RData CIFS Shares

CCV users can access their home, data and scratch directories as a local mount on their own Windows, Mac, or Linux system using the Common Internet File System (CIFS) protocol (also called Samba). There are two requirements for using this service:

• An Oscar account with CIFS access enabled (accounts created since 2010 are automatically enabled).
• Local campus connectivity. Off-campus users can connect after obtaining a campus IP with Brown's VPN (Virtual Private Network) client, but performance may be degraded.

First, use SSH to connect to Oscar to set your CIFS password. Once logged in, run the command:

[ccvuser@login001 ~]$ smbpasswd

You will first be prompted for your "old" password, which is the temporary password you were given by CCV when your account was created. Then, enter a new CIFS password twice. You may choose to use the same password here as for your Oscar account.

Now you are ready to mount your CCV directories locally using the following instructions based on your operating system:

Windows

• Rght-click "My Computer" (or "Computer" in Windows 7) and select "Map Network Drive".
• Select an unassigned drive letter.
• For "Folder", enter \\oscarcifs.ccv.brown.edu\username and click "Finish".
• Enter your username and password.
• You can now access your home directory through Windows Explorer with the assigned drive letter. Your data and scratch directories are available as subdirectories of your home directory.

Mac

• In the Finder, press "Command + K" or select "Connect to Server..." from the "Go" menu.
• For "Server Address", enter smb://oscarcifs.ccv.brown.edu/username and click "Connect".
• Enter your username and password.
• You may choose to add your login credentials to your keychain so you will not need to enter this again.

If you would like to automatically connect to the share at startup:

• Open "System Preferences" (leave the Finder window open).
• Go to "Accounts" > "(your account name)".
• Select "Login Items".
• Drag your data share from the "Finder" window to the "Login Items" window.

Linux

• Install or verify that you have a Samba client.
• On a single user system, you can edit /etc/fstab (as root) and add the following single-line entry:

//oscarcifs.ccv.brown.edu/yourusername/data     /mnt/rdata        cifs    username=yourusername,password=yourpassword,nounix   0 0

• Create (as root) the /mnt/rdata directory.