Welcome to the CSE FAQ. Answers to CSE users' Frequently Asked Questions are or should be here.

If you are new to CSE start here @ New to CSE or work through Lab0 worksheet

Getting Help at CSE is where to start if you can't find your answer below.

This FAQ is currently in the process of extensive revision. It is intended to incorporate and supersede the old FAQ on the TWiki. If there is a topic that is not yet included and you would like answered send an email to SS. In particular, if you have worked out a solution to some typical user problem that you think would be of help to other CSE users, please pass it along.

Table of Contents

1.0: FAQ

1.1: CSE accounts

1.2: Email

1.3: Labs

1.4: World Wide Web

1.5: Networking

1.6: Quota

1.7: Software

1.8: Security

1.9: Files

1.10: Displaying and Printing files

1.11: Running Your Computer

1.12: Common Resources at CSE

1.13: Other Resources at CSE

1.14: Miscellaneous

2.0: Policies

3.0: Tags

1.0: FAQ

Back to the ^Top

1.1: CSE accounts

Back to the ^Top

1.1.1: Initialise account

1.1.2: Account Classes and Groups

1.1.3: Staff accounts

1.1.4: Login problems

1.1.5: User managed groups

1.1.6: Student accounts

1.1.7: Alumni accounts

1.1.8: Account names

1.1.9: Accounts Overview

1.1.10: Account expiry

1.1.11: Yellow form

1.1.12: Special accounts

1.1.13: Group accounts

1.1.14: Account Disabled

1.1.15: Linux initialisation

1.1.16: Using your account

1.1.17: Account backups

1.1.18: Account not backed up

1.1.19: NoLogin Accounts

1.2: Email

Back to the ^Top

1.2.1: Reading mail

1.2.2: Redirecting root email

1.2.3: Pine GPG

1.2.4: Mailman

1.2.5: Mailing lists

1.2.6: The Enrol Pageboy

1.2.7: Alumni mail

1.2.8: Using IMAP

1.2.9: Mlalias

1.2.10: Webmail

1.2.11: GPG and Apple Mail

1.2.12: Filtering email

1.2.13: Unimail

1.2.14: Recovering lost mail

1.2.15: Mlalias moderation

1.2.16: Spam assassin

1.2.17: Mlalias authorised posters

1.2.18: Mail aliases

1.2.19: Our spam filter

1.2.20: Not receiving email

1.2.21: Filtering out spam

1.2.22: Redirecting mail

1.2.23: Using POP

1.2.24: Using maildir

1.2.25: Email encryption

1.2.26: Virtual aliases

1.2.27: Vacation mail

1.3: Labs

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1.3.1: CSE Labs

1.3.2: CSE lab map

1.3.3: CSE lab locations

1.3.4: Lab Hours

1.3.5: Swipe card access

1.3.6: Booking lab computers

1.3.7: How to use bookterms

1.3.8: How to use booking tokens

1.3.9: Booking history

1.3.10: Defaulter status in the booking system

1.3.11: Claiming a lab booking

1.3.12: Lab command

1.3.13: USB storage on CSE Lab Computers

1.3.14: Lab screen messages

1.3.15: Window managers

1.3.16: Remote machine access

1.3.17: Using various devices in the labs

1.3.18: Burning Software on Lab Machines

1.4: World Wide Web

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1.4.1: Setting proxies

1.4.2: Apt proxy

1.4.3: Web browsers

1.4.4: CGI scripts

1.4.5: Restricting web access

1.4.6: Creating a website

1.4.7: Internet access

1.4.8: Personal domain

1.4.9: Robots txt file

1.5: Networking

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1.5.1: Connecting your laptop

1.5.2: Wired network

1.5.3: Wireless Network

1.5.4: VPN

1.5.5: OpenVPN

1.5.6: PPTP VPN

1.6: Quota

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1.6.1: Disk quota

1.6.2: Print quota

1.6.3: IP quota

1.6.4: IP quota exceeded

1.6.5: IP Quota charges

1.6.6: Purchase quota

1.6.7: Extra disk space

1.7: Software

Back to the ^Top

1.7.1: Available Software

1.7.2: Automatic Updates

1.7.3: Non-CSE Software Tips

1.7.4: Subversion

1.7.5: MSDNAA

1.7.6: ELMS

1.7.7: Mathematica

1.7.8: Matlab

1.7.9: VMware Academic Program

1.7.10: Microsoft Windows

1.7.11: Debian

1.7.12: Ubuntu

1.7.13: Setting up MYSQL

1.7.14: Fluxbox

1.7.15: Fedora

1.7.16: Installing Fedora

1.7.17: Gentoo

1.7.18: DVDs on the mirror

1.8: Security

Back to the ^Top

1.8.1: SSH

1.8.2: SSH Key Files

1.8.3: SSH authorized keys for course class accounts

1.8.4: SSL Certificates

1.8.5: SCP and SFTP

1.8.6: User Firewall

1.9: Files

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1.9.1: Restoring files from backup

1.9.2: File permissions

1.9.3: Secure file permissions

1.9.4: Unix file permissions

1.9.5: Cleaning up files

1.9.6: Core files

1.9.7: Can't save files

1.9.8: Converting files to and from postscript

1.9.9: Saving files to postscript

1.9.10: Displaying Postscript and PDF files

1.9.11: Virtual file system

1.10: Displaying and Printing files

Back to the ^Top

1.10.1: Printing from selfadmin computers

1.10.2: Printing multiple pages

1.10.3: Print queues

1.10.4: Cancelling print jobs

1.10.5: Out of paper

1.10.6: Default print settings

1.10.7: A2 and A3 Printers

1.10.8: Xerox ApeosPort printers and Windows Vista or 7

1.10.9: HP LaserJet printers and Windows 7

1.10.10: Xerox printer maintenance

1.10.11: Changing the toner in Xerox printers

1.10.12: Colour printing

1.10.13: Poster Printing

1.11: Running Your Computer

Back to the ^Top

1.11.1: Accessing CSE login servers

1.11.2: Remote home directory

1.11.3: Windows terminal servers

1.11.4: Self admin backups

1.12: Common Resources at CSE

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1.13: Other Resources at CSE

Back to the ^Top

1.13.1: Hosting services

1.13.2: Running your own server

1.13.3: Extra disk space

1.13.4: Cluster computing

1.13.5: Leo cluster

1.13.6: Vina cluster

1.13.7: Condor

1.13.8: Cryptolab

1.13.9: Course_forums

1.13.10: Support forum

1.14: Miscellaneous

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1.14.1: Licence Servers

1.14.2: Forgot password

1.14.3: Unipass

1.14.4: Course groups

1.14.5: Cron jobs

1.14.6: DHCP

1.14.7: Disabling Multicast Advertising on OSX

1.14.8: Stop xfig crashing with KDE

1.14.9: Stulocal

1.14.10: OpenCms

1.14.11: Offline project

1.14.12: UDB

1.14.13: NSS

1.14.14: Credit Card Payments

1.14.15: UNSW Mobile Phones

1.14.16: Warranty_Support_Numbers

2.0: Policies

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2.1: Acceptable username policy

2.2: Allocation of old computers to Staff and Students

2.3: CSE Standard Equipment

2.4: Computers Provided by CSE

2.5: Distributed computing policy

2.6: Flexi time

2.7: Loan procedure

2.8: Preferred suppliers

2.9: Resource quotas policy

2.10: Self Administered Computers

3.0: Tags

Back to the ^Top

New to CSE

1: Welcome to CSE!

1.1: The first day

1.2: After you've settled in a bit

Getting Help at CSE

1: Getting Help at CSE

1.1: Computing resources and problems

1.2: Other places to find Help

1.0: FAQ

Back to the ^Top

1.1: CSE accounts

Back to the ^Top

1.1.1: Initialise account

1.1.1-1: Initialising your CSE account

1.1.1-1.1: For new students

1.1.1-1.2: For continuing students

1.1.1-1.3: For staff and visitors

1.1.2: Account Classes and Groups

1.1.2-1: CSE Account Classes and Groups

1.1.2-1.1: Displaying classes and groups

1.1.2-1.2: Class Membership and Expiry Dates

1.1.2-1.2.1: Student Classes

1.1.2-1.2.1.1: Course Classes (eg: COMP2031_Student)

1.1.2-1.2.1.2: Undergraduate Thesis Classes (eg: COMP4910_Student)

1.1.2-1.2.1.3: Postgraduate Thesis Classes (eg: COMP9901_Student)

1.1.2-1.2.1.4: CSE Program Classes (eg: 3645_Student)

1.1.2-1.2.1.5: Non CSE Program Classes (eg: UGrad_Student)

1.1.2-1.2.2: Non-Student Classes

1.1.2-1.2.2.1: Course Classes (eg: COMP1011_Supervisor or COMP1011_Tutor)

1.1.2-1.2.2.2: Miscellaneous User Classes

1.1.2-1.2.2.3: Access and Permission Classes

1.1.3: Staff accounts

1.1.3-1: Staff Accounts

1.1.4: Login problems

1.1.4-1: Login problems

1.1.4-1.1: Are you using the right username and password?

1.1.4-1.2: Have you accepted the Yellow Form?

1.1.4-1.3: Have you recently modified your .xsession, .profile or other login files?

1.1.4-1.4: Which computer are you logging into?

1.1.4-1.5: Has your account been disabled?

1.1.4-1.6: Nope...

1.1.5: User managed groups

1.1.5-1: User Managed Groups

1.1.5-1.1: Using UMGs

1.1.5-1.2: UMGs, the UDB, and expiry dates

1.1.5-1.3: Group-owned UMGs

1.1.6: Student accounts

1.1.7: Alumni accounts

1.1.7-1: Alumni Lifelong Email Service

1.1.7-2: CSE alumni redirection service

1.1.8: Account names

1.1.8-1: Account Names at CSE

1.1.8-1.1: Can I change my username?

1.1.8-1.2: Named Accounts

1.1.8-1.3: Notes about changed username

1.1.8-1.4: Renaming legacy accounts

1.1.9: Accounts Overview

1.1.9-1: CSE Accounts - what are they?

1.1.10: Account expiry

1.1.10-1: Why is my account expiring?

1.1.10-1.1: Web interface

1.1.10-2: But my account really is expiring!

1.1.10-2.1: Can I keep receiving e-mail?

1.1.10-2.2: Students:

1.1.10-2.2.1: Not enrolled in any CSE courses...

1.1.10-2.2.2: Taking program leave...

1.1.10-2.2.3: Not enrolled in a CSE program or course...

1.1.10-2.2.4: Still finishing their thesis...

1.1.10-3: What to do before your account expires

1.1.10-3.1: Redirect email

1.1.10-3.2: Account backups

1.1.10-3.3: Cleaning out scratch space if you have it.

1.1.10-3.4: Allocated computers

1.1.10-3.5: And lastly .....

1.1.11: Yellow form

1.1.11-1: The Yellow Form

1.1.12: Special accounts

1.1.12-1: Special Purpose Accounts

1.1.13: Group accounts

1.1.13-1: Group Accounts

1.1.14: Account Disabled

1.1.14-1: Is your Account disabled?

1.1.15: Linux initialisation

1.1.15-1: Initialising your account in a CSE Linux laboratory

1.1.16: Using your account

1.1.16-1: Using Your CSE Account

1.1.16-1.1: Account Information

1.1.16-1.2: Changing Your Username

1.1.16-1.3: Changing Your Password

1.1.16-1.4: Changing Your Login Shell

1.1.16-1.5: Changing Your Path

1.1.16-1.6: Other Useful Articles

1.1.17: Account backups

1.1.17-1: How is my account backed up?

1.1.17-1.1: Nightly incrementals

1.1.17-1.1.1: The treemax limit

1.1.17-1.2: Full dumps

1.1.17-1.3: Snapshots

1.1.18: Account not backed up

1.1.18-1: Account files not backed-up

1.1.18-1.1: File size limits

1.1.18-1.1.1: Make the file smaller

1.1.18-1.1.2: Ignore the file size limit

1.1.18-1.1.3: Don't backup some files

1.1.18-1.1.4: Prioritise Backups

1.1.18-1.2: treemax limit

1.1.19: NoLogin Accounts

1.1.19-1: Accessing files in a group directory or NoLogin account

1.2: Email

Back to the ^Top

1.2.1: Reading mail

1.2.1-1: Reading E-mail at CSE

1.2.1-1.1: GUI Clients

1.2.1-1.2: Text-based Clients

1.2.1-1.3: Getting your email on a Web Browser

1.2.1-1.4: Redirecting Email to an External Mail Account

1.2.1-1.5: CSE POP Service

1.2.1-1.6: Other Articles About Email

1.2.2: Redirecting root email

1.2.2-1: Redirecting root email on a self-administered computer

1.2.3: Pine GPG

1.2.3-1: Pine and GPG keys

1.2.3-1.1: Setting up pinepgp

1.2.3-1.2: Using pinepgp

1.2.3-1.2.1: Signing/encrypting an email

1.2.3-1.2.2: Signing an email by default

1.2.3-1.2.3: Verifying an email

1.2.3-1.2.4: Manually verifying an email / detached signature

1.2.3-1.3: Other questions

1.2.4: Mailman

1.2.4-1: Mailman-based mailing lists at CSE

1.2.4-1.1: Using the mailman lists

1.2.4-1.2: Notes on Administering a mailman list

1.2.5: Mailing lists

1.2.5-1: Information on Mailing Lists at CSE

1.2.6: The Enrol Pageboy

1.2.6-1: Enrol pageboy

1.2.6-1.1: Examples

1.2.6-1.2: Restrictions and Operation

1.2.6-1.3: Address Specification

1.2.6-1.3.1: Syntax

1.2.6-1.3.2: Parsing

1.2.6-1.3.3: Plans

1.2.6-1.3.4: Programs

1.2.6-1.3.5: Courses

1.2.6-1.3.5.1: Listing course field values

1.2.6-1.3.6: Operators

1.2.6-1.3.7: Year and Session

1.2.6-1.3.8: Back_ref

1.2.6-1.3.9: Shortcuts

1.2.6-1.3.9.1: Course Shortcuts

1.2.6-1.3.9.2: Program Shortcuts

1.2.6-1.3.9.3: Plan Shortcuts

1.2.6-1.3.10: Options

1.2.6-1.3.10.1: Address Options

1.2.6-1.3.10.2: Listing Options

1.2.6-1.4: Enrolment files

1.2.6-1.5: Inspecting the expanded address lists

1.2.6-1.6: Links with mlalias

1.2.6-1.6.1: Mlalias Examples

1.2.7: Alumni mail

1.2.7-1: Redirecting email after you leave or graduate

1.2.8: Using IMAP

1.2.8-1: Using IMAP to read your Email

1.2.8-1.1: Summary

1.2.8-1.2: General Usage

1.2.8-1.3: Client Configuration

1.2.8-1.3.1: mutt

1.2.8-1.3.2: pine

1.2.8-1.3.3: elm

1.2.8-1.3.4: Thunderbird

1.2.8-1.3.5: Outlook Express

1.2.8-1.3.6: Macintosh OS-X Mail Reader

1.2.8-1.4: Per-User Server Configuration (customising your mailbox type and location)

1.2.8-1.4.1: Examples

1.2.8-1.4.1.1: Default

1.2.8-1.4.1.2: Basic Maildir

1.2.8-1.4.1.3: Group mailbox

1.2.9: Mlalias

1.2.9-1: Mlalias

1.2.9-1.1: Summary

1.2.9-1.2: Forwarding email vs. mailing lists

1.2.9-1.3: Setting up a mailing list

1.2.9-1.4: Managing a mailing list

1.2.9-1.4.1: Adding and removing recipients and owners

1.2.9-1.4.2: Allowing and blocking mail to the list (moderation and authorised posters)

1.2.9-1.4.3: Deleting a mlalias or mailing list

1.2.9-1.5: Mailing students enrolled in X/all members of research group X

1.2.9-1.6: What lists already exist at CSE?

1.2.10: Webmail

1.2.10-1: Web Mail using SquirrelMail

1.2.11: GPG and Apple Mail

1.2.11-1: Mail.app on OS X and GPG keys

1.2.12: Filtering email

1.2.12-1: How to filter email

1.2.13: Unimail

1.2.13-1: UniMail - your UNSW email account

1.2.14: Recovering lost mail

1.2.14-1: Recovering lost email

1.2.15: Mlalias moderation

1.2.15-1: Moderating an mlalias

1.2.15-1.1: Setting the moderator

1.2.15-1.2: Setting the authorised posters

1.2.15-1.3: Passing and rejecting emails received by moderator

1.2.15-1.3.1: When authorised posters overstep the bounds

1.2.16: Spam assassin

1.2.16-1: What is SpamAssassin?

1.2.17: Mlalias authorised posters

1.2.17-1: Authorised posters to an mlalias

1.2.18: Mail aliases

1.2.18-1: Is there a mail alias for ... ?

1.2.19: Our spam filter

1.2.19-1: How does CSE deal with spam email?

1.2.20: Not receiving email

1.2.20-1: Why am I not receiving email?

1.2.20-1.1: Common causes

1.2.20-1.1.1: No automatic collection (POP)

1.2.20-1.1.2: Over disk quota

1.2.20-1.1.3: Mail forwarded to another address

1.2.20-1.1.4: Corrupted IMAP cache files

1.2.20-1.1.5: Mail files locked

1.2.20-1.1.6: An older, complicated way of clearing a mail lock

1.2.20-1.2: Large messages

1.2.20-1.3: SGI machine

1.2.20-2: Quick diagnosis

1.2.21: Filtering out spam

1.2.21-1: How can I filter out spam emails?

1.2.21-2: Spam to mailing lists

1.2.22: Redirecting mail

1.2.22-1: The simple approach

1.2.22-2: Setting a redirection directly with mlalias

1.2.22-3: Redirections for graduating students

1.2.23: Using POP

1.2.23-1: Using POP to collect CSE Email

1.2.23-1.1: Summary

1.2.23-1.2: You probably want to use IMAP instead

1.2.23-1.3: Stopping the automatic spooling of mail to your home directory

1.2.23-1.4: Configuration

1.2.24: Using maildir

1.2.24-1: Using Maildir at CSE

1.2.24-1.1: What is it?

1.2.24-1.2: What can use Maildir?

1.2.24-1.3: Converting your mbox folders to folders in ~/Maildir

1.2.24-1.4: Changing your INBOX to Maildir

1.2.24-1.5: Setting your environment variables

1.2.24-1.6: Housekeeping

1.2.25: Email encryption

1.2.25-1: Encrypting Email

1.2.26: Virtual aliases

1.2.26-1: Virtual mail addresses (or how to email all users in a class)

1.2.26-1.1: Addresses based on official student enrolments

1.2.26-1.1.1: Pageboy addresses

1.2.26-1.2: Addresses based on the UDB

1.2.26-1.2.1: Emailing UDB class intersections

1.2.26-1.2.2: Emailing members of a UDB class from past sessions

1.2.27: Vacation mail

1.2.27-1: Vacation Mail

1.3: Labs

Back to the ^Top

1.3.1: CSE Labs

1.3.1-1: CSE Computer Labs

1.3.1-1.1: Lab Locations and Hours

1.3.1-1.2: Finding an available lab machine

1.3.1-1.2.1: The Lab Command

1.3.1-1.2.2: Booking and Claiming Lab Machines

1.3.1-1.3: Using the Lab Computers

1.3.1-1.3.1: Lab Devices

1.3.1-1.3.2: Window Managers

1.3.2: CSE lab map

1.3.2-1: CSE Lab Map

1.3.3: CSE lab locations

1.3.3-1: Where are the CSE laboratories?

1.3.4: Lab Hours

1.3.4-1: When are the labs open?

1.3.5: Swipe card access

1.3.5-1: Swipe card access

1.3.5-1.1: Undergraduate and other Course-work Students

1.3.5-1.1.1: Fixing card access problems

1.3.5-1.2: CSE Staff and Research Students

1.3.6: Booking lab computers

1.3.6-1: Booking a Lab Workstation

1.3.6-1.1: Linux Laboratories

1.3.6-1.2: Windows Laboratories

1.3.6-1.3: Web Interface

1.3.7: How to use bookterms

1.3.7-1: How to use Bookterms

1.3.8: How to use booking tokens

1.3.8-1: How to use booking tokens

1.3.9: Booking history

1.3.9-1: Checking your booking history

1.3.9-1.1: Booking States

1.3.10: Defaulter status in the booking system

1.3.10-1: What's this "You are a defaulter" message mean?

1.3.10-2: Multislot bookings

1.3.11: Claiming a lab booking

1.3.11-1: Claiming a Workstation

1.3.11-1.1: Class Bookings

1.3.12: Lab command

1.3.12-1: How can I see which labs have free workstations?

1.3.12-1.0.1: Planning Ahead

1.3.13: USB storage on CSE Lab Computers

1.3.13-1: USB Storage Devices in the Labs

1.3.13-1.1: How it works

1.3.13-1.2: What storage devices can I use?

1.3.13-1.3: Using the priv usb command

1.3.14: Lab screen messages

1.3.14-1: I've got a great suggestion for a screensaver message!

1.3.15: Window managers

1.3.15-1: Window Managers

1.3.15-1.1: What is a Window Manager?

1.3.15-1.2: How do I change my Window Manager

1.3.15-1.3: What is available?

1.3.15-1.4: Why isn't KDE the default Window Manager?

1.3.16: Remote machine access

1.3.16-1: Remote access to desktop machines

1.3.16-2: Access to lab machines

1.3.17: Using various devices in the labs

1.3.17-1: Using Various Devices/Drives on a Lab Workstation

1.3.17-1.1: CD-ROM

1.3.17-1.2: Floppy

1.3.17-1.3: USB

1.3.18: Burning Software on Lab Machines

1.3.18-1: Burning Software on Lab Machines

1.4: World Wide Web

Back to the ^Top

1.4.1: Setting proxies

1.4.1-1: Setting proxies in a web browser

1.4.1-1.1: Automatic configuration

1.4.1-1.1.1: Firefox 1.0

1.4.1-1.1.2: Internet Explorer

1.4.1-1.2: Manual configuration

1.4.1-1.2.1: Firefox 1.0

1.4.1-1.2.2: Internet Explorer

1.4.1-1.2.3: Safari

1.4.1-1.3: Problems

1.4.1-1.3.1: Access Denied

1.4.1-1.3.2: Bad Request (HTTP to HTTPS server)

1.4.1-1.3.3: ERROR: Incorrect proxy settings OR Proxy does not support HTTPS

1.4.2: Apt proxy

1.4.2-1: apt-proxy at CSE

1.4.2-1.1: Debian

1.4.2-1.2: Ubuntu

1.4.2-1.3: Accessing apt-proxy from outside CSE

1.4.3: Web browsers

1.4.3-1: Web Browsers

1.4.3-1.1: GUI browsers

1.4.3-1.2: Text browsers

1.4.4: CGI scripts

1.4.4-1: Writing, installing and using CGI scripts

1.4.4-1.1: How do I write a CGI script?

