Creating a Default WWW Directory and Page

Your personal web space on SAS host computers needs to be in a special HTML directory. We call it a "default" directory because this directory is where the system looks "by default" to find your web materials. This page describes how to create this directory on several SAS hosts.

Directions on the CCAT Web

  1. Move to the Unix prompt.
  2. Use ls to list your files.
  3. If you do not already have a directory named "html", make one now. Type mkdir html and press Enter.
  4. Use cd html to change directories to html.
  5. Use pico index.html to create a file.
  6. Type something in the file.
  7. Press Control-X to exit the editor. Press Y to save. Press Enter to accept the name "index.html".
  8. Use permissions so that other users can see your page.
  9. You have created a home page. You can view it at the URL:
    http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~login
    where "login" is actually your account name (login name).

Directions on the Mail.SAS Web

On mail.sas, you must create a "shell account" before you can create your personal web space. You'll find instructions for creating the shell account here:

http://www.sas.upenn.edu/computing/help/Server/shell_acct.html

The system will take about 20 minutes to create your shell account.

After your shell account is created, you can create your home page automatically by using the following web page to manage your account.

https://www.sas.upenn.edu/accounts

  1. Login to the accounts page.
  2. Click on the navigation link labeled "Homepage".
  3. Click on the button labeled "Create homepage".
  4. When successful, the system will report the web address of your homepage.

Explanation (For Those Who Really Want to Know)

Every web server is configured so that if you have a directory in your account area with a default name, all of the files in it will be accessible from the World Wide Web. Unless you make special arrangements, no other part of your account will be visible from the Web. So, plan to put all of your web materials in your web directory.

Also if you have a file with a default name in that directory, the Web will display that file by default if the requested URL does not specify any other file in your directory.

Nearby machines use standard names for the default directory and file:

MACHINE DEFAULT DIRECTORY DEFAULT FILE
mail.sas.upenn.edu html index.html
facstaff.sas.upenn.edu html index.html
ccat.sas.upenn.edu html index.html
dolphin.upenn.edu html index.html

If you have a directory with the default name and a file in it with the default name, your WWW address will take the following form:

http://machine.name.upenn.edu/~login/

The tilde character before the account name is necessary. The forward slash at the very end of the address is optional.

For example, my account name (login name) on ccat.sas is:

jtreat
In my account I have a directory named:
html
and in that directory I have a file named:
index.html
As a result, anyone on the World Wide Web can see that home page by pointing their Web browser to the following address: http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~jtreat

Similarly, my web address on mail.sas is

http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~jtreat

Notice that there is no requirement that your home page have the default name. But if you give it some other name, you must include that name in its URL. For example, I named another of my home pages:

home.html

Therefore, the address of this home page takes the following (longer) form:

http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~jtreat/home.html

In addition, each machine has WWW directories used for official Penn programs. At Penn, we encourage everyone to use the default (private) directories for their own materials.

Accordingly, my real home page is at this address:

http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~jtreat/

Return to home page workshop

Last Modified: October 11, 2007

If you have suggestions for this web, please forward them to Jay C. Treat.