This page is about accessing files from home systems. If you have a Linux system within the department, see Sharing Files to access files on our servers and share files between systems. (We say Linux because that’s where our experience is. In principle, Macs have the same facilities, and even Windows can participate to some extent.)
Accessing CS File Servers Remotely
Many of our users want to access files on computer science systems from home or other computer systems they control. There are two reasonable ways to do this:- A GUI file copy program. This lets you look at files in your CS home directory and copy them to and from your computer. The GUI tools generally look very similar to the Mac Finder or the Windows File Explorer, except that they look at files at Rutgers rather than files on your home computer. Use this approach to make copies of your files, work on them at home, and then copy them back to Rutgers when finished.
- A mount program. This lets you mount your CS home directory on your home machine. In this case, your home directory at Rutgers appears to be part of the file system on your home computer. It will appear in the Finder, File Explorer, and File dialog in most applications. Use this approach to work on file at Rutgers without making copies.
NOTE: This section describes approaches for regular user home computers. If you’re running a server with multiple CS users, it may make sense to integrate more with our systems by setting up Kerberos on your home system. Please contact help@cs.rutgers.edu for that situation.
TECHNICAL NOTE: Most tools described here use sftp, a file transfer protocol running over SSH. It performs surprisingly well. On a local, high-speed link, sshfs performs nearly as well as NFS.
Macintosh
- GUI file copy: We recommend either Cyberduck or Filezilla. Both are free. The appearance and how they work are slightly different.
- Mount as a file system. These options will make your home directory (or other Linux directory) look like a local Macintosh file system. MountainDuck is the easiest option for typical users but costs $39.
More sophisticated users may prefer to use sshfs for mounting. See the Linux sections for details. You need two packages to use on the Mac: FUSE and sshfs. Both are available from the OSX FUSE site. Another option that allows you to access cloud services is Rclone. However, this command-line tool will take significant knowledge to set up.
Windows
- GUI file copy: We suggest looking at CyberDuck, WinSCP, Filezilla, or Bitvise SSH Client. (video). All are free. The appearance and how they work are slightly different.
- Mount as a drive letter. These options will make your home directory (or other Linux directory) look like a computer’s disk drive. MountainDuck costs $39. The only free tool we’ve been able to find is rclone. It works fine but requires significant knowledge to set it up.
Linux
- GUI file copy.
Linux has several different Windows environments. The most common one in current distributions is Gnome. In Gnome’s file manager (Nautilus),
- at the bottom of the left bar, click
- Then, at the bottom of the right section, in , type the server address
sftp://HOSTNAME, where HOSTNAME is the name of the computer on which your files are stored. Students can use the names of any of the computers in the iLab. Similar capabilities should be present in the other prominent file managers.
- Mount program.
You will want to use sshfs. Packages for sshfs are available at all major distributions.
- find or create a “mount point.” This is a directory where the remote file system will be available. If it’s your computer, it’s common to use a directory in the root filesystem, such as /mnt, but you can also use “mkdir” to create a directory in your home directory. You must have ‘write’ access to the directory. For this example, type
mkdir remoteto create a new directory - use sshfs to mount the remote file system. For example, to mount a lab directory on ‘remote,’ use:
sshfs hedrick@COMPUTER.cs.rutgers.edu:remoteCOMPUTER should be replaced by the specific computer that has your files. If you’re a student, you can use the name of any of the ilab systems. - At this point, you should see all files in the directory “remote.”
- To unmount, use the
fusermount -u remote(on the Macumount remote)
- find or create a “mount point.” This is a directory where the remote file system will be available. If it’s your computer, it’s common to use a directory in the root filesystem, such as /mnt, but you can also use “mkdir” to create a directory in your home directory. You must have ‘write’ access to the directory. For this example, type
Note: User and groups may appear incorrectly unless the names and numbers match on the two ends. This shouldn’t usually be a problem, but if you need to change a file to have a specific group, that group has to exist on both ends with the same name and number. Alternatively, you can use the idmap and gidfile options to map groups on the other end to groups on your system. In most cases, this won’t be a problem.
If you want to access files on cloud services such as Dropbox, we suggest you look into Rclone. It is designed to copy files but also has a mount option.
For help with our systems or immediate assistance, visit LCSR Operator at CoRE 235 or call 848-445-2443. Otherwise, see CS HelpDesk. Don’t forget to include your NetID along with descriptions of your problem.