FIT 100:  Fluency with Information Technology

Lab 1:

Creating Directories and Navigating Directory Structures

(or, Where am I, where are my files, and how do I put my files somewhere else?)

Autumn 2001

 

Introduction:

 

Welcome to the first lab of FIT 100.   For many of you this course is your introduction to a variety of new concepts, tools and technologies.  These labs are designed to help you learn the use of these tools in a logical and structured fashion. 

 

You will want to get into the habit of bringing a floppy disk or zip disk as an additional storage device for your work.  What you learn in today’s lab will always allow you to store documents in your remote account (Dante), but it doesn’t hurt to always have a back up.

 

What other reasons are there for using our remote accounts on Dante for storage instead of a relying solely on a floppy or zip disk?

 

·         A large storage space for you work

·         You don’t have to carry around a disk or being physically located at a machine holding your work.  You can work at a different machine each time.

·         Your floppy may be damaged carrying it in your backpack!!!!!!!

·         Backup!  A lifesaver if your computer dies….!

 

The computers in this lab are PC and run with a Windows environment (aka Microsoft!).  The tools used here are particular to that environment.  There is software available for Mac to do the same thing, but will not be a specific part of this lab.  Your TA will be a source of help to students using Mac’s in other labs on campus or at home.

 

For today’s lab you should already have your email account up and running.  (See the FIT 100 Workshop)

 

Objectives:  Learning to transfer files

 

1.      To become comfortable with the concept of navigating directory structures to get to folders and files stored in different locations.

2.      To understand the concept of directory location and its impact on retrieval.

3.      To understand that there are many ways to access directories.  We will explore how to FTP files when located on UW campus labs using a secure FTP client called SSH Secure File Transfer.

4.      To create a folder (directory) on the local machine in a specific location using SSH.

5.      To create a folder (directory) on the remote machine (Dante) that is holding your user account

6.      To move files (documents, etc) from a folder on the local machine to a folder inside of your Dante account and vice-versa

 

What you know:

 

 

Local vs. Remote Directories:  “What’s the difference?”

 

What is a directory?

 

A directory, or folder, is a container for files.  Just like the folders in an office file cabinet hold documents, a directory on your computer or any other, can hold files of all types.  A directory is a way to organize related files in a manner that allows for quick retrieval.  If you have your work divided into the various areas they pertain to, you can use folders to hold them in a logical manner. 

 

A directory can also be a collection of user accounts.  It is still a container holding related files.  You will make directories in this lab to hold your work this quarter, but you are also part of a directory of the users of email and web pages at the UW.

 

There are many ways to define a local directory.  For this lab, local directories are referred to as the folders that are located on the C drive on the PC physically in front of you.  Documents placed in folders at this location cannot be accessed at other campus computers.  They are local to the machine you are sitting at.   

 

Remote directories are folders stored on remote computers (called servers) that can be accessed from various computer labs on campus and even from home, if you have a way to connect.

 

Absolute versus Relative Paths when pointing (referring) to files or folders

 

A:\INFO100\MyFirstLab\test.txt

C:\My Documents\My Webs\images\

         

Consider the two lines just above.  Both are path names that refer to the location of a file or folder.  Now look at the two lines below.  They refer to the same file and folder above, but are considered relative path names.

 

          test.txt

          images\

 

It’s all LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION!!!

 

An absolute path name shows the exact path to the file.  Starting from the drive it is located on, right down to the name of the folder or file itself. It always gives the exact location. 

 

The second set of path names are known as relative path names.  They are named relative to the current folder. The name “test.txt” is only useful to me if it is a file name I am looking for within the current directory.  It would not be as helpful to someone just sitting down at the computer who didn’t know where to start looking.

 

TO DO:

 

Navigate to and create a directory locally using Windows Explorer

Windows Explorer is NOT Internet Explorer.  Windows Explorer is the program on the Windows operating system that allows the user to create directories and organize files.

 

1.      Open Windows Explorer.  You can do this one of three ways (there are even more than that):

2.      Using your understanding of path names from the explanation above, create a directory called EraseMe in this location:

C:\Documents\EraseMe\. 

If there is no Documents folder on the C Drive, go to My Documents.

You will first move to the C drive, then to the Documents folder.  Once there, go the file menu in the upper left of the screen.  From the options select New>Folder:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Name your folder EraseMe.