1.4.4-1.2: Okay, I have a script I want to run. Where do I put it, and how do I access it?

1.4.4-1.3: Help! It doesn't work!

1.4.4-1.3.1: Using PHP5 rather than PHP4

1.4.4-1.4: How do I access files in my home directory?

1.4.4-1.5: It still doesn't work properly! How can I see debug information?

1.4.4-1.6: I'm getting CGIWrap errors, how do I fix them?

1.4.4-1.7: What about security?

1.4.4-1.8: Error Messages

1.4.4-1.8.1: Real UID could not be changed!

1.4.4-1.8.2: Script does not have same UID

1.4.4-1.8.3: Error 500: Malformed header from script

1.4.4-2: WebSVN on CSE CGI servers

1.4.5: Restricting web access

1.4.5-1: Restricting Access to Web Pages

1.4.5-1.1: Checklist

1.4.5-1.2: General Notes

1.4.5-1.2.1: Scope of .htaccess file (how to limit specific files)

1.4.5-1.2.2: File Permissions

1.4.5-1.2.3: HTTP access only (no filesystem access)

1.4.5-1.3: Password protection

1.4.5-1.3.1: Requiring an Encrypted Connection

1.4.5-1.3.2: Password-file based access (invent your own username and password)

1.4.5-1.3.3: CSE users

1.4.5-1.3.3.1: Specific groups (e.g. members of a certain course)

1.4.5-1.3.4: Unipass

1.4.5-1.4: Host-based access

1.4.5-1.5: An Alternative Solution

1.4.5-1.6: Commonly Used Examples

1.4.5-1.6.1: Restrict a directory to course students only

1.4.5-1.6.2: Restrict access to any valid CSE user and specific UniPass users

1.4.5-1.6.3: Require a password on a CGI script

1.4.5-1.7: See Also

1.4.6: Creating a website

1.4.6-1: Creating a Website at CSE

1.4.6-1.1: Executive summary

1.4.6-1.2: File Permissions

1.4.6-1.3: Detail

1.4.6-1.4: Related topics

1.4.7: Internet access

1.4.7-1: Accessing the Internet at CSE

1.4.7-1.1: Network Connection

1.4.7-1.2: Proxy Settings

1.4.7-1.3: IP Quota

1.4.7-1.4: Common Problems

1.4.8: Personal domain

1.4.8-1: Can I get my own domain name?

1.4.8-1.1: Forcing redirects

1.4.8-1.1.1: Important Notes

1.4.8-1.1.2: How does it work?

1.4.8-1.2: See Also

1.4.9: Robots txt file

1.4.9-1: How can I have my own robots.txt file?

1.5: Networking

Back to the ^Top

1.5.1: Connecting your laptop

1.5.1-1: Connecting your laptop to the CSE Network

1.5.1-2: Uniwide Wireless Network

1.5.2: Wired network

1.5.2-1: The CSE Wired Network

1.5.2-1.1: Who can do it?

1.5.2-1.2: Registration

1.5.2-1.2.1: To DHCP or not DHCP

1.5.2-1.3: When your computer has networking

1.5.3: Wireless Network

1.5.3-1: Wireless Network

1.5.4: VPN

1.5.4-1: VPNs at CSE

1.5.5: OpenVPN

1.5.5-1: CSE OpenVPN Network

1.5.5-1.1: Overview

1.5.5-1.2: Basic Configuration

1.5.5-1.2.1: Install OpenVPN

1.5.5-1.2.2: Configure OpenVPN

1.5.5-1.3: Run OpenVPN

1.5.5-1.3.1: Linux/*NIX

1.5.5-1.3.1.1: Running OpenVPN automatically on Linux

1.5.5-1.3.2: MacOSX

1.5.5-1.3.3: Microsoft Windows

1.5.5-1.3.3.1: Windows XP

1.5.5-1.3.3.2: Windows Vista and Windows 7

1.5.5-1.4: Additional Notes

1.5.5-1.4.1: Multiple Connections

1.5.5-1.4.2: External Sites

1.5.5-1.4.2.1: wireless.conf.setdefaultroute

1.5.5-1.4.2.2: wireless-up.setdefaultroute

1.5.5-1.4.2.3: wireless-down.setdefaultroute

1.5.5-1.5: Troubleshooting

1.5.6: PPTP VPN

1.5.6-1: Using the CSE PPTP Virtual Private Network (VPN)

1.6: Quota

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1.6.1: Disk quota

1.6.1-1: Disk Quotas at CSE

1.6.1-1.1: How do I check my current Disk Quota?

1.6.1-1.2: How do I get more Disk Quota?

1.6.1-1.3: Quotas on other filesystems

1.6.1-1.4: What is the difference between soft and hard limits?

1.6.1-1.5: Problems

1.6.2: Print quota

1.6.2-1: Printing Quotas at CSE

1.6.2-1.1: How do I check my current Print Quota?

1.6.2-1.2: How do I get more Print Quota?

1.6.2-1.3: What about Colour Printing?

1.6.2-1.4: How do I see where all my quota went? (Usage history)

1.6.2-1.5: When does my Print Quota reset to zero?

1.6.2-1.6: How often do quotas get updated?

1.6.2-1.7: Can I transfer unused print quota to my friend?

1.6.3: IP quota

1.6.3-1: IP Quota at CSE

1.6.3-1.1: How do I check my current IP Quota?

1.6.3-1.2: How do I get more IP Quota?

1.6.3-1.3: How do I see where all my quota went? (Usage history)

1.6.3-1.4: When is my IP Quota reset?

1.6.3-1.5: What is the difference between "Daily" and "Session" Quota?

1.6.3-2: How does IPQ work?

1.6.3-3: Problems

1.6.3-3.1: Run out of quota

1.6.3-3.2: I have quota, but it claims I have run out!

1.6.4: IP quota exceeded

1.6.4-1: I keep getting the "IP Quota Exceeded" message, help!

1.6.4-1.1: CSG Administered Machines

1.6.4-1.2: DHCP Managed Machines

1.6.4-1.3: Statically Managed machines

1.6.5: IP Quota charges

1.6.5-1: What Network Traffic is Charged to Your IP Quota?

1.6.5-1.1: What is Charged

1.6.5-1.1.1: Gotchas

1.6.5-1.2: What is Charged Less

1.6.5-1.3: What is Not Charged

1.6.6: Purchase quota

1.6.6-1: How to purchase more resource quota

1.6.6-1.1: Obtaining more print quota

1.6.6-1.1.1: Undergraduates and course-work students

1.6.6-1.1.2: Postgraduate thesis students

1.6.6-1.1.3: Staff and Visitors

1.6.6-1.2: Obtaining more IP quota

1.6.7: Extra disk space

1.6.7-1: Extra Disk Space

1.6.7-1.1: How?

1.6.7-1.2: Additional Quota

1.6.7-1.3: Second home directory

1.6.7-1.4: Scratch space

1.7: Software

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1.7.1: Available Software

1.7.1-1: Available Software

1.7.1-1.1: Software mirror

1.7.1-1.1.1: Automatic updates

1.7.1-1.2: Software loans

1.7.1-1.3: Essential Windows Software

1.7.1-1.3.1: Microsoft Developer Network Academic Alliance (MSDNAA)

1.7.1-1.3.2: Antivirus & Antispyware

1.7.1-1.3.3: Internet software

1.7.1-1.3.4: Office Suites

1.7.1-1.3.5: Accessing Linux Servers

1.7.1-1.4: Microsoft Office

1.7.1-1.5: Matlab

1.7.1-1.6: UNSW IT Software Distribution

1.7.1-1.6.1: Adobe Acrobat Professional (and other Adobe products)

1.7.1-1.6.2: Symantec AntiVirus

1.7.2: Automatic Updates

1.7.2-1: Introduction

1.7.2-2: Windows

1.7.2-3: Mac OSX

1.7.3: Non-CSE Software Tips

1.7.3-1: Tips for general software at CSE

1.7.4: Subversion

1.7.4-1: Tips for using Subversion

1.7.4-1.1: Links

1.7.4-1.2: Tips

1.7.4-1.2.1: Converting a database to a different backend format

1.7.5: MSDNAA

1.7.5-1: MSDNAA

1.7.6: ELMS

1.7.6-1: Overview

1.7.6-2: Using ELMS

1.7.6-2.1: Authentication and user data

1.7.6-2.2: Obtaining product keys

1.7.6-2.3: Getting software

1.7.6-2.3.1: Downloading software with your own computer

1.7.6-2.3.2: Using the CSE lab computers to download software

1.7.6-2.3.3: Borrowing media

1.7.6-2.4: Getting Help with ELMS

1.7.7: Mathematica

1.7.7-1: The Site License

1.7.7-2: Home Use Licenses

1.7.7-3: Download

1.7.8: Matlab

1.7.8-1: Matlab for CSE people

1.7.8-1.1: Introduction

1.7.8-1.2: Installing and using Matlab on a Self Administered CSE Machine (Staff with UniPass)

1.7.8-1.3: Installing and using Matlab on a Self Administered CSE Machine (PhD students)

1.7.9: VMware Academic Program

1.7.9-1: Overview

1.7.9-2: Using VMAP

1.7.9-2.1: Authentication and user data

1.7.9-2.2: Downloading software

1.7.9-2.3: Getting Help with VMAP

1.7.10: Microsoft Windows

1.7.10-1: Microsoft Windows at CSE

1.7.10-1.1: Installation Media

1.7.10-1.2: Updates and Maintenance

1.7.10-1.3: Useful websites to read before installing Windows

1.7.11: Debian

1.7.11-1: Debian at CSE

1.7.11-1.1: Installation Media

1.7.11-1.2: Updates and Maintenance

1.7.11-1.3: Accessing the apt-proxy from outside CSE

1.7.11-1.4: Support

1.7.12: Ubuntu

1.7.12-1: Ubuntu at CSE

1.7.12-1.1: Installation Media

1.7.12-1.2: Updates and Maintenance

1.7.12-1.3: Support

1.7.12-1.4: Installation Guidance

1.7.12-1.5: Accessing your home directory

1.7.12-1.5.1: Viewing your home directory in Nautilus

1.7.12-1.5.2: Installing the SMB file system

1.7.13: Setting up MYSQL

1.7.13-1: How do I set up my own MySQL database?

1.7.13-1.1: Installing your database:

1.7.13-1.2: Securing your MySQL database

1.7.13-1.3: Starting and stopping your database

1.7.14: Fluxbox

1.7.14-1: The Fluxbox Window Manager

1.7.14-1.1: What is Fluxbox?

1.7.14-1.2: How do I switch between workspaces?

1.7.14-1.3: How do I move windows between workspaces?

1.7.14-1.4: What other useful shortcuts are there?

1.7.14-1.5: How can I change my Fluxbox options?

1.7.14-1.6: Help, the colours all look ugly!

1.7.14-1.7: How do I set the background?

1.7.14-1.8: How do I change the key bindings?

1.7.14-1.9: How do I change the menu items?

1.7.14-1.10: How do I customise the look of my Fluxbox?

1.7.14-1.11: See Also...

1.7.15: Fedora

1.7.15-1: Fedora at CSE

1.7.15-1.1: Installation Media

1.7.15-1.2: Updates and Maintenance

1.7.15-1.2.1: APT

1.7.15-1.2.2: YUM

1.7.15-1.2.2.1: Configure Yum to load updates from the CSE mirror

1.7.15-1.2.2.2: Running Yum to update packages

1.7.15-1.2.2.3: Automatic updates with yum

1.7.15-1.3: Support

1.7.15-1.4: Installation Guidance

1.7.16: Installing Fedora

1.7.16-1: Installing Fedora

1.7.16-1.1: Getting the Installation Media

1.7.16-1.2: Starting the Installation

1.7.16-1.3: The rest of the initial installation

1.7.16-1.4: After the initial installation

1.7.16-1.5: Some finishing up

1.7.16-1.5.1: yum

1.7.16-1.5.2: yum and the CSE web proxy

1.7.16-1.5.3: yum and the CSE's own Fedora mirror

1.7.16-1.6: Printing

1.7.16-1.7: Email

1.7.16-1.8: Accessing your home directory

1.7.17: Gentoo

1.7.17-1: Gentoo at CSE

1.7.17-1.1: Installation Media

1.7.17-1.2: Updates and Maintenance

1.7.17-1.3: Support

1.7.18: DVDs on the mirror

1.7.18-1: Accessing DVDs on the CSE Mirror

1.8: Security

Back to the ^Top

1.8.1: SSH

1.8.1-1: Using SSH at CSE

1.8.1-1.1: Problems

1.8.1-1.1.1: BadAtom X Error

1.8.1-1.2: More information

1.8.2: SSH Key Files

1.8.2-1: Public key authentication

1.8.2-2: Creating SSH Keys

1.8.2-3: Using SSH Keys

1.8.2-4: About Passphrases

1.8.2-5: Common Problems

1.8.2-5.1: The public key is in the target account but logins still do not work

1.8.2-5.2: You forgot the passphrase to your private key

1.8.3: SSH authorized keys for course class accounts

1.8.3-1: SSH authorized_keys for course class accounts

1.8.3-1.1: Summary

1.8.3-1.1.1: Creating an SSH access key

1.8.3-1.1.2: Giving a user SSH access to a course class account

1.8.3-1.2: Background

1.8.3-1.2.1: The problem (pre mid 2008)

1.8.3-1.2.2: The solution (post mid 2008)

1.8.3-1.3: Spec files

1.8.3-1.3.1: Spec File format

1.8.3-1.3.2: Examples

1.8.3-1.3.3: Transitive Authorization

1.8.4: SSL Certificates

1.8.4-1: SSL Certificates

1.8.5: SCP and SFTP

1.8.5-1: SCP

1.8.5-1.1: Linux

1.8.5-1.1.1: Copying to server with SCP

1.8.5-1.1.2: Copying from server with SCP

1.8.5-1.1.3: Using SFTP

1.8.5-1.2: Mac OS X

1.8.5-1.2.1: Command line

1.8.5-1.2.2: Fugu

1.8.5-1.3: Windows

1.8.5-1.3.1: WinSCP

1.8.5-1.3.2: PuTTY SCP

1.8.6: User Firewall

1.8.6-1: User Firewall

1.8.6-1.1: Introduction

1.8.6-1.2: How to use

1.8.6-1.3: Emails

1.8.6-1.4: Limitations

1.8.6-1.5: Having Difficulty?

1.9: Files

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1.9.1: Restoring files from backup

1.9.1-1: Restoring files from backups

1.9.1-2: Restoring deleted files

1.9.1-2.1: Using tkrestore

1.9.1-2.1.1: Description of tkrestore

1.9.1-2.1.2: Incremental Restorations

1.9.1-2.1.3: Full Backup Restorations

1.9.1-2.1.4: Restoring files from a group account

1.9.1-2.2: Text Based restoration tools

1.9.2: File permissions

1.9.2-1: File Permissions

1.9.2-1.1: What are file permissions?

1.9.2-1.2: Setting File Permissions

1.9.3: Secure file permissions

1.9.3-1: Using Secure File Permissions

1.9.3-1.1: Are my file permissions secure?

1.9.3-1.1.1: Minimal Access on Home Directory

1.9.3-1.1.2: Nothing world writable

1.9.3-1.1.3: Nothing outside of your public_html should be world readable or executable

1.9.3-1.1.4: All directories in your public_html directory should be executable only

1.9.3-1.1.5: All files in your home directory should be owned by you

1.9.3-1.2: What are reasonably safe default permissions?

1.9.4: Unix file permissions

1.9.4-1: Unix File Permissions

1.9.4-1.1: To see the permissions on a file

1.9.4-1.2: To change the permissions on a file

1.9.4-1.3: To set default permissions on new files - umask

1.9.4-1.4: Providing group access

1.9.5: Cleaning up files

1.9.5-1: Cleaning up Files

1.9.5-1.1: Clues

1.9.5-1.2: How to compress files

1.9.5-1.3: How to delete files

1.9.5-1.3.1: Old Files

1.9.5-1.3.2: Temporary files

1.9.5-1.3.3: Not-so-important files

1.9.5-1.3.4: Files that don't want to be removed

1.9.6: Core files

1.9.6-1: Core files

1.9.7: Can't save files

1.9.7-1: Problems saving/copying files at CSE

1.9.8: Converting files to and from postscript

1.9.8-1: Converting Files to and from Postscript/PDF

1.9.8-1.1: Commandline

1.9.8-1.2: Application

1.9.9: Saving files to postscript

1.9.9-1: Saving Word, Mozilla and other documents as Postscript

1.9.10: Displaying Postscript and PDF files

1.9.10-1: Displaying PS/PDF files

1.9.10-1.1: Postscript

1.9.10-1.2: PDF

1.9.11: Virtual file system

1.9.11-1: OpenCms Virtual File System (VFS)

1.10: Displaying and Printing files

Back to the ^Top

1.10.1: Printing from selfadmin computers

1.10.1-1: Accessing CSE Printers

1.10.1-1.1: Methods

1.10.1-1.1.1: SMB/CIFS

1.10.1-1.1.1.1: Generic Information

1.10.1-1.1.1.2: Microsoft Windows

1.10.1-1.1.1.3: Xerox printers in Vista or Windows 7

1.10.1-1.1.1.4: HP LaserJet printers in Windows 7

1.10.1-1.1.1.5: OSX 10.5

1.10.1-1.1.1.6: Older MACOS-X

1.10.1-1.1.1.7: Linux/*NIX using SAMBA

1.10.1-1.1.2: CUPS

1.10.1-1.1.3: LPD

1.10.1-1.1.3.1: Important Note

1.10.1-1.1.3.2: Linux/*NIX Simple lpd

1.10.1-1.1.3.3: MACOS-X lpd

1.10.1-1.1.3.4: Microsoft Windows lpd

1.10.1-1.1.4: Queues

1.10.1-1.1.5: UniWide

1.10.2: Printing multiple pages

1.10.2-1: Printing Multiple Pages on One Physical Page

1.10.3: Print queues

1.10.3-1: Print Queues

1.10.4: Cancelling print jobs

1.10.4-1: Cancelling a Print Job

1.10.4-1.1: Linux

1.10.4-1.2: Windows

1.10.4-1.3: Once the job has started printing

1.10.5: Out of paper

1.10.5-1: For staff printer

1.10.5-2: For student printers

1.10.6: Default print settings

1.10.6-1: Default Print Settings

1.10.6-1.1: Turning off duplex

1.10.6-1.2: Turning off/on the watermark

1.10.6-1.3: Turning off the bounding box and title/header

1.10.6-1.4: Forcing text/Postscript

1.10.7: A2 and A3 Printers

1.10.7-1: Are there any A2, A3 etc. printers?

1.10.8: Xerox ApeosPort printers and Windows Vista or 7

1.10.8-1: Printing to the ApeosPort 450i printers from Vista or Windows 7

1.10.9: HP LaserJet printers and Windows 7

1.10.9-1: Printing to the HP LaserJet printers from Windows 7

1.10.10: Xerox printer maintenance

1.10.10-1: Xerox multifunction printer needs attention

1.10.10-1.1: Affected systems

1.10.11: Changing the toner in Xerox printers

1.10.11-1: Changing the toner in Xerox multifunction printers

1.10.11-1.1: Introduction

1.10.11-1.2: Proceedure

1.10.11-1.3: Notes

1.10.12: Colour printing

1.10.12-1: Colour Printers and Who can Use Them

1.10.13: Poster Printing

1.10.13-1: Poster Printing

1.11: Running Your Computer

Back to the ^Top

1.11-1: Running a Computer at CSE

1.11-1.1: Important Bits

1.11-1.2: Getting on the Network

1.11-1.3: Mirrors and Local Software

1.11-1.4: Borrowing CDs

1.11-1.5: Operating Systems and Distributions

1.11-1.6: Accessing CSE Services from within CSE

1.11-1.7: Getting within CSE from outside CSE

1.11-1.8: Software Gotchas

1.11.1: Accessing CSE login servers

1.11.1-1: Logging on to CSE remotely

1.11.1-1.1: Linux

1.11.1-1.1.1: Simple Text Programs

1.11.1-1.1.2: X-Windows Programs over SSH

1.11.1-1.2: Windows

1.11.1-1.2.1: What is PuTTY

1.11.1-1.2.2: What is Xming?

1.11.1-1.2.3: Installing PuTTY and XMing

1.11.1-1.2.4: Configuring PuTTY and XMing

1.11.1-1.3: Mac OS X

1.11.2: Remote home directory

1.11.2-1: Accessing Your Home Directory

1.11.2-1.1: Methods

1.11.2-1.1.1: Using SMB (samba)

1.11.2-1.1.2: Using a file transfer protocol

1.11.2-1.2: Operating System specific

1.11.2-1.2.1: Microsoft Windows

1.11.2-1.2.2: MacOSX

1.11.2-1.2.3: Linux/*NIX

1.11.2-1.2.3.1: Basic

1.11.2-1.2.3.2: Ubuntu

1.11.2-1.2.3.2.1: Install the SMB File System

1.11.2-1.2.3.2.2: Create a mount point

1.11.2-1.2.3.2.3: Change permissions on some SMB files

1.11.2-1.2.3.2.4: Create an fstab entry in /etc/fstab

1.11.2-1.2.3.2.5: Mounting and unmounting the home directory

1.11.2-1.2.3.2.6: Advanced Alternative

1.11.3: Windows terminal servers

1.11.3-1: Accessing Windows Terminal Servers

1.11.3-1.1: Basics

1.11.3-1.2: Accessing from a CSE linux machine

1.11.3-1.3: Accessing from another machine on the CSE Network

1.11.3-1.4: Etiquette

1.11.3-1.5: Accessing from outside the CSE network

1.11.3-1.5.1: VPN

1.11.3-1.5.2: SSH Tunnel

1.11.3-1.6: A note on rdesktop

1.11.4: Self admin backups

1.11.4-1: Essentials

1.11.4-2: Guidelines

1.11.4-3: Who can access the Selfstore?

1.11.4-4: How to backup files to Selfstore

1.11.4-5: Checking quota

1.11.4-6: Archives of Selfstore

1.11.4-6.1: Incremental Archives

1.11.4-6.2: Full Archives

1.11.4-7: Questions

1.12: Common Resources at CSE

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1.12-1: What common computing resources are available at CSE?

1.12-1.1: Standard Resources

1.12-1.2: Special Resources

1.12-1.3: Teaching Resources

1.12-1.4: Other

1.12-2: Common Policy related Information

1.13: Other Resources at CSE

Back to the ^Top

1.13.1: Hosting services

1.13.1-1: What Hosting Services can CSE provide?

