FIT 100: Fluency with Information Technology
Lab 2:
Creating Directories and Navigating Directory
Structures
(or, Where am I, where are my files, and how do I put my
files somewhere else?)
Helpful links................................................................................................................ 9
Introduction:
For many of you this course is
an introduction to a variety of new concepts, tools and technologies. Labs for FIT 100 are designed to help you
learn the use of these tools in a logical and structured fashion.
Get into the habit of bringing a
floppy disk or zip disk as an additional storage device for lab work. What you learn in today’s lab will show you
how to store documents in your remote account (Dante), but it doesn’t hurt to
always have a backup.
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 larger storage space for lab
and project work (each student receives 100 MB of file space, a floppy disk is
2 MB)
·
You don’t have to carry around a
disk or be physically located at a machine holding your work. You can work at a different machine each time
as long as you have an Internet connection and the SSH client.
·
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 Operating System (aka
Microsoft!). The tools used here are
particular to that environment. There is
software available for Macs to do the same thing, but will not be a specific
part of this lab.
For today’s lab you should
already have your email account up and running.
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 securely transfer files when located in UW campus labs using a secure file transfer protocol known as SSH Secure File Transfer.
4. To create a folder (directory) on the local machine in a specific location.
5. To create a folder (directory) on the remote machine (Dante) that is holding your user account using SSH.
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:
- Your UserID and
Password for email accounts
- Directory = Folder
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 in front of you.
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.
Local vs. Remote Directories: “What’s the difference?”
What is a directory?
A:\INFO100\MyFirstLab\myfile.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. myfile.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 “myfile.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. This same reasoning will be
used when you begin to build web pages next week.
Absolute
versus Relative Paths
when pointing (referring) to files or
folders
TO DO:
1. Navigate
to and create a directory (folder) 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 and search for files.
- Open Windows
Explorer. You can do this one
of three ways (there are even more than that):
·
Press <Window key> +
<e> key [Your TA will demonstrate]
OR
·
Move your mouse over the My Computer icon, right click and
select Explore
OR
·
Go to Start>Programs>Windows Explorer
B. 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.
C. Open Microsoft Word and create a new document called Lab2.doc (type in a few lines of text,
then save). Save Lab2.doc to the
following location:
C:\Documents\EraseMe\Lab2.doc
C is the top of the structure in
this path, the root of the
directory.
You will need the file Lab2.doc in a few steps.
2.
Moving Files using Secure File Transfer
(SFTP)
A simple way to move files over
the Internet between local and remote directories is by using a secure File
Transfer Protocol (SFTP).
This lab will demonstrate the secure application used for transferring files at
the UW. It is called SSH Secure File Transfer.
- Open SSH
Secure File Transfer (the location may vary from lab to lab, your TA will direct you). Make sure the profile name is dante.u.washington.edu:
- Enter your UserID
(UW NetID) in the User Name text box and click
the connect button.
- 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
“Yes” and then enter your password on the next screen.
When you have completed entering
your password, your home directory, known as the root directory, on Dante will
be displayed on the right and the folders
and programs from the desktop of the local computer will display on the left.
The left
side of the interface displayed above shows:
- the program
shortcuts and directories (folders) that are on the desktop of the local
computer.
- What the size and data type the folder or file
is
- The last time the folder or file was modified
The
right side displays:
- The contents of your remote file space. The name give to this space is the same
as your UW NetID. Inside of this root directory many of
you will not have any directory (folder) other than your public_html folder.
- The last time the folder or file was modified
- What the size and data type the folder or file
is
- The permissions that are currently set on the
folder or file
Explore the various features of the SSH Secure Shell interface.
3. Create
a Directory remotely using SSH Secure File Transfer
A. 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, so what
you see on the right side of the SFTP window is inside the root.)
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.
- When you finish, the new folder should appear
on the right side. Double click on
the folder, and an empty screen will appear on the right side. You are in the FirstLab directory.
- Navigate on the left side of the SFTP window to
find the document you created in step 3 above. You should go to the C Drive to begin.
- Double click in the Documents folder and then on the EraseMe folder to find Lab2.doc.
- Click on Lab2.doc
and drag it over to the right side of the screen to upload. There are other ways to upload files
from your local computer to your remote space as well. Explore the SSH client window to try and
find them.
- A copy of Lab2.doc has now been sent to your
Dante account and appears on the right.
There is also a log kept of what files are uploaded or downloaded
during your session. See the
Transfer tab on the screen:
G. 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.
·
Transfer the Lab2.doc file from your renamed fit100
folder to C:\ using the Operation
menu. This is not the same location as
earlier.
·
Is it possible to open a file from the SSH window?
a. It is possible to open a file from within the SSH window, by double
clicking on it. 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
transfer (upload) it back to your Dante account.
4. Understanding
the concepts covered in lab 2:
- Create folders in 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: labs and projects
·
Go into projects and create 3 folders:
project1
project2
project3
Use these folders to store copies of your projects as you work on them from different locations on campus.
B. Exit SSH Secure Shell.
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.
There is an extra piece to this
lab that has you navigate through your remote directory structures using a
command line prompt rather than the Graphical User Interface. It is suggested,
but not required, that you become comfortable in the environment introduced in
this portion of the lab and compare it to the command line environment you will
use next.
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/
Download UWICK kit if you have
an Internet Connection:
http://www.washington.edu/computing/software/uwick/starter/
