Course Account Guidelines (for Instructors)

Here are some notes/instructions/guidelines concerning the use of the CIS Unix systems (Euler, Gauss, and Zeno) for student accounts for your course in the coming/current semester.

Students get a single CIS Unix account for all coursework and personal use that lasts as long as they remain enrolled at UNH.

If a student in your course already has a CIS Unix account, (as they almost certainly do), he or she should use that account for coursework. Accounts are automatically created for the students registred for your course who do not already have a CIS Unix account. Students may continue to use the same account for their personal use and further coursework in future semesters. There's no need for them to "renew" or "preserve" the account at the end of the semester.

For both existing and new accounts, students taking your course are added to the "course group". (If they drop the course, they also get dropped from the group.)

Important Note: All new accounts are set up with a standard .login file. If you want students in your course group to automatically run course-specific commands when they log in in addition to the default .login commands, you should put those commands in a publically-readable file and notify me (pas@unh.edu) via e-mail of its location. I strongly suggest that you do this well before the first day of classes. I'll check it to make sure it's OK. The current default .login file runs commands in /usr/local/etc/generic.login.

Students have (in theory) a common login name and password between the CIS Unix systems and Blackboard. Students should go to the Blackboard website (blackboard.unh.edu) and click on the "Login Help" tab to

• Discover their username if they don't know it.
• Set their initial password.
• Change their password, if they want.
• Set their "Security Question"; this will help them regain access to their account if they forget their password.

Please note that students' new accounts will be unusable until they set their initial passwords.

Other things you might want to know:

• Student accounts for your course are set up automatically via our daily (Monday-Saturday) update from the registrar's student database. This usually happens in the early early morning.
• You will be notified of account activity via e-mail to your course administrator account (or alias, if there is no course administrator account.)
• If your students are having difficulties with their CIS Unix account, they may need to visit the Dimond Academic Commons Information Technology Support Center (on the main level of Dimond Library). The hours of operation are here.
• You should make your students aware of the CIS Unix "Acceptable Use Policy." The current version of the policy is on the web at http://pubpages.unh.edu/notes/cisug/ethics.html.
• Printing procedures change quite often. My latest understanding of the Best Way to Do Things is on the web at http://pubpages.unh.edu/notes/cisug/usage.html#usage-printing. We will change this file as printing procedures change, so you might want to direct your students to it.
• As always, let us know if you have any questions, problems, gripes, requests, non-negotiable demands, etc. As noted above, routine requests are best handled by e-mail to accounts@cisunix.unh.edu. Routine questions are best entered on the CIS Help Desk Questions web page or calling the Help Desk (2-4242). Please also feel free to contact me directly: My number is 2-4347, e-mail is pas@unh.edu. Have a good semester.

Last modified: 2008-01-22 07:39 EST