1.13.1-1.1: General Hosting - running your own server for an external project at CSE

1.13.1-1.2: Website Hosting - having your website hosted on CSE servers.

1.13.1-1.2.1: Virtual Hosts - Having CSE servers act as a separate domain (e.g. www.myproject.org).

1.13.1-1.3: DNS Hosting - Delegating your domain to be run by CSE DNS servers.

1.13.1-1.4: Mail Hosting - Having the CSE mail server accept and handle e-mail for a separate domain.

1.13.1-1.4.1: Secondary Mail Server - Having CSE act as a secondary MX for your domain.

1.13.2: Running your own server

1.13.2-1: Running your own server

1.13.2-1.1: Web services

1.13.2-1.2: Automatically starting your server

1.13.2-1.3: Running Tomcat

1.13.2-1.3.1: Using the local Tomcat installation

1.13.2-1.3.2: Starting and stopping Tomcat

1.13.2-1.3.3: Making server visible from outside the CSE network

1.13.2-1.3.3.1: Modified shutdown sequence

1.13.3: Extra disk space

1.13.3-1: Extra Disk Space

1.13.3-1.1: How?

1.13.3-1.2: Additional Quota

1.13.3-1.3: Second home directory

1.13.3-1.4: Scratch space

1.13.4: Cluster computing

1.13.4-1: Cluster Computer at CSE

1.13.5: Leo cluster

1.13.5-1: The Leo Cluster

1.13.5-1.1: Specifications

1.13.5-1.2: Access

1.13.5-1.3: Usage

1.13.5-1.4: Documentation

1.13.5-1.4.1: NOTES

1.13.5-1.4.2: Submitting Jobs

1.13.5-1.4.2.1: Job notes

1.13.5-1.4.2.2: A test job

1.13.5-1.4.2.3: Some Sun Documentation

1.13.5-2: Setting up a user SSL key

1.13.6: Vina cluster

1.13.6-1: The Vina Cluster

1.13.7: Condor

1.13.7-1: Introduction

1.13.7-2: Accessing the Condor pool

1.13.7-3: The Condor pool

1.13.7-4: Important binaries (Or: How I learned to stop worrying and use the Condor)

1.13.7-4.1: condor_status (Pool status)

1.13.7-4.2: condor_submit (Job submission)

1.13.7-4.3: condor_q and condor_rm (Job management)

1.13.7-4.4: condor_compile (Checkpointing)

1.13.7-5: Universes

1.13.7-6: Detailed documentation

1.13.8: Cryptolab

1.13.8-1: CryptoLab

1.13.8-2: What it is?

1.13.8-3: What is the purpose?

1.13.8-4: Architecture

1.13.8-5: Gateway=cryptogate-vm

1.13.8-6: The lab computers

1.13.8-7: Remote access to the cryptolab machines

1.13.8-8: Physical networking

1.13.8-9: How to configure a vlan

1.13.8-9.1: On fedora

1.13.8-9.2: On Windows Vista & Server 2008

1.13.8-10: Administration of the lab

1.13.8-10.1: Install the Virtual Infrastructure Client

1.13.8-10.2: Connect to the CSE virtual farm

1.13.8-10.3: Install Fedora on one of the lab machine

1.13.9: Course_forums

1.13.9-1: Managing course support forums

1.13.9-1.1: Getting Help

1.13.9-1.2: General usage notes

1.13.9-1.2.1: Groups

1.13.9-1.2.2: Creating and Deleting forums

1.13.9-1.2.3: Permissions

1.13.9-1.2.3.1: Default forum permissions

1.13.9-1.2.3.2: Group permissions

1.13.9-1.2.3.3: Examples

1.13.10: Support forum

1.13.10-1: CSE Support Forum

1.13.10-1.1: Purpose

1.13.10-1.2: Using the Forum

1.13.10-1.2.1: Asking Questions

1.13.10-1.2.2: General Rules

1.13.10-1.2.3: Monitoring the forum

1.13.10-1.2.3.1: Monitor topic (email)

1.13.10-1.2.3.2: Monitor forum (email)

1.13.10-1.2.3.3: Email Digests

1.13.10-1.2.3.4: RSS feed

1.13.10-1.2.4: Course forums

1.14: Miscellaneous

Back to the ^Top

1.14.1: Licence Servers

1.14.1-1: Licence Servers

1.14.1-1.1: Altera, Xilinx

1.14.1-1.2: ASIP Meister, Synopsys, XTensa

1.14.1-1.3: Mathematica

1.14.1-1.4: Matlab

1.14.1-1.5: Modelsim

1.14.2: Forgot password

1.14.2-1: I Forgot My Password!

1.14.3: Unipass

1.14.3-1: UniPass - your universal password

1.14.4: Course groups

1.14.4-1: Course Groups

1.14.4-1.1: Introduction

1.14.4-1.2: User Guide For Course Administrators

1.14.4-1.2.1: Overview

1.14.4-1.2.2: Group attributes

1.14.4-1.2.3: Group membership and expiry

1.14.4-1.2.3.1: Spec file location

1.14.4-1.2.3.2: Spec file format

1.14.4-1.2.4: Managing course groups

1.14.4-1.2.5: Important Notes

1.14.5: Cron jobs

1.14.5-1: Running Regular Jobs with Cron

1.14.5-1.1: Creating a cronjob

1.14.5-1.2: Removing a cronjob

1.14.6: DHCP

1.14.6-1: DHCP at CSE

1.14.6-1.1: Problems

1.14.6-1.1.1: Incorrect MAC Address

1.14.6-1.1.2: Bad physical connection

1.14.7: Disabling Multicast Advertising on OSX

1.14.7-1: Disabling Multicast Advertising on OSX

1.14.7-1.1: The problem

1.14.7-1.2: The solution

1.14.8: Stop xfig crashing with KDE

1.14.8-1: How to stop xfig crashing under KDE

1.14.9: Stulocal

1.14.9-1: stulocal

1.14.10: OpenCms

1.14.10-1: OpenCms at CSE

1.14.10-1.1: What is OpenCms ?

1.14.10-1.2: The OpenCms Workplace

1.14.10-1.2.1: What is the OpenCms Workplace?

1.14.10-1.2.2: Logging in

1.14.10-1.2.3: Can I make a certain directory my default starting point when I first login to the Workplace?

1.14.10-1.2.4: I don't know what all the buttons in the workplace navigation do, is there a way to display text of what they are?

1.14.10-1.2.5: Changing your password

1.14.10-1.3: New web page creation

1.14.10-1.4: I am not happy with WYSIWYG editors, can I use a straight HTML source editor instead?

1.14.10-1.5: When I go to edit a page I only find it in HTML source, where is the WYSIWYG editor?

1.14.10-1.6: Where to upload images and documents?

1.14.10-1.7: I press the upload button but nothing happens?

1.14.10-1.8: I created a group of web-pages externally, can I import them to OpenCms?

1.14.10-1.9: Editing an existing web page

1.14.10-1.10: How to add/delete/modify links in sections of the CSE website that have side navigation?

1.14.10-1.11: News & Events page creation

1.14.10-1.12: Is there an easy way to create redirects to external/internal web pages?

1.14.10-1.13: Restrict web access to a file/web page

1.14.10-1.14: Publishing web pages to the Online Project

1.14.10-1.15: Whenever I try to publish some pages, OpenCms complains that there are broken links even though when I check them they work!

1.14.11: Offline project

1.14.11-1: OpenCms Online/Offline Project

1.14.12: UDB

1.14.12-1: UDB - Universal Database

1.14.13: NSS

1.14.13-1: NSS - New South Student

1.14.14: Credit Card Payments

1.14.14-1: How To Accept Credit Card Payments

1.14.14-1.1: External Organisations Providing Credit Card Payment Facilites

1.14.14-1.1.1: UNSW Treasury

1.14.15: UNSW Mobile Phones

1.14.15-1: UNSW Mobile Phones

1.14.15-1.1: Lost or Stolen Phones

1.14.16: Warranty_Support_Numbers

1.14.16-1: Apple

1.14.16-2: HP

1.14.16-3: Microsoft

1.14.16-4: Dell

1.14.16-5: Lenovo

2.0: Policies

Back to the ^Top

2.1: Acceptable username policy

2.1-1: Acceptable Usernames for CSE accounts

2.1-1.1: Summary of Policy

2.1-1.2: Who This Policy Applies To

2.1-1.3: Who Maintains This Policy

2.1-1.4: Policy Description

2.2: Allocation of old computers to Staff and Students

2.2-1: Giving Old Computers to Staff and Students

2.2-1.1: What this policy covers

2.2-1.2: What this policy does not cover

2.2-1.3: Asset Transfer Procedure

2.2-1.4: Goals of this Policy

2.3: CSE Standard Equipment

2.3-1: CSE Standard Equipment List

2.3-2: Desktop Computers

2.3-2.1: HP Desktop

2.3-2.2: Mac Desktop

2.3-3: Notebook Computers

2.3-3.1: HP Notebook (ultralight)

2.3-3.2: HP Notebook (balanced)

2.3-3.3: HP Notebook (performance)

2.3-3.4: Macbook Pro

2.4: Computers Provided by CSE

2.4-1.3.2: Academics and other Researchers

2.4-2.2: Researchers who need a special computer

2.5: Distributed computing policy

2.5-1: Distributed Computing Policy

2.5-1.1: Revision History

2.5-1.2: Summary of Policy

2.5-1.3: Who This Policy Applies To

2.5-1.4: Who Maintains This Policy

2.5-1.5: Policy Description

2.6: Flexi time

2.6-1: Flexi-time Rules for CSG

2.6-1.1: Summary of Policy

2.6-1.2: Policy Background

2.6-1.3: Who This Policy Applies To

2.6-1.4: Who Maintains This Policy

2.6-1.5: Policy Description

2.6-1.5.1: Core Hours

2.6-1.5.2: Span of Normal Working Hours

2.6-1.5.3: Maximum Accretions

2.6-1.5.4: Maximum Spend

2.6-1.6: Exceptional Circumstances

2.7: Loan procedure

2.7-1: Procedure for the loan of school equipment.

2.8: Preferred suppliers

2.8-1: List of Preferred Suppliers

2.8-1.1: UNSW IT Procurement (HP)

2.8-1.2: Computers Now (Apple Reseller)

2.8-1.3: UNSW IT Services (formerly ACSU)

2.8-1.4: Compulock

2.9: Resource quotas policy

2.9-1: Computing Resource Quotas Policy

2.9-1.1: Summary of Policy

2.9-1.2: History of Policy

2.9-1.3: Who This Policy Applies To

2.9-1.4: Who Maintains This Policy

2.9-1.5: Policy Description

2.9-1.5.1: Base allocations

2.9-1.5.2: Additional allocations

2.9-1.6: Checking your current allocation

2.9-1.6.1: Disk Quota

2.9-1.6.2: Print Quota

2.9-1.6.3: IP Quota

2.9-1.7: Implementation

2.9-1.8: Technical Notes

2.10: Self Administered Computers

2.10-1: Self Administered Computers

2.10-1.1: Introduction

2.10-1.1.1: Who This Policy Applies To

2.10-1.1.2: Who Maintains This Policy

2.10-1.2: Concepts and Definitions

2.10-1.3: CSG administration of a computer

2.10-1.4: Self-administration of a computer

2.10-1.4.1: Gaining and relinquishing self-administration

2.10-1.4.2: Operating systems and software available for self-administered computers

2.10-1.4.3: CSG Support of self-administered computers

2.10-1.4.4: Responsibilities of self-administrators

2.10-1.5: Appendix

2.10-1.5.1: Securing computers and devices within CSE

2.10-1.5.1.1: Rationale

2.10-1.5.1.2: Maintaining Security

2.10-1.5.1.2.1: Fundamental security measures

2.10-1.5.1.2.2: Basic steps to securing a computer

2.10-1.5.1.3: Breaches of Security

2.10-1.5.2: Three Strikes Policy

2.10-1.6: Footnotes

3.0: Tags

Back to the ^Top

Apple

CGI

COMP3441

DHCP

GPG

GUI

HP

IMAP

KDE

MSDNAA

Microsoft

NSS

OSX

POP

PuTTY

SSH

SSL

UDB

USB

VPN

X

XMing

a0

a1

a2

a3

access

account

address

administration

afp

alias

alumni

apache

apt

arpwatch

asset

authorised

authorized_keys

automatic

autoreply

backup

backups

booking

browsers

buff

burn

cancel

card

cdrom

certificate

claim

class_accounts

cleanup

cluster

colour

common

compress

computer

computing

convert

copy

core

course

cron

crypto

cryptolab

database

debian

delete

deleted

disabled

disk

dispose

distributed

distro

dns

domain

duplex

dvd

elms

email

enable

encryption

enrolment

ethernet

exceeded

expiry

extra

fedora

feldman

file

filtering

firewall,

flash

flex

floppy

fluxbox

forgot

forum

forwarding

ftp

gentoo

gnome

grieg

group

help

home

hosting

hours

htaccess

html

https

initialisation

installation

internet

introduction

ipq

iso

labs

lamination

laptop

latex

leo

licence

licensing

linux

lists

lm

loan

login

lost

maildir

mailman

map

mathematica

matlab

messages

microsoft

mirror

mlalias

mlpr

mobile

moderation

multiple

mysql

network,

network

nologin

old

opencms

openvpn

optus

outofoffice

overtime

overview

paper

passphrase

password

pdf

permissions

phd

phone

php

pine

port,

poster

postgresql

postscript

print

printers

printing

priv

procmail

proxies

proxy

ps

purchasing

queue

quota

quotas

redirecting

regression

remote

removable

remove

resources

restore

restricting

robots

root

save

scp

scripts

secure

security

selfadmin

server

services

sftp

sim

smbfs

software

space

spam

special

staff

storage

student

stulocal

subversion

suppliers

support

swipe

terminal

tests

tokens

toner

ubuntu

umg

unimail

unipass

unix

updates

url

username

vacation

vfs

vina

virtual

warranty

watermark

web

welcome

windows

wireless

workstation

write

xerox

xfig

yellow

yum

cse taggi

New to CSE

Back to TOC

1: Welcome to CSE!

Stuff for new users. Mainly aimed at students, but applicable to staff.

1.1: The first day

- Where are the CSE labs?

- What is my login and password?

- What is my email address?

- it's your username@cse.unsw.edu.au eg. if your login ID is abcd123, your email address is abcd123@cse.unsw.edu.au

- What's this I'm looking at after logging in?

- If it doesn't look like Windows XP then it will be Fluxbox or KDE

- How do I read my email?

- How do I browse websites?

- How do I print stuff?

1.2: After you've settled in a bit

- Can I book one of the lab computers?

- Oops, I didn't mean to delete that file! How do I restore the file from backup?

- How do I get help for a problem?

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 27/05/2011

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Getting help

Back to TOC

1: Getting Help at CSE

There are quite a few ways of receiving support at CSE. This page deals particularly with computing-related help. There is a section at the bottom with some pointers for other topics.

1.1: Computing resources and problems

Questions relating to assignments or coursework, see Other places to find Help

The following resources should be consulted, in this order:

- Frequently Asked Questions - You're here already.

- CSE Support Forum. A collaborative forum frequented by staff and students. It is also regularly monitored by support staff.

- CSE Helpdesk - Students and staff are welcome to contact the helpdesk during its opening hours.

- System Support - System Support primarily supports staff, researchers and postgrads, and maintains the labs and severs. They monitor the Support Forum, and should not be contacted directly by undergrad students except for special requests (ask your question on the forum first). Their web page also contains contact details for serious after-hours issues.

You can find information on Current Service Issues in the Support Forum.

1.2: Other places to find Help

- For course-specific help, you should contact your tutor or course administrator or lecturer-in-charge. This information should be provided as part of the course web page.

- For enrolments and general administrative help, you can contact the Student Office.

- The CSE Student Representatives webpage provides some information on contacting Student Representatives.

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 14/04/2011

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Initialise account

Back to TOC

1: Initialising your CSE account

1.1: For new students

When our system processes your enrolment from NSS data, it automatically creates a username (also known as login id) for you as part of your account but does not set a password. In order to learn your username and set your password, you need to initialise your account. Several slightly different procedures for doing this are described below.

- If you are enrolled in a first year computing course such as ENGG1811

- Your tutor will help you with this in your first lab, although you are welcome to do it anytime before.

- If you are enrolled in a first year computing course such as COMP1917 or COMP1911

- Your tutor will help you work through Lab0. The first exercise in Lab0 is to initialise your account.

- For any other students or if you wish to initialise your account before your first lab, follow the steps below:

- You will need to know your student number to initialise your account.

- Your student number is on your student card which you collect from FMAssist. When you got your card, you should have received your UniPass; if for some reason you didn't, then go to the IT Service Desk in the Library. Most methods of initialising your account require your UniPass.

- If you are in one of the CSE Linux laboratories

- ie. you are looking at a login screen (which is dark blue with a single box in the middle for entering your username) you will use the Linux initialisation program which requires your student number and UniPass.

- If you are at another UNSW computer or at home

- Go directly to the Yellow Form. From here on the procedure is exactly the same as if you had started the Linux initialisation program at Step 2.

If you have any problems initialising your account or logging in afterwards, ask the CSE Help Desk or your tutor for assistance.

1.2: For continuing students

Your account should remain active from year to year as long as you remain enrolled in a CSE program so there is no need to re-initialise it. You will, however, have to accept the Conditions of Use every year and will be sent a reminder email about this at the beginning of session 1.

1.3: For staff and visitors

Staff and visitor accounts are handled somewhat differently to student accounts in that they are manually created by SS upon receipt of a new person form, and the employee/visitor will be informed of their username. Once you know this, you can initialise your account by running the program called newacc, which can be done remotely.

- if you are at CSE, locate an unused linux computer showing a login screen and enter newacc for the username, no password;

- if you are not at CSE, ssh to login.cse.unsw.edu.au and then login as newacc, no password;

- the program will then ask you for your username and ask you a question to verify your identity;

- the program will then ask you to set a password. You will need to set a strong password: one which is not a word in a dictionary and preferably contains numbers, capital letters and punctuation characters;

- you will then exit newacc.

You should be able to login with your new username and password within 5-10 minutes of running newacc. Your first login may be a bit slow as the system creates a home directory for you. If you encounter problems while running newacc, or can't login afterwards, contact SS.

You may see references to the Yellow Form in CSG documentation. This is a nickname for the Conditions of Use, dating back to the days when the Conditions were printed on a yellow sheet of paper and people had to sign the paper before their account was created. In honour of the paper form, the online version is also bright yellow.

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 27/05/2011

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Account Classes and Groups

Back to TOC

1: CSE Account Classes and Groups

Every CSE account belongs to at least one group and one Account Class.

Groups are a general Unix construct used in conjunction with group file permission bits to control access to files, directories, and programs. At CSE, every user belongs to their own group (group.username), but they may belong to up to 15 other groups.

Account classes are a CSE construct used to:

- Describe the user's relationship with the school;

- Control the user's access to CSE services (like printers, servers and lab machines);

- Determine the allocation of quotas for disk space and printing;

- Define membership of various CSE mailing lists.

Account classes will either be:

- User Classes of the form Organisation_Reason, where:
Organisation

is either

- 'CSE', or

- the name of a CSE workgroup (eg: 'AI', 'CSEOffice', 'CompFac'), or

- the name of a course (eg: COMP9331), or

- the name of a program (eg:3645)

Reason

is the particular association that the user has with that Organisation (eg: 'Student', 'Tutor', 'Academic', etc)

- Miscellaneous or Permission Classes, which are solely intended to control access to CSE services. Miscellaneous classes are also used to provide temporary disk quota, login access to certain machines, or prevent login altogether (usually because the user's password has been cracked, or they have contravened one of the conditions of the Yellow Form).

1.1: Displaying classes and groups

The classes and groups that a user belongs to, will be shown by the acc command. For example, consider the user 'fbloggs'.

% acc fbloggs

User Name : fbloggs              Aliases : s1234567

Uid : 3924

Groups : spider

Expires :  1 Mar 1999

User classes : COMP9331_Student[01aug98], 3645_Student

Group classes : group.spider[forever]

Misc classes : PrintAllocationExhausted[forever]

...

Groups

shows that fbloggs is a member of group.spider. (Note that fblogg's membership of group.fbloggs is assumed and never shown), Thus fbloggs potentially has access to all directories and files group-owned by fbloggs and spider. In general, membership of groups has to be requested from the System Support staff (SS).

User Classes

describes the association of the user with CSE. In this case, fbloggs is a student and enrolled in the course COMP9931 and the program 3645

Group Classes

exist only to provide an expiry date on group membership, which is usually required.

Misc Classes

are usually miscellaneous system permissions that are associated with users. In this case, fbloggs is a member of the class PrintAllocationExhausted, which prevents him from doing any more printing (probably because he is over his print quota).

Expires

This shows the accounts expiry date. By definition, this is the same as the expiry date of the last User Class to expire. Note that all classes have expiry dates assigned to them, which acc shows in square brackets after the class. If an expiry date is not shown for an individual class, then it is the same as this overall account expiry date.

1.2: Class Membership and Expiry Dates

Account class membership and expiry dates are controlled or managed in different ways, depending on the type of the account class.

1.2.1: Student Classes

Membership in these classes (of the form: X_Student), is usually determined by official enrolment records obtained daily from NSS throughout the year. SS does not add or delete students from these student classes, except in rare cases where the student is permitted (usually by the course lecturer and/or school office) to be enrolled in the course in some unofficial capacity.

If a student changes their enrolment in a course or a program during session (via MyUNSW), then it will usually take a day before CSE receives this information from NSS, and before the student account can be changed (or created) to reflect the student's new status.

In particular, note that if the student discontinues from some CSE course(s) and/or program(s), their course and/or program class membership will be removed from their account as soon as these official changes are propagated to CSE, without prior warning by email. If these classes were the student's last remaining UDB classes, then their account will also expire without prior warning.

1.2.1.1: Course Classes (eg: COMP2031_Student)

Students are members of course classes after they have officially enrolled, and for the duration of the session that they are enrolled in the course.

Start Date (earliest)

1 week before the start of the enrolled session

Expiry Date (latest)

6 weeks after the end of the enrolled semester.

1.2.1.2: Undergraduate Thesis Classes (eg: COMP4910_Student)

Start Date (earliest)

4 weeks before the start of the enrolled session

Expiry Date (latest)

The day before the start of the session following their enrolled session

1.2.1.3: Postgraduate Thesis Classes (eg: COMP9901_Student)

Start Date (earliest)

Beginning of the enrolled year

Expiry Date (latest)

HECS census date of the first session of the year following the enrolled year (generally the 31st of March).

The general CSE 'Workgroup_Thesis' class (eg: AI_Thesis) is not tied to official enrolment records, and will generally expire on the date that your thesis is due, which should have been stated on the thesis account application form. If this date is incorrect, ask your supervisor to mail System Support with the new due date, and your CSE 'Workgroup_Thesis' class will be extended accordingly.

