Connect To The IDEAL Lab NAS | IDEAL IT Passport

NAS means network-attached storage. It is the lab's durable shared project drive, reached through the ETH network rather than stored inside your laptop. Your supervisor assigns the project folder you may use.

Goal: mount your supervisor's project share and create an ETH-username folder for durable project data.

Prerequisites: supervisor first name, personal ETH credentials, and ETH VPN when off-campus.

New to text commands? Read how to open a terminal and run one command before using a command block. It explains the labels used below and what to copy.

Execution context: mount the share through the file manager on your own computer. Run verification commands in local PowerShell, zsh, or Bash from your authorized ETH-username folder.

The approved project root is the supervisor folder under:

\\d.ethz.ch\groups\mavt\ide\Projects\<SupervisorFirstName>

Inside it, create or use <eth-username>\. Do not store your ETH password in a script, issue, or agent chat.

Windows 10/11#

Execution context: Windows laptop - File Explorer.

Press Win + E.
Right-click This PC, then choose Map network drive.
Select an unused drive letter.
Enter \\d.ethz.ch\groups\mavt\ide\Projects\<SupervisorFirstName>.
Enable Reconnect at sign-in only on a trusted personal/assigned computer.
Select Use a different account if needed, then sign in as d\username with your ETH password.
Open the share and create <eth-username>\ if your supervisor has not already created it.

Expected result: the supervisor share appears under This PC, and you can create a harmless test file inside your own ETH-username folder.

macOS 13 Or Later#

Execution context: macOS laptop - Finder.

Open Finder and press Command + K.
Enter smb://d.ethz.ch/groups/mavt/ide/Projects/<SupervisorFirstName>.
Choose Connect.
Sign in as d\username with your ETH password.
Create <eth-username>/ if your supervisor has not already created it.

Expected result: the share appears under Finder Locations, and you can create a harmless test file inside your own ETH-username folder.

Linux#

Execution context: Linux laptop - file manager.

Connect to ETH VPN when off-campus.
Open the file manager's Connect to Server or Other Locations action.
Enter smb://d.ethz.ch/groups/mavt/ide/Projects/<SupervisorFirstName>.
Sign in as d\username with your ETH password.
Open or create only the approved <eth-username>/ folder.

Do not install a system-wide SMB service, edit /etc/fstab, or use sudo only to complete onboarding. Ask for the approved mount method if the desktop file manager cannot connect.

Verify Access Safely#

Use the IDEAL Lab NAS mission in your local Passport:

In File Explorer, Finder, or your Linux file manager, open the authorized folder whose name is exactly your short ETH username.
Open PowerShell on Windows or a terminal on macOS/Linux.
Type cd followed by one space. Drag the authorized username folder from the file manager into the terminal, then press Enter. If dragging does not insert the path, use the file manager's Copy path or address-bar action.
Print the path:

Windows PowerShell:
```
(Get-Location).Path
```
macOS zsh or Linux Bash:
```
pwd
```
Confirm that the printed path opens the same username folder and ends with your short ETH username.
In the Passport, enter your short ETH username and paste that printed local path. Do not paste the smb:// address or the supervisor-root path.
Press Check my work once.

The Passport check first confirms the username boundary, then creates a random non-sensitive file, reads it, and removes it. Only a calculated fingerprint and the pass/fail checks can enter the public submission; the mounted path stays on your computer.

Do not test write access in the supervisor root or another person's folder. Do not use chmod 777 or broaden share permissions to make the check pass.

Storage Rules#

Use the NAS for durable shared project data and deliverables.
Keep source code in GitHub; do not use the NAS as a shared Git working tree.
Do not commit NAS datasets, checkpoints, or generated results to Git.
For Euler processing, stage data to the approved Euler project/work/scratch location. ETH HPC advises against running high-I/O batch work directly from external storage mounts.
Confirm classification and approved access before placing confidential or personal data on the share.
Use short, descriptive filenames and avoid unnecessarily deep paths.

Suggested layout:

<SupervisorFirstName>/
  <eth-username>/
    projects/
    data/
    results/
    handover/

Common Failures And Safe Recovery#

Path not found: confirm VPN and supervisor first-name spelling.
Access denied: retry as d\username; do not use another person's saved credentials.
Read works but write fails: verify you are inside your assigned username folder and ask the supervisor/IT owner to check access.
Slow Euler processing: copy approved working data to Euler storage; do not create repeated ad hoc laptop copies.
Drive disappears after reboot: reconnect or remap; do not assume the data was deleted.

Verification#

The mounted path names the correct supervisor.
Your project lives inside your ETH-username folder.
Important data has an identified owner and recovery plan.
Euler jobs do not perform heavy I/O directly against an external NAS mount.

Ask For Help When#

The supervisor folder, information owner, classification, write permission, or authoritative project copy is unclear.

See Data and AI policy and the Data Steward Track.

The credential format follows the current ETH network-drive instructions. The IDEAL Lab project hierarchy above is lab policy.

Verified: 2026-09-04. Review by: 2027-03-04. Owner: IDEAL Lab IT.