How to Use the VMS Server for Hosting Web
Pages
The instructions I have here are for uploading html files to the VMS system with Macs. It might be a little different for Windows computers, and it will also inevitably be different for other server options.
Step 1: Setting up you "www" directory with VMS
Here I want to refer to the web page "VMS Web Page Starter Tips." They explain it about as well as I could in the section called "Step 2: Set up a Directory on Your VMS Account." Just to repeat what they have here:
Logon to your VMS account (telnet is the most common way to do this) and type the following:
Create a subdirectory named www by doing this:
$ create/dir [.www]
This step will create the directory or folder (just like on your desktop computer) where you will put all of the stuff for your web pages-- html files and graphics.
Then you have to set up these directories so that others can see the files you put in here. To do that, type the following:
$set prot=w:re www.dir$set prot=w:e my_dir
Two things to think about with this first step:
- If you do everything right, nothing will happen-- you'll just get the "$" prompt. If you make a mistake, you will get some sort of response. This is part of what I mean by "user hostile," by the way.
- You can use this same process to set up other directories or folders within the "[.www]" that can be accessible on the web. This is something you might want to do if you end up developing a full-blown web site and want to keep better track of the files you make available.
Step 2: Uploading the files with Fetch
Fetch is the "file transfer protocol" software for the Macintosh computer. Their is a software for the PC called "FTP" that is quite similar to this, and there are some other FTP options with the newer versions of Windows.
Fetch is easy. After launching the program, you should get a window that looks like this:
You'll want to type "online.emich.edu" where I have here, on the line where it says "Host" (the default setting for Fetch is different than this). Where it says "User ID," type in what you use to log in to your VMS account. Where it says "Password," type in the password you use for your VMS account-- it won't show up when you type it. For "Directory," I recommend that you leave that window blank. Click ok when you're done, and if you do it right, you should get something like this:
All of the stuff below the arrow in the main window of this screen-- empty., ftp_sever.log, etc.-- are things you can and should ignore for our purposes here. Double-click on the folder or "directory" called [.www]. If you don't have anything in there yet, you should get a window that looks similar to this, though it will be blank.
Now, to "put" your web page files into the www directory, click on the button "Put File..." and navigate back to the spot on your computer or disk drive where you saved your HTML file and any web graphics. Select the file. Then you will get a window that looks like this:
What you see here is the name of the file that you are trying to save (in this case, a graphic, which you can tell because of the "gif" ending) and options for format. For all graphics, make sure the format is "raw data." For the HTML files that you create with word processors or HTML editing software, you can select either "raw data" or "text."
Once you select the right format, click "OK" and you should see a little doggie running by on your screen-- "fetching" your files. When it stops, you've succeeded in uploading your files!
Keep in mind two things:
- Your HTML text files must be able to find the graphics files that you want to include on them. The easiest way to make sure this won't be a problem is to save your graphics with your HTML files on your computer and then upload them together into the same directory. You can set up separate directories for graphics, but that's a step that's more advanced than we need to go into here.
- Double-check at this point that all of your files have the proper extension to them-- .html or .htm for the actual HTML document you created in an editor like FrontPage, and .gif or .jpeg for your graphics, depending on their format.
Step 3: Setting the permissions on the VMS system
Again, I refer back to the web page "VMS Web Page Starter Tips," step four on that page this time. This part is kind of confusing, so take it slowly.
- First, login to your VMS account with telnet, just like you were checking your email.
- Second, type at the "$" prompt "set def [.www] " and hit return.
- Third, type "dir" at the "$" prompt, just to make sure that you uploaded everything right. This should give you a list of what's inside the www directory.
- Fourth, type at the "$" prompt "set prot=w:re *.*" and hit return. Keep in mind that there's a space between the "w:re" part an the "*.*" part.
- Fifth, type at the $" prompt "set def sys$login" and return. This will reset the preferences of where you start out when you login to your VMS account.
Now, while setting up your VMS www directory is a one time only operation, you need to do this each and every time you upload a new file to your www directory. If you have been ambitious enough to set up subdirectories within your www directory, you need to do this step with each of those directories each time you upload new files as well.
Further, if you upload a new version of a previously uploaded file, you need to first delete the old files with the same name in your www directory. The "VMS Web Page Starter Tips" explains this as well; in the nutshell, you get to the www directory and at the "$" prompt type "del filename," where "filename" is exactly as the filename appears, including the semicolon and the number if there's one visible.
Step 4: Seeing if it worked
If all this worked, your web page address should be: