Before setting your UNIX/email password on an SEAS host, please choose a
good password. Guidelines for choosing a good password may be found at
cng.seas.rochester.edu/CNG/docs/gpw.html.
It is critical that you follow those guidelines.
To simplify things, we will recommend that you login to the appropriate UNIX host in your department. While you should be able to set your password on any UNIX host in your department, there are often differences in how you do this depending on the OS and its revision level, Login using preferably a SecureShell client. All of our UNIX hosts have a SecureShell login client (slogin) installed. slogin is part of MacOS-X (you need to access it via a terminal window). Free SecureShell clients are available for Windows systems and versions of MacOS prior to MacOS-X. For more information and free downloads, see cng.seas.rochester.edu/CNG/News/SecureShell.html. If you are logged into another SEAS UNIX host already, you may use rlogin rather than slogin. slogin and rlogin are used in much the same way, although slogin is preferable. You should avoid using telnet; it is insecure, and we will be cutting back on its use and availability as a service on our UNIX hosts.
To login to a UNIX host from a MacOS-X or UNIX host, you can
slogin {host} -l {username}
For example I would do the following,
slogin nova.seas.rochester.edu -l gort
The recommended hosts are
| Department | Recommended Host |
|---|---|
| BME | nova.seas.rochester.edu |
| CHE | oz.che.rochester.edu |
| ECE | galaxy.ece.rochester.edu |
| ME | fulcrum.me.rochester.edu |
| Optics | moe.optics.rochester.edu |
| CEIS | nova.seas.rochester.edu |
| SEAS | nova.seas.rochester.edu |
If this is the first time you have contacted that host via SecureShell, or if it has been a long time, you might be prompted to accept the host's key signature. Do so; the server host and your client host exchange a key to verify each other's identity and to set up an encryption key-pair to secure your connection.
Once logged in on the appropriate host, you need to issue the following command:
/usr/bin/passwd -r nis
You will be asked for your current password, then for your new password, and finally, for your new password again. If you enter your old password incorrectly, you have to try again, starting over with the 'passwd' command. If you do not enter your new password the same twice, then you will have to try again. Since you won't see what you're typing, this ensures you entered the same value.
| NOTE: The change you make in your department does not immediately propagate to SEAS - and until that happens, your email and departmental UNIX passwords are not in sync. You can correct this problem quickly. either use your old password for email until the change propagates, or you can login to nova.seas.rochester.edu and repeat your password reset (it will know only your old password). Obviously, if you are in SEAS or BME, you don't have to worry about this. |
If you encounter some difficulty, stop by and see a systems staff (CNG) member for assistance. You may also contact problem@seas.rochester.edu by email for assistance.
Remember, never share your password with anyone - including CNG staff members, and never send it in an email message (we won't send you a password that way either). Also, do not use this password for anything else (e.g, for on-line banking, for registering at some website, etc.), and do not use a password you use elsewhere for your SEAS UNIX/email (or Windows) account.
Last modifed: Tuesday, 03-Nov-2009 10:00:41 EST