1.2.1.4: CSE Program Classes (eg: 3645_Student)

Program classes reflect the overall program of study in which the student is enrolled. CSE program classes generally remain active as long as the student is enrolled in a CSE program. Students need not be enrolled in a CSE course to have an active CSE program class (see note below).

As with all other enrolment based classes, CSE program class memberships are automatically updated from daily downloads of "official" enrolment records obtained from NSS.

Start Date (earliest)

1 week before the start of the student's first enrolled session

Expiry Date (latest)

HECS census date of the session following their last enrolled session. (The HECS census date is either the 31st of March for session 1, or the 31st of August for session 2).

A program of study consists of one or more separate study plans (or majors). Most programs consist of only one plan and are single degree programs, however students in double (or multiple) degrees programs should have more than one plan registered. As far as CSE accounts and program classes are concerned, a student is enrolled in a CSE program if and only if the student is explicitly enrolled in a CSE plan.

If you do not have an active CSE account, but you believe that you are enrolled in a CSE program and are entitled to a CSE account despite not being enrolled in a CSE course, then you have probably not registered a CSE plan with your school office, and will need to do so before your CSE account is created (or extended) as an active member of the CSE program class.

1.2.1.5: Non CSE Program Classes (eg: UGrad_Student)

Start Date (earliest)

1 week before the start of the student's enrolled session

Expiry Date (latest)

The day before the start of the session following their enrolled session

1.2.2: Non-Student Classes

1.2.2.1: Course Classes (eg: COMP1011_Supervisor or COMP1011_Tutor)

These classes relate to either a teaching or administrative responsibility for the course in question, and are used by the CSE system to control access to the relevant course accounts, files, and marking software. In general:

- The lecturer in charge of a course liases with one of the academic teaching administrators (email: teachadmin@cse.unsw.edu.au), to organise and register those students and/or staff that are going to help with teaching their course.

- The academic teaching administrator enters these students and staff into the appropriate session based course database files in the teachadmin account;

- Various system scripts read these database files and automatically update the Non-student Course Class memberships.

Note that in addition to determining non-student course class membership, the teachadmin database files are also used to control and determine and control the pay for casual tutors, so it is important that the data in these files be kept up-to-date.

SS does not add or delete users from these non-student course classes. This is the responsibility of the academic teaching administrators

1.2.2.2: Miscellaneous User Classes

This includes all user classes of the form Organisation_Reason, where the Organisation is not a course or program.

eg: NICTA_Conjoint, CSE_Teaching, AI_Visitor, CSE_Courtesy, CSEOffice_Admin.

- Membership in such user classes is not determined by either official enrolments or teachadmin databases, but is often determined by various ad-hoc (and often undocumented) school policies;

- Membership is added, deleted, or extended by System Support, to whom such requests should be emailed.

- Membership in these classes are typically not extended by any more than 3 years at a time.

1.2.2.3: Access and Permission Classes

These classes are used to control access to miscellaneous resources (like servers, printers, workstations, etc). Such classes do not follow the form Organisation_Reason, and usually consist of a number of capitalised words concatenated together

eg: Personal2GigDiscQuota, Extra10MBIPQuota, TelnetServerAccess.

- Membership is added, deleted, or extended by System Support, to whom such requests should be emailed.

- Membership in these classes are typically not extended by any more than 3 years at a time.

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 13/04/2011

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Staff accounts

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1: Staff Accounts

Staff accounts are for academics, research assistants and associates, general staff, visiting academics and Visiting Fellows. Staff accounts have the highest levels of privilege and resources and are put into a UDB account class loosely indicating the work the staff member does. For permanent staff this class is generally set for 3 years at a time and is extended upon request to SS. For others, it is set for the timespan entered in the new person form (see below). Anybody involved in teaching or administering a course will also be in UDB classes corresponding to the course.

New staff accounts are created only upon the completion of the New Staff/Visitor/PhD Notification form which can be found in the myCSE pages, commonly referred to as the new person form.

This form is sent to:

- SS - who create the account

- the Database Officer - who updates the Staff database

- Facilities - who allocate a desk and arrange a swipe card with Security

- FIPRAS - who make the financial arrangements.

If you've just received a CSE account, there are instructions on how to initialise it.

You may be entitled to a computer when you arrive. Please read the Computers Provided by CSE policy.

The HoS Unit keeps track of when staff are due to leave CSE and send a warning email to all the above a month before the staff member's final day so equipment can be returned, work finalised and the account wrapped up.

Last edited by Simon Garrod 23/05/2011

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Login problems

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1: Login problems

Can't login? Please consider the following:

1.1: Are you using the right username and password?

Check that the Caps-Lock key isn't on. Double check that the username was correctly typed. Or have you forgotten your password?

1.2: Have you accepted the Yellow Form?

Once a year, students are required to acknowledge the Yellow Form.

If you don't, you will receive warnings for about two weeks. After that your account will be disabled until you accept it.

Visit the Yellow Form page for more information, including where to go to accept it.

1.3: Have you recently modified your .xsession, .profile or other login files?

It's possible you made a mistake...

When logging into a CSE linux machine, you should have a "Sessions" menu available. Try selecting a different one. The "Failsafe" option should be the most minimal and safest. Use this to fix any errors in your normal login files.

Also, if you recently changed your shell, you may have set it to something silly like /usr/local/etc/logins/tcsh, instead of /usr/local/bin/tcsh. The symptom of this is the system hangs on 'validating login'.

1.4: Which computer are you logging into?

Not everyone has permission to login everywhere. Try logging into another host.

Did you try to login to www.cse.unsw.edu.au? This is the web server. You should instead use login.cse.unsw.edu.au.

1.5: Has your account been disabled?

It's possible. See Account Disabled for more information.

1.6: Nope...

If all else fails, contact the Help Desk (students), or System Support (staff).

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 11/04/2011

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User managed groups

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1: User Managed Groups

Some groups, although ongoing, have frequent changes to their membership; for example students joining and leaving a project every semester. In order to save the project leaders the trouble of emailing SystemSupport every time they want a change in group membership of a group, such groups may be setup as a User-Managed Group, commonly known as a UMG.

These behave similarly to normal Unix groups and still have to be created by SS but once created they can be controlled by the group owner. Operations available to the group owner include adding and removing members, extending the UMG's expiry date and destroying the UMG. Only the group owner can add members to the UMG but members may remove themselves. Anybody can list the members of a UMG. All these operations are performed by the priv umg command. Emails are automatically sent to the group owner and members upon UMG creation and membership changes. The default expiry date on a UMG is one year, which can be extended up to the expiry date of the group owner's account.

To see what actions can be performed on a UMG, type priv help umg.

1.1: Using UMGs

UMGs always have names of the form: "username of group owner" "+" "purpose of UMG". For example, if user fbloggs wants to form a group with a couple of thesis partners, a logical choice of name would be fbloggs+thesis. Once created, the UMG owner (fbloggs) should create a subdirectory in their home directory for use by the UMG members and chgrp the subdirectory to the UMG. eg:

% pwd

/home/fbloggs

% mkdir project

% ls -ld project

drwxr-x--x  2 fbloggs fbloggs 4096 Jan 16 13:16 project

% chgrp fbloggs+thesis project

% chmod g+w,g+s project

% ls -ld project

drwxrws--x  2 fbloggs fbloggs+thesis 4096 Jan 16 13:17 project

Note that if the UMG was created (by root) after fbloggs had most recently logged in, then fbloggs will need to start a new login shell before doing any of the above, so that fbloggs' group membership may be updated to include the new UMG.

1.2: UMGs, the UDB, and expiry dates

UMGs are implimented by creating a user and group in the UDB that has the name of the UMG. The priv umg command simply ensures that for most of its operations, the user running it matches the owner part of the UMG name (ie: the string before the '+'). The UMG user and group can be viewed using acc just like any other UDB entry, you just have to prepend 'user.' to the UMG username. ie:

% acc user.fbloggs+thesis

Group Name : fbloggs+thesis

Id : 99999

Expires : 31 Mar 2008

User classes : UserManagedGroupAccount

Waste Basket UID : 65619

Printer Usage Status : Run "priv pquota" to initialise this information

% acc group.fbloggs+thesis

Group Name : fbloggs+thesis

Id : 99999

Gid : 88888

Groups : fbloggs+thesis

Expires : NEVER (structural)

Group classes : UserManagedGroup

Members : user.fbloggs|user.s1234567, user.jdoe|user.s7654321

% priv umg list fbloggs+thesis

fbloggs  31mar2008

jdoe  20dec2007

Note that in the example above:

- The UMG: fbloggs+thesis has the expiry date of 31mar2008 (matching the expiry date of its UDB entity: user.fbloggs+thesis);

- The UDB group: group.fbloggs+thesis, is a structural entity that will usually never expire;

- The two users that are members of the UMG (fbloggs and jdoe), have membership expiry dates that either preceed or equal the UMG's expiry date;

In general:

- No UMG member can have a membership expiry date that is later than the expiry date of the UMG itself.

- No UMG can have an expiry date that is later than the expiry date of the UMG's owner.

Thus:

- If a UMG is about to expire (ie: the UMG user is about to expire), then as long as the UMG owner has an expiry date that is later than the UMG user, then the UMG owner may extend the expiry of the UMG to the same date as the UMG owner's expiry date by using the command:
% priv umg renew UMGNAME

- If a user's UMG membership is about to expire, then as long as the UMG itself has an expiry date that is later than the UMG membership expiry date, the UMG owner may extend the membership of that user in the UMG to any DATE up to and including the UMG's expiry date by using the command:
% priv umg extend UMGNAME USER DATE

1.3: Group-owned UMGs

Usually the owner of the UMG is an individual user, but it is possible for the UMG itself to be owned by a group. This means that all members of the owning group will be able to control the UMG (using the priv umg command). However, as this condition can result in no individual member of that group accepting any personal responsibility or accountability for the UMG, SS will not create such group owned UMGs unless some member of that group can adaquately justify the need for it.

Last edited by Zain Rahmat 04/02/2011

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Student accounts

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Student accounts are constructed from NSS enrolment data, which is initially processed a fortnight before session starts with regular updates thereafter. The account will contain your name, date of birth and enrolment details, all of which are taken from NSS and can only be changed by you correcting your enrolment details (i.e. don't ask Help Desk or SS to change it). If you are enrolled in a CSE program (degree) don't forget to register a plan as failure to do so will result in an incorrect account being created.

As well as personal and enrolment details your account will show where your home directory is and some figures on your disk/print/ip quotas and usage (note that these figures aren't updated instantly and should only be used as a guide). The command to see your account is acc.

Student accounts can roughly be grouped into 3 categories:

- undergraduate and Masters by coursework, which are only created from NSS data and have the lowest levels of privilege and quotas

- postgraduate research, both Masters and Ph.D, with more privileges and higher quotas; their account may be created ahead of enrolment upon request from your supervisor to SS

- summer research and practicum exchange, who have privileges intermediate between the above 2 categories, and whose accounts must be created by SS as they do not go through NSS.

Students who are employed as tutors, elected to be a student representative, or elected to be a student society executive, have slightly higher quotas than undergraduates.

If you've just received a CSE account, there are instructions on how to initialise it. All students have to accept CSE's Conditions of Use or their CSE account will be disabled (or not initialised, if it's new).

Accounts only remain active from one session to the next for students enrolled in a CSE degree. If you are enrolled in another school's degree, your CSE account will expire at the end of the session and will not be revived until/unless you enrol in another CSE course. This also applies to students who defer their CSE degree.

You will be sent warning emails before your account expires and should take the opportunity to save your files. You may also setup a mail redirection, which will last for 6 months or so, and should look into creating a CSE alumni account if a permanent redirection is desired.

Last edited by Robert Doran 27/05/2011

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Alumni Accounts

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1: Alumni Lifelong Email Service

UNSW offers a lifelong e-mail service for UNSW alumni, and instructions on how to set this up can be found at the Alumni Lifelong Email Service page. If you wish to continue receiving mails sent to your CSE email address, you can set up a redirection from your CSE email to your alumni email account. The instructions for doing so can be found at the Redirecting mail page. If your account has already expired, you can email System Support at ss@cse.unsw.edu.au and we can set up the redirection for you.

Please note that the Alumni Lifelong Email Service is administered by IT @ UNSW and not by CSE. For support, the appropriate contact details can be found below.

IT Service Centre

Ph (int): x51333

Ph (ext): +61 (0)2 9385 1333

Email: ITServiceCentre@unsw.edu.au

2: CSE alumni redirection service

CSE also has its own alumni mail service, which is a mail redirection service. See the CSE Alumni Redirection page for more details.

Please note that while UNSW offers a lifelong email service, the CSE alumni redirection service may eventually be taken offline in the future. For this reason, CSG highly recommends the use of the Alumni Lifelong Email Service over this service.

Last edited by Adrian Pua 07/12/2010

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Account names

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1: Account Names at CSE

1.1: Can I change my username?

Yes, within limits.

All students are allowed to change their username once . This means rather than a fairly random set of letters and numbers, you can select a more relevant/preferred set of letters and numbers.

Undergrad and coursework postgrad students can only change their username to another combination of 4 letters followed by 3 numbers, unless they qualify for a Named Account.

Important Note: You cannot rename your account into a named account using the priv username command detailed directly below. You must contact SS for the name change. Please see the Named Account section for more details.

The command to change your basic username is priv username and the usage is as follows:

priv username changename NEWNAME

This allows the user to change their username to the given new name (see below for rules). The old user name will be kept as an alias for the account. The new name must fit certain restrictions as given below, and the user must not already have too many aliases.

New usernames are only allowed if they fit certain rules. These rules are checked by /usr/local/lib/check_name.pl. They are:

- The user name must be made of between 3 and 5 lowercase letters followed by at least 3 digits.

- The user name must contain at most 8 characters.

- The letters must come from the start of two or more of your names as recorded in you acc entry. For example, if your name is recorded as "Fred H. Bloggs", then combinations like "frbl", bfred", "fhb", "bhf" are all permitted. There is some allowance for standard abbreviations to be used. For example, if your name was "Robert Edwards", then "bobe" would be allowed. If an abbreviation doesn't work for you, then possibly it hasn't been added to the list of allowed abbreviations. Check /usr/local/lib/nicknames and ask System Support to add it if it isn't there.

The priv username command will require a password to be given before changes are made.

1.2: Named Accounts

A "named" account means a chosen account name (generally without any numbers in the name).

Staff (including tutors), visiting academics, thesis students, postgraduate research students, student representatives and society executives are all eligible for "named" accounts.

The policy on allowed account names is available at the Acceptable Username Policy. Please read it before asking for a name. The most recommended username is "initial of first name, plus full surname", or "initial of surname, plus full firstname".

For your convenience, there is also a script which generates valid account names. To see this list, run: /usr/local/lib/usernames.pl -u $USER

Changing an account name also changes the account home directory name. Some files inside the account are also changed so they refer to the new home directory path.

If someone is logged in or reading email when the account is moved it can have several inconvenient side effects. Most of these won't involve serious file corruption but will cause programs to give odd errors or data to disappear until the next login. You may also lose your most recent mail items.

We recommend that an account owner be logged out during an account name change.

Important Note: When you request a name change, please nominate a period of time of 30 minutes or longer (within business hours) that you will not be logged on. We will then change the username for you during that time period.

1.3: Notes about changed username

When your account name is changed, your old account name is usually retained as an alias. Thus, mail delivered to the old address will be automatically forwarded to the new one. Similarly, the path /home/oldusername will continue to work, as will relevant web URLs (you should try to change them over time though).

If you had any Mail Aliases based on your old username (e.g. oldname.something), you will not be able to edit this with a normal mlalias command. To access the old aliases, you must also give the -u old_username argument to mlalias. For example, to delete an old alias called "fblg123.group":

mlalias -u fblg123 -R fblg123.group

1.4: Renaming legacy accounts

Some old student accounts include the student number in the username. These are now rare since student numbers are no longer publically recorded. This section pertains to renaming those accounts using the priv username command.

- priv username newhome

If the user's home directory currently ends with their student number, this command can be used to change the home directory to end with the user's current username.

- priv username no-stuid

Once a student has chosen a new username and changed their home directory name, they can remove (almost) all record of their student id from their account. This no-stuid command removes the student number alias, and the student number field from the acc entry. It is still possible for staff find out the user's student number using priv upi.

There are important consequences of using this command that should be understood. After removing the student number from an account, mail addressed to the student number alias will no longer work. Also incremental backups which were taken when the user's home directory ended with the student number will no longer be available through tkrestore. I recommend waiting six months after changing your home directory before removing your student number.

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 13/04/2011

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Accounts Overview

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1: CSE Accounts - what are they?

Also see these topics for more specific information:

- Staff Accounts

- Student Accounts

- Group Accounts

- Special Accounts

All CSE accounts are by default shell accounts, with login access to the CSE system and a filespace known as the home directory or homedir as well as email. There is no such thing as an 'email-only' account. However, an account can be crippled in various ways, for example not giving it a homedir or removing login permissions, if this is required or desired.

All CSE accounts are based on the same template: a username, a UID, membership of classes and groups, location of homedir and some fields for quota information and comments. Depending on the purpose of the account there will be additional fields such as the UPI (unique personal identifier) for people, a GID for group accounts and PATHs for course accounts.

With the exception of some system accounts, all CSE accounts have an expiry date set upon creation. Warnings about imminent expiry are sent to the account a month before and then week before expiry so that arrangments can be made for either extending the account or saving its data. The account's homedir will remain available in the backup system for some time after expiry, in case it is needed again. If an mlalias exists for the account, it will be allowed to remain for 6 months after expiry.

Last edited by Computing Support Group 28/10/2010

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Account expiry

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1: Why is my account expiring?

There is a good chance that it isn't.

Every CSE account is a member of at least one account class and one group, and each of these class memberships has an expiry date (see the taggi page on Account Classes and Groups for more details and typical expiry dates)

A month before you expire from an account class and/or group, you will receive an automatic email message warning you of the impending expiry; this is to give you time to save files relating to that class, if you will not be continuing in it. The rest of the warning message will tell you what classes you will continue to belong to (if any). Read the email carefully to see what is actually happening.

As long as you remain a member of at least one active class, your account will remain active.

1.1: Web interface

For a nice view of your current account and group expiries, visit the Account Control Panel.

2: But my account really is expiring!

If all your classes are expiring together, then your account is about to expire and you will get a slightly different automatic message warning you of this. If you are a student who has finished your degree, now is the time to copy all your files and take them home.

2.1: Can I keep receiving e-mail?

You can can configure a redirection using mlalias to forward email to an external account, see Redirecting_mail. Currently we guarantee this forwarding for 6 months, although we rarely cull old mail redirections this may change soon with the introduction of new email systems. We would strongly encourage you to set up an alumni account and encourage everyone to use its associated email address instead, see Alumni Accounts for more details.

2.2: Students:

2.2.1: Not enrolled in any CSE courses...

If you are a student who is not enrolled in any CSE courses, but you are still enrolled in a CSE program, then your account should automatically be extended as a member of that CSE program class. If your account has not been automatically extended, then you might need to make sure that you have registered a CSE plan with this program (for more details, see the taggi page on Account Classes and Groups).

2.2.2: Taking program leave...

You are not automatically entitled to an account if you have officially taken leave from your CSE program. However, if you would like to have your account kept active while you are on leave, then you should email your request (and any justification you have for such a request) to the CSE school office, and/or to the Head of School. If your request is approved, they should contact system support to have your account extended manually. Note:

- Such requests are usually only granted to students who have already completed a substantial portion of their degree, and who may need (or want) to work on their thesis/projects while they are away.

- Even if the request is not approved, you need not worry that any files or directories in your CSE account will be lost forever. Your CSE account (and any directories and files it may have previously contained) can be resurrected fairly easily when you return from program leave.

2.2.3: Not enrolled in a CSE program or course...

If you are not enrolled in a CSE program or any CSE courses, then unfortunately your account will not be extended unless you can provide a very good reason that is supported by a CSE academic or the Head of School.

2.2.4: Still finishing their thesis...

If you are finishing work on your postgraduate (or undergraduate) thesis, then you need to ask your supervisor to email System Support on your behalf, asking to extend your account, and any other required access permissions or quotas. The email should explicitly specify the amount of additional time required, and/or a new expiry date.

3: What to do before your account expires

3.1: Redirect email

See section above about redirecting your CSE email and setting up an Alumni account.

3.2: Account backups

The files in your home directory are backed up to tape and can be restored should you return to CSE, in fact this will be done automatically if your account is renewed less than 6 months after expiring. But it is important that you make a personal copy of any files that you will need after you leave CSE as we cannot guarantee that we can supply these to you after you leave.

3.3: Cleaning out scratch space if you have it.

If you have been allocated scratch space, please ensure that you clear these directories, or email System Support to confirm that these can be removed.

3.4: Allocated computers

If you would like to take your computer with you when you go, check Policy on allocation of old computers to see if you are eligible and for the procedure to transfer the asset to you. Let System Support know what equipment you have and when it will be available for collection. It is important that you explicitly state by email that we can wipe the computer's hard drive when it is returned. It is standard policy to securely wipe hard drives before reallocation or disposal of computers, but we need to be sure that you have backups of all the files you need.

3.5: And lastly .....

If you have been allocated a desk, please ensure it is cleared of any personal items, and is as clean and tidy as possible for the next person to use the desk.

Last edited by Zain Rahmat 12/04/2011

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Yellow form

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1: The Yellow Form

The Yellow Form is CSE's Conditions of Use for students. It is available at https://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~studentoffice/policies/yellowform.html.

All students are required to agree to it each year. If they do not agree within two weeks of the start of session, their account will be disabled. If you need to agree to it, read it and follow the link at the bottom.

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 11/04/2011

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Special accounts

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1: Special Purpose Accounts

These are accounts that are used to provide the system with names it needs, for example w3serv for the webserver, or to act as repositories for software, for example java. They are controlled by SS and are rarely setup for other users, since in practice other users needs can usually be accommodated by a group account.

Last edited by Computing Support Group 28/10/2010

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Group accounts

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1: Group Accounts

Group accounts are accounts that are intended to be used by more than one person. A group account has a home directory that is separate from any person's home directory. This group directory contains files that several people may collaborate to create for a specific purpose. It is also a single place where others may find information about a particular project or area of research.

Group accounts have their own file space and internet traffic quota. File access controls for a group are separate from those of personal home directories. Selected personal accounts can be made members of a group by requesting this from System Support. These accounts will have special file access to read and change group files that other accounts will not. See the page on file permissions.

Examples of group accounts are:

- CSE courses that require group projects as part of their assessment usually assign students to group accounts, one account per project group.

- Staff may request a group account to act as a central repository for group efforts such as a research project or conference.

