This page may be out of date

The Student Activity Server has been renamed to the Penn State Student Organizations Web Service and is under new management. These Web pages may be out of date and will be moved to the new site in the near future. Please read http://www.clubs.psu.edu/info/ for information about the new service.

Tutorials on Authoring a Clubs Webspace

Prerequisites:

• You must have a valid PSU Access Account.

• You must have applied for membership to your organization's webteam and received confirmation.

Step-by-step tutorials using web editing programs with the Student Activity Server.

• We have two tutorials on Microsoft FrontPage. One for creating a new site from scratch, and one for updating an existing page. We also have a general FAQ on using FrontPage with clubs.

• More to come later.

You may upload files to your organization's website using a variety of options:

1. Using a Secure FTP client (SFTP)

   • SFTP is a convenient means of uploading changes to your club's website. The software installation only takes a minute, and it uploads content in a way similar to traditional FTP.

   • Secure FTP is part of the Secure Shell (SSH) program.

   • Download

     • Windows: https://www.work.psu.edu/access/ssh/

       • See our SFTP page for directions on using the Windows client.

     • Macintosh: Info on ASET SSH page - scroll down to "MacSFTP for MacOS".

     • Unix users can use sftp from the ssh program or an alternative such as OpenSSH.

   • When you connect to the SFTP server, use the following info:

     • Username: <your PSU Access Account username>

     • Password: <your PSU Access Account password>

     • Hostname: ftp.clubs.psu.edu

     • Directory: /clubs/<your group directory>

2. Uploading through a web browser using the PASS Explorer

   • The PASS Explorer is perhaps the quickest to set up and use. It also doesn't require any more software than a modern web browser, and is perfect to use on the go when you are away from your own computer. The downside is you can only upload a single file at a time.

   • You will need to login to your Portal Account, and add the PASS Explorer following these instructions. Once the PASS Explorer has been added to your Portal account, you can use it immediately upon successive visits.

   • To find your club directory in the PASS Explorer, click the button in the PASS Explorer window (screenshot #1), and enter /:/services/www/clubs/wwwroot/<your group directory> .

   • Upload files with the button in the PASS Explorer window (screenshot #2).

3. Using the PASS Gateway to map a network drive.

   • PASS Gateway is more convenient for frequent web authoring than PASS Explorer and SFTP because you do not need to perform an upload step to publish your changes on the web. As soon as you save your files on the mapped network drive, it appears on the web. The downside is PASS Gateway may not work with all off-campus computers.

   • The PASS Gateway can be set to map to the W: drive on Windows 2000 and XP ASET Lab computers. Your clubs directory would then be W:\services\www\clubs\wwwroot\<your group directory>

   • Your PASS directory can be set to map to the desktop on Macintosh ASET Lab computers. We are currently working out the kinks with using it with your clubs account and will update this page with directions soon.

   • For other computers, follow these instructions, and refer to the following notes for details specific to the Student Activity Server. There are directions for Windows, Macintosh and Unix platforms (including Linux).

     • Notes for Windows users:

       • Be sure to map the \\samba\pass share, not \\samba\homes so you can see your club's directory.

       • Your club's directory should be \\samba\pass\services\www\clubs\wwwroot\<your group directory>. If you mapped \\samba\pass to W:, your directory will be W:\services\www\clubs\wwwroot\<your group directory>.

     • Notes for Macintosh users:

       • When selecting the volume you wish to mount, select "PASS Gateway" instead of the one named after your Access Account.

       • Your club's directory should be PASS -> services -> www -> clubs -> wwwroot -> <your group directory>.

4. Using Secure Shell (SSH) - for ASET Unix users

   • Advanced users who like to log into remote Unix computers and edit their files in Unix text editors may prefer this option. You need to have a Unix account with the ASET Unix Group first.

   • General SSH Instructions: http://cac.psu.edu/internet/ssh/

   • Directory: /:/services/www/clubs/wwwroot/<your group directory>

   • Note: You cannot log into ftp.clubs.psu.edu for regular ssh sessions. ftp.clubs.psu.edu is for file transfers only. The Unix account is valid on other systems.

5. Other options - http://aset.its.psu.edu/ftp/

   • Native DCE/DFS clients are available for Windows NT, 2000, Solaris, and other platforms. These are more complicated to install and use than previous options.

6. Notice - as of June 1, 2002, you can no longer use regular FTP

   • Regular FTP programs, such as WS_FTP for Windows or Fetch for Macintosh will no longer work with our new "secure-only" service.

   • The Publish feature in Microsoft FrontPage and Netscape Composer use regular FTP, and thus no longer work with the Student Activity Server. However you may continue to use these programs for web page editing.

Last modified Thursday, 27-Mar-2003 12:58:14 EST. Student Activity Server Committee

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