Contents:
Introduction
Students, faculty, and staff with UNIX accounts on a the Office of Information Technology (OIT) machine sometimes encounter problems using their accounts or when dealing with ordinary account maintenance tasks. This document addresses common problems and issues you may face. We recommend procedures you can follow to solve most problems. For other cases, we point to documents and resources you can use for effective solutions. Users who experience more complex account problems should contact the NBCS Help Desk for an initial consultation.
General Account Problems/Issues
Account Creation Problems
Only people who are currently part of the Rutgers community may have
accounts on Rutgers machines. Your status in the Rutgers system is
recorded in databases (Rutgers Online Directory) maintained and updated
by the Registrar (for student accounts) and the Personnel office (for
faculty/staff accounts). You cannot create an account unless
you are in one of the databases. At the start of each semester, when
many new students enter Rutgers and need to create accounts right away,
the Registrar updates its database on a daily basis. Instructions on
creating an account are in the document
Creating Accounts on OIT Systems.
Students should be able to create their accounts shortly after they
have paid their term bill, and employees should be able to create
their accounts by the time they receive their first paycheck.
If an employee needs the RCI account before his/her record is posted
to the Online Directory, a
OIT
Account Application Form can be submitted to speed up the process.
Even after you access the databases, the account creation program
will not allow you to create an account if it finds a conflict between
information you enter to verify your identity and the information in
your database record. If this happens, an informational message will be
displayed on the screen. To determine whether a conflict in information
is the source of the problem, you should contact the
NBCS Help Desk. If incorrect information is contained in
your database record, the Registrar or Personnel office must make the
necessary change so you may proceed with account creation.
In general, only students are allowed on the student machines
(eden.rutgers.edu in New Brunswick), and only faculty/staff on the
faculty/staff machines (rci.rutgers.edu in New Brunswick). The two
systems have the same basic software available to them. People who
have a legitimate reason for having an account on another system (e.g.,
faculty who need guest account access to the student system for
instructional purposes) should consult the document on
account creation for guidelines or contact the
NBCS Help Desk for additional details.
Account Quotas and Mail Quotas
All OIT accounts are granted a limited amount of disk space on the
system for users to store computer files and electronic mail. RCI and
Eden users have a single quota for both home and mail:
- The RCI Quota is 100 MB.
- The Eden Quota is 120 MB.
If you exceed your quota, the system will automatically begin a 7-day countdown period during which you can continue to work, make new files, and even further exceed your quota. You will be notified of this countdown the next time you log into your account. For example, if you copy a large file which increases the total number of bytes in your account to 3,322 kilobytes beyond its quota, log out of your account, and then log in again later the same day, you will receive a message like this:
Over disk quota on /eden/u26, remove 3322K within 7.0 days
If you return your usage below quota within the countdown period, the time restriction is removed.
If you do not reduce your usage to below the quota, or if your usage reaches the limit, you will be unable to write any new files, including making changes to reduce the size of existing files, until you drop your usage below the quota level. Usually, the only thing you can do at that point is delete files with the UNIX command rm.
If you are over quota on your mail spool (e.g., /var/mail), all you need do to bring down your usage is read your mail and then either delete the messages or store them in your home directory. If you exceed the mail limit or allow the 7-day countdown to pass without reducing mail usage, you will be unable to receive further mail until your usage drops below the quota. See the document A Short Introduction to Pine on Eden or A Short Introduction to Pine on RCI for details about the Pine mail program included with your account.
Your account and mail quotas are separate and distinct from each other; they cannot be combined for any purpose. If you exceed your quota in either part of your computer account, the 7-day countdown will begin. If you exceed the limit at the same time you exceed the quota, no 7-day countdown will begin; instead, you will immediately have to start deleting files.