- Student societies are also given a group account.

Please advise SS if people who need access to the group account do not already have CSE accounts, as these may have to be created to enable them to access the group account.

A special type of group account is the user-managed group. This does not have a separate home directory. It allows the group manager to create directories and files in his/her own home directory and manage which other accounts have access to them.

When Group Accounts Are Created

Group accounts use extra resources such as space on backup tapes and internet traffic and require time from the system administrators to set up. Consequently they will only be created when real need for a group account exists. In other cases files should be kept in a personal home directory and a user-managed group may be created to help manage group access.

Good reasons for creating a group account are:

- Significant and consistent problems occur due to keeping group files in a personal home directory.

- A repository is needed for documents for a high profile project or research group. This might be a conference which has a distinct URL, or a software project with several contributing authors.

- A project uses resources at CSE, such as file space or a website. Even if the main person running the project were to leave, others at CSE would continue to run the project and use the resources.

How Groups Work

Group accounts are based upon Unix/Linux groups. Every account has an associated group of the same name to which it belongs and to which other accounts can be added. This fact, combined with file permissions, allows people to have shared access to directories and files that by default would be accessible only to the owner. There is, therefore, no need for the group account to have a password so System Support do not set one and the account is set to be classed as NoLogin.

- to see what groups you're a member of look at the Groups line in your acc or type groups.

- to access the group home directory type: cd /home/<groupname>

- to see the group details type: acc group.<groupname>

- to list all members of the group type: acc group.<groupname>/ (note the slash on the end).

If groups or cd don't work after SS tell you they've added you to a group, start a new login shell. At worst you might need to logout and login again. Group membership, like much of your session environment, is set upon login and subsequent changes won't automatically propagate.

Passwords on group accounts

We avoid setting passwords on group accounts where possible. If a group account requires an actual login (this will only be provided to staff), we will take it out of the NoLogin class and associate an SSH public key for each person requiring access. Each person generates an SSH key pair, keeps their private key and gives us the public key.

See the SSH Key File Guide.

Please create your SSH key files before you ask anyone to grant you login access to a group account.

Group members who already have login access to the group account can add your public key to the ~/.ssh/authorized_keys file.

Adding other accounts to a personal group

If there are only a couple of people who want to share diskspace and the space needs are small, it may be simpler for user A to be added to user B's group and user B to set aside a directory in their home directory, with suitable file permissions, for the shared space. However, UMGs are the preferred method of handling this.

Last edited by Robert Doran 27/05/2011

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Account Disabled

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1: Is your Account disabled?

You should first consider the options in Can't Login. Or have you forgotten your password or did you have the Caps Lock key on while you were typing it?

You may be denied access to your account for several reasons, almost all of these involve you doing something wrong. The list of "something wrong" includes:

- Letting someone else use your account.

- Failing to return, or adequately care for material loaned from the CS&E library.

- Bringing food or drink into the laboratories, eating and/or drinking in the laboratories.

- Sending large personal print jobs to printers.

- Sending the same print job to multiple printers.

- Attempting to violate the system security, eg attempting to crack another users password, attempting to access unauthorised files (these include other users files and system files), attempting to damage, delete, or alter unauthorised files.

- Misuse of resources.

- Misuse of screen locking.

- Violating any other reasonable directive made up by a member of the support staff, because it was necessary at the time.

Of course, if you have not done anything wrong, it may mean that a member of the support staff wishes to have a chat to you, and switching your account off is an effective way of gaining your attention quickly. Note that in almost all cases you will be sent an email before the support staff resort to locking your account.

Contact the Help Desk or System Support for more advice on regaining access to your account.

Last edited by Robert Doran 27/05/2011

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Linux initialisation

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1: Initialising your account in a CSE Linux laboratory

The Linux laboratories are located on five precints, see lab locations or lab map. They all run Linux based on the Debian distribution.

To initialise your account in one of these labs:

1. Login with newuser as the username on the login screen.

- It should not ask you for a password; if it does, inform Help Desk as the computer will need fixing. Try again on another computer.

2. Another login dialog box will pop up. This time you will login as yourself. Enter 'z' followed by your student number as the username (eg. z1234567) and your UniPass for the password.

3. A web browser will start up telling you your CSE username which will be a mix of letters and numbers eg. acbd1234. Write it down as it may not be so easy to remember later.

4. Click on the link to the Conditions of Use of your CSE account, also known as "the Yellow Form". Read the Yellow Form carefully. Don't just acknowledge without reading, because you are legally bound by the terms.The first section, RESPONSIBLE USE OF LABORATORIES, is the most important one for you to read as it lists the rules for using the laboratories.

5. After you've read the Conditions of Use, click on the "ACCEPT YELLOW FORM AND ACTIVATE ACCOUNT" button down the bottom.

6. The webpage will ask you to enter some personal information to verify who you are and to set a password. You will need to set a strong password: one which is not somebody's name, or a word in a dictionary, and preferably contains numbers, capital letters and punctuation characters.
Do not write down your password and do not show it to anybody, ever.

7. You will also be asked if you want your CSE email forwarded to your Unimail account. CSE lecturers and the CSE School Office always send email to your CSE account, so if you think you will login to your Unimail account more often than your CSE one tick this box to have it forwarded. You can remove the forwarding later if you change your mind.

8. You have now finished initialising your account. End the newuser session by clicking on the "Exit" button up the top of the screen.

You should be able to login with your CSE username and password within 5-10 minutes. The first login will be a bit slow, as your home directory (where your files and email will be stored) is created.

If you did not finish reading the Conditions of Use you can return to them any time later by going to the website http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~studentoffice/policies/yellowform.html.

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 11/04/2011

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Using your account

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1: Using Your CSE Account

1.1: Account Information

The acc[ount] command is an expanded version of pp, returning information about user accounts. Just type acc for yourself, or acc <username> for another user. For example:

acc fbloggs

1)          User Name : fbloggs              Aliases : s1234567

2)                Uid : 3924

Groups : spider

3)            Expires :  1 Mar 1999

4)       User classes : COMP9331_Student[01aug98], CSE_Student

Group classes : group.spider[forever]

Misc classes : PrintAllocationExhausted[forever]

Name : Fred Bloggs

Encrypted Password : DvRk3u8YF.w/o

Password last changed : 98/01/09.11:23:51

Home Directory : /import/bizet/2/fbloggs

5)         Disc Limit : 4096

6)        Login Shell : /usr/local/bin/csh

Last Login Host : fife04:0

Last Login Time : 98/01/13.15:55:15

7)   Waste Basket UID : 65619

Student Id : 1234567

8)       Last Warning : 97/08/08

Printer Usage Status : Post-census Allocation       490

9)                    : Used                         499

: Available                     -9

: set at 05:01 PM 10/Oct/1997

Much of this listing should be self-explanatory. Some points of interest are:

1. The primary username is fbloggs, but they can also be reached on their student number alias.

2. The User Identifier - your machine-understandable identity. It is also used by the UDB (User Database).

3. The expiry date of your account (actually the latest expiry date of the "user classes" you belong to).

4. See Account Classes and Groups for information on these fields.

5. See Base Allocations for information on how your disk quota is allocated.

6. This line may not be present, in which case the user is using the default login shell bash.

7. Not used at present.

8. The last time this user was sent an automatic warning ie. account status change/expiry.

9. See Printing Quotas for information on how your print quota is allocated. Some users may also have a color print allocation, which will be listed under the main printer allocation.

1.2: Changing Your Username

See the Account Names FAQ page for more information.

1.3: Changing Your Password

The command to change your password on unix is passwd. The system will prompt you to enter your current password, then a new one. Your chosen password will be checked against a password cracking program, and if it is too easy to crack you will have to try again. Use a mixture of upper and lower case letters, numbers and punctuation characters.

To change your password on Windows, hold down the CTRL-ALT-DELETE keys together, and then select Change Password from the dialog box that appears.

1.4: Changing Your Login Shell

The default shell is bash. You can change this by typing chsh; you will be prompted for your password, then for the new shell. Type in the name of the shell you want to use; you don't need to enter a full path, just the name of the shell. The new shell will be instantiated the next time you login.

The shells available are in /usr/local/bin:

- ae - pronounced `ash', a shell written by our very own Neil Brown.

- sh - the grand original Bourne shell.

- bash - the "Bourne again shell", from the GNU project.

- csh - the famous C shell.

- ksh - Korn shell.

- tcsh - Tenex C shell. Also known as Turbo C shell.

- zsh - Z shell.

There are man pages for all of these shells (you will find them if you click on the shell names above). If you decide to use csh or tcsh, make 'source /etc/locallogin' the first line in your .login file.

1.5: Changing Your Path

Don't set PATH directly, always append or prepend a path. For example, to append /some/example/path to your path, do the following:

In sh, ae, zsh, ksh, etc. , the following would go in your .profile

PATH="${PATH}:/some/example/path"

export PATH

In csh, tcsh, this would go in your .login

setenv PATH "${PATH}:/some/example/path"

1.6: Other Useful Articles

Below are some more FAQ articles that may be useful.

- Window managers

- File permissions

- Cron jobs

- Setting up mysql

- Running your own server

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 08/04/2011

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Account backups

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1: How is my account backed up?

There are three independent backup systems running at CSE.

1.1: Nightly incrementals

Incremental backups are run each night. Files modified in the last day are copied to a large, specially indexed, filesystem and are kept for approximately 4 weeks. After this time the most recent updates are collected together to make a weekly incremental, compressed, and stored for another 6 months (and possibly longer depending on available space).

These backups are normally used for restoring individual files which may have been lost or damaged. The incremental backups cannot normally restore a complete directory.

These incrementals are effectively online and can be restored easily using the `tkrestore' command. See also, the Restoring deleted files FAQ page. Only files changed and backed up in the last 6 months will be listed by tkrestore.

Because of the space limitations on the backup filesystem, a filter program called buff is used to select the files to be backed up. A full description is in the manual page, however the main effects of buff are to:

- omit files which seem to be easily reproduceable (eg, .o, .dvi),

- omit singularly large files,

- limit any set of backups from a home directory to a designated maximum. This is called the treemax.

All of these limits can be changed (see the manual page for buff) except for the treemax because of the limited space on the backup filesystem.

1.1.1: The treemax limit

The treemax is currently set to 60MB per account per night.

The treemax limit often confuses people. What happens with the incremental backups is they take a list of every file you modified that day, then start backing them up one by one, counting the bytes, until they reach the treemax. The total file size, not the size of the changes, is counted. This means that if you have one very big file, and you make a tiny change to it, it will get included in your nightly backup and take up most of the limit, squeezing out other files that you may have extensively changed. This tends to happen to people who never clean out their old mails. New mail gets added every day so the file gets included in the incremental backups, but most of the file is old and has already been backed up many times - and this old stuff is preventing newer files from being backed up.

If you are having problems with incremental backups you can find solutions at this page: Account not backed up.

1.2: Full dumps

are a complete dump of the contents of each home directory. As long as the home directory can fit on the backup media, the home directory will be backed up on Full Dumps. Note that the current media used for full dumps (LTO tapes) can hold up to 180Gig (compressed).

There are three classes of Full Dumps taken throughout the year:

1. Regular full dumps of all home directories, taken every 28 days, and kept for seven years;

2. Session full dumps of all home directories, taken a few weeks after sessions one and two every year, and kept indefinitely;

3. Archive full dumps of expired home directories, taken a month or so after they have expired, and kept indefinitely.

Full backups are normally used when:

- There are no copies of the missing file on incremental dumps. This will happen when the file to be restored:

- Had not been modified within the last 6 months or so;

- Had not been backed up onto incrementals because of buff limitations.

A significant part of a home directory has been lost.

Files can be restored from full dumps by SS or by the user whose home directory contained the files. See also, the Restoring deleted files FAQ page.

1.3: Snapshots

are taken once every 7 days of the file systems on most of CSE's major servers - particularly of the major file servers hosting user directories. Snapshots contain a complete dump of the entire filesystem, and are stored on 4 duplicated sets of 5 LTO3 tapes rotated over 28 days, with one of the sets of 5 being stored off-site (also on a rotational basis).

These backups are normally used when there has been a major disk catastrophe on a server.

Files backed up to snapshot can only be restored by SS.

Last edited by Computing Support Group 28/10/2010

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Account not backed up

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1: Account files not backed-up

or "Why weren't my files backed up?" It is very likely that one day you will get an email from an account called system PRIVILEGED, with a subject of System Backups and a body similar to this:

/export/adams/1/fbloggs/.incoming-mail NOT backed up

max file size of 1048576 bytes exceeded

limit set by system default

Read the manual entry for `buff'

for information on controlling file selection

If you still have trouble configuring `buff'

or cannot get particular files backed up

come and seek help

There may be more than one file listed as not backed up.

This indicates that the nightly incremental backups have not backed-up the listed files due to limits on how much can be backed up each night. The incremental backups are described on this page. You should read the page now if you have not done so before.

The program buff selects files to be backed-up. If it is not backing up the files you want you may need to reconfigure it by creating a file called .backup in your home directory. Buff will not back up files due to file size limits or due to a total treemax limit.

1.1: File size limits

If the message says that max file size of ... bytes exceeded it is telling you is that an individual file is too big to be included in the nightly incremental backups. It will still be included in the monthly full dumps.

1.1.1: Make the file smaller

A basic way to fix this is to make the file smaller. You can remove or compress it (see Cleaning up Files) if it's a file you don't use often. If the file has to be uncompressed, such as your mail Inbox file, you will need to think about how to make it smaller. For most accounts the Inbox file is called .incoming-mail and the other mail Folders are files in the mail/ directory. For mail files you can move mail to other smaller folders or just delete them from the larger folder.

1.1.2: Ignore the file size limit

You can configure buff to ignore the default file size limit on individual files. To configure buff, you will need a .backup file in the directory where such large files exist, or in your home directory. For example, if you want to ignore the file size of your Inbox mail file, in your .backup include:

filemax none .incoming-mail

1.1.3: Don't backup some files

You can decide that certain files will not be backed-up in incremental backups. Either you accept the nightly warning emails that the backup system sends or you can configure buff to ignore certain files:

exclude *.jpg

or directories:

exclude tmp/

Note that the monthly Full Dump backups will back up all files, even the ones you exclude from nightly backups.

1.1.4: Prioritise Backups

You can set certain files to be backed up before the rest:

first .incoming-mail

Or, after all other recently changed files:

last .incoming-mail

1.2: treemax limit

It is more likely you will get a message like this:

max directory size of 62914560 bytes for /export/adams/1/fbloggs exceeded

The treemax limit often confuses people. What happens with the incremental backups is they take a list of every file you modified that day, then start backing them up one by one, counting the bytes, until they reach the treemax limit. The total file size, not the size of the changes, is counted. This means that if you have one very big file, and you make a tiny change to it, it will get included in your nightly backup and take up most of the treemax limit, squeezing out other files that you may have extensively changed. This tends to happen to people who never clean out their old mails. New mail gets added every day so the file gets included in the incremental backups, but most of the file is old and has already been backed up many times - and this old stuff is preventing newer files from being backed up.

To fix a treemax limit problem you may need to do more work. You cannot configure buff to ignore the treemax limit. You will need to use the techniques described above for File Size limits to alter how your treemax limit is reached. You can stop large files that change frequently from being backed up or change how data is stored in those files so they are not as big a part of your treemax limit.

Last edited by Computing Support Group 28/10/2010

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NoLogin Accounts

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1: Accessing files in a group directory or NoLogin account

The following points also apply to a directory in one person's homedir that is accessed by other people in that person's group, except that only the shared directory should have the setgid bit turned on.

Files in a NoLogin account can be accessed, created, modified, and deleted without logging in to that account by setting correct permissions on the files and directories. Files are controlled largely via group permissions and are administered by users who are in the account's group. Therefore, each file will be owned by the user who created it and group owned by the account in its home directory.

There are a couple of important details that need to be set up for file access to function properly. The manual pages for chmod and umask have full details about the following points:

- All directories, including the account's home directory, should have the setgid bit turned on (chmod g+s). The setgid bit ensures that any files or subdirectories created inherit the group from the parent directory, which means that all files will remain group owned correctly.

- The second thing is to make sure that all users who create files maintain appropriate permissions on the files. The easiest way to ensure this is to use the command umask 007 in the .login or .profile files. The value for umask determines which permissions are set for newly created files, and 007 means that both the user and the group will, by default, have full access to the files. As a result, files in the group's home directory should have correct access permissions.

Last edited by Computing Support Group 28/10/2010

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Reading mail

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1: Reading E-mail at CSE

There are a number of programs for reading and sending Email available at CSE. They are called Email Clients and also Mail User Agents or MUAs. The client you choose will depend on the features you want and the circumstances under which you expect to read email. You will need to decide whether:

- you will mostly be reading CSE email on the CSE system or reading it from other systems

- you want a text-based or graphical client.

1.1: GUI Clients

Clients that run in a graphical desktop environment (GUI Clients) tend to be slower and much less portable but they offer integrated graphics and thus 'look better' to many people. They also tend to make looking at attachments easier. GUI clients include:

- thunderbird - Mozilla Thunderbird

- evolution - Gnome Evolution linux only

- Outlook Express - Windows only

For the graphical and Windows clients, you should configure your client to read mail Using IMAP.

1.2: Text-based Clients

If you will mostly be reading your CSE email on a CSE linux computer and want something fast and light, go for one of the text-based clients such as:

- mutt

- pine

- mail - rather too simple for everyday use but good in scripts

Advantages of text-based clients are:

- they can be used without having to start an X session: for instance, when you've ssh'd in from another computer;

- they have many more configuration options than GUI-based clients;

- they can be used in scripts and cronjobs;

- they are impervious to most of the exploits that afflict GUI-based clients.

Mail Clients that use IMAP will use mail folders in your home directory and so will test-based clients. These will typically be your .incoming-mail file and in your mail directory. This means you can read your email from home with an IMAP client and quickly check your email at CSE using mutt.

1.3: Getting your email on a Web Browser

We also have a WebMail system, using SquirrelMail. You also have full access to web-based free email providers such as Yahoo or Gmail in the CSE laboratories.

CSE Webmail uses IMAP to read your email so it will show you the same email that another IMAP client would.

1.4: Redirecting Email to an External Mail Account

Another option is to Redirect your mail to another provider, for example UniMail. Email to undergraduate students redirects to their UNSW student account by default.

1.5: CSE POP Service

If you have a special requirement to use POP to collect email read the document Using POP - however this should be avoided unless you really can't use IMAP.

1.6: Other Articles About Email

See the list of articles tagged as relating to Email.

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 11/04/2011

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Redirecting root email

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1: Redirecting root email on a self-administered computer

If you have a computer you administer yourself, either as a desktop (staff and postgrads only) or as a laptop you connect to the CSE wireless network (all users) then it is possible that one day you will receive email from one of the CSG system administrators telling you to redirect root email on the computer to yourself instead of root@cse. What is happening?

CSG's experience is that such computers are almost always running some version of linux. Many linux applications send email to the root account instead of, or in addition to, logging their results via syslogd. The default MTA is usually Sendmail. If you have not configured your Sendmail to send root email to yourself or to the local root account only then the email will be sent out onto the CSE network. Apart from the very few computers with their own MX record in CSE's DNS, the mailserver for your computer while it's connected to the CSE network is the CSE mailserver which delivers all email addressed to root to the CSG system administrators.

Fortunately, configuring Sendmail to direct root email to you or some address you choose is usually very simple; either of the following work for most users:

- create a /root/.forward file containing the email address (strictly speaking, a mailbox) you want root email to go to. It's easiest to make this a local account i.e. it exists on your computer and is delivered without ever leaving localhost. If root's homedir isn't /root substitute root's $HOME

- edit /etc/aliases to point root to the email address you want root email to go to, then run newaliases

Sometimes these measures do not work and you need to force Sendmail to deliver the mail locally. Two ways of doing this (you may need to do both) are:

- prepend a '\' to the email address you want root mail to go to

- force localhost.localdomain to be handled locally by adding localhost.localdomain to /etc/mail/local-host-names

The Sendmail FAQ has notes on how you can test these changes are working correctly.

If these do not work, you will need to consult the documentation for your particular setup.

For Fedora modify /etc/mail/local-host-names and add (just to be safe):

localhost

localhost.localdomain

host

host.ai.cse.unsw.edu.au (if you have your own subdomain)

host.cse.unsw.edu.au

Last edited by Computing Support Group 28/10/2010

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Pine GPG

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1: Pine and GPG keys

This page describes how to use pine together with pinepgp. Both are installed on the CSE system. Familiarity with basic pine usage is assumed.

1.1: Setting up pinepgp

1. First of all, you should create a GPG key for yourself as described in UsingGPG.

2. Install pinepgp for gpg in your account (yourname@cse.unsw.edu.au is the email address that you created a key for): pinegpg-install yourname@cse.unsw.edu.au If you do not specify the email address, then "encrypt to self" is not enabled, and even you won't be able to read encrypted messages that you have sent.

1.2: Using pinepgp

1.2.1: Signing/encrypting an email

When sending an email, you can sign it, to verify you wrote it, and/or you can encrypt it. All of these are done as a "send filter".

1. Compose an email as usual

2. When you press Ctrl-X to send, you should get asked "=Send message (unfiltered)?=". You can then press Ctrl-N (Next Filter) to change to gpg-sign, or gpg-encrypt instead of unfiltered.

3. Once you've chosen the filter, press y to send, and you should be prompted for your passphrase to unlock your key for signing. After typing your passphrase, the message is sent, well done.

1.2.2: Signing an email by default

Pine by default doesn't sign the message. To make it always sign by default, you need to set the gpg-sign filter as the default.

1. Enter the Pine Setup menu (S in the pine main menu).

2. Press C for Config.

3. Scroll down to the [ Composer Preferences ] section.

4. Select the [ ] compose-send-offers-first-filter option, and press X to turn it on.

5. Press E to exit setup, then Y to save changes.

1.2.3: Verifying an email

Most signed emails will by default be checked by pinegpg. It will modify the view of the message, adding a header that looks like:

--[PinePGP]--------------------------------------------------[begin]--

and a footer like this:

--[PinePGP]-----------------------------------------------------------

gpg: Signature made Wed Apr 27 19:57:52 2005 EST using DSA key ID XXXXXXX

(results)

--[PinePGP]----------------------------------------------------[end]--

The results will indicate the validity. To truely validate a key, they must be in your GPG key list. See UsingGPG for information on how to retrieve, add and ultimately trust other people's keys.

1.2.4: Manually verifying an email / detached signature

If your PGP-signed message is not automatically checked (e.g. it has a "detached signature" (the signature is an attachment, the MuttGPG default)), then you must manually verify it.

