University of Michigan Information and Technology Services (ITS) began retiring Andrew File System (AFS) storage for Alumni and Retirees starting October 26, 2023. In early 2024, Alumni/Retiree AFS users will receive a downloadable link to their AFS information and AFS will be retired for Alumni/Retirees.
Background
The Andrew File System (AFS) is a central digital file storage, sharing, and retrieval system known by many names since its creation in 1992. It has been referred to as “IFS” or “AFS”. It was accessible via “mFile” or through mapped drives from Campus Computing Sites. You may have also used it in the past either to host a static personal webpage or to login to UNIX platforms.
In order to connect to the ITS Login and SFTP servers, you need AFS data. Without AFS data you will get an Access Denied error when trying to connect. If your AFS data was removed and you need Login or SFTP server access, you will need to be sponsored. If you have an ongoing relationship with the university that requires you to continue to have access, please reach out to your university department HR contact to arrange a sponsored account. You can then request that your service be restored after the sponsorship has been established.
In an effort to properly manage available university resources and better secure the university’s IT infrastructure, ITS is retiring AFS for Alumni and Retirees only in early 2024.
- Only Alumni and Retirees who have no other affiliation to the university are impacted by this retirement effort.
- Current faculty, staff, students, sponsored affiliates, and emeriti are NOT impacted by this retirement effort.
What Does This Mean For Me
- Only Alumni and Retirees without any other affiliation to the university are impacted by this change.
- If you are actively working with a university group and will need access to your AFS data, please contact your university group to get sponsored. After you are fully sponsored, contact the AFS service team to let the Project Team know that you are now sponsored. The Project Team will share your files with you after sponsorship has been granted.
Alumni and retirees who are already sponsored by a U-M unit will not be impacted at this time. If you get a sponsorship after the removal of your data in AFS, please contact the AFS service team to get your data restored.
Alumni and Retirees AFS data will be scheduled for deletion. This includes:
- Login service information
- Raw data
- Website content
No, your U-M Gmail account will not be impacted by this change.
If your AFS data is impacted, you will receive an email with a link to download your AFS data. Your AFS data will be scheduled for deletion 60 days after you receive the download notification email.
The personal U-M hosted pages at http://www.umich.edu/~<uniqname> were hosted from AFS. Your U-M hosted pages will cease to function after your AFS data is removed. The web page data will be in the zip file with the rest of your AFS data. You can use this data to host the web pages from a non-UM provider. You may also want to consider using Google Sites as a free alternative with built in tools for web creation.
General Download Information
On average your zip file will be half the size of your AFS data. For example, if you had 2 GB of data in AFS then you will need at least 1 GB of space for the zip and 2 GB more for the decompressed data: 1 + 2 = 3 GB total. After decompressing the zip you can delete the zip file to save space.
The time to download your file depends on the amount of data you have in AFS and the bandwidth of your internet connection. If you have several GB of data in AFS and a slow connection it may take hours for the download to complete. Please allow the download to complete. A partial download will not be usable.
It is possible to do this, but given the size of the files and the Zip format, we recommend using a computer (laptop/desktop) to download your AFS data.
Yes. Each time you click the download link, you will start a new download of the entire Zip file.
Your AFS data will be scheduled for deletion 60 days after you receive the download notification email.
No, you will receive a single Zip file containing all of your data and will have to download the entire Zip file.
Download How-Tos
Instructions on how to download your AFS data to a laptop or computer are on the AFS Retirement for Alumni/Retirees web page.
- Open the Files app, then find the Zip file or archive you want to uncompress.
- Tap the Zip file or archive.
- A folder is created containing the files. To change its name, touch and hold on the folder, then tap Rename.
- Tap to open the folder.
If You Have Problems
This message indicates that your Zip file was not found. Contact the AFS service team and let them know your uniqname and that this is in regards to the AFS messages so that ITS can investigate and make it available for download.
AFS supports special characters that may not be supported on your computer’s operating system. If you used special characters in your AFS filenames, try to open the zip file on the same sort of operating system that the files were created on. For example, if you saved data from Windows, try to download and open the zip file on Windows. If you saved data from Linux, try to download and open the zip file on Linux.
Search your email for a message with the subject line Action Needed: Download Your U-M AFS Data. This message may be in your email’s trash folder if it was accidentally deleted.