At IU, what is MDSSWeb and how do I use it?

On this page:

Note: The MDSSWeb interface is very similar to that of RFSWeb. Therefore, if you use RFSWeb, the MDSSWeb interface will be familiar to you.

Introduction

MDSSWeb is the web interface to the Massive Data Storage Service (MDSS) at Indiana University. If you don't yet have an MDSS account, see At IU, how can I apply for an account on the MDSS or RFS?

Note: For information about other methods of accessing the MDSS, see At IU, how do I access the MDSS?

To connect to your MDSS space via the web, you will need to have a current web browser that supports secure connections via the SSL protocol. You can access MDSSWeb at:

https://www.mdss.iu.edu/

You will be prompted to log in; enter your Network ID credentials. After you connect to your MDSS space, you will find yourself at the MDSSWeb home page, which shows the following:

At the top left, your username after "User:", and the name of the folder you are currently in after "Folder:"
Two rows of buttons (described below) including New Folder, Upload file, Logout, Delete, Move, Copy, Rename, and Change ACL
A directory listing of files and folders you have placed in the MDSS

The directory listing

The directory listing consists of five columns:

Select: Contains a checkbox for selecting a file or folder
Column 2: Contains an icon denoting the kind of file stored
Name: Lists the names of your files or folders
Size: Lists the sizes of your files in kilobytes
Modified: Lists the date and time each file or folder was last modified

Sorting the directory listing by name or size

If you click the column headings Name, Size, or Modified, the directory listing will sort by that heading.

Navigating folders

Click a directory or folder to enter the folder. Once inside a folder, click the Back button in your browser to return to the previous level. You can also go up one level by clicking Up one level at the top of the directory listing. Near the top of the screen, next to "Folder:", you will see the complete hierarchy for your current location; for example:

Home > Data > December06 > results.xls

Each folder or file will be a link; click any of the links to go directly to that folder or file.

When you click a filename, the appropriate application for that file type may launch if your browser and operating system understand the file type. For example, if you are accessing MDSSWeb under Windows Internet Explorer, clicking files with the .doc extension (i.e., Microsoft Word files) may launch Word within the web browser itself.

Warning: Even though a file may open automatically with the appropriate application (e.g., Word), saving any changes you make to it will not communicate the changes back to the MDSS. The MDSSWeb interface is intended to be view-only for files; therefore, do not try to edit Microsoft Office or other types of files directly within the web interface. If you want to edit Microsoft Office files, or files created with other applications, download them to your local disk first (using the method described below), and then edit the version on your local disk, saving any changes you make to the version on the local disk. After you finish, upload the file back from your local disk to the MDSS using the Upload file button (described below).

Downloading files to your computer

Right-click the filename (in Mac OS and Mac OS X, Ctrl-click), and then select an option to save the file (the exact text of the options will depend upon your web browser). Choose a location to save the file, and then click the appropriate button to save the file to disk.

The MDSSWeb toolkit

Note: In this document, the terms "directory" and "folder" are used interchangeably.

At the top of the screen, you will find the MDSSWeb toolkit, a collection of buttons that allows you to perform various operations (e.g., renaming a file or creating a new folder). If there are more than 15 items in the directory listing, a duplicate MDSSWeb toolkit is provided at the bottom as well.

To use the majority of the toolkit features, you will first need to select a file in your MDSS space. To do so, identify the file or folder and check the box to its left. The information below describes how to use the buttons in the toolkit.

New Folder (Creating folders)

The New Folder button in the toolkit allows you to create a new folder in the MDSS folder you are viewing currently. Click New Folder, and on the page that appears, enter the name of the folder you want to create. Click New Folder.

Upload file (Uploading files from your computer to the MDSS)

MDSSWeb allows you to upload a single file at a time from your computer to the MDSS. The file will be uploaded into the current MDSS folder (i.e., the one displayed currently in the web browser). To upload, go to the desired MDSS folder, and then click Upload file in the toolkit. On the next page, click Browse, and you will see a window that displays the files on your computer. Choose a file to upload, and then click Upload file. If a file with the same name exists already in MDSS and you want to replace it with the one you're uploading from your computer to MDSS, click Overwrite file if it already exists.