1. Turn on full headers: press H. This is needed to get the full email information to the filter.

2. Press | (the "pipe" key, shift-backspace), to send your message to a command

3. Type gpg-check if it isn't there already (pine will remember the last-used command). Press return.

4. You should now get a message indicating the results of the check

You may need to enable full headers before you can do step 1, and pipe command for step 2. To do these:

1. Enter the Pine Setup menu (S in the pine main menu).

2. Press C for Config.

3. Scroll down to the = [ Advanced Command Preferences ]= section.

4. Select the [ ] enable-full-header-cmd option, and press X to turn it on.

5. Select the [ ] enable-full-header-and-text option, and press X to turn it on.

6. Select the [ ] enable-unix-pipe-cmd option, and press X to turn it on.

7. Press E to exit setup, then Y to save changes.

This method will only work at CSE. We have manually modified gpg-check to handle detached signatures. If you wish to use our gpg-check at home, feel free to copy it. Note that it is covered by the (open source) licences of the software it is derived from: pinepgp and pine pgp filters.

1.3: Other questions

Can Pine sign email with a "detached" signature instead of inline/clearsign (like mutt)?

No. Pine does not allow send filters to mess with attachments. If you must do this, you will have to do it by hand:

- Create your message in a text file

- Use GPG to create a detached signature, as described in UsingGPG

- Compose your email in pine, attach your message file, and your GPG signature. You must attach the message file, not copy it in, as the text has to be identical for the signature to be valid.

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 04/04/2011

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Mailman

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1: Mailman-based mailing lists at CSE

CSE runs a mailman system, available at http://lists.cse.unsw.edu.au/, some additional internal documentation is here (systems related).

Mailman lists are different from MlAlias lists in that people without CSE accounts can subscribe and unsubscribe. They also have built in archiving features.

Mailman lists will be created for users with special needs relating to their CSE research or teaching activities. Requests for creation of a list should be sent to SS.

1.1: Using the mailman lists

For a regular list available via http://lists.cse.unsw.edu.au/, people can subscribe by either emailing: listname-subscribe@lists.cse.unsw.edu.au, or by visiting the web interface at http://lists.cse.unsw.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/listname. Similarly for unsubscribing.

1.2: Notes on Administering a mailman list

When you have had a mailman list created for you, you should receive an email containing your list password. You should immediately log in and configure the list. You should look through all of the options available frmo the administration interface, though we would like to particularly bring your attention to these:

- General Options (you shoudl definitely scan through all of these)

- Description - please provide informative descriptions for your lists in the various descriptive parts

- Privacy Options

- Who can view subscription list? - this should be set to List admin only except in special circumstances.

- Sender Filters (this suboption becomes available when you click on Privacy Options)

- Moderation - this section includes the variables to change to set your list to being moderated

- Archiving Options

- Keep an archive? Will it be public or private?

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 11/04/2011

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Mailing lists

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1: Information on Mailing Lists at CSE

There are a couple of mechanisms to provide mailing lists at CSE:

- Mlalias - CSE-written program which lets users create and maintain lists, mainly designed for internal CSE use;

- MailMan - The mailman list management system. This is only available by request to SystemSupport but is good for managing lists with lots of non-CSE members.

Last edited by Computing Support Group 28/10/2010

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The Enrol Pageboy

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1: Enrol pageboy

The Enrol pageboy provides a flexible method of sending email to students enrolled in any particular year and session in any combination of courses, programs, and/or plans.

It is triggered when the CSE mail system receives an email address of the form:

enrol_addr@enrol.program

where enrol_addr is a virtual address that selects students (and only students) enrolled in specified combinations of UNSW courses, programs, and plans for specified years and sessions. Note that the CSE email system can only receive email destined for these addresses if the email is sent from within CSE.

enrol_addr is parsed by the enrolment pageboy program which expands it into a list of addresses based on the enrolment data files generated by the University's central enrolment system (see the section below on Enrolment Files ).

What follows is a few examples of enrol pageboy addresses with informal descriptions of what they do, followed by a more formal description of the syntax and semantics of the enrol pageboy addresses.

1.1: Examples

1999s1.COMP1021

Addresses all students who were enrolled in the COMP1021 course for session one of 1999. Note: The default option -cse-unsw applies here, which means that CSE addresses are generated for those who have CSE accounts, and UNSW address generated for students with no CSE account.

2003s1.COMPB13645-unsw

UNSW addresses are generated and used for all students enrolled in the COMPB13645 plan for session one of 2003. UNSW addresses are generated for all students meeting this criteria, regardless of whether they have a CSE account.

1650-cse

Generate CSE addresses for all students who are currently enrolled in the 1650 program. Note:

- If no year or session are specified, the current year and session are used.

- CSE addresses are only generated for those students with CSE accounts. Those without CSE accounts do not receive the email.

pgc.cse.COMP3

CSE/UNSW addresses of all students currently enrolled in an postgraduate program by coursework AND in a CSE plan, AND who were also enrolled in any COMP3 course. Note that the conjunctions (the ANDs) were inserted by default.

pgc.cse.COMP3.and.and

The equivalent enrolment expression to the previous example with the ANDs explicitly specified.

2008s2.5.6.7.8.9.or.or.or.or.COMP.SENG.BINF.or.or.COMP3.and.and-cse-unsw

Fully specified equivalent to the previous example (assuming that the current year and session is 2008s2).

2008s2.COMP.SENG.or.BINF.or.COMP3.and.5.6.or.7.8.or.or.9.or.and-cse-unsw

Another equivalent, fully specified variation of the previous three examples (assuming that the current year and session is 2008s2).

2007S2.COMP.1

CSE/UNSW addresses of all students enrolled in a COMP plan, in a phd program, in session 2 of 2007. Note the difference with the next example.

2007S2.COMP1

CSE/UNSW addresses of all students enrolled in a COMP1 course (ie: any course starting with COMP1) in session 2 of 2007. Note the difference with the previous example.

2008s2.comp1911.cse.2008s1.comp1910.cse

All students who in session 1 of 2008, were enrolled in a CSE plan, and were enrolled in COMP1910 AND who in session 2 of 2008 were enrolled in a CSE plan and enrolled in COMP1911.

comp1911.cse.not

CSE/UNSW addresses of all students currently enrolled in COMP1911 who are enrolled in any plan that is not a CSE plan.

comp1911.COMP.SENG.BINF.or.or.not.and.

Equivalent fully specified enrolment expression to the previous example. Note that in this example the NOT operator follows immediately after a binary OR operator, and not, as has been recommended elsewhere in this document, immediately after a PATTERN (like BINF). This is because the parser delays its evaluation of the enrolment specification for as long as it can, in the hope that it can join related patterns together (like COMP.SENG.BINF.or.or) and optimise the eventual evaluation. If this makes no sense to you, don't worry - just make sure that you normally use the NOT operator only after PATTERNs (or risk getting sent the cryptic error message: 'Cannot negate an evaluated expression').

comp1011.not

All students that are enrolled in any course other than COMP1011. Note that this is not the way you select those students that are not enrolled in COMP1011 because a student who is enrolled in COMP1011 and at least one other course, is obviously enrolled in a course other than COMP1011, and will therefore be selected by this enrolment specification. See the next two examples for how to select students that are not enrolled in a course (or combination of courses).

COMP1011.not.COMP1011.sub

This enrolment specification first selects the set of all students enrolled in any course other than COMP1011, and then subtracts from this the set of all students enrolled in COMP1011. This final set of students is usually what is informally meant by "all students not enrolled in COMP1011", although the size of this final set of students will depend on what other course enrolments are recorded in the enrolment files used by this pageboy. A better defined example follows.

cse.ug.and.COMP1011.COMP1021.or.sub

This first selects all students enrolled in a CSE plan who are also doing an undergraduate program, then subtracts from this the set of all students enrolled in either COMP1011 or COMP1021.

cse.ug.and.csecourse.sub

This first creates the set of all undergraduate CSE students, then subtracts from this the set of all students enrolled in any course run by CSE. This effectively selects all CSE undergraduates not enrolled in any CSE course.

COMP1911.tut=M14A

All students enrolled in the M14A tutorial in COMP1911 in the current year and session. Note: the central enrolment records relating to tutorial and lab allocations are not always kept up to date by students, and so mailing lists that rely on these sorts of course enrolment records may not always be accurate.

COMP1911.tlb=?

This is an example of a field query that will email to the sender a list of all the COMP1911 tutorial or lab groups that students have enrolled in the current year and session. This inhibits the calculation of any address lists and the delivery of any accompanying non-empty email. An example of the list of values returned would be: H10A, H12A, H13A, H14A (See the section on listing course field values)

2011s1.COMP3411.type=?

This field query emails a list of all field types that students were enrolled in session 1 of 2011 for the course COMP3411. An example of the list of values returned would be: LEC, TUT

1.2: Restrictions and Operation

- Only users who are employees of CSE or who are members of Subject_Utility (as classified by the UDB) may send email directly to an enrolment pageboy address. Other users (including addresses from outside CSE) may be permitted to send email to enrolment pageboy addresses indirectly via CSE's mail alias system (mlalias). See the section below on Links with mlalias

- An error message is sent back via email to the sender, and no email is sent to any other recipient, if:

- The user is not authorized to send to the enrolment pageboy;

- There is an error in the enrolment address specification;

- The enrolment specification expands into an empty list (ie: there are no recipients)

- The enrolment pageboy virtual address remains in the To: address line in the email header of the email that is finally sent to all recipients. The final expanded list of recipient addresses matching the virtual address remains hidden from all recipients.

- If the sender sends an empty email message to an enrolment pageboy address, then the list of email addresses of the students matching the enrolment specification will be sent back to the sender, and no email is sent to the recipients at all.

- If the sender uses either of the listing options, then the list of addresses and/or registration numbers will be sent back to the sender.

1.3: Address Specification

1.3.1: Syntax

address = enrol_addr '@enrol.program'

enrol_addr = enrol_spec {options} [back_ref]

enrol_spec = enrol_spec '.' enrol_spec '.' binaryop

| enrol_spec '.' unaryop

| [ yrsess '.' ] ( course | plan  | program  )

binaryop = 'and' | 'or' | 'sub' # requires two preceeding operands

unaryop = 'not' # requires one preceeding operand

yrsess = year session

| 'curr'  | 'next'  | 'prev'

year = num{4} # eg: 2008

session = ('s'|'x') ('1'|'2') # eg: s2

course = unit courseno

| 'course=' prefix

| coursefield '=' ( fieldvalue | fieldquery )

| 'hons' | 'csecourse' # course shortcuts

| 'yr1' | 'yr2' | 'yr3' | 'yr4' # course shortcuts

courseno = num{1..4} # one to four course numbers

# eg: 1091, 109, 10, 1

coursefield = 'type'|'id'|'school'|'lec'|'lab'|'tut'|'tlb'

fieldvalue = alphanum+ # field value

fieldquery = '?' # field query

plan = unit [plan_id]

| 'plan=' prefix

| 'cse' | 'pv'   # plan shortcuts

plan_id = alpha [ alphanum num{0..5} ] # eg: A13645, AM3, A

program = prog_no

| 'program=' prefix

| 'ug' | 'pgc' | 'pgr' | 'phd' # program shortcuts

prog_no = num{1..4} # one to four program numbers

# eg: 3645, 364, 36, 3

unit = alpha{4} # four alphabetics

# eg: COMP, SENG, BINF, SOLA, MATH

options = addr_option | list_option

addr_option = '-unsw' | '-cse' # default: '-cse-unsw'

list_option = '-addr' | '-regno' # default: none

back_ref = '.alias=' mlalias_name

alpha = 'A'..'Z' # any alphabetic character

num = '0'..'9' # any numeric character

alphanum = alpha | num # any alphanumeric

1.3.2: Parsing

- The enrolment specification is read, parsed and evaluated from left to right.

- Case is not significant.

1.3.3: Plans

Plan enrolments may be specified by:

- At least the first FOUR letters of the plan prefix on their own. eg: COMP, COMPA1, COMPA23645

- plan=prefix where prefix is at least one character.

- One of the plan shortcuts (described here)

1.3.4: Programs

Program enrolments may be specified by:

- At least the first number of the program on its own. eg: 1650, 72, 3

- program=prefix where prefix is at least one character.

- One of the program shortcuts (described here)

1.3.5: Courses

Course enrolments may be specified by:

- At least the first FIVE letters of the course prefix on their own. eg: COMP1, COMP39, COMP4911

- course=prefix where prefix is at least one character.

- One of the course shortcuts: 'hons' or 'csecourse' (described here).

- field=value where field is the name of a course enrolment field, and value is the value that this field should have in the enrolment record of the selected student.

The basic fields are:

- TYPE: This field defines the type of enrolment being recorded. It's values include: LAB (laboratory), LEC (lecture), TUT (tutorial), TLB (tutlab)

- ID: This field defines the identifier assigned to this particular course enrolment type (eg: T13A)

- SCHOOL: This identifies the school (or "Organisational Unit") that is responsible for running this particular course enrolment type. ie: the school responsible for running the tutorial, lab, or lecture (eg: COMPSC, ELEC)

Thus an enrolment record for COURSE=COMP1234 with TYPE=TUT and ID=T13A, records a student's enrolment in the COMP1234 course tutorial T13A. Such enrolments might be specified by: COMP1234.TYPE=TUT.ID=T13A

The next section tells you how to obtain a list of the actual valid values assigned to any particular course's fields.

- typevalue=idvalue where typevalue is the value of TYPE, and idvalue is the value of the ID. This short cut allows both TYPE and ID to be specified together, such that:
LAB=value

is equivalent to "TYPE=LAB.TYPE=TLB.or.ID=value.and."

TUT=value

is equivalent to "TYPE=TUT.TYPE=TLB.or.ID=value.and."

TLB=value

is equivalent to "TYPE=LAB.TYPE=TUT.TYPE=TLB.or.or.ID=value.and."

XXX=value

is equivalent to "TYPE=XXX.ID=value.and."

The next section tells you how to obtain a list of the actual valid values assigned to any particular course's typevalue fields.

Of course, if you want to apply more than one of these course specifications to the same student, you will need to specify them consecutively, and join them with appropriate operators (see Operators below).

1.3.5.1: Listing course field values

If you want to obtain a list of values assigned to any particular course field in which are any students enrolled, then you should include a course field query in the pageboy address of the form:

coursefieldname=?

where coursefieldname is the name of the course field whose values you wish to list.

For example, the field queries:

- 2011s1.COMP5678.TYPE=?@enrol.program would return a list of all the COMP5678 enrolment TYPEs in which there are any students enrolled in session 1 2011. eg: LEC:396, TUT:396, SEM:396

- 2011s1.COMP1234.TUT=?@enrol.program would return a list of all the COMP1234 tutorial IDs in which there are any students enrolled. eg: M10A:18, H12A:19, H12B:18, F09A:15

Note:

- Each list value is returned, one per line, in the form: string:number, where string is the value of the course field or shortcut, and number is the number of students whose enrolment record have this field value.

- The list of values is sent back to the sender with the subject line: "Value expansion of pageboy address".

- Tutorials, labs, and seminars are usually given names of the form: day time id, where M,T,W,H,F represent Monday to Friday, time is given in a 24 hour format, and id is an alphabetic character which is unique when there is more than one type assigned to the same day and time.

Thus in the example above, once you have established the name of the Friday COMP1234 tutorial, you could send email to all 15 students officially enrolled in this tutorial by sending email to: 2011s1.COMP1234.TUT=F09A@enrol.program.

Field queries disable the generation of any address lists even if address or listing options are explicitly included in the pageboy address (see address options and listing optionsbelow)

Field queries disable the sending of any email to any expanded address list even if non-empty email is sent to the pageboy with the pageboy address

1.3.6: Operators

Operators may be used to combine enrolment specifications into arbitrarily complex boolean enrolment expressions. There are four operators:

- The AND operator specifies that the students that match both of the two previous enrolment expressions should be selected. ie: If a student matches one enrolment expression but not the other, then the student is not selected.

- The OR operator specifies that the students that match either one of the two previous enrolment expressions should be selected.

- The NOT operator reverses the sense of the previous enrolment expression so that instead of selecting all students enrolled in the previously specified course, plan, or program, you select students enrolled in any course, plan, or program other than the one specified. In general, the NOT operator should immediately follow a pattern or shortcut (rather than a binary operator) as the negation of an arbitrarily complex enrolment expression is not well defined. See the note below on the combined use of NOT and SUBTRACT.

- The SUB operator subtracts the last set of students from the second to last set of students. ie: if the students that match the last expression are in the set B, and the students that match the second to last expression are in the set A, then (A B SUB) is the set of students that are in A but not in B. This operator is generally used to define disjoint enrolment sets in conjunction with the NOT operator. See the note below for an example and explanation of this.

The operators and patterns are specified in POSTFIX order, which is to say that the patterns (or pattern expressions) are specified before the operators which apply to the patterns (or pattern expressions). This simplifies parsing of the expression, and effectively eliminates the need for brackets.

If there are insufficient operators to combine all specified patterns or pattern expressions, then the remaining patterns (or pattern expressions) are AND'ed together. This is appropriate in many cases, and can be used to dramatically simplify the final enrolment expression (see the Examples section above).

The result of an enrolment expression involving NOT is not always intuitive. For example: the enrolment expression (COMP1011.not) specifies "all students that are enrolled in any course other than COMP1011", which is not the same as specifying the set of "all students that are not enrolled in COMP1011". A student that is enrolled in COMP1011 and at least one other course will be selected by (COMP1011.not) precisely because they are enrolled in the other course.

If you actually wanted to select all those students that are not enrolled in COMP1011, then you would first need to define the Base Set of enrolled students from which those students enrolled in COMP1011 need to be removed, and then use the SUB operator. For example, the enrolment expression: COMP1011.not.COMP1011.sub first defines the set of all students enrolled in a course other than COMP1011, and then subtracts from this the set of all students enrolled in COMP1011. Of course, you could define a different Base Set of student from which you subtract those enrolled in COMP1011 (or whatever). See the Examples section below for a better example of this.

1.3.7: Year and Session

The year/session specification determines the year and session of the enrolment records to which are applied the subsequent enrolment specifiations. The enrolment year and session may be changed as many times as necessary to specify your final set of target students.

If the year and session are not specified, the current year and session is assumed to apply. If the current session is undefined (ie: we are between sessions), then the previous session is used instead (which may be a summer session).

Year/session may be specified in two ways:

Absolutely

A specific a year and session may be specified by year session where year is a four digit year (starting from 1999), and session may be s1, s2 or x1.

Relatively

All relative year/session specs refer to major sessions. Major sessions are sessions one or two, and exclude all other sessions (currently only summer session).

curr

Refers to the current year and session if we are currently in a major session, or to the previous major year and session at any other time.

prev

Refers to the previous major year and session.

next

Refers to the next major year and session.

Note:

- Relative year/session specifications are typically used in automated scripts and/or aliases.

- There are currently very few official non-major session enrolment records.

1.3.8: Back_ref

The optional backward reference allows the local mail alias database mlalias to forward email to the enrol pageboy. For more details, see this description below.

1.3.9: Shortcuts

Shortcuts are used as an easier alternative to specifying a longer (although equivalent) series of course, program, or plan descriptions. They are generally given names that reflect their more intuitive use or interpretation.

1.3.9.1: Course Shortcuts

Shortcut

Description

Equivalent

hons

Enrolled in an undergraduate honours course

COMP491.COMP493.or. SENG491.BINF491.or. BIOM592.BIOM595.BIOM596.BIOM597.or.or.or. or.or

csecourse

Enrolled in any course run by CSE. (ie: Any course controlled by the 'COMP' organisational unit)

SCHOOL=COMP

yrN

Enrolled in a year N CSE course

COMPn.SENGn.BINFn.or.or

1.3.9.2: Program Shortcuts

Shortcut

Description

Equivalent

phd

Enrolled in a PhD program

1

pgr

Enrolled in a postgraduate research program

2

pgc

Enrolled in a postgraduate coursework program

5.6.7.8.9.or.or.or.or

ug

Enrolled in an undergraduate program

3.4.or

1.3.9.3: Plan Shortcuts

Shortcut

Description

Equivalent

cse

Enrolled in a CSE plan

COMP.SENG.BINF.or.or

pv

Enrolled in a PV plan

SOLA

1.3.10: Options

Options are used to determine the types of addresses generated and used by the pageboy, and to email back to the sender the generated lists of selected students.

If no options are specified, the default option is: -cse-unsw.

1.3.10.1: Address Options

Whereas the enrolment address selects students who are, were, or will be enrolled in a course, plan, or program, many of these selected students may not have an active account at CSE either because their account may not have been created yet, or their account may have expired.

Address options are used to control the types of addresses that are generated by the pageboy depending on the students' CSE account status. These addresses are then used as the recipients of the email sent to the pageboy. The effect of these options depend on whether they are specified on their own or in combination with each other:

-cse

On its own, this option generates addresses for only those students that have active CSE accounts. The addresses used are the students' CSE addresses. Students who are selected by the enrolment specification that do not have CSE accounts, have no addresses generated, and will not receive the associated email.

-unsw

On its own, this option generates UNSW addresses for all students selected by the enrolment specification regardless of whether or not they have a CSE account. UNSW addresses are of the form: z1234567@student.unsw.edu.au, which depend only on the uniwide central account and email system, and not on the CSE account and email system. Note that the generation of a UNSW address for the student does not imply that a UNSW address or account exists for the student yet (or that it might ever have existed).

-cse-unsw or -unsw-cse

When used in combination these options causes the pageboy to generate and use CSE addresses for those students with CSE accounts, and UNSW addresses for those students without CSE accounts. Note that the generation of a UNSW address for the student does not imply that a UNSW address or account exists for the student (or that it might ever have existed). If neither -cse nor -unsw address option is explicitly specified, then both options are enabled by default.

1.3.10.2: Listing Options

The following options are used to send lists back to the sender (in addition to any email that may be sent to the recipients). The lists returned depend on the addresses generated, which will depend on the address options used (described above).

-addr

Email the address list back to the sender with the subject line: "Address expansion of enrol_addr@enrol.program". The address list returned is the same as the one that is automatically sent back to the sender if an empty email message (ie: with no body) is sent to the pageboy.

-regno

Email back to the sender the list of student registration numbers corresponding to the enrolment address. The list is sent back with the subject line: "Student number expansion of enrol_addr@enrol.program".

Note: the list returned corresponds to the list of addresses selected by the enrolment address, including any address options. In particular, an address specification with the address option of -cse, would send back to the sender the list of student registration numbers of only those students meeting the enrolment specification who also had an active CSE account.

The listing options are independant of each other, and may be used together (causing two separate lists to be returned to the sender).

1.4: Enrolment files

The enrolment pageboy is entirely reliant on the accuracy and integrity of the underlying enrolment data files. As such, there are several things you might need to know about these enrolment data files that may effect the extent and accuracy of the address lists that can be produced by the enrolment pageboy.

