Using the Ada Server

One time set up:

• You must be logged in to the UNCW domain to access ada and its URLs. If you are off campus, you need a VPN connection. See uncw.edu/ITSD/help/VPN.htm for details.
• If you have an SSH client already installed on your machine, just use it. If not, go to horizon.uncw.edu, login, and start PuTTY (it may take some time to load.)
• In the Host Name box enter: ada.cis.uncw.edu (use Port: 22 if it's not filled out already), then click Open
• If you are asked a security question about a host key, answer Yes.
• Enter your UNCW user name and password. As you type, you may not see anything on the screen. That's OK.
• At the $ prompt, type each of the following lines pressing Enter after each one.
  
  $ cd /home (there is a space after the d)
  
  $ chmod 711 ~ (there is a space after the d and before the ~)
• Close the Console window.
  **Note: The above steps only need to be done once.

Uploading and viewing files

1. You need to have any FTP client (WinSCP, Filezilla, SSH Secure Shell, etc.) to do the following steps. You can google to find the software – just be careful installing that you don’t sign up for a bunch of junk (don’t just accept all of the default values as you install.)
2. If you're off campus, start a VPN connection if you haven't done so already.
3. Open your FTP client (WinSCP is in the campus labs)
4. Login using host name ada.cis.uncw.edu, your UNCW username and password.
5. If there is a security question about the host key being unknown, answer Yes and add the key to the cache.
6. The left half of the screen is your local computer and drives, the right half is your personal web server space.
7. If there isn’t a folder called public_html on the right side, right click and create a new directory called public_html and set the permissions or properties to 755 (if necessary.)
8. Edit your web files as usual, saving to timmy or your preferred location.
9. When you are ready to test, locate the local web files and folders in the left pane. Drag and drop them into your public_html folder in the right pane.
10. Test by opening a browser and entering your personal URL followed by the name of the file you are testing (including the extension):
    http://ada.cis.uncw.edu/~abc1234/filename.php (substituting your userid).
    If a message pops up about a potential security risk, click the Advanced button, and accept the risk. (This happens because Ada uses a self-signed certificate.)
    If the file is in a folder, you must include the folder name before the filename:
    http://ada.cis.uncw.edu/~abc1234/folder/somepage.html
11. To make corrections, edit in the application as you usually do (don’t edit straight from the server.) Then save the file, re-upload it to the server, and then refresh the browser.
12. As you make changes, don't continually upload the entire website. Just upload the file(s) that were changed.