EWS Labs, Remote access to your EWS Linux home directory

Overview

This page describes how to access files in your EWS Linux home directory remotely.

Remote access to Linux files is provided via the SCP (Secure CoPy) protocol or SFTP (Secure FTP) protocol. Please see the instructions below that are relevant to the operating system that you are using. 
Please note that EWS support for personal devices is best-effort, and that these instructions are provided for reference only. EWS cannot guarantee that remote access to our systems will be compatible with your personal device.

Windows

Windows does not have native support for secure copy or secure FTP; therefore, you will need to use a third party application to access it. One application that we recommend for this is WinSCP, which is available for free.
After launching WinSCP, you will get the following dialogue:
WinSCP login prompt
 
Ensure that the file protocol is set to "SFTP." The hostname will be "linux.ews.illinois.edu" and you will use your NetID and password. Once you have entered this, click login. 
WinSCP interface
 
The remote (EWS Linux) file system is on the right, and your local file system is on the left. The remote file system will default to your Linux home directory. Simply select which files/folders you need, right-click, and select "Download." Choose the local location to save, and the file transfer will begin. You can also drag files between the local and remote file systems. 

macOS

To connect to your Linux home directory from macOS, please use an SFTP application such as FileZilla, which is available for free. The configuration steps are similar to the Windows instructions above. 

Linux

Many Linux distributions include the "scp" command natively.
To copy a single file to your local system, use a command similar to the following:
scp NetID@linux.ews.illinois.edu:/home/NetID/example.txt /home/LocalUsername/ewsbackup/
To copy an entire directory, specify the "recursive" flag similar to the following:
scp -r NetID@linux.ews.illinois.edu:/home/NetID/thisdirectory /home/LocalUsername/ewsbackup/