Physics Personal User Pages

Updating your content on users.physics.ox.ac.uk

If you want to edit your profile on the main physics website, please go to the newcomers guide to the web.

Additionally a personal web page hosting service is also provided to all University SSO account holders by IT Services, please visit the personal web pages service web page for more information.

In the event that the personal web space on the University IT services web server cannot be used, some flexible web-space on a Physics web server located at https://users.physics.ox.ac.uk/~<username may be requested for people to use, which supports editing in raw html. That is what the remainder of this article is about.

To request web-space please contact itsupport@physics.ox.ac.uk.

User directories will as standard be open for anybody to view. On request, we can configure authentication so that only people with Oxford University credentials can access your site. As default, the homepage (first page hit) should be called index.shtml or index.html.

You must not store any material or information that, if disclosed, may cause embarrassment to the Department of Physics or/and its staff, even in password- or access-restricted folders.

Base templates and instructions are provided so that a style similar to the main physics website can be used to keep the pages looking professional and consistent. Instructions to use these templates are provided here

Where is it on the web?

To see your web-content, access the URL https://users.physics.ox.ac.uk/~<username> replacing <username> with your username for the physics department.

Be default it contains only the default physics template and is readable to the world. The content is encrypted using TLS.

How do I edit it from Windows

Users with Centrally managed machines can access the folder via the Y:\ drive. The location should be:

On the departments Windows machines, navigate to:
Y:\\LinuxUsers\\web\\users\\<username>\\html

Users with their own Windows machines or those connecting from outside the department open the path:

https://winfe.physics.ox.ac.uk/LinuxUsers/web/users/<username>/html

You may like to load up 'Expression Web' on your windows machine so that the content can be edited graphically.

To do this, select "Open Site" from the "File" menu, then typing in the File system path from above. This File system path should then appear in the "Recent Webs" option (also in the "File" menu) when they reload. As default Expression Web should try and reopen the last web accessed.

To get started, edit the default index page when you navigate to your site. This is the 'index.shtml' page.

How do I edit it from Linux

You can mount your webspace on department linux machines using sshfs. For example to mount it in the directory ./testmount do the following:

sshfs username@cplxweb09.nat.physics.ox.ac.uk:public_html ./testmount/

To unmount do the following:

fusermount -u ./testmount

Please note that there is an issue with unmounting if you mount the directory in your network home directory and you would need to reboot the machine so it is better to mount in in a local directory eg /local/home/username

How do I edit it from outside physics or on OSX

You can use an sftp client such as cyberduck or winscp.

Connect to winssh.physics.ox.ac.uk using your sftp client. You will find that the web-space is in the directory /dfs/LinuxUsers/web/users/<username>/html. You will need to use your physics networking credentials to log in.

What is appropriate content

Illegal or confidential material is not allowed. Personal material is allowed so long as it is kept to a minimum (<100 MB). Note that file sharing, even for example mp3s for which you own the right to make copies, cannot be stored on the web-space as this will constitute setting up a file sharing website. Any inappropriate content will result in the site being taken down immediately and follow up measures.

In addition, any server-side dynamic content is not permitted. If dynamic content is required, use something client-side such as java-script.

More detail is given in the "Further technical details" section.

How do I turn off directory indexes?

Directory indexes allow people accessing your website to view a list of all files in each directory. To turn this off, simply create to a file called ".htaccess" in your html directory with the content:

Options -Indexes

How do I change access to a folder?

By default any document stored on the web server is accessible from Internet. Limit directives affects which hosts can, cannot access an area of the server e.g. to be accessible only from computers in Physics network. Create ".htaccess " file in the folder and add this content:

Order Deny,Allow Deny from all Allow from physics.ox.ac.uk

What happens when I leave

The website will be disabled shortly after you leave. The content will be archived for an absolute maximum of 1 year.

Can other people edit the website?

All content on your site is your responsibility. It is recommended that you discuss setting up a group website with itsupport if shared access is required. Reasons include :

  • The space will be removed when you leave.
  • Now or at any point in the future we reserve the right to alter the storage technology to one that only allows access from a single account if such a change is appropriate.
  • You are responsible for any inappropriate content on the site.
  • The URL will not reflect the research
  • Storage space is limited.

How much space do I get

The default is 200MB. We will extend this on request with the provision that this space is only to be used for web-content and not for other purposes, significantly, for file-sharing (roughly <200MB shared files).

Service provision

The service may be taken down for short periods (<10 minutes) for maintenance without notice. Notice will be given for longer shutdowns.

Further technical details

The following features are supported by default

  • Server Side includes (except script execution)
  • Symbolic links to anywhere else in your own web-space
  • Directory Indexes are turned on by default, but you can turn them off.
  • Multiviews
  • Change access to folders

Note that client-side dynamic content such as java-script or flash is made possible by this website.

No content that can cause the web-server to write to the underlying file-system is permitted.

Any server-side dynamic content and interfaces to any databases are explicitly turned off and moreover we reserve the right to alter the way the websites operates should we find that they are able to be used by some future loophole. Dynamic content includes, but is not limited to:

  1. php scripts
  2. CGI scripts
  3. Server-side execution environemnts
  4. Content management systems and wikis (they are built on the technologies above)

Categories: Web | html | javascript