Making OS X Connections to E&PS Network

Connection Issues with OS 10.4 & Newer Systems

Connections to EPS Servers with Panther (10.3 or Older) or with FTP

Connecting to EPS2 with any Version of OS X

Connection issues with MacOS X 10.4 (and above)

Since the release of MacOS X 10.4 (Tiger) in 2005, the Macintosh Operating system no longer supports AppleTalk in its "native" (i.e., standalone network protocol) mode. This creates connection issues to our older Windows NT 4.0 servers such that users of OS 10.4 (and newer) systems cannot connect directly to our servers EPS1 ("Common" Drive host), EPS ("Incoming" and "Outgoing" host) and EPSWWW (Website host) by establishing a direct network connection. This is not an issue with EPS2 since it is Windows 2000 server and supports AppleTalk over TCP/IP and can be accessed by any OS X version.

For EPS, EPS1 and EPSWWW, Mac users are currently limited to using (non-SSL) FTP access to our NT servers (see below). This can cause the loss of Apple file forking information such that the receiving system forgets the application that made the file(s). This can make things difficult for Mac users who need to transfer data from one Macintosh to another (and work on it) across the network.

Upgrading to Windows 2000/2003 Active Directory on our servers will make this a non-issue, but we still have administrative issues to resolve before that can happen. Here are the current work-arounds for the access problem. They aren't perfect, but can be made to work.

  1. Users may connect to the older servers with a OS-X system that has not been upgraded (Panther -- 10.3 -- or older) and transfer the your data to another media (USB Memory key, Zip Drive or CD-RW) that can be read by the system you want to transfer the data to. The OS X 10.3 MacMini in the lab (Northrop 209) will allow you to do this, and for this reason we are not planning to upgrade it to a newer OS version.
  2. Use one of the New Mac systems located in Room 103. These systems have Parallels installed and can run Windows XP within Mac OS 10.5. This allows users to use the shared folder on the system to transfer files from the older NT 4.0 systems (EPS, EPS1, EPSWWW) to the user's accessible EPS2 "Users" folder. Files may also be transferred to a USB Memory stick, CD or DVD RW disk or other compatible media.
  3. Use a conversion tool (Stuffit is the most commonly available commercial tool for doing this) to create a Mac archive of the source files that can ve transferred to some other location (i.e., your CIRT "briefcase" or the M: or L: drive on our servers) for access. This allows the file to be sent through the network using protocols (like FTP) that do not support the Mac resource forks. On the other end you use Stuffit Expander on your Mac to restore the files with everything intact. All of this is fairly well discusssed online at http://accurapid.com/journal/mac_pc.htm.
  4. Use FTP to transfer the files and then manually reestablish the file association. This can be very time consuming if you have a lot of files or files of lots of different types.

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Connecting to Servers From Panther (OS X 10.3)

To EPS Servers from within Northrop Hall

1) From General Preferences, select the NETWORK icon

2) Select to Show: Built-in Ethernet

3) Select "AppleTalk"

4) If "Make AppleTalk Active is not checked, check-it as shown below. AppleTalk is required for direct-to-server ("afp") connections:

5) The EPS servers with AppleTalk connectivitiy are EPS (Incoming, Outgoing and PUB shares), EPS1 (Common share) and EPS2 (Users share). The format to connect is "aft:/at/servername". For example, to connect to EPS1, EPS1 enter "afp:/at/EPS1:*" into the server address line and select CONNECT.

6) You should receive a login dialog requesting your EPS username and password. If not, try rebooting your machine to ensure the AppleTalk selection took effect and try again.

7) Next you will see a list of the AppleTalk shared folders on that system. Select the one you want to connect to it.

Note #1: You will avoid many troubles if you use your EPS username and login password for your Mac login values.

Note #2: This method of connection will not work from outside of Northrop Hall because AppleTalk is not routed on UNM's network.

Making FTP Connections (from Anywhere)

1) AppleTalk is not required for FTP connections. There are FTP connections available on eps1.unm.edu (epsgroup = common), eps.unm.edu (incoming, outgoing, pub), epswww.unm.edu (see Jim Connolly if you have the need to update EPS web pages with FTP), and eps2.unm.edu (epsusers = users; special permission must be set up by Jim Connolly). Regular FTP connections are supported. Secure Shell (SSH) connections are not supported.

2) To Connect to an FTP site navigate to the GO menu in the FINDER and select "Connect to server"

3) Enter the FTP site address on the Server Address and select connect. Include "ftp://" before one of the server addresses listed above.

4) Enter the your EPS department username and password. If the login dialog does not appear, you may have a problem. See Jim Connolly who will attempt to troubleshoot why it isn't working.

Important Note: FTP does not successfully transfer Apple File Forking information. This means that the program association of your file may be lost if transfer is by FTP.

Connecting to EPS2 with any Version of OS X

The connection method described below should work with any version of Mac OS X. As your system learns what servers you connect to regularly, they should begin to appear in your servers "list" and you should be able connect to them using the "Network" tool directly.

1) From Finder, select "Go" from the Menu, then the "Connect to Server" choice near the bottom.

2) Enter "EPS2" as the server to connect to.

3) A window pops up with the Username of the currently logged in user pre-entered. Enter your E&PS Department User name in this box.

4) Enter your E&PS password in the password box.

5) Another window pops up with all the Mac-accessible shares on EPS2

6) Choose the share you want (usually USERS)

7) Find your folder (your Username) in the list that pops up. The folders should be in alphabetical order; it should be the only one that is not locked.

8) When done, be sure to log off if you are using a shared computer (so that the next user will not be able to access your files).

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