UB Information Technology

Frequently Asked Questions

Web Developers Guide F.A.Q.

 1. How do I login to the Central Campus Server / UBUnix?
 2. How do I check how much disk space I have on Wings / UBUnix?
 3. How do I get a website?
 4. How do I get more disk space for my web site?
 5. How do I relocate a site off of the Central Campus Server?
 6. What are Unix groups?

Answers:

 1. How do I login to Central Campus Server / UBUnix ?

To access your files on Wings you must login to ubnix.buffalo.edu. You should first have a SSH (secure shell) client. If you do not have a SSH client, both a windows and mac client are available from techtools. When logging in use the address ubunix.buffalo.edu and your own ubit name and password. If you are using Mac OSX or any Unix like operating system you should already have an ssh client installed, in that case open a terminal and type "ssh your_ubitname@ubunix.buffalo.edu" at the prompt. Once connected you will be prompted to enter your password.

To check how much disk space is available to you, first login to ubnix.buffalo.edu. Once logged in, enter the following command:   "/usr/ucb/quota -v".

below is a sample of the output produced by the quota command:

>/usr/ucb/quota -v
Disk quotas for testuser (uid 000000):
Filesystem     usage  quota  limit    timeleft  files  quota  limit    timeleft
/info         100320 700000 800000               229    2500   2600       

The definitions of these directives:

Filesystem -  the root directory this quota applies to.
Usage -  the amount of space in KBytes you are currently using.
Quota -  the amount of space in KBytes you are allowed.
Limit -  the actual amount of space in KBytes before you are no longer able to write to disk.
Timeleft -  if your account is temporary, the time untill it expires.
Files -  the total number of files you currently own.
Quota -  the total number of files you are allowed
Limit -  the actual number of files before your are no longer able to write to disk.

 3. How do I get a website?

 4. How do I get more space for my website?

You will be automatically granted a 10 percent quota increase by filling out the Disk Quota Increase Form. If you need additional space you may fill out a special request including the reason for the increased disk usage. Please note that a request for a quota increase of more than 10 percent requires approval and can take upto 4 weeks to complete.

 5. How do I relocate a site off of the Central Campus Server?

For sites that have moved, we do not put in an apache redirect and a log file. What we recommend to you is the following:

1. Make a backup of your site's files.
2. Remove all the files and subdirectories from the site.
3. Create a new index.html:

      -------cut here-------

This site has moved

In 10 seconds, your browser should take you to the new location at:
http://new-site.buffalo.edu/

      -------cut here-------

You can make this page as pretty as you like, but for search engines, stick to plain html and basic static images.
Note: the 'content="10"' in the 'meta' tag signifies 10 seconds delay until the refresh. You can set this to anything, even 0.
Google and other search engines are smart enough to see the meta tag and then only index the new site.


4. Create a custom error page so that any request for any page in the old site will display the page you created in step #3 and then get redirected to the new site. Create a file called ".htaccess". Note that there is a period (.) at the beginning of the filename, and not at the end. This file should contain one line:
   

   ErrorDocument 404 /net/wings/info/www/path-to-your-index.html

   Replace "path-to-your-index.html" with the path to your index.html that you created in step #3.

 6. What are Unix groups?