The server dropbox.dartmouth.edu
can be used for the exchange of files between Dartmouth College people and
other Internet users. Users outside the College can connect using any FTP
client, user anonymous, and deposit files in the directory
called incoming, then College users can retrieve them. College
users can deposit files in outgoing, and outside users can
retrieve them if they know the exact file names. Nobody can list the contents
of either directory. Effectively, the filename itself becomes the password for
retrieval.
All files are deleted automatically after a few days. Transferring very
large files may prevent others from using these directories. You should seek
other means for very large files. Thirty gigabytes of disk space is provided
for combined incoming and outgoing drop boxes (as of 07/05).
Illegal use of this facility is prohibited.
Warning: Files placed in this directory are
not secure. Sensitive or confidential data can be encrypted
using a separate tool, with the decryption key sent to the recipient by a more
secure mechanism.
Questions about this service should be sent to help@dartmouth.edu.
Incoming Directory
You can use this directory to transfer files from computers outside
Dartmouth to computers at Dartmouth. Outside users should use the FTP
PUT command (or equivalent menu selection in a graphical
client) to place files here. Then, they can tell their Dartmouth associates
what the file names are. The Dartmouth user can then retrieve the file with the
FTP GET command. A simple way to do this is to send e-mail
with the URL in the
form ftp://dropbox.dartmouth.edu/incoming/myfilename.
The recipient can simply paste the URL into a Web browser.
Outgoing Directory
You can use this directory to transfer files from computers at Dartmouth to
computers outside Dartmouth. Dartmouth users should use the FTP
PUT command (or equivalent menu selection in a graphical
client) to place files here. Then, they can tell their outside associates what
the file names are. The outside user can then retrieve the file with the
GET command. A simple way to do this is to send e-mail with
the URL in the form
ftp://dropbox.dartmouth.edu/outgoing/myfilename. The
recipient can simply paste the URL into a Web browser.
Caveats
Free space available on the server can be very volatile. The status page shows the current free
space. While this system is easy to use and requires no accounts or passwords
to be created, there are some disadvantages:
- Mysterious upload errors if the disk is filled by uploading too much.
- No control over the files after uploading them. You have to wait until the
system removes it automatically.
- Permissions errors if you accidentally use a file name that has already
been used. Using non-trivial file names helps.
- Some FTP client user interfaces will modify the file name as presented to
the user, usually simplifying it by dropping an extension suffix indicating the
file type. For example, Report-Oct-2003.ppt may be displayed
without the .ppt. The full file name is uploaded to the
server, however, and so, the full file name must be used when you try to
retrieve the file. Most Microsoft Windows GUI FTP clients operate this way,
following the file manager preference to "hide extensions."
- Problems with some FTP clients on Microsoft Windows.
Some FTP clients for windows (including the command-line FTP delivered as a
standard part of Windows) will appear to upload my_long_filename.dat,
and on the other end it appears as something like MY~L~~FE.DAT, but
you don't get to see that. To avoid this issue, if you must use Windows, test
that you can successfully download the file yourself, or rename the file using
a DOS-style 8.3 file name.
There is also a mechanism in place for getting a regular account on the
campus Web server (see Web
Hosting at Dartmouth, then requesting that a link to anonymous FTP space be
made. That gets you a directory (with a fixed space quota) under the
/people directory that you can fully control. That can only be
used for downloads by colleagues, not uploads. You must use your user name and
password to place files there.
See also:
Off-campus Access to UNIX Computing - Using Gateway.dartmouth.edu
as a file transfer staging area for SFTP transfers.
|
