About Student Webpages: A Note

List of students

How to get login_id and password?

Check whether your name appears in the list of students. Please note that we provide space only to the current students. If your name is absent from this list in spite of that you are a current student, contact me. We would delete your account any time after you pass out.

Once your account is set up in the server, you need a password for hosting your files using sftp. This can be collected from me, or Software Lab staff, or your Faculty Advisor. In order to change your initial password, use this web-based interface. Your new password must be between 8 and 20 characters long (both inclusive). All other file-management works need to be done via the sftp interface or its GUI.

In case you forget your password, please send an e-mail to me or Software Lab staff. We will later automate the process so that you can receive passwords at your personal e-mail address. Notice that we do not store passwords in plaintext. All we can do is to reset your password and e-mail the new password back to you.

Note: All student passwords have changed in January 2013. You need to collect your new password again.

How to view your web page?

Your webpage must reside in the public_html directory under your home. When a new student is added to our server, this directory will be created by us. Moreover, we also provide a sample index.html file in this directory. When you supply to a browser the following URL:

http://cse.iitkgp.ac.in/~login_id/

where login_id is the login id you get from us, your index.html file is displayed. You may modify this file, or replace this by other index files like index.shtml and index.php. If no index file is present in a directory, the content of the directory is displayed.

Please never delete the public_html directory from your account, for that amounts to a broken link (page not found). This situation is a rather harsh response to an innocent viewer of your webpage would like to get.

How to create your own web pages?

Using the account manager web interface /* The medieval way */

This service has been discontinued from January 2013.

Using sftp /* The assembly-language way */

You can also use sftp to upload your files (particularly, large ones). A sample session follows. 

   [localmc]/home/foobar> sftp foobar@cse.iitkgp.ac.in
   foobar@cse.iitkgp.ac.in's password: [Enter your password here, will not be echoed]
   Connected to cse.iitkgp.ac.in.
   sftp> pwd
   Remote working directory: /
   sftp> ls
   public_html     tmp          
   sftp> cd public_html
   sftp> ls
   img             index.html      studlist.html   
   sftp> mkdir doc
   sftp> ls
   doc             img             index.html      studlist.html   
   sftp> put myprog.c
   Uploading myprog.c to /public_html/myprog.c
   myprog.c                                     100%  766     0.8KB/s   00:00    
   sftp> ls
   doc             myprog.c        img             index.html      studlist.html   
   sftp> rm myprog.c
   Removing /public_html/myprog.c
   sftp> dir
   doc             img             index.html      studlist.html   
   sftp> bye
   [localmc]/home/foobar>

Please note that you are not allowed to move up from your home directory. However, you can do whatever you want under your home. Any remote shell access is denied. That is, telnet or ssh will not work. scp will also not work. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Using sshfs /* The high-level language way */

A neat and user-friendly interface to sftp is provided by sshfs or any graphic interface of this. Here is how you can use this feature from your local shell. 

   # Create a (blank) directory somewhere in your local file system
   [localmc]/home/foobar> mkdir -m 755 csemount
   [localmc]/home/foobar> ls -l csemount/
   total 0
   # Mount your public_html directory of cse.iitkgp.ac.in in your local file system.
   # The mount point is the directory csemount/.
   [localmc]/home/foobar> sshfs foobar@cse.iitkgp.ac.in:public_html/ csemount/
   foobar@cse.iitkgp.ac.in's password: [Enter your password, not to be echoed]
   [localmc]/home/foobar> ls csemount/
   doc/  img/  index.html  studlist.html
   [localmc]/home/foobar> cd csemount/
   # Copy a file from your local machine to under the mounted directory
   [localmc]/home/foobar/csemount> cp ../Foobar-paper-Dec11.pdf doc/
   [localmc]/home/foobar/csemount> ls doc/
   Foobar-paper-Dec11.pdf
   # Now unpack an archive in the mounted area
   [localmc]/home/foobar/csemount> tar xvzf ~/IITKGP/slide.tgz 
   slide/
   slide/sample.ps
   slide/.xvpics/
   slide/.xvpics/iitkgplogo.ps
   slide/colordef.sty
   slide/sample.aux
   slide/sample.tex
   slide/sample.dvi
   slide/sample.log
   slide/iitkgplogo.ps
   slide/iitkgplogo.jpg
   slide/iitkgpslide.sty
   slide/sample
   slide/sample.pdf
   [localmc]/home/foobar/csemount> ls 
   doc/  img/  index.html  slide/  studlist.html
   [localmc]/home/foobar/csemount> cd slide/
   [localmc]/home/abhij/csemount/slide> ls
   colordef.sty    iitkgplogo.ps    sample      sample.dvi  sample.pdf  sample.tex
   iitkgplogo.jpg  iitkgpslide.sty  sample.aux  sample.log  sample.ps
   [localmc]/home/foobar/csemount/slide> cd ..
   [localmc]/home/foobar/csemount/> rm -rf slide/
   [localmc]/home/foobar/csemount> ls
   doc/  img/  index.html  studlist.html
   # You are done for the time being
   [localmc]/home/foobar/csemount> cd
   # Unmount the remote file system
   [localmc]/home/foobar> fusermount -u csemount/
   [localmc]/home/foobar> ls -l csemount/
   total 0
   [localmc]/home/foobar>

Using Gnome's "Connect to Server" /* The engineer's (read as "lazy" or "prudent") way */

You can run the utility nautilus-connect-server which supports drag-and-drop facilities. Here is a demonstration of how the GUI works.


The login window


The password window


The remote location window

The rest is obvious.

If the eject button does not appear in your utility, you are likely to find a new connection icon on your computer's desktop. Disconnect the session using that icon. What if you use a non-Linux OS? Search for sftp clients in the net, suitable for your desktop.

Using Other File Managers /* Another "lazy" or "prudent" way */

Many file managers (like dolphin) support sftp. Type sftp://loginid@cse.iitkgp.ac.in/ at the location to open. Hit return. The file manager will ask for your password. After you log in, you can use copy-paste and drag-and-drop facilities. A window dump for a sample session is given below.

How much space do you get?

Your account is under quota. You can use a maximum of 2 Gbyte of space in your home area. Moreover, you can have at most 100,000 files in your home area. These figures are perhaps not big enough for you. But we cannot help it, because of space limitations. We advise you to delete unwanted files and folders.

Legal notice

Neither the CSE Department nor IIT Kharagpur is responsible for the contents of your web pages. In no way whatsoever, your views reflected in your webpages may be considered supported or endorsed by the Department or the Institute. It is entirely your individual responsibility to keep your home clean.

It is important to highlight that the presence of inappropriate material in your account will lead to immediate closure of your account and subsequent discipinary actions. Here, "inappropriate" includes (but is not restricted to) the following items:

Please note that these web pages are meant for academic purposes only. If you are not certain whether something fits in your home as "appropriate", better do not upload that to your account.

Finally, doing any illegal activity with your account would also call for seizure of your account and disciplinary measures.