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File Transfer for Banner Job Submission Users

WinSCP is available to assist with file transfer to/from the Banner job submission servers.

  • WinSCP - this is a free, open-source secure file transfer program that is available only for Windows platforms.

WinSCP

This document explains how to use the free WinSCP software to securely connect to the Banner job submission servers for file transfer.

Step 1: Install WinSCP if not already available on your computer

Browse to http://winscp.net to download the latest version of WinSCP. Click on the Download link, select the Installation Package link to download the software, then run the downloaded file to install the software on your computer.

Step 2: Connect to the Banner Job Server

  • When starting WinSCP for the first time, enter the hostname of the server you wish to connect to, your NetID in the user name field, and your NetID password. Host names you may need to use are:
    • banjobs.sys.oakland.edu (Banner production job server)

    • bjobtest.sys.oakland.edu (Banner test job server)

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  • Banner users are advised to use SCP as the protocol. The SFTP protocol works; however, it has been found to perform poorly on directories that contain many files.

  • If you are connecting to a Banner server and are using the SCP protocol, you must also check the Advanced options box, and click on SCP/Shell under the Environment setting in the left-hand window. Then, in the dialog box on the right, select /bin/bash in the Shell text box. If you do not see /bin/bash in the Shell drop-down list, you may click in the text box and type it in.

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  • When done, you may save the environment by clicking the Save button. If you do, you will be asked to give a name to the session.

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  • Then, to connect, click the Login button.

  • If you saved the environment, you may login to that server next time by double-clicking its entry in your Stored Sessions list.

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Step 3: Setting preferences

You may wish to set some preferences to make upload and download easier and to avoid confusing error messages. To get to the file transfer preferences:

  • First, make sure that the advanced options checkbox is checked, as described above.

  • Next, click on Preferences in the left-hand window, and click the Preferences button in the right-hand window. A new Preferences window will open.

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  • A new window will open for managing preferences. Click on Transfer in the left-hand window to modify file transfer preferences.

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  • If you regularly transfer text files with a specific extension in the filename, you may ensure that these files are always transferred in text mode by adding the extension to the list of text file extensions.

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  • You may wish to clear the "Preserve Timestamp" checkbox. If you regularly upload files to replace files that other people created, and Preserve Timestamp is checked, you may receive an error message about not having permission to overwrite the timestamp when perform the file transfer, even though the file itself is successfully uploaded.

Step 4: Using and transferring files

  • Your first connection attempt may ask you to accept a host key. For your first connection only, if you are prompted, please choose Yes to continue connecting and add the host key to your cache. However, if you see this message later, and UTS has not warned you ahead of time that you will see this message, it may not be safe to proceed, and you should open a UTS ticket to verify whether you should continue.

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  • You will be prompted for your username and password. Use your NetID and NetID password.

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  • To navigate through the folders in the directory, either select the drop-down box at the top of the screen (defaults to your user name), or double-click the folders inside the file listing.

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  • If you double-clicked the folder above, you can make your future searching a little easier by creating a session bookmark to your folder. Type the destination of the folder you want to go to in the "Open directory" text box. If you wish to save it as a bookmark, click the "Add" button. The folder will then be stored in your bookmark list. You can then navigate to the directory by double-clicking the bookmark, or by clicking it once and clicking the "OK" button.

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  • To transfer files from your remote system directory to your local system, select and drag the appropriate files in the remote site list to the local site list. The remote site list is usually on the right hand side, and the local is on the left. The file(s) will be transferred and by default, placed in your "My Documents" or default documents folder. A dialog box confirming your copy or transfer should pop-up and you can review your action before choosing Copy. You may need to click the "Transfer settings" button to ensure that your file is transferred in the correct mode ("Text" for plain text files, or "Binary" for files with binary codes in them; "Default" transfers certain files with common extensions in their names denoting text files - e.g. ".txt", ".log", &c - in text mode, and transfers everything else in binary mode).

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  • To transfer files from your local machine onto to the remote system, select the files you want to transfer under the local system box located on the left side of the window, and drag the data to the directory you want to move the files to on the remote server. A Dialog box confirming your copy or transfer should pop-up and you can review your action before choosing Copy.

  • When finished transferring files, close the WinSCP program.

Step 5: Setting permissions

WinSCP supports modification and adjustment of file permissions. Sometimes you will need to set certain permissions for files. When uploading files that other people in your department may need to edit or replace, you should ensure that the group is set to the proper value (e.g. "finaid" for the Financial Aid Office, "pgmr" for UTS developers, &c), and grant write (W) access to your group. If the file is a shell script, you should grant execute (X) access to Owner, Group, and Others. If you create a directory, you should allow at least read (R) and execute (X) for Onwer and Group, and optionally the same access for Others. Set the permissions for the owner, group, and other fields according to your needs.

Please review the permissions of other files in your server directory, or refer to your Banner module's access request form, if you do not remember the name of your group(s).

To adjust the permissions, right-click on the file and select properties, then adjust the permissions appropriately. An example of setting the permissions for a file named test.html is shown.

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Need more help?

WinSCP has additional online support at http://winscp.sourceforge.net/forum.

Note regarding daylight savings time

Because Windows (Vista and earlier) and UNIX systems handle timestamps of files differently when accounting for daylight savings time, you may see that server file timestamps are one hour different from what you may have expected. This is not a fault in the WinSCP program. For more information, see http://winscp.net/eng/docs/timestamp.