1. Enrolment data files only record official student enrolments. Any student that has/had made private or unofficial arrangements with the school to enrol in any course, program, or plan will not be able to be contacted via these addresses.

2. Enrolment data files only extend back to session 1 of 1999.

3. The course enrolment data for the previous, current and next session is updated daily from the University's central enrolment system and consequently may change from day to day. The full set of program and plan enrolment data for the current session is updated weekly, although a subset of these enrolments may be obtained and updated from the daily updates. No other enrolment data files from previous years or sessions are routinely updated. These data files remain static and archival from the time that the last update was obtained for these enrolments (generally one session after the session in question has ended).

4. The enrolment files are also used as the basis of student UDB course/program class membership. However, you generally cannot rely on UDB membership being an accurate reflection of current enrolment. This is because the UDB enrolment based class expiry dates will usually extend beyond the end of the enrolled session and into the following session or, depending on the course or program, possibly well into the following year.

For this reason, the enrolment pageboy will always provide a more accurate list of students enrolled in particular courses and/or programs in particular years and sessions than will the virtual addresses that rely directly on current UDB class membership (see virtual aliases. Although the sets of addresses produced by both methods should coincide very closely when they are produced for current enrolments anytime from the middle to end of the current session, you cannot and should not rely on this.

5. These enrolment files are the only local source of data refering to enrolments in CSE plans (the UDB does not store any information relating to CSE plans).

1.5: Inspecting the expanded address lists

Although the program mlalias can be used to inspect the list of addresses derived from virtual addresses based on the UDB, mlalias cannot be used to inspect the list of addresses derived from the enrolment pageboy.

However, the list of addresses produced by the enrolment pageboy will be emailed back to the sender if:

- The sender uses either (or both) of the Listing Options, or

- The sender sends an empty email message to an enrolment pageboy address. This is equivalent to using the -addr listing option, except that no email at all is sent to the resulting recipients, and the address list is sent back with the subject line: "Empty email address expansion of enrol_addr@enrol.program".

See the section on Listing Options for more details.

1.6: Links with mlalias

The enrol pageboy system only permits users who are members of the CSE UDB classes: 'Employee' or 'Subject_Utility' to use its virtual aliases. However, other users may be allowed to use enrol pageboy aliases using CSE's mlalias system. To do this, a mlalias is created which redirects email to a specially modified enrol pageboy address as follows:

- The non-standard users must either be:

- Explicitly named as one of the owners of the mlalias. Non-CSE users can be mlalias owners by adding their external (non-CSE) email address to the list of owners.

- A local user who is a member of one of the explicitly named group owners of the mlalias. Group owners start with a '@'.

- The mlalias must be closed. This ensures that noone can add themselves to the mail alias that can send to the enrol pageboy alias;

- The first owner of the mlalias must be a member of 'Employee'. This ensures that non-employees cannot create their own mlaliases forwarding to enrol pageboy aliases.

- The enrol pageboy address to which the mlalias forwards its mail must include a special backward reference to the forwarding mlalias of the form: enrol_pageboy_spec.alias=mlalias_name@enrol.program.

This is the only way that the enrol pageboy can check the sender against the mlalias owners (as described above). The enrol pageboy also confirms that it is called with the same enrol_pageboy_spec as is recorded in the mlalias system. This ensures that the enrol pageboy does not permit a non-standard user to use it with a pageboy spec that was not specified in the mlalias.

The backward reference .alias=mlalias_name must occur immediately before "@enrol.program". Any address or listing options must be included at the end of the enrol_pageboy_spec, immediately before the backward reference.

1.6.1: Mlalias Examples

If CSE employee "sue" wanted to allow "karen@external.site.com", and CSE members of the UDB class "Random", to send email to "3927@enrol.program", then sue might create a mlalias called "XYZ" which:

- Was owned by a CSE employee (typically sue herself);

- Included "karen@external.site.com" as an additional owner;

- Included "@random" as an additional owner;

- Redirected its mail to "3927.alias=XYZ@enrol.program";

Karen could then send mail from external.site.com's mail server to current 3972 students by sending her email to "XYZ@cse.unsw.edu.au".

If "XYZ" redirected its email to "3927-regno.alias=XYZ@enrol.program" instead (ie: the listing option "-regno" was included), then those users permitted to send to "XYZ" would also be sent back the expanded list of the students who were sent the email (listed as student registration numbers, not usernames). See Listing Options above.

Last edited by Zain Rahmat 18/04/2011

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Alumni mail

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1: Redirecting email after you leave or graduate

If you have set up a mail alias to an external mail address CSE will maintain it for 6 months after your account expires. After 6 months it may be (silently) deleted. See Redirecting mail at CSE for details on how to create a mail alias.

You could also use vacation mail to set up an auto-reply telling people you have left or graduated and can now be reached elsewhere. See Auto-replying to mail for details. Again, this is likely to be silently deleted after a few months.

What won't be deleted, for graduands, is a so-called alumni account. This is not a true account but instead is an email and website redirection service CSG offers to graduated students. Once you have created a permanent alumni name for yourself you can point it to your new email address and website URL. You can update these pointers later if they change but the alumni name doesn't change. Hence, it is a good idea to tell your friends that they can always use your alumni name to reach you.

For details on setting up an alumni account, see the alumni website.

Last edited by Computing Support Group 28/10/2010

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Using IMAP

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1: Using IMAP to read your Email

1.1: Summary

- IMAP Server

- imap.cse.unsw.edu.au

- SSL

- Enabled (so probably use port 993)

- Login

- Your CSE Username and password

- SMTP server

- smtp.cse.unsw.edu.au (also enable SSL)

- CA Root Certificates (if required)

- https://certs.godaddy.com/Repository.go

- SHA1 Fingerprint

- 3A:D0:3B:03:14:67:89:1C:80:53:2B:A9:D8:5C:3D:CA:47:69:DC:E5

- MD5 Fingerprint

- 16:4A:3F:26:AA:70:5E:E6:69:F2:2D:D7:6C:09:2E:0A

1.2: General Usage

IMAP is the Internet Message Access Protocol (defined in RFC3501). It is a protocol that provides access to a collection of mail folders over the internet.

It is particularly useful when accessing your email from a remote location as your mail client can download messages, allow you to work with them locally (without the delays common with remote access) and then upload any changes back to the central location.

At CSE, IMAP can be used to gain access to your home directory, and any mail that is stored therein. IMAP has a concept of a primary mail box which it calls INBOX. This primary mail box is mapped to .incoming-mail in your home directory. Whenever the IMAP server tries to access this mail box, it first (conditionally) collects any new mail that has arrived in the postoffice. Thus newly arrived mail should be available promptly.

The conditions associated with collection mail are the same as apply to normal login. i.e. if you have a file called .noautomail in your home directory, then automatic mail collection is completely disabled. If you have a file called .procmailrc, then each mail item collected will be passed to procmail. If neither of these exist, then mail is automatically appended to your .incoming-mail file.

To use IMAP, you must configure your mail client to connect to the IMAP server at imap.cse.unsw.edu.au. Different email clients vary widely in how you specify this so you should consult the documentation for your client. Details for some common mail clients are given below.

1.3: Client Configuration

Some client configuration examples are:

1.3.1: mutt

Mutt uses a mailbox name that looks like a URL with a protocol of imaps. So imaps://joeusers@imap.cse.unsw.edu.au/ would be a suitable mailbox name for joeuser. This URL specifies the INBOX mailbox. Adding a filename to the end can specify other mail boxes to access.

1.3.2: pine

Pine uses a hostname in braces before a mailbox name to specify the host name. At its most basic, using {imap.cse.unsw.edu.au}INBOX in your .pinerc file will use the INBOX mail folder on the School's IMAP server. Pine will prompt for a username and password.

A better option is to use {imap.cse.unsw.edu.au/ssl/user=your username}INBOX, which will ensure that your traffic is encrypted and that you won't be prompted each time for your username.

To use IMAP to access other folders in your directory, add a line like folder-collections=Main {imap.cse.unsw.edu.au}[] to your .pinerc.

Note: pine reads your .imaprc file as well but interprets is slightly differently. If you want to use both pine and IMAP, pine will interpret your mail-directory as the root of your IMAP directory tree, ie assuming you keep your pine mail folders in ~/mail/ and you don't set your mail-directory, the above will need to be folder-collections=Main {imap.cse.unsw.edu.au}mail/[]

1.3.3: elm

Elm uses a mail box name that looks like a mail address, so something like joeuser@imap.cse.unsw.edu.au would work, except that elm does not appear to support SSL, and so the IMAP server will not accept the connection.

1.3.4: Thunderbird

Go to the "Edit" menu and select "Account Settings...". For "Server Settings" enable "Use secure connection (SSL)" (but NOT "Use secure authentication" - SSL protects the authentication as well). Also click on the Advanced button and make sure the check box for "Server supports folders that contain sub-folders and messages" is not on. The dialog box should look a little like this:

The "Outgoing Server" settings should look like this:

1.3.5: Outlook Express

You will probably use the Wizard to create the initial IMAP connection settings. Outlook will do this when you first run it or you can go to the "Tools" menu and select "Accounts..." then click on "Add".

Once these initial settings are configured you need to modify them. Go to the "Tools" menu and select "Accounts...". Select the CSE IMAP connection and then the "Properties" button. The relevant dialog box tabs should look a little like this:

Outlook Express does not automatically show subfolders. To do this you need to go open the "IMAP folders" dialog box on the "Tools..." menu and click "Show" for the folders you want to see.

1.3.6: Macintosh OS-X Mail Reader

These images give an example of how to configure the OS-X mail reader to use IMAP. This configuration causes the IMAP server to only look at mail folders in the "imap" directory.

1.4: Per-User Server Configuration (customising your mailbox type and location)

It is possible to configure your mailbox on the server. You can even merge together several mailboxes to appear under your main one.

These settings are done in your ~/.imaprc file. Note that this file overrides the default location, so you will need to include the default one in the file if you wish to use that also. NOTE: You will need to restart your mail client to reload this configuration.

The format of the .imaprc file is:

path = /path/to/mailbox

type = mailboxtype

inbox = /path/to/inbox

[Name]

path = /path/to/mailbox2

type = mailboxtype

shared = yes|no

...

The mailboxtype can be either mbox or maildir. It defaults to mbox if not specified. The /path/to/mailbox is simply the path to the mail folder. You should use ~ to refer to your home directory. You must have write access to this directory! The inbox entry can only (optionally) be specified in the top level. If it is not specified, then it defaults to ~/.incoming-mail for the mbox format. The [Name] entry defines a special sub-path which is found in a separate location. You can specify multiple sections, but they must have a unique name. You can also use / to make fake hierarchies.

The shared entry says whether a mailbox is shared. If it is shared, then there MUST be a file in that directory called dovecot-shared. The imap server duplicates the permissions on this "shared" file on any other files that it creates.

NOTE: Don't forget that even after adding new mailbox locations, you will still need to subscribe to the mailboxes in your client.

1.4.1: Examples

Here are some sample configurations

1.4.1.1: Default

The default configuration can be replicated like this:

path = ~/mail

inbox = ~/.incoming-mail

1.4.1.2: Basic Maildir

This setup will also be the default if you have a folder called Maildir in your home directory.

path = ~/Maildir

type = maildir

1.4.1.3: Group mailbox

This is an example of reading a group mailbox in addition to your standard one, and a second group in maildir format:

path = ~/mail

inbox = ~/.incoming-mail

# you must be able to write to /home/mygroup/mail/, which has a dovecot-shared file with correct perms

[MyGroup]

path = /home/mygroup/mail

shared = yes

# and also able to write to /home/group2/Maildir/, with dovecot-shared file.

[MyOtherGroup]

path = /home/group2/Maildir

type = maildir

shared = yes

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 05/04/2011

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Mlalias

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1: Mlalias

1.1: Summary

mlalias is a locally written program for redirecting email. It can be used to forward your CSE email to another email account e.g. Unimail or Yahoo; to receive email for conferences or research projects; and to operate mailing lists. As mlalias is a component of CSE's Localmail it has hooks into other locally written software, most notably the UDB, which make it very well suited for mailing groups of CSE users. It does not work so well for non-CSE users, especially if you want a non-CSE person to be able to send to or control the list. Look at MailMan for this purpose instead.

There is no technical difference between an mlalias and a mailing list but users seem to prefer calling any mlalias that does more than forward the owner's email a mailing list.

1.2: Forwarding email vs. mailing lists

mlalias is simply a program that takes email sent to a CSE email address and forwards it to all the recipients defined in the mlalias (which means, among other things, it replaces Sendmail's .forward mechanism). An mlalias name must take one of 3 forms:

- <username> - where username can be any CSE account

- <username>.<listname> - as above, for private lists and filtering

- other - system mlaliases only.

Only SystemSupport can create a system mlalias or an mlalias for a NoLogin account; common examples include cse-announce, stu-general and compsoc but they can also be created for more specific purposes such as receiving email for a conference or project.

1.3: Setting up a mailing list

If you can login, you can create an mlalias under your username. See RedirectingMail or man mlalias for basic mlalias commands.

If you want an mlalias that doesn't have your username attached, email System Support with details as to the reason for the request, the desired name for the mlalias and the list of owners of the mlalias, all of whom must have current CSE accounts.

1.4: Managing a mailing list

1.4.1: Adding and removing recipients and owners

Recipients are added and removed with the -a and -d flags respectively; you can simply list the names after the flag. Owners are added and removed with the -A and -D flags respectively and the flag has to be repeated with each owner.

use the -s flag to set the recipients to a given list rather than doing each address individually.

1.4.2: Allowing and blocking mail to the list (moderation and authorised posters)

By default an mlalias can be mailed to by anybody, whether they are a CSE user or not. To block unwanted emails you have to:

1. make the list moderated

2. (optional) allow some accounts to send to the list.

There can only be one moderator for an mlalias and they must already be an owner. Read more about moderation.

1.4.3: Deleting a mlalias or mailing list

Do not simply remove all recipients as this will not destroy the mlalias; email sent to an empty mlalias is stored on the mailserver with no way to download it until a recipient is re-added to the mlalias. If you are an owner of the mlalias or list you can destroy it with mlalias -R <list>. If there are other owners of the list it is courteous to obtain their assent first.

1.5: Mailing students enrolled in X/all members of research group X

Users with the same type of account can be emailed simply by virtue of their common membership of a UDB class with no need to add their names explicitly to the list. This is known as a virtual mlalias.

1.6: What lists already exist at CSE?

A number of mlaliases already exist for various purposes.

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 11/04/2011

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Webmail

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1: Web Mail using SquirrelMail

One option for reading mail at CSE is to use the SquirrelMail application via a World Wide Web browser such as Firefox, Internet Explorer, etc.

Doing this is as simple as visiting the web page at:

https://webmail.cse.unsw.edu.au/

and logging in.

The username and password of your CSE account should be used, and SquirrelMail will only accept them over a secure connection (i.e. https: will be used even if you didn't ask for it) so it is safe to give your password.

Squirrelmail uses IMAP to access your mail so if you are familiar with IMAP or use a mail reader that is configured to use IMAP, then you will see some of the same mail folders.

If you configure Squirrelmail to use an empty folder prefix (the default) then it will look in your mail directory for your mail folders.

Last edited by Computing Support Group 28/10/2010

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GPG and Apple Mail

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1: Mail.app on OS X and GPG keys

This page describes how to use Mail.app together with GPGMail.

- you need to install macgpg for your mac it can be found here

- you need to create your keys

- here's a simple GUI front end to macgpg Gpg Tools

- get the GPGMail plugin for Mail.app and follow their install instructions.

- if the above went smoothly you now have GPG functionality and for OS X users that like the board game go check this out

Last edited by Computing Support Group 28/10/2010

Downloads on this page:

- GPGprefs.pdf

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Filtering email

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1: How to filter email

Most mail clients nowadays have a filtering system built into them. This can usually be setup fairly easily through the client's graphical interface. This document, however, focuses on the use of procmail to filter email. procmail is a *nix based application that can filter you email before your email client sees it, and is more powerful than most (all?) client-based filters.

Procmail basically has 2 functions - a mail agent and a mail filter. We already have a working mail system, so procmail is available to be used as a mail filter. Procmail comes with 3 binaries - procmail, formail and lockfile - but you only need procmail to get started. The other 2 are used for more complex setups.

To set up a procmail mail filter you need to create a file called .procmailrc in your home directory. This is the file which will contain all of your filtering rules. A simple .procmailrc file that filters out any mail from a unsw.edu.au address into a folder called unswmail, and anything marked as being SPAM (by either ITS's spam filter, or from CSE's own spam filter) into a folder called spam could look like this:

LOGFILE=${HOME}/.procmaillog

MAILDIR=${HOME}/mail

DEFAULT=${HOME}/.incoming-mail

:0:

* ^From: .*unsw.edu.au

unswmail

:0:

* (^X-Spam-Flag: YES|^X-CSE-Spam-Flag: YES)

spam

Any mail that doesn't match a filter will get put into the ${DEFAULT} file, in this case ${HOME}/.incoming-mail

When you log into a CSE machine, it will automatically detect the presense of a .procmailrc file in your home directory. Note that this will only happen if you do not have a .noautomail file in your homedir. Once the .procmailrc file is detected, it will then set up your $MAILDROP so that promail Just Works.

You will need to log out and back in again for your mail to start being filtered.

Procmail has several manpages. You can look at man procmail for an introduction to the whole shebang; you can look at man procmailrc for all you wanted to know about procmail rules; or you can look at man procmailex for examples of .procmailrc rules, to get started quickly. Also, since procmail is a very popular program, there are loads of web links with instructions on using it to filter all sorts of email, including viruses and spam.

For more information on how to filter out spam, please refer to Filtering out spam.

If you really mess things up with your mail filters, and you think you may have lost some mail, you can recover the emails off our mailserver.

Last edited by Computing Support Group 28/10/2010

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Unimail

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1: UniMail - your UNSW email account

All enrolled UNSW students have a central email account with UniMail, which is separate to the one provided by CSE. Since all UNSW administrative email is sent to your UniMail account, for instance emails about your enrolment and fees, you should either check it regularly or set it to forward email to your CSE account. Your UniMail address is initially set to z<student number>@student.unsw.edu.au, eg. z1234567@student.unsw.edu.au, but you can change this to your name.

The website for UniMail is https://unimail.unsw.edu.au/ (requires Javascript). CSE is not connected in any way to this or other services provided by UNSW IT Services and cannot help you if you have problems with it.

Last edited by Computing Support Group 28/10/2010

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Recovering lost mail

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1: Recovering lost email

First check that your email really is lost. We have several email utilities here, and by default they store mails in different directories. mail, elm and mutt store mail in /Mail, pine stores it in /mail etc. So if you try a different mail utility one day, it will stash that day's mail somewhere your usual mail utility won't know about, and the mail will appear 'lost'. The solution is to either stick to one mail utility, or configure them all to use the same files. (If you are confident of your Unix abilities, another option is to use ln to link the files to each other.)

If your email really is lost, there is a choice of solutions :

- If you've only just lost the mail, because mail crashed or you logged out without exiting mail properly, then look in /tmp of the host you were running email on. With any luck there will be a copy of your mailbox there for you to copy back to your homedir. NB : files are removed from /tmp after 3 days.

- You can restore yesterday's mail files using tkrestore. For more information on restoring look at RestoringFilesFromBackup.

- You can run getmail -D <file> .old which will retrieve the last four days of email (including any that you read today) from the mailserver and store them in <file>. Or just run getmail .old, which will put the mail in your .incoming-mail.
If you need more than the last four days of email, run

priv recovermail dd/mm/yy [dd/mm/yy]

getmail -D <file> .recovered

As in the example:

% priv recovermail 30/04/01

...recovering mail for fbloggs from date 010430

% getmail -D RECOVERED_MAIL .recovered

121 messages transferred to RECOVERED_MAIL

This will search our email archives for email received on the day or range of days specified, and store them in <file>. Again, you can just put them in .incoming-mail by using getmail .recovered. We store roughly 4 months worth of mail online that can be retrieved with priv recovermail; use priv recovermail -l to list the dates for which mail is retrievable. If the mail you want is older than this, you will have to mail ss and ask them to retrieve the mail from backups.

Last edited by Computing Support Group 28/10/2010

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Mlalias moderation

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1: Moderating an mlalias

The moderator of an mlalias is the person designated to decide whether a given email should be forwarded to the mlalias or not. Emails sent to a moderated mlalias are checked to see if they originate from an authorised email address: if they do, they are sent straight to the list; if they don't, they are sent to the moderator for further action.

1.1: Setting the moderator

The moderator must already be an owner of the mlalias, you can set both at once if need be: mlalias <list> -A <moderator> -M <moderator>

Only one owner can act as moderator at a time, but you can change them around as needed. The moderator does not have to be a recipient (member) of the mlalias but does have to be a real person, not a NoLogin account. An exception is when permission to send to the list is handled entirely by netgroup membership, in which case the moderator is the dummy user udb. See cse-discussion for example.

1.2: Setting the authorised posters

Authorised posters are those accounts that can send email to the mlalias without requiring moderator approval. This includes:

- all owners of the mlalias

- any account explicitly set as an authorised poster, including members of netgroups

- all members of the mlalias IF the members_can_post flag is set

Read more about authorised posters.

1.3: Passing and rejecting emails received by moderator

You can recognise emails sent to you as moderator, rather than as a member of the list, by the fact that the following header is inserted into the email:

Received: For moderator-<list>@cse.unsw.edu.au

where <list> is the name of the mlalias you moderate e.g. seminar-unsw. You may want to set your mail client to display this header, if possible, to make it easier to detect. If you decide the email is not suitable for the mailing list, you can then simply delete it or reply to the sender with an explanation. If the email is legitimate and suitably formatted for the mailing list the cleanest option is to bounce (also called redirect or forward without edit) the email to the mlalias. For both mutt and pine this is done by pressing 'b'. This resends the email to the members of the mlalias with the 'Received: For moderator' header stripped out but several ReSent- headers added for tracking purposes.

The reason bounce is preferable to forward is because it preserves the headers so the members of the mlalias will see the email as being sent by its originator rather than the moderator. However, some email clients don't support bounce so you may have to forward the emails and lose the sender information.

If the mlalias exists for a very restricted purpose, for instance forwarding bulletins from a particular site, it is easy to setup a procmail recipe to bounce these emails (since any email not from that site to the mlalias is automatically illegitimate) and the moderator can effectively forget about it.

1.3.1: When authorised posters overstep the bounds

Emails sent by authorised posters do not, by definition, go to the moderator first. Hence if undesirable emails are sent to the list by such posters, the only action open to the moderator is to remove their authorised status. Being an owner of the mlalias the moderator can change the mlalias as they please, but it can be difficult to block one obstreperous member without affecting the others.

Read more about authorised posters.