Because exceeding your account quota or failing to take action following warning messages will cause problems, it's a good idea to check your usage status on a regular basis and to monitor files that tend to grow quickly, especially files that store electronic mail messages. We recommend two helpful commands you can use to do this:
1) The quota command: To check the status of your quota and limit, use the UNIX command quota. If you have not exceeded your quota, the command will not produce a response. If you have exceeded your quota, the quota command will notify you that you are over disk quota and will indicate the minimum number of kilobytes you must remove and the time you have left to remove them. If you are not over quota and you want the quota command to respond, use the verbose form of the command by typing quota -v. You will then receive output showing your current usage:
er5% quota -v
Disk quotas for jsmith (uid 47867):
Filesystem usage quota limit timeleft files quota limit timeleft
/var/mail 1 20000 30000 0 0 0
/eden/u26 2300 60000 90000 0 0 0
2) The du command: The du command offers you a more detailed profile of your account usage because it indicates how much disk space is being used in each of your account directories and subdirectories. To obtain an overview of your account usage expressed in kilobytes for each directory, issue the du -k command from your home directory. This will produce the following type of output:
niflheim> du -k
123 ./mail
1 ./icdocs
2 ./.nn
33 ./sasuser
207 .
The last entry indicates the total space used in your home directory and all subdirectories, and you can compare this figure with the output from quota -v.
Please note that if you normally use graphical mail-reading programs like Netscape Mail or Microsoft Outlook Express and rarely log in to your account from a UNIX terminal or Telnet program, you may exceed your mail quota without ever seeing a warning message. To take advantage of the account monitoring tools described above, you must log onto your UNIX account on a regular basis.
More details about disk space management are available for RCI system users in the document Managing Disk Space on RCI. Some of the tips may also apply to EDEN users.
Faculty researchers on the RCI system may find their initial diskspace quota is not sufficient for the work they need to do on their accounts. Interested parties may send e-mail to help@rci to request a quota increase. Since resources are limited, account holders will be asked to make efficient use of their existing quotas before an increase is granted. More details about disk space management and the procedures for obtaining a quota increase are available for RCI system users in the document Managing Disk Space on RCI.
Increases on the student system are generally granted only at the request of a student's professor, for particular purposes, and then only for one semester at a time.
Quotas for student staff members with accounts on the RCI system are intentionally kept low. Increases will not be granted for these accounts.
Account Suspension: The Problem Shell ("probsh")
All members of the Rutgers community are expected to use their computer accounts in conformity with the university's Acceptable Use Policy for Computing and Information Technology Resources. This policy is intended to maintain a secure and productive atmosphere for computer use, and it addresses use issues in relation to other people on the system and to the system itself. When an individual violates the Acceptable Use Policy (e.g., by sharing an account, sending e-mail bombs, using an account for commercial purposes, distributing pirated software from an account, etc.), the system administrator is authorized to suspend that person's account. An account is suspended by placing it in a "problem shell" (or "probsh"). Once in "probsh" status, the account cannot be used and its files - including web pages - cannot be accessed.
If your account is suspended, you will be notified the next time you log in. Instead of connecting you to your account, the system will return the following message:
There is a problem with your account. Please contact the NBCS Help
Desk in person at Hill Center Room 013, Busch Campus for assistance.
(Telephone: 732-445-HELP). Please bring a valid photo ID with you.
Depending on the nature and severity of the violation, account suspension will involve different types of disciplinary action. In all cases of account suspension, users must contact the NBCS Help Desk as soon as possible for details about the next steps they must take. These may include contacting a Dean, a system administrator, or another appropriate official. In no case will a suspended account be reactivated unless the user meets with the official handling the problem and submits a formal written request accompanied by an agreement to refrain from future system abuses. Account suspension incidents become part of an individual's student or employment record at Rutgers, and the consequences of subsequent violations are more severe.
Guest Account Use Issues
Individuals who are granted guest accounts on either the Research Computing Initiative (RCI) or Instructional Computing Initiative (ICI) systems can use them for a limited period of time (usually one semester or one academic year ending on May 30, depending on the specific circumstances). Near the end of this period, the guest will be notified of the account's pending expiration and must
submit a renewal form to keep the guest account open. Guest accounts that are not renewed will be deleted from the system. There is one important exception to this practice: faculty members with guest accounts on the ICI systems (e.g., EDEN) use them for instructional purposes each semester and are generally exempt from this renewal schedule as long as they make regular use of their accounts.
Please note that if a guest account will not be renewed, it is the guest's responsibility to copy or move files from the account and to contact electronic mail correspondents about the account's closing. OIT will not forward electronic mail sent to closed guest accounts, nor will it recover other files from a closed guest account.
For information on how to obtain a guest account, see the "Guest Accounts" section of the document Creating Accounts on OIT Systems. Initial requests for guest accounts must be submitted by appropriate sponsors.
