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SURFdrive

Aim: Inform about the existence and use of SURFdrive

Target Audience: everyone who needs (extra) storage

Introduction

SURFdrive is a cloud storage service similar to Dropbox: the data are "in the cloud" and can be accessed from and synchronized between various devices. Important differences to Dropbox are the protection and ownership of the user data and the fact that the data are kept on a server at SURF which is not accessible to foreign government services. In particular for sensitive information or research data where potentially patents are involved, SURFdrive is preferred over Dropbox.

All Nikhef employees can use their SSO account to access SURFdrive and can store up to 1 TB of data. The storage is most suitable for document storage, but not suitable for large analysis data like ntuples or ROOT files. The data are automatically synchronized from your device (PC/laptop). Please take into account that synchronization is slower than storing data on a local hard disk.

SURFdrive is accessible as long as your SSO account remains valid. Make sure to migrate your data in time before your employment ends!

Nikhef has to pay a fee for the use of SURFdrive per user. Only start using this service if you seriously intend to do so for a longer period of time.

Installing and connecting the client

To get started with SURFdrive, download and install the latest version of the Nextcloud client here:

Instructions Images
After installing and launching the client, click on Log in.
Enter https://surfdrive.surf.nl as your Server address.
A browser window should open, click on Log in.
You should now see the SURFdrive login page, click on Log in.
You will be redirected to SURFconext, select Nikhef.
Click on Grant access.
You should get confirmation that your account has been connected. You can now close the browser tab or window.
Now return to the application, you should see the "Add Nextcloud account" window. Make sure that the local folder is set to your local drive (e.g. C:\Users\<username>\Nextcloud). Click on Connect.
The client should start syncing and should pop out of your system tray. This may take a while depending on the amount of data that needs to be synced.

Accessing SURFdrive through WebDAV

It's possible to connect to SURFdrive folders through WebDAV. To do, please follow the below instructions to first set up the right sharing permissions:

Instructions Images
Sign into the SURFdrive web client. Then navigate to the folder you want to make accessible through WebDAV. Right click the folder, and click on Details.
Next, click on the + symbol next to Create public link, and make sure to set a password. You will need this password in a later step. Note that the password in the screenshot is merely an example. Once set, click Create share.
By default, the share link will only have View only permissions. You can change this by clicking on View only and changing it to Can edit.
Once the permissions are set to your preferences, click on the copy symbol on the right of Share link to copy the share link to your clipboard.

Now you've succesfully set up the share link. The link should look similar to this: https://surfdrive.surf.nl/s/, ending with a random 15 character string.

In order to connect to WebDAV, you will need to extract this 15 character string. This will be your username to connect to your new share using WebDAV. The password you set earlier will be the password used to access the share.

Now install your preferred WebDAV client, and use the share link as your URL, the 15 character string as your username, and the password you've set as the password. For more information, see the SURFdrive documentation here.

Usage

You can report problems with the use of SURFdrive at the CT Helpdesk. Our Helpdesk can report problems to SURF, but has no access to the SURFdrive systems or the data of Nikhef users.

Tips:

  • Think carefully where to keep your local copy of the synchronization. Your SURFdrive storage area is much larger than your Nikhef home directory quota! Choose a local data disk (for example a D: drive of /localstore) to prevent quota problems.

  • Avoid synchronization of files that frequently change. For example, do not synchronize directories with source code that is frequently compiled, or apply a filter to prevent synchronization of temporary (object) files.