Step 7: Granting Access to Your Pages

There are several parts to this step, but you don't need to do any of them manually. Simply run the WW Setup Tool if you haven't already done so and then go to Step 8: Putting your pages online.

However, if you need more information about assigning access privileges for your Web pages manually, the remainder of this page provides the details. NC State Help Desk consultants can also answer your questions on this topic. Call 515-HELP (4357) or email help@ncsu.edu. Sections covered in this page are:

• Grant 'lookup' privileges for your home directory
• Create a new subdirectory named www
• Grant 'lookup' and 'read' privileges for www
• Listing access privileges
• Removing access privileges
• Directory inheritance

Grant 'lookup' privileges for your home directory

From your Unity prompt, type the bold text in the following two lines, pressing the "Enter" or "Return" key at the end of each line:

     unity% cd
     unity% fs sa . www:servers l

Explanation:
cd ensures that you're in your home directory.
fs stands for "file system."
sa stands for "set access."
period (.) indicates the directory you're currently in (home).
www:servers means any person can access your file space via the NCSU Web servers.
l (the letter "l") means that anyone can look at only the names of your files and directories but not their contents.

Create a new subdirectory named www

Now that you've granted the appropriate access privileges for your home directory, the next step is to create a subdirectory named www that will contain your Web pages. Its name will be a reminder that anyone can read its contents. At the Unity prompt, type the bold text in the following two lines:

     unity% cd
     unity% mkdir www

Explanation:
cd ensures that you're in your home directory.
mkdir creates the www subdirectory.

Grant 'lookup' and 'read' privileges for www

Now it's time to grant access privileges for your new subdirectory. First, move into www by typing the following bold text at the Unity prompt:

     unity% cd www

Then grant 'read' and 'lookup' privileges by using this command sequence:

     unity% fs sa . www:servers rl

Important: Never give www:servers any privileges except 'read' or 'lookup'.

Listing access privileges

To see who has which access privileges for one of your directories, change into that directory and type the fs la command at the Unity prompt, i.e., :

unity % fs la .

unity %[rmnixon]...>fs la .
Access list for . is
Normal rights:
system:administrators rlidwka
www:servers l
rmnixon rlidwka
jehrlich rl

Explanation:
fs stands for "file system"
la stands for "list access"
period (.) stands for the current directory
If you see something else, such as a user you don't know, you might consider contacting a Computing Services consultant at 515-HELP(4357).

Removing access privileges

To remove someone from the access list, simply set that person's access to "none." For example, to remove access privileges for user jehrlich, user rmnixon would type:

unity % fs sa . jehrlich none

Directory inheritance

Allowing www:servers to have 'lookup' access to your home directory creates a slight problem. Whenever you create a new subdirectory in your home directory, it will automatically inherit the home directory's access privileges. Since your home directory has 'lookup' privileges for www:servers, every new subdirectory you create will also have 'lookup' privileges for www:servers.

To avoid this problem, be sure to remove www:servers privileges on each subdirectory in the file and directory list that you don't want people to look at. Remember that with 'lookup' access, people will only be able to see the names of the files and subdirectories. They won't be able to open them or read or modify the file contents in any way.

Go on to Step 8: Putting your pages online

Go back to Step 6: Linking

Return to the Introduction

Last modified October 13, 2005 by cawalker