RCI Departmental Account Use Issues
Departmental accounts are available on the Research Computing Initiative (RCI) systems for departments, groups, or organizations at Rutgers that want to conduct business from a central location rather than from one user's account. The account's username reflects the group rather than an individual user. A departmental account has one "owner" who is responsible for the account. The owner may also designate any number of additional users.
A departmental account has no password and cannot be logged into; instead, authorized people should first log on to their personal RCI accounts, then use a special command, become, on RCI to switch from their personal accounts to the departmental account. Departmental accounts are available on RCI machines only (rci.rutgers.edu, crab.rutgers.edu, and andromeda.rutgers.edu). Therefore, anyone who is going to have access to a departmental account must have a personal RCI account.
The most common problems in departmental account use are related to changes in personnel, as people who access and manage accounts come and go. When a departmental account "owner" leaves the department or withdraws from account maintenance duty for any reason, account ownership must be transferred to someone else. If an account owner leaves without transferring ownership, newcomers to the department or project group will have difficulty identifying someone who can add their names to the account. If an account owner is not identified on a departmental account's web page by means of an e-mail link or some other device, individuals with RCI accounts who are trying to contact the owner will not be able to do so through the web page. The following tools can help you answer some basic departmental account questions:
Finding the Owner: If you know the name of the departmental account, you can find the owner by typing the following command from your home directory on the RCI system:
> ypcat group | grep
name of become account
The output will provide you with a list of all members of the account. The owner's username is always first on the list of users that appears after the account's name and identification number. For example, if you typed the command to find the owner of a departmental account called einstein and the output looked like this,
einstein:become:3333:jsmith,jjones,jdoe
then jsmith, as the first username on the list, is the owner of the account.
If the ypcat command results in no output and returns only the UNIX prompt, then the name you are using is not the name of the departmental account. If you took the name from a web page, you were probably looking at a virtual host name rather than the departmental account's real name. Virtual host names are often used as aliases for real account names because they convey more meaningful information about the subject of a web site (e.g., english.rutgers.edu) and they are easier to remember than long strings of characters that may include no words at all.
To find an account name on the basis of a virtual host name, type the following command from your home directory on the RCI system:
> grep -10 virtual host name /orcus/www/apache_root/conf/httpd.conf
For example, if you wanted to find the real account name for the virtual host name registrar.rutgers.edu, you would type grep -10 registrar /orcus/www/apache_root/conf/httpd.conf and receive the following output:
<VirtualHost registrar.rutgers.edu>
ServerAlias registrar
ServerAdmin webmaster@rci.rutgers.edu
DocumentRoot /rci/www/clio/regru
ServerName registrar.rutgers.edu
ErrorLog /rci/www/logs/clio/regru/error_log
TransferLog /rci/www/logs/clio/regru/access_log
AccessConfig /dev/null
AddHandler imap-file map
#ResourceConfig /dev/null
</VirtualHost>
The departmental account name can be found at the end of the DocumentRoot line: regru. You can now use the ypcat command to identify the owner of the account.
Requesting a Virtual Host Name: Virtual host names can be granted for departmental accounts on the RCI system if the owner submits a formal request. The request should be sent by electronic mail to help@rci.rutgers.edu and must contain the following information:
- The proposed virtual host name. The name must be either something in the rutgers.edu domain, or a .org domain owned by the person making the request.
- The URL for an existing web page on a departmental account. This is a prerequisite for obtaining a virtual host name because it is not possible to link a virtual host to a page that will be on the account "soon."
If you have reason to believe your proposed virtual host name has already been taken, use the host command on RCI to check it. For example,
amenti> host archaeology.rutgers.edu
Host not found.
means that host name is available.
Once the request is received, it takes about a week for the new virtual host name to be created. The owner will be notified by electronic mail when the virtual host is ready for use. All web page maintenance will still be done using the departmental account's real name.
(For more details about the procedure for obtaining a departmental account, see the "Departmental Accounts" section of the document Creating Accounts on OIT Systems.)
Student Organization Account Use Issues
Obtaining an Account: Rutgers College registered student organizations and other approved College and University groups with a Student Account Fund administered through the
Student Fund Accounting Office
can now have their organizational web site hosted for free by Rutgers University. To request web space, a representative from the student fund account should pick up a Student Fund Account Holder Web Space Application from the
Office of Student Involvement and Leadership Development (OSILD)
or obtain the form
online.
