How to access the Research Data Storage Service using Fetch

The following step-by-step guide demonstrates accessing your Research Data Storage Service project space using the Fetch SSH client.

The guide has been generated using the following system configuration:

Fetch 5.7.3 - This is the latest version of Fetch at the time of writing this guide.
Mac OS X 10.9.2 - Fetch 5.7.3 is compatible with Intel Macs run 10.5 and later so these instructions should apply when using this client with other supported versions of OS X. This version is mostly compatible with OS X Mavericks (10.9) apart from a few bugs which have been reported on the Fetch Softworks website.

This guide is aimed at:

Staff
Researchers

Before you start...

Please make sure you have downloaded and installed Fetch from the UCL software database. If you have installed Fetch from the Fetch Softworks website you should still be able to use the UCL licenses, available from the above entry in the software database.

After installing Fetch you will need the following:

Your UCL user ID.
Your UCL password.
The path to your project space; you should already have this, if you don't then please first ask the member of your project who informed you about access before contacting us. For this example we are using "/mnt/gpfs/UCL/testproject".

Instructions

Accessing Your Storage

1. Start Fetch.

Fig 1. New connection log in box for Fetch

2. Click the Show or hide advanced options button on the New Connection dialog box.

Fig 2. Show or hide advanced options button on the he New Connection dialog box.

3. Enter your login details (including path to your storage):

Hostname: ssh.rd.ucl.ac.uk
Username: UCL user ID
Connect using: SFTP
Password: your UCL password
Initial folder: the path to your storage
Port: (leave blank)
Try to connect... times: (leave blank)

4. Click Connect.

Fig 3. Log in and storage path details in connection box

Trusting an "Unknown Host"

5. By default, Fetch will not show the can not verify the identity of the server dialog box (see Fetch Softworks website). If you have changed the settings so that it does, you can verify the host key presented with the one at SSH Key (UCL credentials required).

If the host key (the bit with the numbers and letters separated by colons) matches then you can click the Connect button. If the keys do not match then please click Cancel and contact us immediately.

Fig 4. Verify host key dialog box

Your project space

6. After successfully connecting to your project space, you'll be shown a list of your files and folders (just like "Finder" on OS X) and from the view you can Get (download) or Put (upload) files.

Fig 5. Project space view

Related guides and other info:

Fetch has extensive documentation, which can be accessed by clicking Help > Fetch Help on the menu bar. Further information may be found at the Fetch Softworks website.

Help and support

For further help and assistance you can contact research data support.

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