If the Office of Information Technology's Andrew File System catches on, students may find that floppy disks are a thing of the past.
AFS allows students to save files easily to the Duke network, as if they were saving the files to a hard drive or floppy disk, and then access them from any computer on campus or connected to the network remotely.
Before OIT launched the client software, which is available at www.oit.duke.edu/afs for Macintosh and Windows-based computers, users could only save files to the network through more awkward file transfer protocol interfaces, said Jen Vizas, OIT's customer support manager. "Basically, the difference is that [AFS] is much easier for people to upload or download their files--the files are just mapped as any other directory," she said.
Students can save up to 70 megabytes worth of secured files on the network.
"The other great thing about it is that it's backed up nightly so that you can recover lost data. The key is getting it set up," Vizas said.
AFS was first available in computer labs last fall, but OIT did not offer software versions for home or other office use or publicize the system until this semester, Vizas said.
She added that some students have, in fact, had trouble setting the client up on their computers. "It takes a bit more time and patience setting it up the first time. Just like any piece of software, you have to make sure it's configured properly initially," said Vizas, adding that OIT does not know how many students have actually begun using the software.
Sophomore Scott Hechinger said although he had not heard of the system, he would definitely be interested in using AFS. "The problem I always have is bringing the right floppy disks with me to the library," he said, explaining that he often uses his laptop computer in the library and is frustrated by trying to copy his files onto a disk to print on a computer lab printer. Hechinger added that he thought some students might be intimidated by the process of downloading the client software, but that he felt comfortable with it.
Robert Carter, OIT systems administration director, said that although the University first installed the actual file system back in the early 1990s, OIT only recently acquired and configured client software for platforms commonly used by students, such as Windows and Macintosh.
The client software for these platforms was previously owned by Transarc, but when IBM bought the company out in 2000, it made the source code public and therefore affordable. OIT plans to add software for the Linux platform in the near future.
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