network handing in point

[ful56_uk]

Hello

 

can any help me with setting up a network handing in point for students. Basically i want students to be able to save docs on a network share but not able to edit or copy anyone else folders. I want students to be able to create there own root folder then save there work in there and not able to edit any other folders or access the contains.

 

thanks

 

mark

[CyberNerd]

Can't your VLE do this?

[gshaw]

Was going to say... sounds exactly like a Moodle assignment to me

[Hightower]

Suppose one way to do this on NTFS folders would be to create the folders with write permissions, but not read permissions. That way students can drag their work to the folder (after they've named it STUDENTNAME.doc or something similar), but can't open the folder up afterwards to edit/delete etc.

[GREED]

We did this ages ago but it required me to set the folders up first, and set the permissions. Simple once set up but a pain to set up.

[ful56_uk]

Cheers, I would use vle but no Internet access is allowed controlled assessments, I'll have a look at the ntfs side of things in more detail later

[MatthewL]

Create a false proxy but put an exception in for your VLE and then they could access it and upload that way.

[dhicks]

i want students to be able to save docs on a network share but not able to edit or copy anyone else folders

 

Set up a Samba server with a network Ghostscript Postscript / PDF document printer, using a Postscript printer available in Windows' default list so you don't have to distribute printer drivers around. Have that server place any incoming print jobs as PDF documents in a separate folder per user (give them incremental names of some kind, probably with the day's date on) and share those folders out to users so that each user only sees their own folder (the %u variable in smb.conf, I think). Make that share read-only for pupils.

 

If you can get class lists out of either your MIS or VLE then it should be a simple task to get a listing of all work handed in by a particular group of pupils between two dates and generate thubnails of each document, so a teacher could easily search for work handed in to them.

 

--

David Hicks

[3s-gtech]

Suppose one way to do this on NTFS folders would be to create the folders with write permissions, but not read permissions. That way students can drag their work to the folder (after they've named it STUDENTNAME.doc or something similar), but can't open the folder up afterwards to edit/delete etc.

 

That's how we have it - been successfully using a network folder with these permissions for several years now, no complaints other than from those who don't read the instructions - with these permissions, you cannot save to the drive, you must copy/paste the file from elsewhere (makes sense anyway; working copy is stored in home docs, final is put into network drive).

[CyberNerd]

Set up a Samba server ....

 

I was just thinking about your post.

If you set up a separate samba server, you could conceivably map it as it's own drive - we use samba as our main file server and as soon as students access the drive it creates their own homefolder, that only username (and staff) can get access. We use the root preexec command to do this with this script which is run at access time, thus no lists of users are needed because shares are automatically created.

Staff access the share at a different level.

 

#!/bin/bash
if [ "$2" = "08" -o "$2" = "07" -o "$2" = "06" -o "$2" = "05" -o "$2" = "04" -o "$2" = "03" -o "$2" = "02" -o "$2" = "adulted" -o "$2" = "exams"  -o "$2" = "gueststudents" ] ; then     
if [ ! -e /home/DOMAIN/$2/$1 ]; then
	mkdir -p  /home/DOMAIN/$2/$1
	chown $1:"domain admins" /home/DOMAIN/$2/$1
	chmod o-rwx /home/DOMAIN/$2/$1
	chmod g+rwxs /home/DOMAIN/$2/$1
	setfacl -m user:$1:rwx /home/DOMAIN/$2/$1
	setfacl -m group:teachers:r-x /home/DOMAIN/$2/$1 
	setfacl -m group:"domain admins":rwx /home/DOMAIN/$2/$1
	if [ "$2" = "03" -o "$2" = "02" ]; then
		setquota -u $1 1048576 1228800 0 0 /home/DOMAIN/
               elif [ "$2" = "08" ]; then
                       setquota -u $1 614400 716800 0 0 /home/DOMAIN/               
	elif [ "$2" = "07" ]; then
	        setquota -u $1 614400 716800 0 0 /home/DOMAIN/
               elif [ "$2" = "06" ]; then
                       setquota -u $1 614400 716800 0 0 /home/DOMAIN/
               elif [ "$2" = "05" ]; then
                       setquota -u $1 614400 716800 0 0 /home/DOMAIN/
               elif [ "$2" = "04" ]; then
                       setquota -u $1 614400 716800 0 0 /home/DOMAIN/
               elif [ "$2" = "adulted"  ]; then
                       setquota -u $1 614400 716800 0 0 /home/DOMAIN/                            		                                                
	else
	  	setquota -u $1 614400 716800 0 0 /home/DOMAIN/
	fi
fi
fi
exit 0

 

I can't see a reason why this couldn't be done as a non-home share, but effectively acting as a secondary home share.

 

I wrote a page on the edugeek wiki detailing a setup some time ago:

Samba Homedirectory - Wiki

 

I'd still go for moodle without internet access though....

Edited January 4, 2011 by CyberNerd

[dhicks]

I can't see a reason why this couldn't be done as a non-home share, but effectively acting as a secondary home share.

 

The two servers will assign different UIDs / GIDs to users - each server will assign UIDs in the order that users happen to access it. I seem to remember this causing issues, although I was probably trying to copy files directly from one Samba server to another (probably as a backup or something), I imagine there shouldn't be too much problem if both servers are used separatly. I had to make sure both the Samba servers I set up over the summer were domain members and had a consistent mapping from AD username to UID / GID.

 

Actually, there's probably no real need for a pupil-accesible share for the files anyway, and a web-based interface of some sort might do better for teacher access to allow for searching through by class group.

 

--

David Hicks

[CyberNerd]

T I seem to remember this causing issues, although I was probably trying to copy files directly from one Samba server to another (probably as a backup or something), I imagine there shouldn't be too much problem if both servers are used separatly.

 

yes, I've run into this as well with running through a simulated backup recovery. my solution was to have a script that runs through each OU in the domain and then resets the permissions given the directory name (as the directory name and username are identical). Like you say, doesn't matter if the servers are used independently. I digress.