• Dean
• News
• Events
• Academics
  • Architecture
  • Landscape Architecture
  • Urban Planning & Design
  • Advanced Studies Program

• Admissions
• Library
• Research & Publications
• Professional Development
  • Executive Education
  • Loeb Fellowship
  • Career Discovery

• People
• Gallery
• Alumni
• Inside the GSD
  • Dean's Office
  • Student Services
  • Registrar
  • Finance Office
  • Computer Resources
  • Fabrication Laboratory
  • Building Services
  • Human Resources
  • Internal Publications

Using SFTP/SCP at the GSD

FTP is no longer supported for connecting to terra. You must use SFTP/SCP.

SCP and SFTP are file transfer protocols that work similarly to FTP but run over an encrypted connection and are therefore much more secure. You can SCP/SFTP and connect to your terra account from anywhere in the world. For most purposes, SFTP and SCP can be thought of as being the same thing. The WinSCP site provides a detailed comparison.

Anyone with a GSD account transfer files using the these instructions. However, sometimes a person without a GSD account needs to transfer files here. In that case, contact helpdesk for access to a guest account. Never share your GSD account with others!

Connection Information

Host Name: terra.gsd.harvard.edu
port: 22
username: your gsd username
pass: your password

Software

There are many SFTP/SCP clients available, feel free to use any of them. We recommend several free and open source clients that provide drag and drop access to files. If you install software from terra, see our install instructions.

Windows

Filezilla - download the latest version at http://filezilla-project.org/download.php

Mac

Fugu - public/software/macapps in your home folder on terra or download the latest version at http://rsug.itd.umich.edu/software/fugu/

Cyberduck - http://cyberduck.ch/

Basic Instructions

1. Open the program.
2. It will ask you for connection information (see above).
3. Click login.
4. You should be in terra now.

Tips

• Depending on what is available in the SFTP software you use, choose SFTP with SCP fallback, SFTP, or SCP as connection type.
• The first time you go to a new location, the program may ask you if it should cache the server key -- click yes.
• A good way to share files with people is to stash the files in a web accessible part of your home directory (i.e. public_html or aux_nobackup) and then send them a URL so they can access the file in a web browser. This is simple and effective, provided that the files are not extremely large (multiple gigabytes) and do not need to be encrypted for privacy.

Help

• Filezilla Documentation
• How to use Fugu (pdf)
• Cyberduck Intro and Troubleshooting

If you have any questions, email the helpdesk.