Access Accounts Purpose An Access Account is an assigned user ID (hereafter referred to as a "userid") and password that enables Penn State faculty, staff, and students to use e-mail and to access information services. You need an Access Account if you want to: ¥ use e-mail (and do not have e-mail on another system); ¥ connect with a modem; ¥ post articles to Netnews from a news client on a public machine or a machine not specifically authorized for posting; ¥ access any private news group you may be authorized to use; ¥ change your PH directory entry; or ¥ look up your academic records on the OASIS system. If you simply want to use Gopher or read Netnews, and your computer already has a backbone connection, you do not need an Access Account. Note that an Access Account alone does not enable you to use systems such as PSUVM, PSUADMIN, or the Sun Workstation Cluster. You must apply for a separate account in order to use these systems. The CAC Computer Accounts office can provide more information about other computer accounts. Your department or college can also provide information about internal computer resources and accounts. Access Accounts for Students All students are automatically assigned Access Accounts upon registration, so they do not need to apply for one. However, students must request activation of their account. To obtain a userid and password, students must present their Penn State photo ID to CAC staff at any of the following locations: CAC labs, 12 Willard Building, 215 Computer Building, or 230 Computer Building. At locations other than University Park, inquire at your local computer lab. It may take up to 24 hours to activate your account after you request your userid and password. Access Accounts for Faculty and Staff Faculty and staff can apply for an Access Account by any of the following methods: (1) Complete and return an application form. Forms are available at CAC Help Desks in 12 Willard Building and 215 Computer Building. (2) Apply for an account in IBM computer labs at University Park (and some CES campuses) from the DOS menu system or from within Windows: --In the DOS menu system, select "Access Software" from the menu items. Then under the access software menu select "Request Access Userid." Enter the requested information in the next panel displayed. --From Windows, click on the "User Access" icon and then click on the "Access Account" icon. Enter the requested information in the next panel displayed. (3) On PSUVM, use the CMS command "apply". After you enter the "apply" command, the screen displays directions and prompts you for information. Once you exit the application, your information is sent to the Computer Accounts office for processing. You will receive your userid and password by e-mail to your PSUVM account. (4) Obtain and print the postscript file accapp.eps from ftp.cac.psu.edu, directory pub/access/doc; fill it out and submit it to the Computer Accounts office in 230 Computer Building at University Park. At locations other than University Park, see your local computer support person. Access Accounts vs. PSUVM Accounts Your Access Account has nothing to do with PSUVM. If you have both an Access Account and a PSUVM account, your userid will most likely be the same for both. Other than that, however, there is no connection between these two types of accounts. The Access Account provides access to Penn State's information servers, while the PSUVM account provides access to the IBM mainframe. Other differences include the following: --Access Account passwords are "case-sensitive" while case doesn't matter on PSUVM. --Access Accounts remain active until graduation or termination of employment, while PSUVM accounts have a definite expiration date. For example, PSUVM student instruction "I" accounts expire at the end of the semester unless the instructor requests an extension because of a deferred grade. --PSUVM does not have the capability to display all the items found on Gopher and the World Wide Web such as those with pictures and sound. Your User ID and Password Your userid is usually your initials followed by a 1- to 3-digit number such as xyz101. The letters are lowercase. Note that Access Account passwords are "case-sensitive." This means that uppercase and lowercase letters are recognized as different characters. It is very important that you remember your original password because you will need it to access the PH server and perhaps any new servers that may be added. If you forget your password, present your photo ID to staff in 230 Computer Building. Office hours are Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Things To Do As soon as you have your Access Account you should do the following: 1. Change your password. 2. Check your e-mail address in PH, the on-line phone directory, and change it if necessary. Instructions for these procedures follow. How to Change Your Password Your password should be changed in two places: on the access server and on the PH server. You are strongly encouraged to change it to something you can easily remember but that others won't easily guess. Change it as often as you wish, but at least once every six months. Use Telnet to change your password. Telnet is a program used for creating a terminal connection with a remote computer. The recommended programs for using Telnet are NCSA Telnet and Brown's TN3270 for the Macintosh, QWS3270 or McGill's TCP3270 for Windows, and Clarkson's Telbin and TN3270 for DOS. On PSUVM you can issue the command telnet access.psu.edu. If you don't have the Telnet software, you can go to a CAC lab and use it there, or you can obtain Telnet by the methods described in the software section. 1. At CAC labs: --In Windows or on the Macintosh, double-click on the "Change Password" icon. --DOS users should choose "Change Password" from the Access Software menu. At other locations: --Launch the Telnet program and open the connection. --Enter "access.psu.edu" for the host name. --Click "OK." 2. At the login prompt, enter your userid. 