Labyrinth Data Services - Support

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We provide two main methods of uploading files to your shell account - SFTP and SCP. These protocols are secure replacments for the FTP and RCP protocols respectively, and protect your password and data from other people on the internet. There are clients for both protocols available for all major operating systems.

This article will discuss uploading files under Windows as well as Linux/BSD/Mac OS X.

Windows

To upload files under Windows, we recommend that you use the program WinSCP, as it provides a nice FTP-style interface. It's also open source.

Download and install WinSCP. The default installation settings are acceptable. When you run WinSCP, you are presented with a 'WinSCP Login' window. Fill in the fields as follows:

   Host name:        labyrinthdata.net.au
   Port number:      22
   User name:        Your username
   Password:         Your password
   Private key file: Leave blank
   Protocol:         SFTP (allow SCP fallback)

Your window should look like this:

If you like you can click the 'Save...' button and save these settings so you don't have to type them again.

Click the 'Login' button. WinSCP will say that the host key is not trusted - click 'Yes'. Click 'Continue' when presented with the 'Authentication Banner' window.

You will then be presented with a screen containing two windows, as below. The left window represents files on your local computer, and the right window represents files on your Labyrinth Data Services Shell account.

Files placed in the www/htdocs directory will be visible from your web space. You can transfer files and folders by dragging them between the windows. You can also rename, delete, move or copy files or directories, and perform a number of other tasks, by right-clicking on the relevant item.

If you have any problems, email support and we'll help you out.

Linux/BSD/Mac OS X

We recommend the command-line SCP utility on these operating systems. To use this, open a terminal and type:

   scp FILENAME USERNAME@labyrinthdata.net.au:~

and press enter, where FILENAME is the name of the file you would like to upload, and USERNAME is your username. You will be prompted for your password.

The ~ at the end of the command means to upload files to your home directory on our server, which is a private area you have to store files. To upload files to another directory, for example the ~/www/htdocs directory (which is where you place webpages that you would like to appear at http://username.labyrinthdata.net.au), simply insert the directory path in place of the ~:

   scp FILENAME USERNAME@labyrinthdata.net.au:~/www/htdocs

Where FILENAME and USERNAME are the file you wish to upload and your username as before.

If you would like to upload a directory containing multiple files, use the -r option with scp, like this:

   scp -r DIRECTORY USERNAME@labyrinthdata.net.au:~

Where DIRECTORY is the directory you would like to upload and USERNAME is your username as before.

There are several other options you can use with scp - for more information type man scp at a terminal window and press enter.

Once again, if you have any problems email support and we will be happy to help.

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