USC Marshall School of Business
Academic Information Services
Core FTP
Accessing your Network
Drives from Home
FTP (File Transfer Protocol) programs such as Core FTP allow you transfer files between a remote computer such as your home computer and files you have stored on a file server such as your Marshall Network drive (typically N:). Assuming your remote computer has Internet access, you can use Core FTP to access files stored in the following locations:
• Your Marshall Personal Network drive. (Typically known as your “N:” drive.)
• Your Marshall Departmental Shared Network Drive. (Typically known as you “O:” or “P:” drive.) • Your file space on the main University’s servers. (Almaak.usc.edu or Aludra.usc.edu.)
Note that if you are at home, you cannot use Core FTP to access files stored on the C: drive of the PC located in your office at USC. For that, you would need to use a remote access program such as “Remote Access” or “Timbuktu”.
Downloading Core FTP
Core FTP is freely available for download at USC’s main software page. To access this page, you will need to know your USC (UNIX) username and password. The username is the same as your Marshall username and the password is the one you use to connect to Blackboard (totale), almaak, or VPN. If you do not know your USC password or have forgotten it, contact the ISD Help Desk at: (213) 740-5555.
To download Core FTP:
1. Access the following web address: http://software.usc.edu
2. Type your USC Username and Password. 3. Click “Login”.
4. In the Software Freely Distributed by ISD section, select your operating system. (For most Marshall users, this is “Windows XP Downloads”.)
5. Click “Core FTP”.
6. You will get a pop-up box asking your to “Open” or “Save”:
• If you are at the home computer or laptop where you will be using FTP, click “OPEN” and follow the installation instructions to install it.
• If you are at another location and want the program so you can install it later on another computer, click “SAVE”. The installation file is named: coreftp132}.exe Note where you stored the file as well. When you do wish to install it on your home computer or laptop, copy the file to that computer and then double click the file.
Launching Core FTP
1. To launch Core FTP, click: “Start - All Programs – Internet Tools – Core FTP”.
You will get two pop-up screens before you get to the place where you actually transfer or view files.
Sessions Window (Use is optional)
A Session tracks the date you accessed Core FTP and any pending file transfers which were not completed when you logged out. The next time you login, you can select a session to transfer the next file in the queue.
a. Click either “Open” to open a specific session or “Close” to proceed to the next screen.
Site Manager Window:
The Site Manager is used to configure and store connection settings to the file servers you access most frequently. This allows you to access locations more easily in the future by selecting preconfigured locations from a list. Note that you do not have to use the Site Manager to access a server --- there is also a “Quick Connect” button within Core FTP that allows you to access locations on the fly.
When the Site Manager appears, you can either close it and proceed into Core FTP, create a new connection, or select an existing connection. Note that you can reopen it at any time by clicking: Sites – Site Manager. The next page
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Type your department’s shared folder name here.
Marshall Personal Network Drive Connection – (Typically N:)
Core FTP is preconfigured to connect to USC’s main FTP sites; however, it is not preconfigured to connect to your Marshall network drives; therefore, you will need to create a new site. Once created, the site will be added to the list of preconfigured sites allowing you to connect to your Marshall network drives more easily in the future.
1. Click the “New Site” button located in the Site Manager window.
(If the Site Manager window is not open, from the Core FTP menu, click: “Site –Site Manager”.)
Marshall Group Network Drive Connection - (Typically O: or P:)
If you are a Marshall faculty or staff member and with to connect to your department’s shared network drive, you will need to complete steps 1-6 above and then use the “Advanced” button to specify the name of your department’s shared drive folder in the “Remote Start Folder” box. If you are not sure of the name of your group’s shared folder, see the appendix of this handout for instructions to determine the name.
1. Complete steps 1-6 above. Note that at step 2, you will want to invent another name such as “Marshall Shared Network Drive”.
2. Click the “Advanced” button. 3. Click “Directory/Folder”.
4. Click in the “Remote Start Folder” box. 5. Type:
/../groups/name of your department folder
For example, my department’s shared folder is “User_Support” so I would type:
/../groups/User_Support
6. Click “OK” to close the Advanced Site Settings window. 7. Click “Connect” to access your shared department drive/folder.
2. Site Name: Invent a name for the site you wish to connect to.
3. Host / IP / URL:
This is the host server address. For your personal Marshall network drive, the host is:
Faculty/Staff: msbfile.usc.edu Students: msbfile01.usc.edu
4. Username:
This is marshall.edu/ followed by your username. It is the same username (login name) you use to connect to MyMarshall, Outlook, or your USC office PC.
5. Password:
Type your Marshall password. This is the same password you use to connect to MyMarshall, Outlook, and your USC office PC.
6. Port: Set this to 21 7. Click “Connect”.
USC Network Drive Connection (almaak.usc.edu or aludra.usc.edu)
The main university also gives you storage space on there file servers. If you downloaded Core FTP from their site (http://software.usc.edu) then it has already been configured for connections to both almaak and aludra.
