Campus Computing

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Accessing the BC Network from Home

The Bethel College file server can be accessed from home via a connection to the public Internet. Access is provided through a protocol called WebDAV that is secure, easy to use, and supported by all major operating systems.

Several different file storage areas can be accessed this way. The URL for each is listed below, along with a brief explanation.

To use these URLs, follow the instructions below for the operating system of your computer.

Remote Access from Microsoft Windows

  1. Click on the "Start" menu and then click "My Network Places".
  2. Click on "Add a network place" as highlighted on the image below.
  3. On the first screen of the "Add Network Place Wizard", click "Next".
  4. Click on "Choose another network location". It should be highlighted as shown on the image below. Click "Next".
  5. Type the location of the WebDAV share in the "Internet or network address" text box as shown in the image. The address to access the file server is "https://remote.bethelks.edu:4040/facstaff". Click "Next".
  6. You will be prompted for a username and password. Enter your Bethel College username and password and click "OK". The next screen will ask you for a name for the network place. You can simply use the default suggestion and click "OK".
  7. On the last screen of the wizard, uncheck the box that says "Open this network place when I click Finish", as highlighted on the image below.
  8. You can now double click on the new connection in "My Network Places" to access the file server remotely just like any other disk on your computer.

Remote Access from Mac OS X

In OS X 10.4 (Tiger) and later, support for encrypted WebDAV connections is included in the operating system and can be accessed via the "Connect to Server..." command in the "Go" menu of Finder. For earlier versions of OS X, WebDAV client software will need to be installed. An open source program called Goliath can be downloaded for free and used to access the Bethel College file server. The instructions below explain how to access the file server using Goliath since this method will work for all versions of OS X.

  1. Download Goliath and install it on your computer.
  2. Run Goliath. The program will prompt you to enter a URL, user name, and password. Enter one of the URLs listed at the top of this document, such as "https://remote.bethelks.edu:4040/facstaff", as shown in the image below. Enter the user name and password that you use to log on to the Bethel network when on campus. Click "OK".
  3. The next screen will show you a security alert. Click "OK". This should establish the connection and show you the folders on Bethel's file server in the main Goliath window.
  4. To make accessing the file server even faster, select "Save Connection..." from the "File" menu. Choose a name for the connection, a location to save it in, and click "Save". In the image below, the connection file was saved with the name "facstaff at BC". Double clicking this file will automatically launch Goliath and connect to Bethel's file server.

Remote Access from GNU/Linux

There are numerous ways to access a WebDAV share from GNU/Linux, and the two most popular desktop systems, KDE and Gnome, both have built-in support for WebDAV connections. Using WebDAV from both Gnome and KDE will be covered in this document.

KDE

  1. In KDE, launch the Konquerer web browser. In the address bar, enter one of the URLs listed at the top of this document, but replace "https" with "webdavs". The image below shows the URL "webdavs://remote.bethelks.edu:4040/facstaff" entered in Konquerer. Press enter, and Konquerer will display a prompt indicating that the server certificate could not be verified, as shown below. Click "Continue".
  2. Konquerer will next display a prompt asking if you would like to accept this certificate forever without being prompted. Click "Forever".
  3. Finally, a box asking for your username and password will pop up. Enter your Bethel College username and password and click "OK".
  4. If your username and password were correct, you should now see the folders on the file server and can freely move files to and from the WebDAV share. To save the connection for future use, use the "Bookmarks" menu to add a bookmark to Konquerer for the WebDAV connection.

Gnome

  1. To access a WebDAV share from Gnome, begin by launching the Gnome file browser (Nautilus). From the "File" menu, select "Connect to Server...".
  2. In the dialog box, select "Secure WebDAV" as the service type, enter "remote.bethelks.edu" as the server, and "4040" as the port. For the folder name, select one of the options from the URLs listed at the top of this document, such as "factstaff", as shown in the image below. Finally, enter your Bethel College username and a name for the connection, which can be anything you choose. Click the "Connect" button.
  3. This will place an icon on your desktop that is a link to the WebDAV filesystem. Whatever you selected as the name for the connection in the previous step will be the label for the icon. In the image below, the WebDAV connection has been set up with the name "BC facstaff".
  4. Double-click on the WebDAV connection icon to connect to the Bethel College server. You will be prompted for your password. Enter your Bethel College network password and click "Connect". If your username and password were correct, you should now see the folders on the file server and can freely move files to and from the WebDAV share.