Research Toolkits: Mounting "Data Commons Scratch Space" on a RAPID VM
(Before beginning the steps below, you need to have both "Data Commons Scratch Space" and a "RAPID" VM setup within the https://rtoolkits.web.duke.edu interface.)
The following will make your "Data Commons Scratch Space" available for access directly on your RAPID VMWindows VM
- Login to your VM via RDP as you normally would
- Launch "File Explorer"
- On the left pane of the display, right-click on "Network" and select "Map network drive..."
- In the "Map network drive" dialog box, for "Folder:" enter the path listed for the Scratch Space in the Research Toolkits webUI, minus the "smb:" portion, and with all slashes reversed (see example below)
- Make sure the "reconnect at sign-in" checkbox is checked and then hit "Finish"
- When prompted for credentials, specify your username as "win\{your_netid_here}" (e.g., win\ai36) and your password as whatever your netID password is.
- You should be left at a "File Explorer" window that shows the contents of the share in the right pane and has the mapped drive highlighted in the left pane
EXAMPLE FOR WINDOWS STEP 4: \\oit-nas-fe13dcpub.oit.duke.edu\scratch\inghamtest_test-AWI-DC
NOTE: the 'rapiduser' account DOES have "write" rights on the above mapped drive
NOTE: the drive WILL remain mapped and accessible through disrupted RDP connections (and thus re-connections), but will NOT remain mounted across reboots of the VM (after reboots, repeat steps 4-6 above OR double-click on the previously mapped drive (that now has a red X through it) and you should be prompted to re-enter your credentials (step 6))
Linux VM (Ubuntu or RHEL)
- Login to your VM via SSH as you normally would and issue the following commands...
- [For Ubuntu ONLY] sudo apt-get -y install cifs-utils
- [For RHEL7 ONLY] sudo yum install -y cifs-utils
- sudo mkdir /mnt/test-scratch (or whatever path you wish it to be mounted at on the RAPID server (be sure to also change that path in the subsequent steps))
- sudo mount -t cifs {path listed for the Scratch Space in the Research Toolkits webUI, minus "smb:" portion} /mnt/test-scratch -o username={your_netid_here},noexec,domain=WIN (see example below)
- <Enter your netid pw when prompted at this point>
- ls -al /mnt/test-scratch/ (which should now display the contents of that share)
EXAMPLE FOR LINUX STEP 5: sudo mount -t cifs //oit-nas-fe13dcpub.oit.duke.edu/scratch/inghamtest_test-AWI-DC /mnt/test-scratch -o username=ai36,noexec,domain=WIN
NOTE: the 'rapiduser' account does NOT have "write" rights on the above SMB/CIFS mount. In order to have anything greater than read-only access you will need to either "su" to root or run commands (such as vi) via "sudo" (as the "root" user DOES have "write" rights on the share)
NOTE: the share WILL remain mounted through disrupted ssh sessions (and thus re-connections), but will NOT remain mounted across reboots of the VM (after reboots, repeat steps 5&6 above)
Article number: KB0026376
Valid to: May 22, 2025