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DNA master server down?

| posted 19 Feb, 2021 17:30
Is the DNA master server ftp://cobamide2.bio.pitt.edu/DNAMas/dna%20master.exe having trouble this week or is it us?

Shallee
| posted 19 Feb, 2021 18:12
The current versions of both chrome and firefox have stopped support for FTP. I started up an old version of the SEA-VM and used the really old version of firefox therein to confirm that the FTP server is up and running. So to access it directly you will need to use an FTP client to connect. In the past, on Windows machines, I have used Filezilla and cyberduck to access FTP sites.

If you have a mac, you can also just connect using the finder -> go menu -> connect to server -> enter address of ftp://cobamide2.bio.pitt.edu/ -> click connect -> select connect as guest => click connect. This will open a finder window which is connected to the ftp server. Be patient with file loading it can be slow; the file you want (dna master.exe) is in the DNAMas folder. You can use typical drag and drop to copy the file.
Final step, of course, is to transfer the file to your windows machine by whatever method you find most convenient.
| posted 19 Feb, 2021 19:12
Thanks, Chris. That was pretty peppy response for a Friday afternoon….@!
| posted 19 Feb, 2021 19:16
stpage
Thanks, Chris. That was pretty peppy response for a Friday afternoon….@!

FIrefox worked, thanks.
| posted 25 Feb, 2021 16:08
I was having trouble with installing DNA Master and then came across these posts! I will follow your lead to get it back up and running. I had uninstalled it as I was not able to get any BLAST results.
| posted 24 May, 2021 20:03
Greetings, all,
I have research students starting today. Because of cleaning protocols, they aren't able to move into the dorms until next week, so we are meeting for a week on Zoom. Fun! I thought we'd use our week of remote time to do some annotation work.

We are trying to download DNA master. They both have Mac computers. They were able to download the Virtual Box, and then Windows 10. Now they are in Windows 10 and trying to download DNA Master. When they click on the link, they are brought to an ftp site. I looked at Chris's post above, but I don't see any way they can connect. I've attached a screenshot if that is helpful. Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!

Kathleen
| posted 24 May, 2021 20:08
Kathleen,
I just tried. My mac asked me to choose an application to open the ftp link. I clicked the "always" box and it downloaded. (see message screen shot). I did not overtly select an application.
| posted 24 May, 2021 20:25
Could you please tell me how my students would choose an application? I've attached another screen shot from the second student. I don't see how to either connect as a guest, as Chris suggested, or choose an application, as Debbie suggested. Sorry, I'm not a Mac user!
| posted 25 May, 2021 16:54
Hi Kathleen,

Looks like that screenshot shows someone using a Windows VM within a Mac, so they can't use Chris or Debbie's procedures, which would be Mac-specific. Instead, they can follow the directions here to connect to an FTP site from Windows:
https://www.howtogeek.com/272176/how-to-connect-to-ftp-servers-in-windows-without-extra-software/

Basically:
1. In Windows, open up a File Explorer window either using the Start Menu or clicking the little folder icon at the bottom of the screen.
2. In that File Explorer window, click on "This PC" on the left.
3. Right-click in the blank area called "Drives and Devices", and select "Add a network location" from the dropdown menu.
4. Then click "Choose a custom network location".
5. When it asks for an internet address, put "ftp://cobamide2.bio.pitt.edu/", then on the next screen make sure "Log in anonymously" is checked.
6. Complete the wizard with the open now option selected.
7. You should now see a folder open with the contents of that FTP site. Open the "DNAMas" folder, find the file "dna master.exe", and drag it to your desktop.

Then you should be able to install! Much more complicated than it used to be, but hopefully this will work.

–Dan
| posted 03 Jun, 2021 17:27
I successfully used the steps from howtogeek above on my pc but I'm still getting a lot of error messages from DNA Master (see post under DNAMaster>>key violation). So … I reinstalled the virtual machine on my Mac and I've gotten as far as saving dnamaster.exe to the VM desktop but it won't install and states "an error occurred while loading the archive". See attached screenshot. Any thoughts about how I can get some error free version of DNA Master up and running?
Beckie Bortz
 
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