Publish a Web-Page on the PRISM server

You have probably heard of a type of computer called a server. For example, when you set up your email account, you have to fill in the boxes for your incoming mail server (this might also be referenced as a POP or IMAP server - these letters just specify the protocol, or way, that your computer should "talk" to the server) and outgoing mail server (this is usually SMTP). You can think of a server as one big computer that sits around waiting for information requests from other computers. When it receives a request (like your computer asking for new email messages), it sends back information (the new messages) to the requesting computer.

In addition to email servers, Georgia Tech also runs a group of World Wide Web servers, collectively called PRISM, for students to use. Instead of giving out information in the form of email, this server "serves" web-pages to requesting computers. You can upload, or copy, your web-page files to this server to make your web-page accessible to anyone around the world who has an Internet connection! All they have to do is type the following in the address field of their web-browser: http://www.prism.gatech.edu/~gtxxxxx (where gtxxxxx is the same username that you use for email).

Because the PRISM system has a user account for every student on campus, and Georgia Tech wants to keep everyone's account secure, you need to use a special tool called an SCP or Secure Copy client to copy your files from your personal computer to your account on the PRISM system. We'll walk you through the steps of downloading, installing, and using an SCP client below:
Windows Users
Downloading and Installing WinSCP
The Office of Information Technology (OIT) provides a tool called WinSCP that is available for free to all students:
  1. Go to this web-page: https://software.oit.gatech.edu/request.php?audience=students
  2. Select your operating system from the drop-down menu
  3. Scroll down until you see WinSCP, and click on Request Software
  4. Enter your user name and password that you use for email (your user name should be something along the lines of gtxxxxx where x is either a letter or number).
  5. On the next screen...
Using WinSCP to Copy Files
how to copy files
Giving People Access To Your Web-Page
Because there are multiple users on the PRISM system, an individual user's files must be protected from tampering by other users. PRISM provides this security by using file permissions. Every file on your PRISM account has certain permissions that control who has access to the files. There are three types of users:
  • The user who is the owner of the file. You should be the owner of all the files in your PRISM account.
  • The group who the owner of the file belongs to. This isn't really important for our purposes, a group is simply a set of people, and on the PRISM system you just belong to one group, probably "gtpsa" (who knows what that stands for), a group of students.
  • All other people. This is what's really important for making web-pages. Almost everyone who tries to view your web-page will be recognized by the server as being in the "other" category, so we'll be changing the permissions such that we enable access to your web-pages for this type of user
There are also three types of permissions:
  • The ability to read the file or list the contents of the directory
  • The ability to write to, or modify, the file or to create new files within the directory
  • The ability to execute the file or actually access the contents of the directory

Each type of user can have any combination of permissions for a given file.
You're done, here's how to view it!
Mac Users
Downloading and Installing Fugu
The SCP client we'll be using is called "fugu," and it was created by students at the University of Michigan. This is a really nice product (you can see on the website they won an Apple Design Award), and its free to use! Here's how to get started:
  1. Go to this web-page: http://rsug.itd.umic.edu/software/fugu/.
  2. In the box in the upper right hand corner, click on the link to download Fugu.
  3. This takes you to a page that has a list of different versions of Fugu. You want to pick the one at the very top of the list (this is the newest update to Fugu). Right now, as I'm writing this, the link reads: fugu-1.0.0.dmg.gz. There may be one above this by the time you get to this lab, if so, get this newer one. It will probably have useful improvements over version 1.0.0. You do not need to download all of these files, only the one at the top of the list.
  4. When you click on the link, you should see some sort of download window, as soon as Fugu completes downloading, your computer will probably try and mount the disk image. If the download completes and nothing happens, just locate the file on your computer and double-click it.
  5. Now, a license agreement will pop up on your screen. As you can see its very short, and simple. Assumming you don't have any problem with the license agreement, click Agree.
  6. Now, your computer has mounted the disk image, and you will see a modified Finder window. You can now drag the fish icon to any place on your computer and Fugu will be installed. The usual place for applications, as suggested in the window, is the Applications folder. However, you do not have to drag the Fugu icon to your Applications folder. You can put it anywhere on your computer that makes sense to you, and it will work exactly the same way. You may want to put it on the Desktop, or in your JES folder if that is easier for you to remember. If at any time you want to remove Fugu from your computer, all you need to do is find the Fugu icon, and drag it to the Trash.
Using Fugu to Copy Files
how to copy
Giving People Access To Your Web-Page
Because there are multiple users on the PRISM system, an individual user's files must be protected from tampering by other users. PRISM provides this security by using file permissions. Every file on your PRISM account has certain permissions that control who has access to the files. There are three types of users:
  • The user who is the owner of the file. You should be the owner of all the files in your PRISM account.
  • The group to which the owner of the file belongs. This isn't really important for our purposes, a group is simply a set of people, and on the PRISM system you just belong to one group, probably "gtpsa" (who knows what that stands for), a group of students.
  • All other people. This is what's really important for making web-pages. Everyone who tries to view your web-page will be recognized by the server as being in the "other" category, so we'll be changing the permissions such that we enable access to your web-pages for this type of user
There are also three types of permissions:
  • The ability to read the file or list the contents of the folder
  • The ability to write to, or modify, the file or to create new files within the folder
  • The ability to execute the file or actually access the contents of the folder

Each type of user can have any combination of permissions for a given file. Because we want web-pages to be viewable by lots of people, we have to change some of these permissions.
  1. Connect to the PRISM system using Fugu as discussed above.
  2. Once you are connected, you need to use the drop-down menu on the right hand side to select the folder in which your account is contained. This folder should have a name that is a number, mine, for example is 55. Select this folder from the drop down menu.
  3. Now, on the right hand side you should see a bunch of folders, one for each user stored in this folder. Locate your folder (it has the name gtxxxxx). Click on it once to select it.
  4. Now, click on the info button in the toolbar (this should look like a big blue circle with an i in the middle).
  5. Now, you see a window with information about your folder. Click on the tab at the bottom that says Permissions. You should see a grid of checkboxes. In order for people to view your web-pages, while still keeping your information secure, we want to set the following permissions:
    owner: read write execute
    group: execute
    others: execute
    Make sure that beside owner, all three boxes are checked. Beside group and others, only the last checkbox execute should be checked. Once you have done this, press Apply, and close the window.
  6. Now, we need to do the same thing for your folder public_html and any other folders you may have inside of public_html.
  7. Double click your gtxxxxx folder, and locate the public_html folder inside of it
  8. Select the public_html folder by clicking once, then push the info button, and set the permissions exactly as you did for your gtxxxxx folder.
  9. Repeat this for any folders you may have inside of your public_html folder
  10. Now, we will set permissions for your files.
You're done, here's how to view it!
View Your Web-Page!
Open up a web-browser (Safari, Internet Explorer, or the like), and in the address field type in: www.prism.gatech.edu/~gtxxxxx, replacing gtxxxxx with your user name. You should now see your web-page. In case you don't, here are some common problems:
  • 404:File not Found Error
    Did you put your web-page in the public_html folder on PRISM? Use the SCP client for Windows or Macintosh to check.
  • 403:Forbidden Access Error
    Did you set permissions correctly? Go back to the setting permissions section for Windows or Macintosh to check.