3. At the password prompt, enter your password. 4. After the command/function menu is displayed, enter the word "password" and respond to the resulting prompts. 5. After the command/function menu is again displayed, enter "ph". 6. At the "ph>" prompt enter "login" followed by your userid; for example, "login xyz101". 7. At the next prompt, enter your password. (The first time you do this, remember that your PH password is your original Access Account password.) 8. At the next "ph>" prompt, enter the word "password" and respond to the resulting prompts. (An alternate method for changing your PH password is to log into the PH server with a PH client and use the "password" command.) An example of a Telnet session is included at the end of this section. Note that the "Change password" menu items in the Macintosh and PC Eudora programs do not work at Penn State. The only way to change your password is by using the methods described above. Password Guidelines A password is private information. All use of the userid (or file) is assumed to be performed by the person assigned to that userid. You are responsible for safeguarding passwords for your userids. Passwords must not be shared. It is against policy and in most cases law to use another's account or file. Failure to conform to these restrictions may lead to suspension of userid or other action as provided by University Policy or law. The following guidelines are based upon experience and common sense. They are explicit for the Center systems. 1. It must be at least six characters in length. 2. It must contain at least one alphabetic and one numeric character. 3. It must be significantly different from previous passwords. 4. It cannot be the same as the userid. 5. It cannot start or end with the initials of the person issued the userid. 6. It cannot include the first, middle, or last name of the person issued the userid. 7. It should not be information easily obtainable about you. This includes license plate, social security number, telephone numbers, or street address. For the complete CAC password policy, see the policies section. Your E-mail Address E-mail addresses are simply a combination of your userid followed by a location. Your Access Account e-mail address is userid@psu.edu (where "userid" is YOUR assigned userid). The CAC provides a POP (Post Office Protocol) server that stores your e-mail until you request it. E-mail used with your Access Account and the client software discussed in this guide is often referred to as "POP" mail. When you request your mail through a POP mail client such as Eudora or NuPOP, mail files that others have sent to you are transferred from the POP server to your computer where you can read them, send replies to them, and store them. Perhaps you have one computer account, or perhaps several. In any case, e-mail sent to you by others will go to the address they use. This sounds obvious but gets complicated when people use more than one computer system. Following are examples of e-mail addresses that could be owned by one person and the description or destination of each. E-mail Addresses and Description or Destination userid@psu.edu ---Recommended address to give everyone userid@email.psu.edu---Actual Access Account (POP mail) address userid@psuvm.psu.edu---PSUVM Account (mail can be forwarded as described in the "forward" help file on PSUVM) userid@cse.psu.edu---Computer Science and Engineering system userid@wilbur.cac.psu.edu---CAC Workstation account If you have more than one e-mail address, it's up to you to decide where you send and receive your e-mail. You may wish to send and receive mail from various accounts or you might decide to use only one of your accounts for all your e-mail. The On-line Phone Directory--PH The on-line phone directory system, PH, is available through PH software clients, some e-mail software clients, PSUVM, and other computer systems. Below is an example of a PH record showing all possible fields. (Normally only those fields containing information are displayed.) You can change a number of fields in PH such as your e-mail address and fax number. However, the fields marked by an asterisk (a naught symbol is used in PH) contain official information that cannot be altered except by request to University offices. Students can make changes to official fields through the Registrar's Office; employees should see their personnel representative. name:* Doe, Jane alias: userid e-mail: userid@psu.edu id:* 000000000 campus:* University Park phone:* +1 814 000-0000 office phone: home phone: fax: permanent phone: address:* 421 COMPUTER BUILDING UNIVERSITY PARK, PA 16802 office address: office location: home address: permanent address: campus:* University Park nickname: url: no_update: department:* CENTER FOR ACADEMIC COMPUTING admin_area:* Computer and Information Systems title:* WRTR - EDTR hours: project: other: callsign: pager: family: birthday: high school: colleges: Penn State type: * person password: Passwords are never displayed. (To change the password, use the "Change Password" command in the "File" menu.) last_seen:* 95004 kerberos:* userid If You Use Other Systems for E-mail Mail sent to the general address userid@psu.edu is forwarded to the address in the e-mail field in the PH database. When you receive an Access Account, that address is set to userid@email.psu.edu, the CAC POP mail server. The information in PH is available to anyone on the worldwide Internet. This means that people might look up your e-mail address and send mail to the address listed in PH. If the address in PH is wrong, your mail will go to the wrong place. It is your responsibility to make sure your preferred e-mail address is listed in the PH system. We recommend that you (1) tell people to send e-mail to you at "psu.edu" and (2) set your e-mail address in PH to the address you prefer. In other words, if your userid is xyz101, tell people to send e-mail to you at xyz101@psu.edu. Then make sure your e-mail address