Writing Server

How to Enable MacOS Monterey for Accessing Writing Server

Chris Martin Writing Server

Update: Following updates to our server, this process should no longer be necessary.

 

  1. Open Terminal
  2. Type the following and press enter: mkdir .ssh
  3. Type the following and press enter: pico .ssh/config
  4. Type (or copy and paste) the following code in the document:host *kexalgorithms +diffie-hellman-group1-sha1
  5. Press Control + O  — this will attempt to save the file. To confirm, press the Enter key
  6. Press Control + X to exit
  7. Now, try connecting to the Writing Server as expected, i.e. ssh yourpennkey@writing.upenn.edu
  8. If prompted about the authenticity of the host, simply type “yes” and press enter

 

How to SSH to the Writing Server on a Windows PC

Chris Martin Writing Server ,
  1. In order to connect to the Writing server via SSH on a Windows PC, use SecureCRT, which is available for free to University staff and faculty. If you don’t yet have it, click here for more information and to download the SecureCRT installer.
  2. Open SecureCRT. If the “Connect” box pops-up automatically, click the “Quick Connect” icon. Otherwise, click File->Quick Connect.
  3. In the Quick Connect pop-up box, enter the following information:
    1. Protocol: SSH2
    2. Hostname: writing.upenn.edu
    3. Port: 22
    4. Firewall: none
    5. Username: your pennkey
    6. Authentication: check “Password” only
    7. Click “Connect”
  4. If you see a prompt for “New Host Key”, click “Accept and Save”
  5. You will then be prompted for your writing server password. Enter it here and click OK. It is NOT recommended to “Save password”.
  6. You will now be connected!
  7. Next time you open SecureCRT, the Writing Server connection settings should be saved in the “Connect” pop-up box. If it doesn’t pop-up automatically when you open SecureCRT, you can find it by going to File->Connect.

How to Configure BBEdit (Mac) for Writing Website Editing

Chris Martin Website, Writing Server , ,

If you need to edit the Writing website, the instructions below will help you to configure BBEdit to connect to the server. Note that you need a Writing server account with proper permissions in order to connect to the server. Contact Chris Martin if you need an account. Further, if you do not have BBEdit on your computer, you can download it for free by visiting their website. Note that BBEdit is for Mac only.

 

1 . When you first open BBEdit, you should see a “FTP Browser” window. If you do not, click File->New->FTP/SFTP Browser window. Click the “Connect” button.

 

2. Enter the following for each field:

Server: writing.upenn.edu
CHECK the SFTP box
Port: 22
User: Enter your Pennkey username here
Password: Enter your writing server password here
Path: /www/data/writing

Click “Connect”

 

3. If you receive a pop-up about the authenticity of the host, click “Yes” or “Continue”

You will now be connected to the Writing Server!

 

4. [Optional but Recommended] To bookmark the server for quick access in the future, click the folder dropdown at the top center of the FTP Browser window and click “Add Bookmark”.

When prompted for a “Bookmark name”, enter “Writing Server.”

When you restart BBEdit, you can now quickly access the Writing Server bookmark in the FTP Browser window by clicking “Connect” and the Blue Flag icon.

How To Change Writing Server Password

Chris Martin accounts, Writing Server

Note: If you are setting up a new account, I will send you a temporary password separately via Penn’s Secure Share service.

To change your password:

On a Mac computer, open “Terminal” (in Applications->Utilities) and connect to the writing server by entering the following command:
ssh yourpennkeyhere@writing.upenn.edu

It will ask for your password. Enter your current password, if you know it — or — the temporary password I sent you.

Now that you are connected to the Writing server, enter the following command:
passwd

This will prompt you for your current password followed by a request for the new password you would like to use followed by the enter key. Note that your password cannot be based on a dictionary word, so you might have to be a bit creative. You will have to confirm your new password by entering it a second time.

Send from Penn Email Address in Gmail / Google@SAS

Chris Martin accounts, Email, O365, Writing Server

Deprecated: Unfortunately, using Penn email addresses in Gmail is no longer a supported option.

———-

Step 1: Add Your Penn Email Address to Gmail

Important Note: If using 2-factor authentication (as required by all SAS Google accounts), you will need to generate an “app password” to use for #7 below. Click here to generate one.

  1. On your computer, open Gmail.com and log in (if you aren’t already).
  2. In the top right, click the Gear icon and then “Settings.”
  3. Click the “Accounts and Import” tab.
  4. In the “Send mail as” section, click “Add another email address”.
  5. Enter your name and the Penn e-mail address (e.g. yourpennkey@sas.upenn.edu -or- yourpennkey@writing.upenn.edu) that you use.
  6. Click “Next Step”.
  7. For SMTP server, enter: smtp.gmail.com

    For username, enter the username you used to log in to Gmail e,g.: yourpennkey@sas.upenn.edu –or- yourusername@gmail.com

    For password, enter the password associated with the gmail account entered above –or– the “app password” mentioned at the start of this post.The connection should use TLS and the port should be 587.
  8. Click Add Account.

Step 2: Confirm the address

  1. In a few minutes, you’ll receive an email in your Gmail inbox.
  2. Open the confirmation message you received from Gmail.
  3. Click the link in the email that confirms the email address.

Step 3: Change the “From” address

  1. In the message, click the “From” line. (If you don’t see this, click the space next to the recipient’s email.)
  2. Select the address to send from.
  3. You can also set the default address you would prefer in the Accounts and Import settings area (In the top right, click Settings (the gear icon). Click the Accounts and Import or Accounts tab.)