Transferring Files
A. Overview
- Introduction
C. Post-transfer Steps
- Macintosh with VersaTerm
- Testing
This chapter is needed even if you will be using the system editor to maintain your HTML files, since you will need to transfer any image or other binary files from your personal computer up to the server. If you create and revise HTML files on your own system, you could choose to copy the current file down from the server each time you start to modify a file, but we suggest that you maintain a master copy of every file on your own computer, for development work, and then transfer each of the revised and new files "up" to your server, OAK or CSCWWW. It will be easier to keep your files organized, and to do your local testing, if you place them in folders (or subdirectories) that match those you are using on OAK or CSCWWW.
The instructions given here are for CSCWWW, which uses regular FTP. The OAK system has been configured to use only the "Secure FTP" software for file uploading. The details are different, but you may find the following discussion useful anyway, because the basic approach is the same.
If you run out of disk space on your personal machine, you could delete the web files from your hard disk. You would then have to transfer any existing file back "down" from CSCWWW, to your computer before you could modify it. You would be unable to test from your hard disk unless you also transferred down to your computer all the linked files. This has the disadvantage that there is more work required each time you need to modify something. Another use for downloading is to obtain copies on your personal computer of the template files provided with new accounts.
One "gotcha" to keep in mind if you download files from CSCWWW (especially to a Macintosh or unix system) is that VMS file names include a semicolon and version number at the end, which may get added to the name on your own computer during the downloading process. Be sure to remove any semicolon and version number before you upload; we strongly suggest that you remove it immediately after downloading, when you are thinking of it.
WS_FTP on Windows can be configured to automatically strip the semicolon and version number while downloading. The instructions for doing that are included in the configuration information linked below.
As soon as you transfer each file up to CSCWWW, it will have created a new, higher
number version, and therefore effectively will have replaced immediately the existing file of the same name, even though the previous version is still on the server's disk drive. On most other servers, uploading a file destroys the previous file of the same name, replacing it immediately. After transferring the files, however, there are several more steps involved before you are all done: testing the new files with various web browsers and removing old and outdated files from the server. These steps are discussed in section G, following the step-by
step instructions for uploading from various environments.
The method for transferring the files depends on the type of computer system you are using, as shown in the table below:
Software Choices by Platform |
|
| Macintosh | Fetch |
| Windows PC | WS_FTP or FileZilla |
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If you fail to connect, your FTP software is likely to report that as a wrong password. Sometimes that will actually be the problem, but you should consider another possibility that can produce the same message: CSCWWW uses only regular FTP, and OAK uses only "Secure" FTP. Trying to use the wrong method usually results in a failure that looks like a wrong password.
There are several possible error messages that you may encounter when using FTP to upload files:
550-RMS WRITE failure
550 ACP file extend failed
This message will occur when you are using close to your entire authorized quota of disk space. The new version of the file is created and the first blocks are written, but you run out of authorized disk space before the whole file is written. The partial file is likely to be un-readable (attempts to display the page in a browser will often show nothing except a message from the browser such as "page contains no data." If so, just refresh your list of files and remove the one with the highest version number -- the partial one you just created.
You can contact the Academic Technololgy Manager for more disk space, or you can do your file housekeeping, as discussed in Chapter II.
550-Failed to create WEB_USERS:[ACATEC.TEST]WHATEVER.HTM; for output
550 disk quota exceeded
This message will occur when you are already using your entire authorized quota of disk space, so that it cannot even start to write the file.
You can contact the Academic Technololgy Manager for more disk space, or you can do your file housekeeping, as discussed in Chapter II.
550-RMS WRITE RTB record too large.
550 !UL byte record too large for user's buffer
This message will occur when you attempt to transfer a text file (such as an HTML file) that contains a paragraph (a length of text with no hard page breaks or hard line breaks) that exceeds 32,768 characters. The usual way to achieve such files is to transfer them down from the server in binary mode. The way to fix it is to add hard returns in places where it won't matter, and then re-upload the file. Any place where there is a space in the HTML is an acceptable place to insert a hard return.