in PH is correct. How to Check Your E-mail Address in PH To check to see if your information in PH is correct, use any of the following methods: --double-click on the Macintosh or Windows PH icon; or --select the PH item from the menu within Eudora; or --enter "ph" on PSUVM. Then enter kerberos=userid in the query field (where userid is your Access Account user ID). If your e-mail address is correct in PH, you need do nothing further. How to Change Your E-mail Address in PH To change your e-mail address you must "login" to PH. Use any of the following methods: (1) Run the PH client on a Macintosh or with the Windows client PHWin, and login with your Access Account userid and password. Simply type over the e-mail field and click save. or (2) Telnet to access.psu.edu. Use your Access Account user ID and password when prompted. Enter ph for the PH menu item. Use the commands login and make as in the following example: ph> login userid Enter nameserver password: 200: userid:Hi how are you? ph> make e-mail=userid@other-account.psu.edu 200: 1 entry changed. ph> bye 200: Bye! In the above example, you would use the "make e-mail=" command to change your e-mail address, if you wish. Remember, this information should be changed only if you do not plan to use your Access Account with Eudora or NuPOP e-mail software. A sample Telnet session is included at the end of this section. or (3) Contact the Computer Accounts office and request the change (see the section titled "Instruction and Support" for contact information). Remember, your password for the PH database is your original Access Account password unless you've changed it in PH. Mail Server Space Limitations POPmail users should be aware of space limitations for incoming messages on their account: one megabyte or 1,024K bytes or 1,048,576 bytes. How many messages this holds varies with the size of the messages. A quick survey of 1,600 messages shows an average size of 1,010 bytes each, so you might have space for about 1,000 messages. However, one or two big ones can fill it up quickly. If the incoming mail exceeds the amount of space available, incoming messages are returned to the sender(s). This is especially important to remember when you have subscribed to high-volume listserv mailing lists and leave for a break, holiday or the summer. When you return you may have hundreds or even thousands of mail files waiting for you. Because of software limitations the client program may not work correctly and you will be unable to access the files. The solution? Check your mail often, and don't leave messages on the server. Cancel your listserv subscriptions or place them on hold before you leave for a break or holiday. A Sample Telnet Session: Changing Access Account Password, PH Password and E-mail Address If you use this session as a guide while changing your PH information, substitute your own userid wherever you see "userid" following "userid:", and your Access Account password where you see "xyzxyz1". Where you see "abcabc1" type in your password of choice. If you have an active Access Account your e-mail address should appear in PH in the form userid@email.psu.edu. This field should be changed only if you do not wish to use the Eudora or NuPOP clients for e-mail. _________________________________________________ telnet access.psu.edu AIX telnet (bell) Penn State Center for Academic Computing Protocol Server (bell.cac.psu.edu) ** This system is restricted to uses approved by Penn State University. ** IBM AIX Version 3 for RISC System/6000 (C) Copyrights by IBM and by others 1982, 1991. login: userid userid's Password: xyzxyz1 User userid kerberos-authenticated via AFS 3.3. Server up 29 days, 4:42, 98 users, load average: 1.55, 2.21, 2.15 CAC serial protocol server Wed Nov 16 10:22:37 EST 1994 port: /dev/pts/1 user: userid Select one of the following: Command Function -------------------------------------------------------- ppp Start Full PPP connection pctcp Start PC/TCP 2.1 or earlier PPP connection slip Start SLIP/CSLIP connection telnet Telnet to a host ph Online Telephone Directory System password Set Access Account Password (kerberos) exit Exit Enter your choice: password Changing password for "userid" in cell "psu.edu". Old password: xyzxyz1 New password (RETURN to abort): abcabc1 Retype new password: abcabc1 Password changed. CAC serial protocol server Wed Nov 16 10:22:51 EST 1994 port: /dev/pts/1 user: userid Select one of the following: Command Function -------------------------------------------------------- ppp Start Full PPP connection pctcp Start PC/TCP 2.1 or earlier PPP connection slip Start SLIP/CSLIP connection telnet Telnet to a host ph Online Telephone Directory System password Set Access Account Password (kerberos) exit Exit Enter your choice: ph PH Directory Services invoked $Date: 1993/06/22 13:41:41 $$Revision: 6.5 $ 100:Qi server $Revision: 2.2 $ 100:Penn State On-Line Directory 200:Database ready. ph> login userid Enter nameserver password: xyzxyz1 200:userid:Hi how are you? ph> password Enter new password: abcabc1 Type it again: abcabc1 200:1 entry changed. ph> make e-mail=userid@dept.psu.edu 200: 1 entry changed. ph> exit 200:Bye! CAC serial protocol server Wed Nov 16 10:23:38 EST 1994 port: /dev/pts/1 user: userid Select one of the following: Command Function -------------------------------------------------------- ppp Start Full PPP connection pctcp Start PC/TCP 2.1 or earlier PPP connection slip Start SLIP/CSLIP connection telnet Telnet to a host ph Online Telephone Directory System password Set Access Account Password (kerberos) exit Exit Enter your choice: exit _____________________________________________________ Note that "dept.psu.edu" is a generic representation of a Penn State address. If you wish to receive mail on a departmental or other account and do not know the correct form for your address, contact your local computer support person or the CAC Help Desk. See the section titled "Instruction and Support" for contact information.