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Decommissioning Notice
The People Server service is scheduled to be decommissioned August 30, 2021. There are a number of alternatives to replace this service, including paid Web Hosting for anonymous file sharing, OneDrive for storage and file sharing for non-student users with a CWL, and Canvas for teaching and learning and file sharing for students.
It is no longer possible to auto-create new People Server websites.
The information below will be displayed until the decommissioning is complete for your reference.
Overview
Faculty and Staff may utilize a number of solutions for digital information sharing at UBC.
Simple Web Hosting
For static content and anonymous file sharing, UBC IT offers paid web hosting that is highly available at minimal cost. You may also be able to acquire a “3rd level domain” (for example, domain.ubc.ca) for your site.
For more information, visit the Shared Web Hosting page here: https://it.ubc.ca/services/web-servers-storage/shared-web-hosting
Blogs Websites
As an additional option for static content, CTL offers a free WordPress-based website service called “UBC Blogs”. This service is available to all faculty, staff and students that have a CWL. For more information, visit the UBC Blogs website here: https://lthub.ubc.ca/guides/ubc-blogs-instructor-guide
Internal File Sharing
For internal file sharing, we recommend using the Departmental (“K”), Home (“H”) and Research drives (“P”) and other internal drives where able. For files that need to be shared with members of the faculty and staff that aren’t within your department, Microsoft OneDrive can be used to share files.
Teaching and Learning
For all teaching and learning processes, we recommend Canvas and the other T&L tools provided by CTL/CTLT. If you have questions or gaps in functionality that cannot be met by Canvas, please contact CTL directly: https://ctl.ok.ubc.ca/support
Disclaimer
The People Server is considered a non-critical service.
It does not run on the same redundant platforms as our other servers and it is not recommended to serve course material from this server. Generally, the server is very reliable but if difficulties arise, it does not carry the same high-priority status as our other servers on campus.
To make course material available online for students, please use the high-availability Canvas Learning Management System provided by UBC and not the People Server. For more information, please contact an E-Learning Instructional Support Specialist in the Centre for Teaching and Learning.
IT, Media and Classroom Services provides only the facilities to make your page available. We do not, unfortunately, have the staffing levels required to help you create your website or populate it with data.
As the people server does have limited storage space, please let us know in advance if you plan on uploading a large amount of data (greater than 250MB).
Accessing the People Server
To create your own people account all you need to do is login to the people server once via FTP using your Novell username and password. This is the same password you use when accessing standard UBC O computers.
Update (March 24th, 2014): IT, Media & Classroom Services has implemented a new security policy for our People Server requiring that off-campus FTP connections be secured using FTP transmission via TLS (explicit encryption).
Previously, the People Server supported traditional FTP (port 21) as well as secure FTP transmission via TLS (explicit encryption), but customers connecting via FTP from off-campus must now either establish a VPN connection to the campus or adjust their FTP client settings to utilize the FTP over TLS encryption.
FileZilla for Windows/Linux/OSX supports FTP over TLS. FileZilla is free and comes pre-installed on any new standard computer at UBC’s Okanagan campus.
SSH/Telnet access to the People Server is not available.
The address of your people site will be people.ok.ubc.ca/<username> where <username> is your Novell username (for example, jjsmith would be people.ok.ubc.ca/jjsmith).
If you encounter technical difficulties with the People Server, or if you have any questions, please submit a work request at helpdesk.ok.ubc.ca.
Configuration/Connectivity Details
- Click the File menu, select Site Manager
- Click the New Site button
- Type people.ok.ubc.ca as the name of the new site connection
Editing an existing entry? Select entry and adjust connection details details as required. - Fill the fields on the right hand side as follows:
Host: people.ok.ubc.ca
Port: 21443
Protocol: FTP – File Transfer Protocol
Encryption: Require explicit FTP over TLS
Logon Type: Normal
User: <your Novell username>
Password: <your Novell password> - Click Advanced…
Under Passive transfer mode settings click Use passive mode - Click OK
- Click Connect
You will be prompted with a certificate warning, click Always trust this certificate and then click Accept
If you are prompted with a Windows firewall warning, click Unblock - Once you’ve connected, you will see your people folder in the right-hand side.
- In the future, when you run FileZilla, you only need to click the Site Manager button (first one on the toolbar), choose people.ok.ubc.ca and then click Connect.
Alternatively, you can click the small down arrow next to the Site Manager button and select people.ok.ubc.ca
Further Information
To add a description to your listing on the Table of Contents page on the people server, create a text file called description.txt that contains a description of your site [up to 80 characters in length – descriptions longer than that will be truncated].
Once your description.txt file has been created, simply upload it to your people directory and it will automatically appear on the table of contents page next to your people account name.
If you would prefer that your people account not show up on the Table of Contents page, place a file called noindex into your people directory. The file can contain anything, it simply must be named noindex.
Please note that this does not provide any real security – think of it along the lines of getting an unlisted number. Even with a noindex file in your people directory, people can still access your site without difficulty if they know the name of your people account.
Student Access
Students with an RAA or UAA Novell account can utilize the People server. If a student does not have an RA account they should apply for one through their supervisor or contact Research IT Support directly for independent review.