Once the account fund holder completes the application form and obtains the signature of the appropriate administrative advisor (e.g., OSILD, College of Pharmacy, etc.), he or she should submit it to the Student Fund Accounting Office at 613 George Street, College Avenue Campus. This office will confirm the valid signature of the account President, Treasurer, or Director and forward a copy of the application to the OIT/NBCS Account Office, and OIT will then create a Student Fund Web Account for the organization.
OIT will give the requester and additional account members access to the account. To use a student organization account, students must have valid individual accounts on the EDEN system. All changes to the membership list indicating who has access to the web account will be handled by the Student Fund Accounting Office in conjunction with the Office of Student Involvement and Leadership Development. Each account will be cross-referenced with its respective signature card on file. At the end of each academic year, applicants for web space will have to resubmit the application form.
Problems and Complaints: In the event of problems or complaints, OIT will contact the Student Fund Accounting Office and provide relevant information to determine whether a Student Fund Web Account is involved in behavior that warrants the suspension or closure of the account. The Student Fund Accounting Office and the Office of Student Involvement and Leadership Development can also request authorization for account suspension or closure for any other reasons they deem fit.
Closure: The Student Fund Accounting Office will notify OIT when particular Student Fund Web Accounts will not have members or not be used for extended periods of time. The accounts normally will be closed under these circumstances.
Note: The above procedure is for Rutgers College only. For other
colleges, send a message to help@eden for further information.
Account Closing Issues
Regular accounts on OIT machines are available for use so long as the individuals who created them maintain their status as students or employees of the university. When graduation, transfer, resignation, retirement, etc., ends an individual's affiliation with the university, the Registrar or Personnel office will convey that information to OIT. The individual’s computer account will then be closed during the next regularly scheduled account closing for that system.
Once your account is closed, it will no longer receive or store electronic mail. Mail sent to a closed account will be returned to the sender. All files stored on an individual's account will be deleted after the account has been closed. Therefore, it is important that you copy or remove from your account any files you wish to keep before you leave the university. Files that have been removed from OIT systems are usually difficult or impossible to recover.
Special policies apply to the account closing process in the following cases:
- Student Graduation - Although the university does not provide alumni accounts, it does offer graduating students to keep their regular student accounts open for a one-year period following graduation. Students who leave the university for reasons other than graduation are not eligible for this program.
- Faculty/Staff Retirement - Retired Rutgers employees who have served the university for a minimum of 10 years can apply for retention of their RCI accounts following retirement. To do so, they must fill out the first
section of the RCI Guest Account Application/Renewal Form and submit the form to
Brenda Lewis, c/o Office of the Associate Vice President for Human Resources ASBII, 57 US Highway 1, New Brunswick, NJ 08901-8554 (732-445-3020).
Once the request has been approved, the retiree's RCI account will be subject to all guest account regulations. The retiree should reply to the email message
sent out annually around early September to maintain his/her RCI account. There is no need to submit the printed account renewal form. If no reply is
received by the due date, the account will be closed during the next regularly
scheduled account closing time.
- Death - Decisions regarding accounts to be closed because of the death of a student or employee will be made on a case-by-case basis. Generally, someone authorized by the next-of-kin may be granted permission to copy files, answer e-mail, etc., before the account is closed.
Please note that matriculated students are expected to register for classes each semester until graduation. Students who fail to register and do not notify the Registrar of an intent to continue their programs will be subject to account closure. Students who intend to continue at Rutgers can avoid account closure by notifying the Registrar of their plans.
Username Problems/Issues
Changing Your Username
Your username functions as your unique Rutgers-based "name" for all electronic communication. As part of your electronic mail address, your username will - with your consent - become part of your Rutgers Online Directory entry and may also be used by Rutgers offices to send important messages to you (e.g., library book recall notices). By sending and receiving electronic mail, subscribing to newsgroups and mailing lists, completing online forms, and engaging in other types of electronic communication, you will disseminate your username within and outside the Rutgers community.
Your username is unique within OIT systems and you may have only one username, regardless of how many accounts you hold on various Rutgers machines. We therefore recommend you carefully select your username because it will remain with you throughout your career as a Rutgers student or employee (see the section "Choosing a Username You Can Live With" in the document Creating Accounts on OIT Systems for more details).