1. Start Core FTP.
2. Select you host from the list:
3. Type your username in the username box (do not precede it with marshall.edu/ as we did above) 4. Type your USC password (is the same password you would use to connect to Blackboard or wireless.) 5. Click “Connect”.
Students: Aludra.usc.edu Faculty & Staff: Almaak.usc.edu
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Transferring Files: Between a Local Computer and a Remote Server
The main Core FTP window is shown below. It is basically made up of two side-by-side panes. Typically, the left pane shows the files on the computer you are currently at and the right pane shows the files on the remote server you are accessing.
There are three basic steps to transferring files:
a. Specify where to copy the file to by double clicking a target folder in the left or right pane. b. Find the file you wish to transfer (copy).
c. Transfer the file using one of the methods listed below. The end result is the same regardless of the method chosen.
Methods of Transferring a File
Any of the methods below can be used to copy files. • Click and drag the file to the destination folder.
• Click the “Download/Upload” button to copy the selected file to the selected destination. • Use the “Copy” and “Paste” icons to transfer the file.
• Double click the file and select either “View”, “Edit”, or “Transfer”.
• Drag files to be copied to the “queue” area at the bottom of the screen then click “Process Queue”:
Local Computer
Typically, this side lists files on your local computer.
Remote Server
Typically, this side lists the files on the network drives you are connecting to.
Change Directories
• Double click a folder to view its contents.
• Double click the “Back” button to back out of a folder.
Queue Window
This window lists the status of the current transfer. You can also drag files here to queue them up for later transfer by clicking the “Process Queue” button.
Transferring Files: Between Two Remote Servers
Typically, Core FTP displays the files from the local computer (your home PC) in the window on the left and the files on the remote server (your network drive) on the right. To transfer files between two remote servers, simply use the left window’s “Site Manager” button to connect that window to another remote server and then transfer the files as usual. 1. Launch Core FTP and connect to the first remote server.
2. In the local window (left side), click the “Site Manager” button.
3. In the Site Manager window, select the second remote server site and then press “Connect”.
Both windows now display the contents of remote servers. In this example, one is to a Marshall personal network drive and the other is to a Marshall group network drive.
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Main Toolbar
Current Drive Window Commands
Each of the two drive windows has its own set of duplicate buttons that controls just that window.
Site Manager Opens the Site Manager window. Quick Connect On the fly connection to a server. Reconnect Reconnects you if you were disconnected. Cut Moves the selected file to the clipboard. Copy Copies the selected file to the clipboard. Paste Empties the contents of the clipboard into the current folder.
Transfer Mode Buttons
Generally, Binary Mode is for
transferring program files and ASCII if for transferring data files. Set to “Auto Mode” to let Core FTP decide the correct move. Change View Rearranges the windows. Sessions Opens the Sessions window. Templates
Allows you to save a list of files you regularly transfer. Mute Process Queue Transfers any queued files. About Displays current Core FTP Version Help Opens the Help window. Keep Alive Prevents you from being disconnected due to inactivity. Search
This allows you to search for files on the server or local PC. Make Directory Allows you to create a new folder. Delete Deletes the selected file or folder. Filter Filters based on the criteria in the filter box. Refresh Updates the windows with any content changes. Download / Upload
Transfers the selected file/folder to the selected target location.
Up Directory
Backs you out of the current folder.
Address
Displays your currently directory location. Site Opens the Site Manager. Quick Connect On the fly connection to a server. Reconnect Reconnects you if you were disconnected. Disconnect Terminates the current connection. Stop Terminates the current transfer. Directory Tree Displays the folder structure.
The “Search” window is useful for searching the current directory for a file. You can use wildcards to search by extension. For example, to display just Excel files, type: *.xls Click “Recursive” to search more than just the current folder. Once you locate a file, right click it and select Download, Upload, or Queue to place it in the queue to be transferred.
APPENDIX
Determining the Name of Your Department’s Shared Folder
If you are unsure of the name of your department’s shared folder, follow the steps below to determine it.
Determining Your Department’s Shared Folder From Your Marshall Office PC
If you are in your office at Marshall, you can determine the name of your department’s shared folder as follows: a. Double click “My Computer” located on your desktop. (The drives your office PC maps to are listed.) b. Locate the drive letter of your shared drive. (For most users this is “O:”)
c. Locate the name at the beginning of the mapping. For example, on my computer, the
name of my shared drive folder is “User_Support” as shown. Note that unless you also work for
User_Support, yours will be a different name.
Determining Your Department’s Shared Folder From Home or Another Remote Location
If you are not at your office, you will need to do the following to determine the name of your department’s shared drive folder:
a. Connect to your Marshall personal network drive as shown previously. b. Click on the address line
of the right window and delete any existing text. c. Type: /groups and press
Enter.
All Marshall group folders are listed. Note the name of your folder for configuration purposes or double click it to access it now.
