You can connect to the server to run commands (like the "passwd" and "smbpasswd" commands for changing passwords) with a SSH program like PuTTY for Windows or by opening the Terminal in OS X and typing "ssh username@midnight.caltech.edu". You can also transfer files to and from the server with an SFTP program like WinSCP for Windows or Fugu for OSX.
Perhaps the easiest way to transfer files is to map your storage space as a network drive, and it'll then behave like any other hard drive on your computer. In Windows Explorer, go to Tools, Map Network Drive, or in OS X Finder, use the Go menu and then Connect to Server. For Windows, the server address is:
\\midnight.caltech.edu\username
And for OS X, use this:
smb://midnight.caltech.edu/username
Connecting via SSH or SFTP works regardless of whether you're on the Caltech network. Mapping your storage space as a network drive only works if your computer is connected to the Caltech network since Caltech blocks outside access to shared network drives. From off campus you'd need to use Caltech's VPN service.
Anything you put in the www directory inside your home directory will be available at this address:
http://midnight.caltech.edu/username/
So if you put a file named me.jpg in your www directory, it would be available at:
http://midnight.caltech.edu/username/me.jpg
If you go to that first address now, you'll just get an error message because directory listing is turned off by default and you don't have a homepage yet. If you want a homepage available at that address, name it index.html, and it'll show up by default.
Start an SSH session and then type the "passwd" and "smbpasswd" commands to change both your system login password and the password used to map your home directory as a network drive.
Every night the contents of the primary drive are mirrored to a secondary backup drive. This is to protect against hard drive failure and typically does not allow you to recover files you've accidentally deleted. If you delete a file, it will also be removed from the secondary drive sometime overnight. If the file you deleted today existed yesterday and was backed up last night, we can retrieve it before tonight's backups run, so let me know immediately! For reference, your home directory is located at "/home/username", and the backups are located at "/mnt/backup/home/username".
Disk quotas have been established to prevent large increases in disk usage from going unnoticed and so that additional storage capacity can be provisioned if necessary. Initial quotas for new accounts will be 20 GB, and existing accounts were given quotas 10 GB larger than their current usage or 20 GB, whichever was greater. If you exceed your quota, the system will send you a notification email, and you'll have a grace period of one week to either request a quota increase or reduce your usage before the system will stop letting you create new files. Requests for larger disk quotas will generally be granted immediately unless additional storage space needs to be purchased and installed.