferring Files

After a server key is accepted, the main WinSCP window will appear. The primary mechanism for transferring files is dragging and dropping files between the left and right panes of the GUI. The left pane displays files local to the computer, and the right pane displays files located on the remote server. You can create folders on the remote server by clicking in the right pane and clicking Create Directory along the bottom edge of the WinSCP window.

**Note:

If your window does not appear with two panels, this means that your default interface has been set to show only the remote directory. To change this, exit and reopen WinSCP, and choose Preferences from the left menu of the Login Window. Under Interface, select Norton Commander as shown below. Then close the window and start again for your preferences to take effect.

Removing and Backing up Old Web Pages

If you no longer wish to have your web pages accessible online, you must first determine whether or not you would like to save a backup of the old file, or if you would like to simply delete it.

To save a copy of your page on the server, but remove it from the web, you can save it to your "private_html" directory (if you do not have a private_html folder, click "Create Directory" from your root directory to make one). First, copy the files or folders your would like backed up to your local server or hard drive, then transfer it back onto the remote server under the "private_html" directory (see "Transferring Files" section in the WinSCP guide).

To save a copy of your page on your H: drive (or other hard drive or space you own), in the left panel, go to the directory on your where you would like the file saved. Then, in your public_html folder on the right, drag the file or directory you would like to back up to the left panel.

-- Now you need to delete the file from your server. Simply highlight it and click the Delete button. Your webpage will no longer appear at your url.

Web Publishing for Departmental Pages & Videos

There are 2 general means for departments to publish web content.

  1. Acquia Drupal - click the link to the right for more info

  2. Legacy webcontent.stern.nyu.edu system

This section describes how to publish departmental web content and videos to the legacy webcontent.stern.nyu.edu system.

Authorization - Only authorized individuals are allowed to access webcontent.stern.nyu.edu. To get authorization, your department coordinator or chairperson should the Stern Helpdesk and request "access to the webcontent.stern.nyu.edu system" and specify what directories they need access to.

Layout - Departmental content on webcontent.stern.nyu.edu is organized under 2 main directories:

  1. /web

  2. /videos

Departments and authorized individuals have access to specified subfolders under these directories. When requesting authorization, it is important that you specify what directories you are requesting authorization for.

System Access

Use Putty & WinSCP as you would access eureka or sales as outlined elsewhere. However the name of the system to access is called "webcontent.stern.nyu.edu".

IMPORTANT - this system can only be accessed while on NYU campus.

To access it remotely from outside the NYU network do the following:

  1. For WinSCP, you must login to the NYU VPN

  2. For SSH shell access (through something like PuTTY), you can either use the NYU VPN or alternatively first login into eureka or sales and then from there running "ssh webcontent.stern.nyu.edu"