ARCHIE from PSUVM What is ARCHIE? ARCHIE is a program that serves as a database of information on the contents of Internet-based file servers accessible through anonymous FTP. Developed by the School of Computer Science at McGill University, ARCHIE can perform the following functions: (1) Locate files/programs in archives (2) Provide a short description or programs in archives (3) Send you a report (via electronic mail) of the results of your archive searches Why ARCHIE? One of the major problems with the use of anonymous FTP on the Internet is knowing where to find itens of interest. ARCHIE provides a single clearinghouse for this information. How to use ARCHIE. ARCHIE may be accessed by using TELNET to connect to any active ARCHIE server. The following PSUVM command will accomplish this: TELNET ARCHIE.RUTGERS.EDU You will get a login request from the ARCHIE server. To use ARCHIE you should login with the userid archie. You are now ready to issue ARCHIE commands. One of the most useful is the HELP command. This command provides you with information on all of the available ARCHIE commands and gives you some tips on their use. Following are some useful ARCHIE commands and examples of their use: (1) prog The prog command searches the ARCHIE database for files/directories meeting the criteria contained in . This criteria is a text string which is matched against the name of the file or directory in the anonymous FTP directory. For example, you can search the ARCHIE database for programs or directories with the string 'astronomy' in their names with the ARCHIE command: prog astronomy If you do this ARCHIE will show you its progress as it searches through its online database. When ARCHIE is finished it will display for you the results of its search. The results will consist of the name of the host computer, the name of the subdirectory comtaining the file or directory, and the name of the file or directory itself. ARCHIE will also display the 'date of last updat' for the host computer. This is the date when ARCHIE last updated its database from that particular host computer. (2) set The set command allows you to set the value of certain variables used by ARCHIE. For example, the SEARCH variable specifies how ARCHIE is to match the of the PROG command with file and directory names it finds. (3) mail The mail command is very useful for getting a computer file containing the results of your last ARCHIE search. It instructs ARCHIE to send you, via electronic mail, a file containing the results of the last prog command you issued in this session. For example, if your userid is ABC101, and you have just issued the command prog virus, you can have these results sent to you via electronic mail with the following command: mail ABC101@psuvm.bitnet (4) quit This is the command you issue when you want to exit from ARCHIE. It logs you out of ARCHIE and terminates your TELNET session. Getting assistance with ARCHIE The CAC Help Desk provides limited assistance to Penn State faculty/staff/students accessing ARCHIE from PSUVM or other CAC computers. CAC Help Desk 12 Willard Building (814) 863-1035 (9:00am - 4:30pm M-F) (7:00pm - 11:00pm Sun-Th) email: HELPDESK Assistance is limited to methods of accessing ARCHIE and the more basice ARCHIE commands. Help Desk staff will probably not be able to help with the more in-depth commands or with locating files through criteria that go beyond the ARCHIE search capability. Other Internet Info? An excellent document titled "Zen and the Art of the Internet" is available to serve as an introduction to anonymous FTP and pther aspects of the Internet. This document is available via two routes. (1) It may be purchased at Gnomon Copy, Kinkos, or the Penn State Bookstore in State College. (2) It is available in Postscript form from the PSUVM file server PCLIB. It may be downloaded from PCLIB and copied to any Postscript printer for printing. It is located in PCLIB under the 'PCINFO' library and the 'Hints and Miscellaneous Text' subdirectory. About this Handout... This handout is produced as part of the Office of Computer and Information Systems Internet training initiative. Questions and/or suggestions regarding this document should be directed to: Gerry Santoro (gmn@psuvm.psu.edu) (814) 863-7896