Given that your username will be disseminated to other parts of the Rutgers system and you may have only one username, a change of username will disrupt the consistency and continuity you need for good electronic communication. An abandoned username will be a "dead link" anywhere it exists within or outside Rutgers until you inform all your relevant contacts of the change. This means:
- All e-mail correspondents who have only your old username will find their messages returned undelivered
- E-mail links in web pages with your old username will be useless until they are changed
- Your mailing list subscriptions will be interrupted until you re-subscribe with your new username
- If your Rutgers Online Directory entry includes your e-mail address, you must take the necessary steps to update it (this is not done automatically)
The potential for problems and confusion stemming from username changes are such that Rutgers regards them as highly inadvisable unless you have a good reason for requesting one. If you undergo a legal name change, if your username is causing you harrassment, if your username contains obscenities or other unprofessional content, you may have good reason to request a username change.
To request a username change, eden and rci account holders must come in person and with photo identification to the OIT/NBCS Help Desk (Room 013,
Hill Center, Busch Campus). A supervisor or consultant will help you complete a Username Change Request Form, and the request will be submitted to the appropriate system administrator for review and processing. Once the request has been processed, we will contact you and let you know when the username will be changed.
To Update Your Rutgers Online Directory Entry:
- Students [EDEN]: You can update your e-mail address and personal URL in the Rutgers Online Directory directory by using the online Student Directory Update Page. This secure online form requires you to verify your identity as part of the update process. The form also gives you the option to display or hide other personal information (e.g., postal and home address, telephone number(s), school and major).
- Faculty/Staff [RCI]: You can update your e-mail address (and other fields) in the Rutgers Online Directory by using the online Address Directory Record (ADR) Update Form provided for that purpose by Administrative Computing Services. Verification of identity is required to use this secure online form.
Password Problems/Issues
Changing Your Password
Any account holder may change his or her own password at any time.
To change an Eden password, point a web browser to:
https://rats.rutgers.edu/allusers/manage_netid.cgi
To
change an RCI password, use:
https://www.rci.rutgers.edu/ratsuser/passwd
When prompted, enter your Eden or RCI, respectively, username and password, and click on "OK".
On the following page, you must authenticate by entering your full name,
social security number, birth date, and eden username. Your new password
must be entered twice to ensure accurate typing. After entering all
required information, click on the "ChangePassword" button. If all goes
well, you will see a confirmation page. If not, please email
help@eden or help@rci,
talk to a lab consultant, or call the
NBCS Help Desk at 445-HELP.
For details about password rules, see the "Choosing a Secure Password You Can Remember" section of the document Creating Accounts on OIT Systems.
Stuck In A Password Loop?
Sometimes the system administrators need to force you to change your
password (Your account will be "kerbshelled"). When this occurs, go to the
following web page to reset your password:
RCI:
http://www.
rci.rutgers.edu/rats/kerbshell.cgi
Eden:
https://www.eden.rutgers.edu/rats/kerbshell.cgi
If you change your password under these circumstances but then
immediately log in with the new password, you will be still be
denied access. This happens because the system
database programs need several minutes to receive confirmation that the
password has been changed. Once the necessary information has been
transmitted, the shell program that forces you to change your password
after logging in will be removed from your account.
Some users get frustrated at seeing the forced password change prompt
again after they have correctly followed the procedure, and in response
they may change their password a second time, but the forced password
change shell will not be removed from their account until the necessary
time has elapsed. The key to avoid getting caught in a password loop is
to wait 15 minutes before logging in again. After the various databases
have been updated, the shell will be removed and your account will return
to normal.
Password Not Recognized?
There are two reasons why a password might work in one instance but fail in another:
- Your Password is Too Long or Too Complex - A password should be no more than eight characters long and have only numbers and letters in it (although a few punctuation characters are
excepted: see the password rules). If a password contains more than eight characters or has some unusual character in it, it may work correctly when logging in but fail when using a network-based service - such as FTP - or when authenticating at a lab personal computer. The solution is to change the password to meet the password rules.
