Samba Access

Note

We can’t expose the ports Samba uses over the wider internet, so for now, access is only available if directly connecting to the cluster from the JHI network. We’re actively looking at options to improve this.

Samba provides an easy way to connect to Linux storage systems - such as our primary BeeGFS file system - and view, copy, edit, delete, etc any files that you have access to. Within Windows, the cluster can simply be mapped as a network drive and accessed via Windows Explorer.

Account details

Samba uses its own authentication system, so you must first set a password for your account by visiting the following link and signing in with your Crop Diversity HPC username and password:

Warning

This link will not work if using Microsoft Edge.

Connection details

The Samba server runs on narnia, and should always be specified using double backslash notation:

\\narnia.cropdiversity.ac.uk

You can either type this into Windows Search or Explorer’s navigation bar. Either way, you’ll then be asked for your username and the password you set above.

Note

You may need to supply your username preceded with dot backslash (eg .\username) to ensure no existing domain information from your Windows account is used.

The shares will appear in a new window that you can use to either browse or to right-click and map a network drive to.

Shared folders

Samba on narnia gives you access to (at least) the following shared folders:

  • your private home directory at /home/<username>

  • the main shared storage directory at /mnt/shared

Other folders may be visible as well, but note that some may have restricted access.

Access from macOS

To access the shares from macOS, use the Finder’s menu to select Go, Connect to Server and enter smb://narnia.cropdiversity.ac.uk (or cifs://narnia.cropdiversity.ac.uk) as the server address. You’ll also need to supply your credentials (as detailed above) and decide which share to connect to.