File and Printer Sharing
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There are several ways to share files on the Waterloo Polaris Network because of the various types of file servers available.
The recommended method of file sharing depends on the nature of your work.
Built-in Windows95 sharing is ideally suited to administrative or faculty needs where users don't move around much between workstations, and are logged on to the network most of the day. (N.B. It is good policy for many reasons to log off your office workstation every evening when you finish work. This practice is necessary both for security and so that your workstation / account continues to function properly by being allowed to receive updates to the system.)
Built-in Windows sharing is also useful for students' needs, but is somewhat complicated by movement from workstation to workstation. See Accessing Shared Items below.
"Publishing" Shared Items
As long as you are logged on to your Waterloo Polaris account and are running Windows95, you can share folders, hard disks, and printers with others on the network. To activate sharing, open the My Computer icon on the desktop and right-click on the folder, disk drive or printer you wish to share. Select Sharing from the menu and enter passwords for read-only and / or read-write access. Only items which can be shared will have Sharing option available. If you find you can't share anything, then go to Start / Settings / Control Panel / Network and turn on File and Print Sharing. N.B. N drives housed on Network Appliance file servers cannot be shared via Windows sharing because they are not Windows file systems. You can get arount this by copying files or folders you want to share to the D drive and sharing from there. The D drive is deleted when you log off the workstation.
N.B. Waterloo Polaris network printers cannot be shared. Only local printers or printers attached to remote Unix or NT hosts can be shared.
Items shared over the network are accessed by opening the Network Neighborhood icon on the desktop and selecting the computer you want to share from. Note that you will probably only be able to share files with other stations in the lab you are currently using.
The name of your workstation is available in Configure Waterloo Polaris under the Station tab. If you don't know which station a user is on, you can ask them to look it up for you (or send them email).
N.B. Remember that access to shared items only works when the user is logged on.
Unix and WindowsNT computers provide multi-user environments. It is possible to set privileges in Unix and NT file systems so that multiple users can access the same directories and files. People who need to share files can use the Configure Waterloo Polaris tool to link in a shared directory on a Unix or NT host. If you can't map your Unix or NT account as a drive letter, please see the Waterloo Polaris Frequently Asked Questions list. This method of file sharing is convenient when the data to be shared must be continuously available, since most Unix and NT servers are kept running all the time. It is necessary to have this type of sharing set up by a system administrator, so contact a consultant. Users in administrative offices and students involved in collaborative projects might use this method of sharing.
Older accounts on the Waterloo Polaris network may be stored on Watstar file servers which have their own method of file sharing. The read-only and read / write passwords for Watstar file sharing are set using Configure Waterloo Polaris under the Password tab. These passwords allow access to your entire N drive, so they are less preferable to the above methods of file sharing.
The main use for this kind of sharing is for "course accounts" which only store shared course materials. The way to access files with Watstar file sharing is to open a DOS shell (Start / Programs / MS-DOS Prompt) and use the access command:
e.g. access m: gene121@helix secretpwd
accesses the General Engineering 121 course disk as drive M with password "secretpwd". Accounts on Watstar servers which you currently have accessed are listed under the Current tab of the Configure Waterloo Polaris application.
If there are some accounts on Watstar servers which you want to access every time you log in to your Waterloo Polaris account. You can create a file called privexec.bat in the root directory of your N drive and put the appropriate access commands in it.
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