- Wrong System Name Used - Rutgers systems frequently require people to authenticate (i.e., prove they are legitimate Rutgers users) before allowing them to use certain applications. For example, sending an e-mail message using a POP-based mailer may cause a username and password dialog box to come up. At such times, you need to enter your username with the system name in the appropriate format, such as joeuser@eden or janeuser@rci, just as you would when establishing a PPP connection. You also must use one of the recognized authenticating systems. For New Brunswick, this is usually rci or eden. You should use these addresses to authenticate even
if you're sending mail as if from another system, such as a departmental system. The programs will use your RCI or Eden account to verify your identity, then permit the mail to go out under the departmental address you supplied.
Forgot Your Password?
- Students - If you've forgotten your password,
you'll need to go in person to one of the Campus Computing Facilities (CCF) Labs and ask a lab supervisor or assistant lab supervisor to help you change your password. Password changing at the CCF Labs takes place on a regular schedule each week. The hours when supervisors are available at the labs are posted on the CCF web site. Please note that these hours change between semesters.
Passwords may also be changed at the NBCS Help Desk
, Room 013, Hill Center, Busch Campus.
When you go to one of the password changing locations, bring Rutgers ID
so we can verify that you are who you say you are. Because we must verify
your identity to change your password, we cannot take password change
requests over the telephone, by e-mail, or from a third party. If you
have any questions about this procedure please call the Help Desk,
(732)-445-HELP (4357).
- Faculty/Staff - You should contact the
NBCS Help Desk about obtaining a password change. In the Campus Computing Facilities (CCF) Labs only the Site Supervisors for each campus can change your password. If the Labs are more convenient for you, we recommend you contact your campus CCF Lab Manager in advance to schedule an appointment for having your password changed. Please bring a photo ID so we can verify your identity.
Passwords are encrypted on the systems, so we cannot retrieve your old password for you. All we can do is override it with a new one. After you log in with the temporary password we provide, you should change the password to something only you know.
No Password Sharing
Your personal Rutgers computer account is for your own use only. As such, no one but you should know your password. You shouldn't share it with your boyfriend, girlfriend, spouse, friend, roommate, or co-worker. By sharing your password, you lose control over access to your account: the resulting account sharing that may take place (with or without your knowledge) can lead to all kinds of problems for yourself and for the system. Because of the potential trouble that can come from account sharing, it is not permitted under our Acceptable Use Guidelines, and violation of the rule against account sharing can be grounds for a forced password change or account suspension.
If you need to share certain files in your account, speak to us so we can suggest a way for you to do it without sharing your password. Please take reasonable precautions against someone else obtaining your password. Don't leave your password written on a piece of paper next to your computer. Avoid writing it down, but if you must, keep the document in a secure place far away from the computer.
For More Information
Questions should be directed to the OIT/NBCS Help Desk, Room 013, Hill
Center, Busch Campus, (732) 445-HELP (4357). You can also send electronic mail to the address
helpdesk@nbcs.rutgers.edu or to help on any OIT system (e.g., help@eden.rutgers.edu or help@rci.rutgers.edu).
Business and Science Building, 1st Floor, (856) 225-6326
Campus Center, Lower Level, (856) 225-6274
Law School, Room 203
Paul Robeson Library, 1st Floor
Busch Campus
Allison Road Classroom Building, Rooms 111, 116, 118/199, and 121, (732) 445-2273
Digital Media Lab, Allison Road Classroom Building, Room 117, (732) 445-3129
Library of Science and Medicine, 2nd Floor, (732) 445-4933
College Avenue Campus
College Avenue Computing Center, Records Hall, (732) 932-8541
College Avenue Student Center, Lower Level, (732) 932-5007
Satellite, Behind Kreeger Learning Resource Center, (732) 932-8195
Alexander Library Graduate Student Lab, 3rd Floor, (732) 932-8541
Cook/Douglass Campuses
Cook/Douglass Computing Center, Loree, Rooms 7, 13, 23, 25, 27, (732) 932-9750
Cook Campus Computing Center, Campus Center, 2nd Floor, (732) 932-7580
Mabel Smith Douglass Library, Ground Floor, (732) 932-5024
Douglass Campus Center, 3rd Floor, (732) 932-1964
Livingston Campus
Kilmer Library, Ground Floor, (732) 445-3465
Livingston Computing Center, Tillett, Rooms 112, 114, 119, and 121, (732) 445-3465
Engelhard Hall, Room 313
Hill Hall, Room 127
Help Desk: (973) 353-5083