Accessing your files in AFS over the web using WebAFS WebAFS provides a way for you to access your Physics Department AFS space from almost anywhere. All you need is a web browser with Javascript installed.
WebAFS allows you to: download files, upload to AFS, manage your files, change or grant permissions on folders, and perform a number of other actions while offsite. If you have any questions and/or problems with WebAFS that aren't covered by this document, please send your requests to
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Contents: Finding and logging in to WebAFS The URL for WebAFS is http://webafs.physics.unc.edu. Either click the provided link or type it into your browsers location bar. Click on the log in button and you should be presented with the prompt shown below in Figure 1 (appearance may vary in different browsers). Use your Physics username and password to login. ONYEN passwords do not work to log into WebAFS.
 Fig. 1 Navigation in WebAFS Opening folders You can access sub-folders of your current directory by opening them. In order to open a folder you can click on the folder icon or the name of the folder to the right of the icon, as shown in Figure 2 below.  Fig. 2 Using the location bar to change directories If you know the path for the folder you are looking for (e.g. /afs/physics.unc.edu/users) you can click "Change" to the right of the current patch name and type the new directory path. Then press enter or click on the "Go" button to switch to the directory.
 Fig. 3 Navigation links At the top of the page you should see four buttons, as shown in Figure 4. The "Home Directory" button will redirect you to your UNIX home directory (e.g. /afs/physics.unc.edu/users/j/johndoe).
The "Project" button will take you to the listing of project folders (/afs/physics.unc.edu/project) where you can quickly get to any project space you have access to.
The "Go Up" button will move you up in the directory heirarchy. If your current working directory was /afs/physics.unc.edu/users/j/johndoe, then your new location would be /afs/physics.unc.edu/users/j/.
If you have made changes to your files or folders via another method, but do not see them displayed in WebAFS, click the "Refresh" button to refresh WebAFS.
 Fig. 4 Viewing files WebAFS allows you to view a number of file types online while logged into the service. However if you wish to download the file immediately, click the "Download" link below the website header. It is located to the right of the rest of the navigation links, as shown below in Figure 5a.
Fig. 5a
The supported file types are as follows: - jpeg,gif, and png images
- mpeg, and QuickTime video
- mpeg,mp3, and aif audio
- Shockwave flash
- text files (e.g. txt,html,python)
For any of the files that you wish to view, simply click on their name or the icon to the left of that and it will display in your current window (Figures 5b & 6 below). 
Fig. 5b 
Fig. 6 WebAFS does not support the display of Microsoft Office, OpenOffice, or pdf files. You will be prompted to download them to your local machine to view them. The same applies to any file type not mentioned here. The default behavior for unknown / unsupported file types is to try and download the file. Downloading files from WebAFSYou can download any individual file by clicking the download button (shown in Figure 7).
Fig. 7
WebAFS does not support the ability to download folders or multiple files at once.
Uploading files via WebAFSTo upload files via WebAFS you click the "Upload File(s)" link and add each individual file. Note, this will upload all these files to the directory you're currently viewing. If you want to upload them to a different directory you must first change your location to the desired directory (see Navigation in WebAFS for ways to achieve that).
 Fig. 8 Setting directory permissionsTo change the permissions on one of your folders you must first click the check box to the left of the folder then click on the "Set Permissions for Folder" link. You should now see a window similar to the one below (Figure 9). From here you can modifiy any of the existing users permission settings. In addition, you can grant rights to new users or groups using this interface as well.
 Fig. 9
Permissions
- lookup: lookup rights allow a user to see and access the folder. Meaning they can open the folder and view the file names of its contents. However, lookup privledges do NOT allow you to read or open files. Lookup rights MUST be granted for any other permissions to work.
- read: read access allows a user to open any of the files in the folder. Read access does not allow users to make changes to any files.
- write: write access allows a user to make changes to files in the folder.
- insert: insert access allows users to create new files and folders in the directory.
- delete: allows users to delete files and folders from the directory.
- lock: lock access gives a user the ability to place limitations on read or write access. This permission allows you to prevent other users or applications on the same machine from modifiying a document as you are updating it (until the lock is released).
- admin: Admin grants the ability to change the permissions for the folder and its contents. You usually do not want to grant admin permissions to anyone other than yourself and the system:administrators group.
You can also remove rights from a particular or user or group who would otherwise have them by using the Negative Rights checkboxes. Any permissions you check for negative rights are denied to that user or group.
For more information on AFS permission see this document, Access Control Lists Adding a user To give a new user permissions to a directory type their username in the blank field under normal rights (shown in Figure 9). Then check the desired permissions you wish to grant them. Once you are done click the "Save Permissions" button.
If you wish to give the user access to any of the sub-directories be sure to check the "Makethe CHANGES above apply to all subdirectories" before saving changes. Adding a group Adding groups functions the same as adding users. If you wish to create a new group to control permissions see AFS Groups. The checkboxes located at the bottom of the Permissions Manager window do exactly what they say. - The "Make the CHANGES above apply to all subdirectories" makes any changes you've made affect not only the current displayed directory, but any subdirectories too (down as many levels as you have subdirectories). Note that it does not totally reset the permissions, but only propagates changes. Any existing permissions on the directory and subdirectories will be kept.
- The "Reset ACL on all subdirectories to exactly the one shown above" makes the permissions on the current displayed directory and all subdirectories EXACTLY the one you've configured. Use this option with caution as it will reset the ACL, which may result in the inability for you, other users, or processes to access your files in the future.
Managing files & foldersYou can perform a number of file management tasks in WebAFS. Start by clicking the check box to the left of any file or folder. Depending on what (and how many) items you select, different options will be available to you. Unavailable actions will be greyed out, while tasks you can perform will be displayed as blue hyperlinks. An example is shown in Figure 10 below.
Fig. 10
An unrelated feature listed under File and Folder Tasks is "Favorite Locations". This allows you to add your current working directory as a 'favorite', which will allow you to quickly return to it later. To add a new location click the "Favorite Locations" link, navigate to the "Add" tab, specify a name, and click add. Now, when you return to the menu again you should see the directory you added in the "View" tab with the name you specified.
Logging out of WebAFS To logout of WebAFS click the logout button at the top right of the page. To completely logout of WebAFS you must close your browser.
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