[solved]CIFS: how to gather information required for connection

cfr · 2022-12-14 20:37:32

I'm trying to access files on my university's servers. I used to do this with cadaver, but that's no longer possible. I now need to mount/access things using CIFS and I need to do it over a VPN when off-campus.

I think I got the VPN working in some sense - I get changes to ip r, at least - though I'm not certain as I still can't access resources only available on-campus/over VPN. However, I've only got 2 things to test with and the second is the files access.

According to the instructions for Windows and Macs, once the VPN is running, I should open

pathfinder.<uni>.ac.uk

in a web-browser. Entering my username and password should then give me the information I need to access CIFS.

However, all I get is a blank page in chromium - whether I'm on campus or at home. If I curl the file instead, I'm told the file has moved (but the exact wording varies) in a minimal html wrapper. There is nothing I could enter a username or password into even if the message displayed in the browser.

I'm not sure if this behaviour is because I'm on Linux or if I'm doing something wrong (other than using Linux, obviously).

Can anybody suggest anything I might do differently?

Or can anybody suggest a different way to gather the information I need to configure CIFS access? If it would be possible to gather the information from a Windows machine on campus, I could try that tomorrow. If that's the case, please note that I know how to do precisely four things on Windows: open a PDF (to show slides in class), switch the mouse primary button (so I don't keep making the slides go backwards), open Firefox and logout.

I am using netctl. For VPN access, I'm trying to use globalprotect-openconnect with Microsoft Authenticator for MFA. I'm also using iptables, so if there's a port I might need to open or something like that, it would be helpful to know.

Last edited by cfr (2022-12-15 23:45:55)

seth · 2022-12-14 22:33:58

If I curl the file instead, I'm told the file has moved (but the exact wording varies) in a minimal html wrapper.

"curl -L"

whether I'm on campus or at home

"on campus" implying "w/o VPN"?

other than using Linux, obviously

Maybe they're running an ActiveX applet (compatible w/ MS IE 6.0 and higher)

Entering my username and password should then give me the information I need to access CIFS.

So you access a domain and enter credentials to get a different domain and other credentials?
Please inform the IT that https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/security.png is always an option…

cfr · 2022-12-15 00:04:53

seth wrote:

whether I'm on campus or at home
"on campus" implying "w/o VPN"?

Yes. However, I only tried it once w/o the VPN on campus. Most of my attempts have been with the VPN at home and I'm not convinced I'm doing that correctly because I can't access stuff I can access on campus either. The VPN I do have Linux instructions for, but they are for Ubuntu and I'm not sure I've translated them correctly.

seth wrote:

other than using Linux, obviously
Maybe they're running an ActiveX applet (compatible w/ MS IE 6.0 and higher)

Well, it is supposed to work with Mac OS, too.

seth wrote:

Entering my username and password should then give me the information I need to access CIFS.
So you access a domain and enter credentials to get a different domain and other credentials?

I don't think you enter the credentials to get more credentials. I think you enter the credentials to find out where your files are. Here's what they say for Windows 10:

Press Win + E to open a File Explorer window
Choose This PC from the left side of the window
Click the Computer tab at the top of the window
Click the Map Network Drive button
Choose an unused drive letter
From the ‘pathfinder.<uni>.ac.uk’ window, copy and paste the relevant Windows workstation location details from either the user home directory, or the user shared directory, eg:
Location of home directory on Windows workstation: \\HCIFS04.<uni>.AC.UK\H04\username
Location of shared directory on University Imaged workstation: \\SDATA04.<uni>.AC.UK\S04\D03
When prompted to authenticate, please use your username and not your email address
Please note: the examples above will not work for you, you need to take the information from your own pathfinder page.

Honestly, they put all these security hurdles in place and then they knock a hole in our door on campus so we can't lock it and anybody can walk in and take the computers, which will inevitably have confidential stuff of some kind on the hard drives. And, of course, everyone works around stuff all the time, because that's what people do when you impose systems which don't work for them.

Edit: I know how to access my H drive on a Windows workstation. That's why I thought I might be able to find the CIFS details there, if I knew what to do.

