Accessing ISU on-campus Windows file shares from off-campus

This how-to is provided for the sake of having more documentation in the world. I don't take any responsibility for the things you might do with this guide. But everything is pretty straightforward anyway, and gives you another option for accessing Windows shares on the ISU campus whether you live off-campus, or you use a non-Windows computer on- or off-campus.

What you'll need:

Mac OS X
Windows
1. Web browser
Safari, Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer, Netscape
2. Telnet client
Terminal
Host Explorer, command line (Start -> Run)
3. FTP client
Fetch, Transmit
WS_FTP
4. On-campus computer account
Account on a Unix/Linux system with Samba installed (Project Vincent accounts work)
5. High-speed Internet connection
Cable modem, DSL, or possibly a wireless connection is your best bet

Some stuff I'm assuming you know how to do before reading this:

The general gist:

  1. Telnet to isua.iastate.edu (or some other server on campus that has Samba installed and is not behind a firewall). If you are concerned about the security of your username and password, you should seriously investigate using Kerberized login (if you're connecting to Project Vincent). How to do that is beyond the scope of this document. When you see the "vincent%" prompt, you are ready for step 2.

  2. Search for the file you want using a web browser. A couple well-known search engines are
    1. StrangeSearch - http://strangesearch.dhs.org
    2. Landex (my preference) - http://landex.gotdns.org
  3. If the file is found (or multiple files are found), you'll most likely see a filename, and then some directory information about where the file is located on the other person's computer. In the example below, notice a few key details about the first result.
    1. computer-name is rhettfar
    2. share-name is my music
    3. subdirectory-name is rem/r.e.m
    4. file-name is REM - The Lion Sleeps Tonight.mp3
  4. Within your telnet program, use smbclient to copy the file from the machine sharing it to isua. You'll need to substitute values into the commands I show below. Parts 3a - d from above should give you some help figuring out what to type in. I suggest using copy and paste to get these values from your browser, especially if you're like me and make lots of typos. In my example lines, you would type in everything after the colon and spaces. Quotation marks should actually be typed in.
    1. Add the bitbucket locker
      vincent% add bitbucket
    2. Connect to the Windows share
      vincent% smbclient "//computer-name/share-name"

      Example: smbclient "//rhettfar/my music"

      If you are prompted for a password, just hit Enter. Often, it will ask you for a password when one really isn't required. Or, if it requires a password to access the other computer, try "isu" or "ISU". If you see any sort of other error message, go back to the search results in your web browser and try connecting to another machine.

    3. Change to the proper directory
      smb: \> cd "directory-name/subdirectory-name"

      Example: cd "rem/r.e.m"
    4. Copy the file to isua
      smb: \current-directory\> get "file-name"

      Example: get "REM - The Lion Sleeps Tonight.mp3"
    5. Close the connection to the Windows share
      smb: \current-directory\> quit
  5. Repeat steps 2 and 4b - d for each file you want. Remember that you only have 50 MB of space on Project Vincent, so you're limited to about 10 - 15 typical MP3's.

  6. FTP to isua.iastate.edu to retrieve the file(s)
    1. Log in with your Project Vincent username and password
    2. Delete the file from isua after the copy finishes

  7. Close the FTP connection

  8. Close the telnet connection
    vincent% logout
  9. Scan the files you downloaded for viruses. You do have up-to-date virus scanning software installed, don't you?

  10. Enjoy whatever it is that you just found. Bear copyright laws in mind as you do your enjoying.