Warning: File uploads using MDSSWeb are limited to no more than 10 gigabytes. For efficiency, and to work around this limit, use a different transfer method to upload any files larger than 100 megabytes (see At IU, how do I access the MDSS?).

Delete (Deleting files or folders)

Warning: Before using the Delete button, make sure that you don't have files or folders selected unintentionally, or else they will all be deleted. Unlike RFS, MDSS has no 1day-backup folder or other means of undoing a delete action.

To delete a file or folder, select it, and then click Delete in the toolkit.

Note: Folders are deleted recursively; in other words, all subfolders and files inside the folder you select to delete are also deleted.

Move (Moving files or folders)

The Move button in the toolkit allows you to move a file or folder (preserving its name) from the current folder to another folder in the MDSS space. To move a file or folder, select it, and then click Move. Supply a target folder to move to and click Continue. For example, if you have a file called myfile at the top level, and want to move it to the folder myfolder, also at the top level, you would type /myfolder as the target directory name.

Note: Folders are moved recursively; in other words, all subfolders and files inside the folder you select to be moved are also moved.

Copy (Copying files or folders)

The Copy button in the toolkit allows you to copy a file or folder (preserving its name) to another existing folder. To copy a file or folder, select it, and then click Copy. Supply a target directory for the copy and click Continue. For example, if you have a file called myfile at the top level, and want to copy it to the folder myfolder, also at the top level, you would type /myfolder as the target directory name.

Note: Folders are copied recursively; in other words, all subfolders and files inside the folder you select to be copied are also copied.

Warning: Copies are limited to files smaller than about 10 gigabytes. Also, if your web browser times out while the copy is in progress, the copy may only be partially completed. Always check the results of the copy command for errors.

The MDSSWeb beta interface features an improved, experimental copy utility that does not have these limitations. To use it, initiate a copy operation from the beta interface, enter the destination, and then instead of pressing Continue after entering a destination, press Mass Copy. This will bring you to the Mass Copy Utility screen, which can efficiently copy a single file or many files in the background, with automatic validation of each file copy using checksums. To use this, fill in a target under Destination File or Directory if you have not already done so in the previous screen, and then press Perform Copy. If you fill in the target in the second screen, and you are only copying one file, make sure that you include the source file name in order to retain the same behavior as the standard copy function. See the Help link in the Mass Copy Utility interface for details on advanced options.

Rename (Renaming files or folders)

The Rename button in the toolkit allows you to rename a file or folder in the current directory or folder. Select a file or folder to rename, and then click Rename. On the next page, type the new filename and click Continue.

Change ACL (Changing Access Control Lists for files or folders)

The Change ACL button in the toolkit allows you to manipulate the permissions of files and directories, granting or denying access to other MDSS users or groups. To use it, check the box next to the file or folder for which you wish to change the permissions, and then click Change ACL.

This will take you to a screen that contains a table of existing ACLs for the file or folder. As the account owner, you will have full access. You can grant different permissions to other existing users by checking the box in the appropriate column, or unchecking it to revoke permissions.

To add a new user or group to this list:

Use one of the drop-down menus in the column on the left, and then choose whether it is a user or group you wish to add.
Type the name of the user or group in the box provided in the "name" column.
Check the boxes that correspond to the permissions you would like to grant to this new user or group.

When you're done making changes, click Change ACL to enact the changes. You'll then be shown a list of the changes made in MDSS.

Checksum (Verifying file integrity) (experimental)

The beta version of MDSSWeb has a link to the experimental checksum utility. The Checksum button in the toolkit allows you to calculate checksums to help verify file integrity after uploads, or for files that have been in the system a long time. Checksums are computed on the server, and when finished, they are stored for future reference. These stored checksums are displayed in the listing, if available, along with the date the checksum was performed. To perform checksums, select files and directories to checksum recursively, and then click Checksum. See the Help link in the checksum utility interface for details on advanced options.

This will take you to a screen that allows you to set advanced options for your checksum. To perform the checksum, click Perform Checksum.

View Used Space

To see how much space your files are using in MDSS, click the View Used Space link. Your usage will be compared against the default user quota of 1TB.

Other methods of connecting

For information about other methods of connecting to the MDSS, see At IU, how do I access the MDSS?

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Last modified on May 13, 2009.

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