Usershares

A user share is a special kind of network share, accessible from within the university network on desktops, laptops, server systems and using various protocols. This is the default way to store large amounts of research data in the Uni Cloud Münster.

Creating Usershares

After an OpenStack project has been created, it can be administered by logging into the Web User Interface. Shares can be created under the navigation points “Project -> Share -> Shares” by clicking the button “Create Share”. The name chosen will later be part of the path, under which the share is available and as such should not contain special characters, spaces or other white space characters. The parameters when creating a usershare are normally as follows:

  • Share Protocol: CephFS
  • Type: usershare.erasurecoding.bronze
  • Availability Zone: AvailabilityZone1 (the only one available)

The share will usually be available under the paths described below within a few minutes.

Permissions

Shortly after a share has been created, the user who created the share will gain access permissions to the share. The permissions are based on POSIX ACLs; if this concept is new to you, you can find additional documentation here. As usual under Linux operating systems, Users and Groups are supported with the permissions read write and execute. In the case of directories, the execute permission controls who may list the directory’s contents. Permissions may also be changed via command line tools chmod, chgrp, setfacl and getfacl on Palma or Jupyterhub. Do note that we will not manually curate user permissions for your share. In the example linked above we explain why using individual users for contexts with frequently changing permissions is a bad idea, and will probably cause lots of work for you. We also explain how to easily manage your share with a group. If you run into problems with the individual user approach, we do offer to reset the permissions so you can grant a group the permissions.

Only users and groups in the WWU domain may be granted access due to security restrictions. Refer to the documentation of your operating system of choice on how to grant file permissions (Linux,Windows)

Warning: No users must be entered under “Manage Rules”! Granting of permissions is only possible through the methods described above.

Accessing Shares

You will be able to access the share under the methods listed below. If you have difficulties, accessing the shares, please contact the IVV or technical staff responsible for managing your computer.

Windows

Start Windows Explorer and click the empty, white space next to the path in your address bar. The display of the directory you are currently in should now change to the full path of the directory. Replace this path with the following (confirm with ENTER key):

\\wwu.de\ddfs\Cloud\wwu1\<ProjectName>\<ShareName>

Linux/MacOS

It is possible, that the share path listed above is not accessible on Linux / MacOS machines. In this case, the shares can be reached under the following path:

\\samba.public.os.wwu.de\usershare\projects\<ProjectName>\<ShareName>

On Linux systems, it is also possible to mount usershares via NFS, but this should only be done by an experienced administrator.

CIT Managed Systems

  • Palma HPC-Cluster: /cloud/wwu1/<ProjectName>/<ShareName>
  • JupyterHub: /cloud/wwu1/<ProjectName>/<ShareName>