CSS Quick Start Guide CSS Quick Start Guide
Engineering College faculty and staff, and all students registered in the Engineering College or taking an Engineering course, have an Engineering computer account.
Your Engineering account ID and your Hawk ID should match. Though the IDs look the same, initially they do not have the same password and they do not give you access to the same services. You must use your Engineering account ID to login to machines on the Engineering Computer Network (ECN). You must use your Hawk ID to login to ITC and classroom machines. (In addition, your Hawk ID gives you access to other University services.) Changing your Engineering account password has no effect on your Hawk ID password and vice versa.
You can login to Linux or Windows computers in the College with your Engineering account. The same account and password also gives you access to Engineering email.
After you have your Engineering account and password, find a computer. The student computer labs in the Seamans Center, the Hering (1220 SC) and Elder (1231 SC) labs, have a mixture of Linux workstations running SUSE Linux and Windows computers running Windows XP. The Henry Computer Classroom, 1245 SC, has 33 Windows computers running XP. Follow the chart below to begin using one of those computers.
| Linux | Windows | |
| Find a machine | Named L-LNX### and labeled "LINUX" | Named L-COExxx and labeled "WINDOWS" |
| Logging in | Move mouse to get login banner; enter Username and press Enter; then type your password and press Enter. If you get the message: "Incorrect username or password", you may have mistyped your user name or password. Login banner prompts for your user name and password again. |
Press Ctrl + Alt + Delete; click OK after reading the notice;
enter user name, press Tab, and enter your password on the Logon Information
dialogue box.
If you see the message: "The system could not log you on...," read the suggestions and try again. If the screen remains blank, notify CSS staff, 1253 SC. |
| Cannot login | Caps Lock may be on; passwords are case sensitive. User name may be incorrect. | Caps Lock may be on; passwords are case sensitive. User name or Log on to: domain may be incorrect; verify both. |
| Logging out | Go to the Main Menu Button, select Leave, then Logout |
Go to Start | Log Off or Press Ctrl + Alt + Delete keys at the same time and select the Log Off button. |
| Logout problems | If you have a problem logging out, don't turn off the computer. Contact CSS staff, 1253 SC, 335-5055, for help. | |
| Changing your password | Read the section below about passwords. Go to the Main Menu Button and type password in the Search bar. Select Password and User Account then Change Password. Enter your current password and your new password twice. Or type passwd from shell prompt. |
Read the section below about passwords. Press Ctrl + Alt + Delete and select the Change Password button. Enter the current password and your new password twice. |
Passwords protect your account from unauthorized access. Computer Systems Support (CSS) implements password restrictions to deter password "cracking." These policies are the same as ITS password policies except that we require passwords be at least 9 characters long. Passwords are valid for 180 days, but may be changed more often.
Enroll so that you can change or reset your password from the web at any time; no need to wait for the CSS office to be open. You can use the password tools to change or reset your password.
Select a password that meets the following criteria:
• is at least 9 characters long.
• includes 2 letters and 2 non-letters.
• does not include any 4 consecutive characters of the user name, Hawk ID, or current password.
• does not match any of the 10 previous passwords.
For security we suggest that you do not use a proper name or a word that appears
in an English dictionary and that you use at least one non-alphanumeric character
in your password:
. , + - $ [ ] * & ^ / % { } | " ' ? < > _ : ;
DO NOT use the characters \ ! @ # [space]
For added security, your password is valid for 180 days. Two weeks prior to the date that your password will expire, you will get reminder messages to change your password each time you log in. Once your password has expired, the next time you log in, the system will prompt you to change your password. After changing it, you will need to log back in immediately with the new password.
With an IMAP mail account your mail is all stored on a central mail server so that you can read and retrieve mail from any computer using one of several mail clients. Depending on where you choose to read your mail, you may need to download some client software to read your mail. CSS supports the mail clients Thunderbird (Windows and Linux), Outlook (Windows), and Webmail (web). For client and connection information, go to the email pages.
Please note that account holders are expected to read email sent to their Engineering account. You can forward email sent to your Engineering account to another mailbox. Use the account tools to do so.
For information on configuring email, see the email pages. If you have questions about what option to choose or how to configure mail service, please talk to the consultant, 319-335-5055, 1253 SC.
Printers for students are available in the Elder and Hering labs, as well as in the consulting office, 1253 SC. Each department has at least one laser printer for departmental use and some departments also have color printers. Check in the departmental office to find out what printers are available.
From Linux and Windows programs, go to File | Print. You can print text files, Word files, PostScript, PCL (HP's native Printer Control Language), screen dumps, TIFF, and GIF files on the lab laser printers. When in the Elder or Hering labs, the print command routes your file to the nearest printer.
Files that you create and save in your home directory (the H:\ drive for Windows users) can be seen whether you login from a Linux or a Windows computer; however, documents created with platform-specific software, such as Real-DRAW, which is installed only on Windows computers, can be opened and used only when logged onto the appropriate type of computer. Fluent files can be created from and viewed only when using a Linux workstation. However, Word documents can be opened from a Windows machine that has Microsoft Word installed or a Linux workstation that has Open Office.
In addition to viewing and editing files in your home directory, you may have access to files that are used and shared by others in your department or in your work group. Because the directories and associated files are shared by more than one person, we call these “shares.” You may have access to more than one share. Having access to a share requires these things:
Windows XP saves configuration files in H:\windowsdata. Do not delete that directory or files in it.
By default Microsoft Office products (Word, Excel, etc.) want to save files to My Documents. CSS has mapped My Documents to H:\Documents.
To accomplish weekly maintenance, CSS closes all open Windows connections between 2am-5am each Sunday morning, loads the new patches, etc., and reboots all Windows computers. Please save all open files and logout weekly before this Sunday shutdown and avoid being logged in to CSS-administered computers at that time.
The wireless network in the College of Engineering covers all classrooms and many public areas in the Seamans Center.
Public wired ports in Seamans Center are marked with a green dot and found in some classrooms and all conference and seminar rooms. See the consultant in 1253 SC for help setting up your computer to work on the wireless or wired networks.
Remote access to your home directory is available via an ISP and requires a modem and communications software on your computer. Students pay no monthly fee for the University-supplied remote access; faculty and staff pay $5/month for that service. You may also need to download client software on your home computer. For example, you must use SSH to connect to the Engineering network; SecureCRT, software that lets you use an SSH connection, is available on the ITS download site. Once you have the appropriate software installed, you must configure the software so that it knows what system to connect to. To log in remotely to the Engineering network, configure the remote host name to: login.engineering.uiowa.edu
Learn about the College's secure computing environment and what you can do to keep your account secure.
Having an Engineering computer account means that you agree to abide by the Acceptable Use Policy that details CSS responsibilities, account owner responsibilities, usage guidelines, and suggested good practices.
CSS’s mission is to provide a secure and productive computer environment that supports the ability of the College of Engineering to achieve its educational mission. To answer your computing questions, CSS consultants are available in 1253 SC, 335-5055.
Information is usually published to the web first. Read the CSS web pages now.
CSS publishes an on-line newsletter, Essentials, about 4 times per year.
The Engineering College publishes E/WEEK, a weekly electronic bulletin. It lists events of interest to students, staff, and faculty in the college. Read the current issue.
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