The Basics for New Users
------------------------
1. What is this FAQ about and who should be reading it?
This FAQ was written to explain how the college web server works,
and how to best utilize the features that have been created to
assist the web designer in creating their web pages. This FAQ
should be mandatory reading for ALL web designers with an account
on the OLC web server.
2. I am a new employee at the college, how do I get a web account?
Hate to say it, but the fastest way is to send us an email. You
can send an email to webmaster@olc.edu or support@olc.edu and
most likely get a reply within an hour. If we don't know who you
are we will most likely ask Jonnie Clifford, she is our resident
expert on who the new people are so that we can get you an
account as soon as possible. You can also call the switchboard
at: (605) 455-6000 and ask for computer support, or call the tech
line directly at (605) 455-1713. That will likely get you routed
to someone that will get your account set up.
3. I am a new student at the college, how do I get a web account?
The short answer is YOU DON'T. There is a separate machine that
we can use to create an account for you, but it is actually quite
rare that this happens. Unless you are enrolled in an MIS or IT
course that requires you to create your own web pages, or you can
demonstrate that you really have the skills and the need for an
account to publish in, odds are that your request for an account
will not be made. Students DO however have many resources that
they can use to publish information on the web. Every OLC email
account (including students) is created with a personal blog.
The information on setting up a blog is described in an article
on the OLC Wiki. Anyone (including students) can create an
account on the OLC Wiki and publish information on the web.
4. I am an employee with a new web account, what is my password?
Faculty and staff accounts will usually have their password
passed to them by word of mouth from an associate, or by a
technician over the phone.
5. What is the Internet address of the Oglala Lakota College web
server and what protocols are supported?
This one is easy. From any web browser: http://www.olc.edu using
the hypertext protocol, or ftp://user@www.olc.edu using the file
transfer protocol.
6. I have logged into the college web server using ftp. Where
should I put my documents so they can be accessed from the web?
Once you are logged in, you will find your system account files,
as well as a public_html folder. The only system account files
you ever need to be concerned with, is a file named ".email", a
file named ".plan" and any number of ".project*" files. The
.email file (1 line only) should contain your OLC email address
as a hypertext mailto link. For security reasons, this
information should be hex encoded characters to prevent spam.
The .plan file (1 line only) should contain your job title. The
.project file (1 line only with no terminating line feed
charcter) should contain a hypertext anchor as to the department
page (project) that you are responsible for. Additional .project
files can be created if you are responsible for different
department pages (ex: .project2 .project3 etc.). The public_html
folder is where you put everything else that you want the world
to have access to.
7. I have updated my .plan and .project files with my job title and
department web page information. Where will this information be
displayed and how often can I update it?
Every night, the information from the .email and .plan files, as
well as the meta data information for "dc.title" to each
Webdesigners blog on the email server, is extracted and included
into the "Webdesigners" page. You can therefore update your
information one (1) time every day and see those changes
displayed on the Webdesigner page. You can see this updated
information here: http://www.olc.edu/webdesigners
The .email, .plan, and .project* files are also used in each
users webfolders which will show any changes you make
immediately.
8. I'm ready to put files into my public_html folder and I notice
the folder already contains other files. What are these files
and why are they in my folder?
The apache server has been setup to disallow folder browsing by
default. This is a change from the past implementation where the
server was setup to allow folder browsing so webcrawlers could
search the server for content. Some of our users have expressed
concern about the information they placed in their public_html
folders being categorized by various search engines. With this
in mind, folder browsing has been disabled, and the webdesigner
will have to create their own web pages that link to the
information they want to have available on the web. For users
who have yet to create their own web pages, a php webfolder has
been placed into each users public_html folder, in case they need
a place to store content for their students. An accompanying
.htaccess file that redirects to their webfolder has been
installed for use until the user can create an initial index
page. There is also a gallery page located inside each webfolder
for users to diplay photos.
9. Can I use my account to upload documents and photos utilizing
the webfolder/webgallery software (do I have to learn html)?
Many of our users are fearful of learning html but still need
some location to upload content for their students or
departments. The webfolder/webgallery software works very nicely
for this and most of our users will be quite content doing this
and never learn anything about html or have any desire to create
web pages. Please note however that the webfolder software
contains its own database for users which is completely
segregated from the server password database. Also note that the
webfolder software in your account is actually "owned" by a
system process which means that you have to use the webfolder
software to upload/download content to/from it.
10. I don't like my password, don't think the default password that
was given to me is safe enough, don't remember my password. Can
you tell me what my password is, change my password for me, help
me to change my password myself?
If you have never changed your password it is most likely the
same one that we originally gave you, or you gave us. Try that
first before you call to ask what your password is. We don't
know your password (it is encrypted) so if the original doesn't
work then it is lost. Yes, we can put a new password in for you,
or better yet you can change your password yourself at:
http://www.olc.edu/passwd.php
Please note (again) that EACH webfolder on the system contains
its own password database that is different than the server
password database. Changing your system password above is only
valid if you intend to create web pages in your workspace. Also
note that if you have a user account in multiple webfolders,
changing your password in one webfolder does not change it for
any other webfolder.
+--------------------------------------------------+
| Designing The OLC Internet (The OLC WebFaq) |
| Guide to Online Internet Access |
| Version 4 - December 20 2011 |
+--------------------------------------------------+
Copyright (c) 2005-2012, Brett Bump and James Dudek
bbump at olc.edu
jdudek at olc.edu
Revised 4 January 2012 by James Dudek
All rights reserved. Permission is granted to duplicate and
distribute copies of this document provided the copyright
notice and this permission notice are preserved on all copies.
FAQ Disclaimer
------------------------------------------------------------------------
We disclaim everything. The contents of this article might be totally
inaccurate, inappropriate, misguided, or otherwise perverse - except for
our names (you can probably trust me on that).
Copyright (c) 2005-2012, by Brett Bump, James Dudek, all rights reserved.
This FAQ may be posted to any USENET newsgroup, on-line service, web
site, or BBS as long as it is posted in its entirety and includes this
copyright statement.
This FAQ may be distributed as class material electronic disk or memory
device as long as there is no charge (except to cover materials).
This FAQ may not be distributed for financial gain.
This FAQ may not be included in commercial collections or compilations
without express permission from the author.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brett Bump - bbump at olc.edu
James Dudek - jdudek at olc.edu
© Copyright 2001-2013, all rights reserved.
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