Web FAQ 2.11. What are Access Control Lists (ACLs)?

    ACLs define who can access a directory and its files. Your www directory should be world readable and therefore have read ACLs. This means that people can view your page but they cannot write to your www directory.

If you access your Web page via a Web browser and the browser returns a forbidden access message, then this means that the ACLs for your www directory are set for lookup rather than for read access. To change your ACLs, you need to do the following:

For departmental and course pages:

• Go to the ITS Secure Server at https://www.work.psu.edu/.

• Click on the ACL Explorer link.

• Enter your Penn State Access Account user ID and password (the same user ID and password that you use to check your Penn State e-mail) at the prompt.

• This takes you to the ACL Explorer page for your directory.

• On the line beginning "Specify a file or folder ," enter the path to your departmental or course directory in the text box and click on the "Control" button on that line.

  • The path for COLA Web space is:

    /:/services/www/courses/test_course/test_course101_xyz123/

    (where test_course/test_course101_xyz123/ represents your course and your Access Account userid)

  • The path for Departmental Web space is:
    /:/services/www/dept/your_dept/

    (where /your_dept/ represents your departmental folder)

• Make sure that the "r" and "x" boxes (for read and execute) are checked for all types of users.

• Click the Modify Access button.

For personal pages:

• Go to the ITS Secure Server at https://www.work.psu.edu/ .

• Click on the ACL Explorer.

• You will be prompted for your Penn State Access Account user ID and password (the same user ID and password that you use to check your Penn State e-mail).

• This takes you to the ACL Explorer page for your directory.

• Click the Control button beside /.../dce.psu.edu/fs/users/x/y/xyz123/www/. This will display a table of user permissions.

• Check the boxes under r for all groups.

• Click the Modify Access button.

• To change the permission of any other directory under your www directory, click on the Show Files arrow on the bottom.

• Choose the appropriate directory.