Where to Save My Files

Where should I save my files when connecting to Windows XP?

For remote access to a Windows XP environment there are 3 options for saving your files:
1) Local Hard Drive tunneled through the Remote Desktop session
2) AFS Home Directory via Wolfcall and the OpenAFS Client (K: drive)
3) AFS Home Directory via SCP/SFTP client (F-Secure)

1) Local Hard Drive tunneled through the Remote Desktop session:
Before you connect to a Windows computer, click the 'Options' button in the Remote Desktop Connection window. Go to the 'Local Resources' tab, and check 'Disk drives' under the 'Local Devices' section. Then connect to the remote server. Once connected, under 'My Computer' on the remote server you will notice a drive that has the name of your computer and is mapped to your Local Hard Drive. This setting is enabled by default in the .RDP configuration files distributed at the 'Connect!' page that is displayed after making a reservation. That setting is one of many that can be configured in your VCL User Preferences.

2) AFS Home Directory via Wolfcall and the OpenAFS Client
Wolfcall and the OpenAFS Client are installed on the each of the Windows XP environments used in the VCL. This will be listed as the "K: drive" under my computer. If the K: drive does not exist, double click on the desktop icon labeled "Map to Unity K Drive Space" and enter your campus username and unity password.

See the Wolfcall Homepage for more information about Wolfcall and the OpenAFS client.

3) AFS Home Directory via SCP/SFTP client (WinSCP).
WinSCP is a free, open-source Secure FTP client for Windows. Its main function is secure file transfer between a local and a remote computer. It also offers basic file manager functionality. WinSCP uses Secure Shell (SSH) and supports SFTP and SCP protocols. See the EOS Remoteaccess page for more information on using WinSCP.

Note: DO NOT leave your work on the hard drive of the VCL Windows XP environment. What happens when I leave my work on the VCL machine?
 

Where should I save my files when connecting to Realm Solaris or Realm Red Hat Enterprise Linux?

When you connect to a Realm Unix/Linux computer your files are stored in your AFS Home Directory. It is exactly the same environment as when you login locally to a Realm Unix/Linux lab machine in one of the Eos labs.
 

Where should I save my files when connecting to Non-Realm Red Hat Enterprise Linux?

The home directory on a non-realm machine is not your AFS Home Directory. Instead, it is a temporary one that is created on the remote server. In order to save your work you need to copy it off of the remote server. Instructions for how to copy it to AFS are available at the the EOS Remoteaccess page.

Note: DO NOT leave your work on the hard drive of Non-Realm Red Hat Enterprise Linux environment. What happens when I leave my work on the VCL machine?
 

Page Conventions:

AFS Home Directory - The AFS space that is allocated to every student, faculty, or staff at NC State. This space is the home directory on Unix/Linux machines and is what the "K: Drive" maps to on Windows machines with an AFS Client Installed.
Local Hard Drive - The hard drive on the computer that the user is actually sitting in front of.