Good places to insert hard returns include the following:
Any HTML file that has even one block of more than 32,768 characters between such tags is going to be very difficult to read, anyway!
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Standard FTP, which CSCWWW uses, is not passed through the Ohio University wireless network, only through the wired network on campus. Commercial provider's wireless network connections may or may not pass standard FTP.
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We document here only the uploading steps. If you have any difficulty reversing them for downloading, please consult the Reference Manual, Putting the Internet to Work. These instructions are specifically written for CSCWWW users, but should be of assistance to OAK users. OAK users should be aware that neither versions of "Fetch" prior to version 5, nor "WS_FTP," nor "FileZilla," can be used with OAK; instead, software that uses the "secure" version of FTP is required. The "secure FTP" software that works with OAK will not work with CSCWW (except that V5 of "Fetch" can be used in SFTP mode for OAK and in FTP mode for CSCWWW. The procedures are conceptually quite similar, but the details are different.
In general, HTML files are transferred as ASCII or text files, while images, whether in GIF, JPEG, or other formats, are transferred as binary files. HTML files prepared by "HTML export" from Macintosh WordPerfect V3.5 should be transferred as binary files ("Raw Data" in Fetch).
So that you can print them out and follow them without having to go back and forth between windows, we have placed the step-by-step instruction for using Fetch with the Macintosh in a separate file.
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So that you can print them out and follow them without having to go back and forth between windows, we have placed the step-by-step instruction for using WS_FTP with Windows in a separate file.
So that you can print them out and follow them without having to go back and forth between windows, we have placed the step-by-step instruction for using FileZilla with Windows in a separate file.
Once you have transferred your files to CSCWWW, you should immediately verify that they have arrived uncorrupted and with no obvious mistakes: open the appropriate URL in your favorite web browser and verify that the display is what you planned.
(If you have Netscape or some other caching browser, you may need to force it to reload the file. In Lynx you can force a re-load by typing the "<Control>-R" key combination.)
Follow all the critical, new, and modified links to verify that they function as intended. Examine all new or modified images to verify that they display as intended.
Run Lynx to verify that users of that browser will see reasonable things when they examine your new pages. (For detailed instructions on the use of Lynx, see the Manual Putting the Internet to Work, by the Reference Librarians and the Computer Services staff.) You can run Lynx from within OAK 's Menu Shell, or you can run Lynx from the VMS "$" prompt when you are logged in to CSCWWW by TELNET:
$ LYNX http://www.ohiou.edu/
Where the URL you specify can be any one of your HTML files, instead of the Front Door. Use the arrow keys to navigate. (Type the letter "Q" to quit when you are finished, and then type the letter "Y" to confirm that command.) Check additional links that you did not already check. Because there are students and faculty who access the web from OAK using Lynx, either as their only web access or when working from home, it is especially important to ensure that your pages are effective when viewed through that browser. Testing on Lynx is important also because Lynx provides one of the best browsers for use by visually impaired people, since it permits them to take advantage of hardware and software to vocalize the characters on their screen.
As soon as possible, make sure that the appearance of your pages is reasonable under both Netscape and Internet Explorer. The HTML "standards" are still evolving, and those two browsers are often not identical in their implementation of the newest aspects of HTML. It is good practice to test with as many other browsers as possible.
Once you are confident that there are no bugs in your files, you should clean up. The first step on CSCWWW is our favorite VMS command, "PURGE/KEEP=2 *.*". This command should be given from each subdirectory within which you modified files. If you are feeling cautious, you might choose to delay the purge overnight, (after daily backups have been made in the wee hours), or until the next Monday (after weekly backups have been made during the weekend).
You should also use the "DELETE" command to remove any relic files that have been made obsolete by the changes you have made, but see point 6 of part 1 of section D in Chapter I.
Dick Piccard revised this file (http://www.ohiou.edu/pagemasters/memo85/chap3.html) on October 20, 2006.
Please E-Mail comments or suggestions to "webteam@ohio.edu".