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Windows Network Drive / SMB

SMB (Server Message Block), also known as CIFS, is an easy to use file transfer protocol that is useful for transferring files between RCAC systems and a desktop or laptop. You may use SMB to connect to your home, scratch, and Fortress storage directories. The SMB protocol is available on Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X. It is primarily used as a graphical means of transfer but it can also be used over the command line.

Note: to access Bell through SMB file sharing, you must be on a Purdue campus network or connected through VPN.

Link to section 'Windows:' of 'Windows Network Drive / SMB' Windows:

  • Windows 7: Click Windows menu > Computer, then click Map Network Drive in the top bar
  • Windows 8 & 10: Tap the Windows key, type computer, select This PC, click Computer > Map Network Drive in the top bar
  • In the folder location enter the following information and click Finish:
    • To access your Bell home directory, enter \\home.bell.rcac.purdue.edu\bell-home.
    • To access your scratch space on Bell, enter \\scratch.bell.rcac.purdue.edu\bell-scratch. Once mapped, you will be able to navigate to your scratch directory.
    • Note: Use your career account login name and password when prompted. (You will not need to add ",push" nor use your Purdue Duo client.)
  • Your home or scratch directory should now be mounted as a drive in the Computer window.

Link to section 'Mac OS X:' of 'Windows Network Drive / SMB' Mac OS X:

  • In the Finder, click Go > Connect to Server
  • In the Server Address enter the following information and click Connect:
    • To access your Bell home directory, enter smb://home.bell.rcac.purdue.edu/bell-home.
    • To access your scratch space on Bell, enter smb://scratch.bell.rcac.purdue.edu/bell-scratch. Once mapped, you will be able to navigate to your scratch directory.
    • Note: Use your career account login name and password when prompted. (You will not need to add ",push" nor use your Purdue Duo client.)
  • Note: Use your career account login name and password when prompted. (You will not need to add ",push" nor use your Purdue Duo client.)

Link to section 'Linux:' of 'Windows Network Drive / SMB' Linux:

  • There are several graphical methods to connect in Linux depending on your desktop environment. Once you find out how to connect to a network server on your desktop environment, choose the Samba/SMB protocol and adapt the information from the Mac OS X section to connect.
  • If you would like access via samba on the command line you may install smbclient which will give you FTP-like access and can be used as shown below. For all the possible ways to connect look at the Mac OS X instructions.
    smbclient //home.bell.rcac.purdue.edu/bell-home -U myusername
    smbclient //scratch.bell.rcac.purdue.edu/bell-scratch -U myusername
  • Note: Use your career account login name and password when prompted. (You will not need to add ",push" nor use your Purdue Duo client.)
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