 

3.      Now, open up Microsoft Word and create a new document called test.doc (type in a few lines of text, then save).  Save test.doc to the following location:

o        C:\Documents\EraseMe\test.doc 

C is the top of the structure in this path, the root of the directory.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


          You will need the file test.doc in a few steps.

 

Moving Files using FTP

 

A simple way to move files over the Internet between local and remote directories is by using a secure File Transfer Protocol (FTP).   This lab will demonstrate the secure application used for transferring files at the UW.  It is called SSH Secure File Transfer.

 

4.      Open SSH Secure File Transfer (the location may vary from lab to lab, your TA will direct you)

5.      Make sure the profile name is dante.u.washington.edu:

6.      Enter your UserID (UW NetID) and click the connect button. 

 

7.      If you have not used SSH Secure File Transfer on this machine before, you will be asked if you want to store the public key in a database.  Simply click “No”.  Then enter your password on the next screen and click OK:

 

 

8.      When you have completed entering your password, your home directory, known as the root directory, on Dante will be displayed.

Permissions of each file or directory
 

Date and time of last modification to a file or directory
 

Contents of the directory 540CurDev
 

The home folder of your student account on Dante
 
           

The left side of the interface displayed above shows:

 

The right side will display:

 

Explore the various features of the SSH Secure Shell interface.

 

 

Create a Directory remotely using SSH Secure File Transfer

 

 

Tool Bar
 

Menu Bar
 

 

9.      Go to the Operation item of the menu bar up on top.  Select New Folder and make a directory called FirstLab inside of your root directory (hint: you are placed in the root when you first enter your account, but make sure the root directory is highlighted.  Your root, or home directory, is the top level of your account).  You can always get there by clicking on the Home icon on the tool bar.

10.  When you finish, the new folder should appear on the left and right side.  Double click on the folder, and an empty screen will appear on the right side.  You are in the FirstLab directory.

 

11.  Use the Operation menu again and select the Upload option (or simply click on the up arrow).

12.  Navigate to find the document you created in step 3 above.  You should go to the C Drive to begin.

 

13.  Double click in the Documents folder and then on the EraseMe folder to find test.doc.

 

Double click on test.doc to upload, OR click once and then click the Upload button.  A copy of test.doc has now been sent to your Dante account and appears on the right.

 

14.  Using SSH Secure File Transfer, perform the following exercises: 

·         Rename the folder (directory) that you created in your remote account on Dante.  Change the name from FirstLab to FIT100.

a.      Make sure FirstLab is selected in the right window.

b.      Go to the Operation Menu, select Rename.

c.      Type in the new folder name.

 

·         Is it possible to open a file from the SSH window?

d.      It is possible to open a file from within the SSH window.  HOWEVER it is just a copy stored in a temporary folder on your local machine.  Any changes you make to the file will not be saved to the copy on your remote account. 

You should always download a copy of the file to a local folder that you decide upon.  Make changes, save it, then FTP (upload) it back to your Dante account.

 

·         FTP the test.doc file from your renamed FIT100 folder to C:\Documents using the Operation menu.  This is not the same location as step 3.

Understanding the concepts covered in this lab:

 

15.  Create folders on your remote account (Dante).

These folders will hold your future projects.  Place them inside your new FIT100 folder for better organization for your class work:

·         Create 2 folders inside FIT100: FIT100Labs and FIT100Projects

·         Go into FIT100Projects and create 4 folders:

Project1

Project2

Project3

Project4

Use these folders to store copies of your projects as you work on them from different locations on campus.

 

12.  Exit SSH Secure Shell.

 

13.  Show the folders to your TA before you leave lab!

 

You now can create folders and move their contents between locations on the local machine and your remote account on Dante.  This is a very helpful resource when you need to be able to access and work on documents at a variety of locations but may not have a disk to transport the work. 

 

Your next lab will be to explore navigating directory structures using a command line prompt rather than the Graphical User Interface.

 

You want to become comfortable in the environment introduced in this lab and compare it to the command line environment you will use for the assignment.  It will save you headaches in the weeks to come.

 

Helpful links:

 

Use the links provided here to obtain a copy of the secure FTP and secure Telnet clients if you do not already have them:

 

(UWICK)  UW Internet Connectivity Kit Information                                     

http://www.washington.edu/computing/software/uwick/  
           

Catalyst How-To pages                

http://catalyst.washington.edu/how-to/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The same directory structure shown 2 different ways