Last edited by cfr (2022-12-15 00:14:19)

-thc · 2022-12-15 07:28:28

cfr wrote:

According to the instructions for Windows and Macs, once the VPN is running, I should open
pathfinder.<uni>.ac.uk
in a web-browser. Entering my username and password should then give me the information I need to access CIFS.

Since your VPN uses a lot of IP ranges reserved for internal/private use (10.x.x.x and 172.x.x.x) it may be a DNS resolve issue.

First - try pinging the pathfinder host

ping pathfinder.<uni>.ac.uk

on-campus to verify it's correct on-campus ip address.

Then repeat that at home with and without the active VPN.

cfr · 2022-12-15 11:44:56

OK. On-campus, at least, this is a chromium problem.

I found I could access both pathfinder and the other on-campus resource just fine on Fedora and on Android on campus. I was going to say the issue was Arch specific, but suddenly realised I'd used firefox for those, whereas I'd used chromium on Arch. Lo and behold, there's no problem on campus if I use firefox. Nothing works if I use chromium. I also established it isn't a firewall issue by taking iptables down temporarily (before I figured out the firefox thing).

So now I have the information and I just need to figure out the VPN and CIFS and whatever other things.

I am curious, though, why this should fail so blankly with chromium. If anything, I usually find sites work in chromium which firefox turns its nose up at. (Or, at least, which firefox + security/privacy extensions turn their collective noses up at.) So it didn't occur to me to try firefox rather than chromium ....

seth · 2022-12-15 15:08:35

I am curious, though, why this should fail so blankly with chromium

Some addon? Browser sniffing?
I'd start w/ the webinspector of either browser to see what's actually going on.

cfr · 2022-12-15 15:51:31

seth wrote:

Some addon?

Possible, but I've allowed very few extensions in chromium. If firefox were the problem, it would be different. (Though I used a near-vanilla profile, it still had NoScript, for example.) I'm apparently using three extensions in chromium, which is two more than I realised: browserpass, authenticator and startpage. Authenticator is for MFA, which the uni requires, so I'm assuming it shouldn't be a problem. Firefox also has browserpass installed. It seems unlike startpage is responsible?

seth wrote:

Browser sniffing?

What is this exactly? When a website tries to detect your browser and responds differentially depending on the result?

seth wrote:

I'd start w/ the webinspector of either browser to see what's actually going on.

I'll try this. I need to see if I can get the VPN working first as I'm off-campus now.

Trilby · 2022-12-15 15:56:37

Cant you just use some other computer once? Get on a windows machine, go to that website to get the path info you need, then use that to congigure your linux machine.

seth · 2022-12-15 16:08:12

When a website tries to detect your browser and responds differentially depending on the result.

Used to be very popular (because of IE6 )

cfr · 2022-12-15 16:11:58

Trilby wrote:

Cant you just use some other computer once? Get on a windows machine, go to that website to get the path info you need, then use that to congigure your linux machine.

I could have, but I'm not sure I was thinking about it clearly. I think I thought the pathfinder bit might not work on campus. As it turns out, the pathfinder bit works on Fedora (on campus) and, more generally, in firefox (on Arch, too), but it didn't occur to me chromium was the problem.

Arch Linux

#1 2022-12-14 20:37:32

[solved]CIFS: how to gather information required for connection

#2 2022-12-14 22:33:58

Re: [solved]CIFS: how to gather information required for connection

#3 2022-12-15 00:04:53

Re: [solved]CIFS: how to gather information required for connection

#4 2022-12-15 07:28:28

Re: [solved]CIFS: how to gather information required for connection

#5 2022-12-15 11:44:56

Re: [solved]CIFS: how to gather information required for connection

#6 2022-12-15 15:08:35

Re: [solved]CIFS: how to gather information required for connection

#7 2022-12-15 15:51:31

Re: [solved]CIFS: how to gather information required for connection

#8 2022-12-15 15:56:37

Re: [solved]CIFS: how to gather information required for connection

#9 2022-12-15 16:08:12

Re: [solved]CIFS: how to gather information required for connection

#10 2022-12-15 16:11:58

Re: [solved]CIFS: how to gather information required for connection

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