Access an archive
An archive is accessible via FTP, FTPS, and SMB/CIFS as a shared drive in Windows, macOS, and Linux.
To access the archive, you first need to find its address. The address can be found in the archive overview. It is listed under the username you chose when creating the archive.
The way you access the archive varies depending on the protocol.
Once you have the address, log in to the archive using FTPS. It's best to avoid the standard FTP protocol as it is completely unencrypted. FTPS uses TLS, making it much more secure.
A simple and effective program for FTPS (and also FTP) is FileZilla. It is free and open source, available for Windows, Linux, and macOS.
In Linux, it's available in most package managers and can be installed with sudo apt install filezilla in Debian and Ubuntu, and with sudo dnf install filezilla in Fedora and AlmaLinux. For Microsoft Windows and macOS, you can download it directly from the FileZilla website.
To add the Glesys archive in FileZilla, click File and then Site Manager....
When the Site Manager dialog box opens, click New Site.
In the dialog box that opens, fill in all the required details to connect to the archive. Also, give this site a name. Here, we'll name it Glesys Archive. The details to fill in are:
Protocol: FTP - File Transfer Protocol
Host: Enter the address of the archive. You can find this under the username for the archive in the control panel.
Encryption: Use explicit FTP over TLS if available
Port: 21 (the default port for FTP)
Logon Type: Normal
User: Enter the full username we chose when creating the archive, in the format clXXXXX_name.
Password: The password you chose when creating the archive.
Once all the details are filled in, click Connect. The settings will be saved, and we will be connected to the archive.
The first time you connect, you will be prompted to save the password for future use. If that's what you want, leave Save passwords checked and click OK. Note that this applies to all passwords in FileZilla.
The first time you connect to the Glesys archive, you will receive a warning that the certificate is unknown. FileZilla does not verify certificates against a CA in the same way a web browser does. Here, tick the checkbox Always trust this certificate in future sessions and click OK. If there were any issues with the certificate, it would not be possible to check this box.
If you have entered the correct username and password, you are now connected to the archive and can transfer files. Files from the local computer are displayed on the left, and the archive is shown on the right.
Now, you can drag and drop files between the local computer and the archive.
You can also connect to the archive using standard FTP, for example, with the built-in FTP client available in most operating systems. However, this should be avoided since the standard FTP protocol is completely unencrypted.
To connect, specify the archive's address as an argument to the ftp command. The program will then prompt for a username and password. Here, enter the username and password you created when setting up the archive. In the example below, the dollar sign ($) denotes the shell prompt.
You are now connected to the FTP server and can list, delete, and transfer files. An example session is shown below, with ls, put, and get commands. The ftp> part indicates the prompt in the FTP client.
The archive can also be mounted as a Windows share over the SMB protocol. Although the SMB protocol is used, CIFS tools are utilized in Linux and other operating systems.
The archive is accessible via SMB/CIFS at the address shown in the archive overview, just below the username. The name of the share is the username.
In this example, the complete address—including the share—is \\archive0c.glesys.com\cl43212_glesys.
Mount the archive in Linux
Before using CIFS in Linux, you need to install the cifs-utils package. The package has the same name in Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, and AlmaLinux. In Debian and Ubuntu, you install the package with sudo apt install cifs-utils. In Fedora and AlmaLinux, you install it with sudo dnf install cifs-utils.
Once the package is installed, first try mounting the archive manually. Start by creating a directory to mount the archive in using:
Next, mount the archive using the following command: (replace the address and share name)
When you execute the command, it will prompt for the password. Here, enter the password set when creating the archive.
Once you have entered the password, the archive is mounted. A listing of the filesystems should now show the archive.
This will yield a result similar to the following:
You can now unmount the archive and instead set up automatic mounting. Unmount the archive with:
Automatic mounting of the archive in Linux
To avoid placing the username and password directly in the /etc/fstab file, create a separate file in the user's home directory. Name the file .archive-cred. The content of the file should be as follows (but replace with your own username and password):
Then, change the permissions of the file to only allow the user to read it:
Now, add the following line to /etc/fstab to automatically mount the archive. Replace the uid and gid numbers to match the user who should have write access to the archive. You can find the uid and gid using the id command.
Now, let's try to mount the archive:
If all users on the system should be able to read and write to the archive, you can replace uid=1000,gid=1000 in /etc/fstab with noperm. However, keep in mind that with noperm, all users will have the ability to write and delete files.
Mount the archive in Microsoft Windows
To mount the archive in Microsoft Windows, simply open File Explorer and enter the address and name of the archive in the format \\adress\archivename in the address bar.
You will now be prompted to enter a username and password. Here, provide the full username (the same as the share name) and the password set when creating the archive.
If you want the archive to mount automatically in the future, check the box to save the password.
Automatic mounting of the archive in Microsoft Windows
When inside the archive in File Explorer, click on the address in the address bar.
Now, right-click on the archive name and then on Map network drive....
In the next dialog box, make sure that Reconnect at sign-in is checked. Then, click on Finish.
Last updated
Was this helpful?