Connect to SciStor

How do I connect to SciStor?

Overview

To connect to SciStor you need EduVPN installed with institute access.

eduVPN

The easiest way is to install the app for eduVPN institute access. Once the VPN is active you can follow the “on-campus access” steps above. Note that performance over the internet is limited, you might run into problems when editing large files. If needed copy them to you local disk.

Instructions

MacOS

  1. Open the Finder application
  2. In the “Go” menu, pick “Connect to Server…” or press “⌘K”
  3. Fill in: smb://scistor.vu.nl/shares
  4. Click “Connect”
  5. Select “Registered User” if this is not yet selected
  6. Fill in your VUnetID and password
  7. Press “Connect”. Optionally, tick the “Remember this password in my keychain” checkbox. After doing this, macOS will no longer ask for credentials the next time this connection is used.

SciStor shares appear on the left after opening the SciStor location. You may open the desired SciStor share by double-clicking it.

Windows

  1. Open Windows File Explorer
  2. Right-click on This PC and choose “Map network drive…””
  3. Select a desired drive letter, for example S. In the Folder field you can enter the following: \\scistor.vu.nl\shares\<the name of the share folder>. Make sure the checkboxes are checked.
  4. Click “Finish”
  5. You will now be asked to log in. This is not possible with your PIN code. Choose the “More choices” option, and log in with your VU email address and password

‘Green’ Linux workspaces

Green Linux workplaces (supported by VU IT) have a connection to SciStor from home. All SciStor shares can be found under the path /research.

Other Linux workstations

Other self-managed Linux workstations can also connect to SciStor.

Via the SFTP protocol: SciStor with the SFTP protocol can be used via the server sftp.data.vu.nl. Find the shares under the path /research.

You can do as follows:

$ ssh <vunetID>@sftp.data.vu.nl # this will ask your vunet password
$ cd /research/<name-of-scitstor-share>

To to connect to SciStor using samba protocol, you can do as follows:

$ sudo apt install cifs-utils
$ sudo nano /etc/credentials/<vunetID>
    # nano
username=<vumail@vu.nl>
password=<your-vunet-password> # you can put you password for convinence, otherwise you have to type your password everytime.
$ sudo mkdir -p /data/VU/shares/<name-of-your-share>
$ sudo mount -t cifs //scistor.vu.nl/shares/<name-of-your-share> /data/VU/shares/<name-of-your-share> -o credentials=/etc/credentials/<vunetID>

The scistor share will be mounted at location: /data/VU/shares. To unmount it, simply do:

$ sudo umount /data/VU/shares/<name-of-your-share>
Note

the path /data/VU/shares is just a suggestion, you can choose any mount path that suits your setup.

Off-campus access

SFTP

On windows you can use a free tool like WinSCP or CyberDuck to access your data via the SFTP protocol. The server URL is sftp.data.vu.nl, find the shares under the path /research.

On a Mac you can connect via the IT supported 🔒 Expandrive (follow the SFTP instructions).

The configuration is as follows:

Item Value
Host ssh.data.vu.nl OR sftp.data.vu.nl
Protocol SFTP
Port 22
Username Your VUnetID
Password Your VUnet password

Linux users outside campus can follow the previous SFTP explanation.

Warning

Due to VU policy, this method will be deprecated in the near future.