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 05/04/2011

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Spam assassin

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1: What is SpamAssassin?

SpamAssassin is a very popular program that is used at CSE to help detect spam email. It uses a number of methods, including checking mail headers for invalid or forged information, as well as analysing the content of emails to determine the likelyhood of the mail in question being spam. Each mail is given a score representing how likely it is to be spam, and if the score is above a certain (configurable) threshold, the mail is marked as spam. This 'marking' of email as spam is done by adding lines to the header of the email.

For example, an email that was checked for spam and was marked as being spam would have a line in its header similar to this:

X-Spam-Flag: YES

as well as some other information indicating which tests SpamAssassin used to determine that it was a spam email.

For information on how to filter out such emails, see the FAQ entry on Filtering out spam.

More information on SpamAssassin can be found from its homepage.

Last edited by Computing Support Group 28/10/2010

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Mlalias authorised posters

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1: Authorised posters to an mlalias

By default an mlalias will accept email from anybody, even from a non-CSE address, which can lead to undesirable emails being sent to the members of the mlalias. If the level of undesired emails becomes annoying the/an owner of the mlalias will have to become a moderator (see Mlalias moderation) but if the mlalias is reasonably high-volume then moderation can become onerous. To lessen the number of emails requiring explicit attention by the moderator authorised posters can be setup. Emails sent to the mailing list by an authorised poster go straight to the list without having to be approved by the moderator.

The moderator and all other owners are authorised. A non-CSE address can be added as an owner but it must be fully specified and will appear in the 'authorised poster' field rather than the owner field when the mlalias is viewed. mlalias <list> -A fbloggs -A jdoe@somewhere.else.

% mlalias <list>

...

owners: fbloggs

authorised posters: jdoe@somewhere.else, @PGResearch

Moderator: fbloggs

If an owner adds the members_can_post flag then all the addresses on the recipient list are authorised. mlalias <list> -f members_can_post.

In the above cases you know exactly who the authorised posters are. You can make life more exciting by adding a netgroup as an owner. A netgroup is a UDB class and is identified to mlalias by putting @ in front - the @PGResearch above is an example. Anybody who is a member of the UDB class PGResearch or its children is allowed to post to that mailing list. To list these people use acc PGResearch/ | grep user. You should always use the smallest netgroup that includes the people you want, e.g. @CSE_Employee rather than @Employee, as you may be surprised at who's included in the larger groups.

If an authorised poster starts sending undesirable email to the list it can be difficult to block them. If they're explicitly listed as an owner or authorised poster they can simply be removed by another owner, but if they're a member of the list then the owner has to choose between deleting them or removing the members_can_post status. If they're a member of the netgroup the owner has no power to delete them (since this requires changing their account) and may have to resort to removing the netgroup and relying upon explicit moderation until things cool down.

Last edited by Computing Support Group 28/10/2010

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Mail aliases

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1: Is there a mail alias for ... ?

The school has a system of mail aliases controlled with the mlalias command.

You can get a list of all the mail aliases (there are a lot of them) with the command mlalias -l.

There is also a web interface which allows you to examine the mail aliases and a list of useful School mlaliases.

Please remember though, think carefully about which list you send your mail to. People tend to get very annoyed about receiving mail on list which is inappropriate. Think, "does everyone on the cse@cse alias need to read about my COMP1011 enrollment problem?"

In addition to those aliases listed by mlalias -l, there are Virtual aliases created from the udb. These include aliases such as comp1011-list which contains all the students (and staff) for COMP1011.

Last edited by Computing Support Group 28/10/2010

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Our spam filter

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1: How does CSE deal with spam email?

Spam emails (also known as unsolicited or bulk commercial emails) are an annoying problem for many users. Since spamsters use a variety of techniques combatting the spam is not simple and a multi-layered approach works best.

There is a FAQ on dealing with Filtering out spam at the user level. Users can take advantage of the fact that both the CSE and UNSW mailservers have Spam Assassin installed and that CSE sends all email received from non-UNSW addresses to the UNSW mailserver for spam and virus checking. CSE's mailserver has Bayesian learning enabled and is regularly trained with examples of spam received by CSG members.

However, since the mailservers have to cope with many thousands of emails per day it is preferable to reduce the amount of spam email received in the first place. CSE has thus installed several tweaks to its email system to turn away spam right at the start of the SMTP transactions. Indeed these measures were introduced before the installation of Spam Assassin and proved very effective in reducing the amount of spam entering CSE. Observations of the characteristics of the spam received by users led to the following changes to the CSE mailserver:

- A dummy mailserver, blackhole.cse.unsw.edu.au, was setup in the DNS with a high MX value, since spam seemed to be attracted to that (whereas a correctly configured mailserver looks for the lowest MX value). You can see this by typing host -t mx cse.unsw.edu.au. Mail received by blackhole is dumped;

- emails without a valid Message-ID field are dumped. A correctly configured mailserver will insert a Message-ID field as recommended by RFC 822;

- emails where the domain name in the SMTP envelope does not match the domain name in the mail header (the Sent or From fields) are dumped, since this strongly indicates forged headers. Forged headers are common in viruses and spam, but not legitimate email.

- a small blacklist of addresses that have proved troublesome is manually maintained to capture at least some of the spamsters whose junk manages to bypass the above measures. Since spamsters like to change the address they use every so often, the blacklist is updated on a semi-regular basis and does not attempt to be comprehensive. There is little point adding the address of a spamster who spams a small number of CSE accounts once and then never returns, under that name anyway;

Dumped emails are saved for a short time, so that they can be checked if users complain of not receiving legitimate emails. Unfortunately even legitimate mailservers aren't always correctly configured. A whitelist of such servers is maintained.

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 11/04/2011

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Not receiving email

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1: Why am I not receiving email?

1.1: Common causes

The most common causes for people not being able to receive email are:

1.1.1: No automatic collection (POP)

You have a file called .noautomail in your home directory. This prevents the system from automatically collecting your mail. See Using IMAP (General Usage) for an explanation of why you might do this.

1.1.2: Over disk quota

You are over quota, or your .Xauthority file does not have write permission set, which is interpreted as being over quota. Either way the system will not allocate you the disk space needed to read new mail.

1.1.3: Mail forwarded to another address

You have a mail alias which is redirecting all your mail elsewhere. Type mlalias <username> or visit the Account Control Panel (and click Mail: Forwarding) to check.

1.1.4: Corrupted IMAP cache files

You have corrupt files in your IMAP cache. This can cause issues with Dovecot and prevent the viewing of mail via IMAP. Delete your .imap/ folders located in your mail directory, usually mail/.imap/ (and sometimes mail/mail/.imap/ may also exist).

1.1.5: Mail files locked

A mail program has crashed (or otherwise exited uncleanly) and left behind a .incoming-mail.lock file and possibly a kernel file lock. Removing the lock file and the kernel lock will allow mail to flow.

Run getmail -t to see whether this is happening. You will get a message like this:

getmail: cannot lock mail file: File exists

If you run mutt -f mailbox this will unlock and display the file mailbox for you. Use Control-C to quit mutt.

1.1.6: An older, complicated way of clearing a mail lock

Make sure you have enough space in your homedir for two copies of your .incoming-mail file before doing this. You don't want this file truncated due to you being over quota. You may wish to copy it to /tmp if you have quota issues.

cp .incoming-mail .incoming-mail.save

rm -i .incoming-mail

rm -i .incoming-mail.lock

mv .incoming-mail.save .incoming-mail

1.2: Large messages

Your getmail process is blocked on a too-big email in your mailbox on the mailserver (i.e. you don't have enough diskquota to collect the mail). Download it to somewhere that isn't restricted by your disk quota, such as /tmp, with getmail -1 > /tmp/big-mail-file or similar. You can then view the contents of the email by opening up this file, and then suitably admonish the person who sent it to you.

1.3: SGI machine

If your machine is an SGI, check you have a file called .mailrc containing the line 'o inbox' in your home directory. You may also need a file called .automail.

2: Quick diagnosis

A quick way to check what's going on is to run the command getmail -t This will provide some clue as to why you're not getting any email. If you see lots of output, followed by a line like 76 messages transferred to /import/kamen/1/rlawther/.incoming-mail it means everything is working fine, and chances are that you've got a .noautomail file as described above. If you see something like

-su-2.05b$ getmail -t

<- +OK note POP3 server ready (can-local)

-> LOCAL

<- +OK I'll keep it to myself

-> CAPA

<- +OK Capability list follows

-> LOCAL

<- +OK I'll keep it to myself

-> USER rlawther

<- +OK Mailbox is open

-> RPOP rlawther

<- +OK

-> STAT

<- +OK 0 0

0 messages transferred to /import/kamen/1/rlawther/.incoming-mail

It means you just don't have any mail. Send yourself a test email to check if it gets through.

If getmail -t complains that it cannot get a lock on your mail file, then follow the instructions above on how to fix this.

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 23/03/2011

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Filtering out spam

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1: How can I filter out spam emails?

Spam emails (also known as unsolicited email, junk email or bulk commercial emails) are an annoying problem for many users. Since spammers use a variety of techniques, combatting the spam is not simple and a multi-layered multi-layered approach works best. For more details see Dealing With Spam at CSE. The rest of this FAQ is a quick guide to filtering out emails tagged as spam by the CSE and UNSW mailservers.

The extremely popular and effective open source program Spamassassin is installed on the CSG-linux computers so any user can run it to check their email; see the manpage or Spamssassin website for details. There are also many websites with tips on tweaking your Spamassassin ruleset. However, the CSE and UNSW mailservers also run Spamassassin and all emails that come into CSE from non-UNSW addresses are run through these central programs. Users can thus easily filter out spam, using a program such as procmail, by looking for one or both of the mail headers X-CSE-Spam-Flag: YES (CSE's Spamsssassin) or X-Spam-Flag: YES (UNSW's) which are inserted by Spamassassin when the spam count reaches the threshold of matches against the spamassassin rules (known as 'hits'), currently set to 5.0. This is a fairly rigorous threshold; if you find too many emails are being tagged as spam then use a procmail rule based on the header X-Spam-Level which adds an asterisk * for every rule matched.

If you've setup a .procmailrc file already, something like the following rule will move all email tagged as spam into a file called spam. If not, you may want to have a look at the FAQ on Filtering Email. It is best to start by saving and checking emails tagged as spam as there may be false positives; some mailing list emails, for instance, can score surprisingly high on spam checklists.

:0

* ^X-CSE-Spam-Flag.*YES

spam

If you want to count the spam hits instead, the following rule will consider spam any email with 5 or more hits (5 is the Spamassassin default):

:0

* ^X-CSE-Spam-Level.*\*\*\*\*\*

spam

You can, of course, get a lot fancier than this. For instance, any email with 10 or more hits is almost guaranteed to be spam, so if you're daring you could try the following 2 rules:

:0

* ^X-CSE-Spam-Level.*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*

/dev/null

:0

* ^X-CSE-Spam-Level.*\*\*\*\*\*

spam

This destroys emails with 10 or more hits, while those with 5-9 hits are saved to the spam file for further checking. The order is important!

The SpamAssassin website has some more tips on using procmail.

2: Spam to mailing lists

Occasionally a CSE mailing list is targeted by spamsters. In order to avoid the duplication of effort of making everybody on the list setup the above rules, CSG has an mlalias pageboy that will do it for them. If you are the owner of a mailing list that is receiving spam, you can use this pageboy. If you don't own the list, ask SS to do it for you. The following example assumes Fred Bloggs owns a list called fbloggs.list:

mlalias fbloggs.list -f moderated -M fbloggs.list@spamassassin.program

mlalias -C fbloggs.list.spam -a fbloggs

The first command makes the list moderated by the pageboy so every email received by the list (that isn't from an authorised poster) is checked for an X-Spam-Flag: YES header ie. it has been tagged as spam. The second step creates a place for tagged emails to go for further checking. In this case Fred is sending these emails to himself, and he can then setup a procmail rule as above to filter these emails to an appropriate file.

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 11/04/2011

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Redirecting mail

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1: The simple approach

Go to the Account Control Panel and set your desired redirection using the GUI.

2: Setting a redirection directly with mlalias

CSE does not use Sendmail as its MTA, so creating a .forward file in your homedir won't work. The locally-written application mlalias takes email sent to a CSE address and forwards it to the recipient(s) defined in the mlalias. As there can be more than one recipient, mlalias can therefore also be used to create mailing lists. Anybody is allowed to create mlaliases under their own username but if you want one with a different name, for instance for a conference, it has to be created by SS.

The order of the flags to mlalias is important. Many users have embarrassed themselves by creating an mlalias that forwards all their email to a list, when what they wanted was to add themselves to the list.

The most basic commands are listed below. For more details, read the mlalias manual entry.

mlalias -C username will create a mail alias for your account (username@cse.unsw.edu.au).

mlalias username -a remote@address will add remote@address to the list of places mail to your CSE account will be sent to.

mlalias username -d remote@address will remove remote@address from the alias

mlalias -R username will delete the mail alias.

For example: Fred Bloggs wants to read his email both at CSE and at home, so he creates an mlalias that sends a copy to both:

mlalias -C fbloggs -a fbloggs fredbloggs@yahoo.com.au

Note: do not add your username as username@cse.unsw.edu.au. This will create an aliasing loop that will stop any email reaching you. Our mail system knows that fbloggs means your CSE account and will send it there. Also ensure that the owner of the alias is the username only, for the same reason.

Creating a file called .forward in your home directory (or anywhere else) will not cause your mail to be redirected elsewhere, as we don't use Sendmail as our MTA. (We use a locally written program called SaF (for Store and Forward), for the interested.)

If you change username, you may wish to modify or remove any mlalias under your old username accordingly; SS will make your old username an alias to your new one, so there is no need to maintain an mlalias for the old username as email sent to your old username will be delivered to your new one. However, since mlalias doesn't read the UDB it doesn't know automatically that your old and new usernames are referencing the same account. You can force this via the -u flag in the mlalias command.

For example, Fred Bloggs used to have the username fblo123 and created the mlalias fblo123.junk. Now his username is fbloggs; if he tries to change the mlalias with mlalias fblo123.junk -a ..., he will get a "permission denied" error. Adding the -u flag: mlalias fblo123.junk -u fblo123 -a ... tells the mlalias program that fblo123 is the same person as fbloggs, so the change is allowed.

3: Redirections for graduating students

If you are graduating from UNSW and would like to keep receiving mail, you can set up an alumni account and then set the redirect to send mails to this account. Please consult the Alumni Accounts page for more information on setting up alumni accounts.

Last edited by Adrian Pua 07/12/2010

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Using POP

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1: Using POP to collect CSE Email

1.1: Summary

POP Server: pop3.cse.unsw.edu.au

SSL: Enabled, on port 995

SMTP server: smtp.cse.unsw.edu.au (also enable SSL)

SSL: Enabled with port 465

Login: Your CSE Username and password

1.2: You probably want to use IMAP instead

Most people who want to read their CSE email, particularly from a remote location should be using IMAP.

If you know you specifically need to use POP, read on...

1.3: Stopping the automatic spooling of mail to your home directory

When you log in to a CSE UNIX computer, a program called checkmail gets started, which checks if you have mail in the system spool and if you do, it delivers it to your $HOME/.incoming-mail file.

This means when you use something like Netscape to check mail via POP3, it doesn't work as chances are, checkmail has beaten Netscape to it and put your mail in the mail file in your account.

To disable checkmail you need to create an empty file in your home directory called .noautomail. You can do this a in a number of ways, here's one:

cd; touch .noautomail

Be aware that this will prevent automatic delivery of mail to your account when you log in at uni. In order to manually fetch your mail at uni, you can type getmail. If you wish to have mail delivered automatically again, remove the .noautomail file in your home directory.

1.4: Configuration

The POP3 server for the school is pop3.cse.unsw.edu.au with port 995 (do not use 110). The SMTP server is smtp.cse.unsw.edu.au with port 465. Both connections require your CSE username and password and should use SSL.

NOTE: Do not instruct your mail client to "leave mail on server" if you are using Outlook, this has prevented pop3 from downloading the mail in some cases.

Last edited by Computing Support Group 28/10/2010

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Using maildir

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1: Using Maildir at CSE

1.1: What is it?

Most people at CSE store their CSE email in their home directory. The email is delivered to .incoming-mail which is usually a person's largest and most active mail folder. Often, mail is then moved to various folders in ~/mail/. The particular folder it is moved to is determined by the mail's origin, topic or time of creation.

The typical mail box file format in UNIX is mbox in which a mail folder and all of the messages in it are a single file. This format tends to work well where concurrent read/write operations on a mail folder are rare, such as with mail archives.

A popular alternative to mbox is the Maildir format. This has the advantage that the mail items are in separate files which means that:

- File locking of the mail folder is not as crucial. Incorrect file locking is a cause of many mail access problems at CSE.

- File corruption will only disrupt mail items and not make a folder inaccessible.

- Nightly backups at CSE need to only save new mail items in the folder. If you have large mail folders that change regularly then Maildir might fix an issue you can have with backup file limits. (See Why weren't my files backed up?)

1.2: What can use Maildir?

The IMAP server at CSE will access ~/Maildir in preference to ~/mail by default. If you use CSE's webmail service or connect to our IMAP service then this lets you use Maildir.

UNIX mail readers such as mutt can also use Maildir format folders. Currently pine cannot.

1.3: Converting your mbox folders to folders in ~/Maildir

1. Close all IMAP connections and applications accessing your mail folders

2. Log into a UNIX machine and run mb2md -R -s ~/mail -d ~/Maildir
or somthing along those lines where files in the source (mail) are in mbox format. If there is many mbox folders in ~/mail when you run the command each individual mbox will get created in ~/Maildir/.mbox-name etc. You can then subscribe to these folders in your email application to create the same folder structure as before.
3. Perform conversion on the Inbox by running mb2md -s ~/.incoming-mail -d ~/Maildir
converted mails will be placed in ~/Maildir/cur/.

The next time you log in the IMAP server will be displaying mail folders in the ~/Maildir directory instead of the ~/mail directory.

The general format of a maildir tree structure is as follows

~/Maildir

cur/

new/

tmp/

subscriptions

another-folder/

cur/

new/

tmp/

another-folder1/

cur/

new/

tmp/

...

Your inbox mail will be stored in ~/Maildir/cur/.

1.4: Changing your INBOX to Maildir

Unfortunately, your .incoming-mail file is still the first folder that your mail goes to and it is not in Maildir format. You will need to perform some further configuration to change this.

You can configure your mail client to move the mail to a folder in the ~/Maildir directory to get the benefit of using the Maildir storage format.

You can also use a procmail configuration to move the mails as they are received.

To use procmail you will need to place a .procmailrc file in your home directory. The contents of a sample file are below

# .procmailrc

# routes incoming mail to appropriate mailboxes

PATH=/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin

MAILDIR=${HOME}/Maildir

DEFAULT=${MAILDIR}/

#LOGFILE=${HOME}/.procmaillog

LOGFILE=/dev/null

SHELL=/bin/sh

VERBOSE=on

:0:

* ^TO_.*seminar(s)?@cse.unsw.edu.au

.seminars/

The above file has one procmail rule in it, saying that any mail we receive from the seminar mailing list will be put into the seminars folder in ~/Maildir/. It should be noted that the trailing slash on the .seminars/ is needed to make sure that procmail inserts the message in a maildir format not an mbox format.

1.5: Setting your environment variables

If you would like totally bypass your incoming-mail file you will need to set your environment variable $MAIL to be your Maildir folder. This can be achieved by making a change in your .bashrc or .profile files.

An example from my file can be found below.

export MAIL=$HOME/Maildir/

1.6: Housekeeping

Should there be configuration files referring to the old mbox like .incoming-mail or similar, they should be changed to refer to the corresponding folders under Maildir.

Example .backup file to exclude file or directory objects from backup or filemax limit, etc. Any reference to .incoming-mail should be changed to Maildir/ instead.

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 10/12/2010

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Email encryption

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1: Encrypting Email

Email is easy to forge. You'll notice many spam and viruses arriving that appear to be sent by people you know, but are actually viruses sent by others. Signing email can help people know that you sent an email. You can also encrypt email so that the content is only readable by the intended recipient.

First, you should refer to the pages on creating and using your GPG signature.

Once you have created a GPG key, you should configure your e-mail client to help you sign or encrypt outgoing mail, and to verify incoming signed/encrypted mail.

Please refer to the page for your client:

- Pine

- Mutt

- Thunderbird

- Evolution

- VM - an emacs mail client

- Outlook (is this possible?)

- Mail.app on OS X

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 11/04/2011

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Virtual aliases

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1: Virtual mail addresses (or how to email all users in a class)

1.1: Addresses based on official student enrolments

1.1.1: Pageboy addresses

The pageboy address of the form: enrol_addr@enrol.program will send email to students that (were/are/will be) enrolled in a specified year and session in any specified combination of courses, programs, or plans.

In brief, the enrol pageboy:

- Relies on enrolment files derived from official enrolment records. The Enrolment files for the current and next session for CSE students are updated daily;

- Can specify enrolments in courses, programs, and/or plans from any year and session back to session 1 1999, in a particularly flexible and powerful way;

- Can be used to generate lists of addresses and/or registration numbers of students matching the enrolment specification.

The enrol pageboy is described in much more detail in the enrol pageboy document.

1.2: Addresses based on the UDB

The mlalias command is used at CSE to create mailing lists. One of its most powerful features is its ability to hook into the UDB (the user database) to create mailing lists based upon the current membership of a UDB class such as a course or program. Such lists are known as virtual aliases as they are not predefined, like standard mlaliases, but created at the moment of invocation. By using virtual aliases, you can avoid having to create or update long lists of email addresses by hand.

The general form of a UDB mediated virtual alias is: <UDBclass1>-list. ie: simply append "-list" to the UDB class that describes the group you wish to email.

The UDB has a logical, hierarchical structure which anybody can inspect using the acc and udblist commands. In general, a course will have Lecturer, Supervisor (the subject administrator), Tutor and Student classes defined (some large subjects also have Demonstrator, small ones may not have Tutor). Each of these classes will be prefixed by the course code. So, for example, COMP1011 has the following UDB classes:

COMP1011 (65931)

COMP1011_Reason (68513)

COMP1011_People (68514)

COMP1011_Teacher (68643)

COMP1011_Demonstrator (67113)

COMP1011_Supervisor (66681)

COMP1011_Lecturer (66584)

COMP1011_Tutor (66533)

COMP1011_Employee (68642)

COMP1011_Student (66482)

(For the interested, this is an excerpt from the output generated by the command udblist comp1011 5, which dumps information from the UDB to 5 levels of nesting.)

So:

- To email the tutors of COMP1011, send to COMP1011_Tutor-list (from a non-CSE computer, you will have to send to COMP1011_Tutor-list@cse.unsw.edu.au);

- To email everybody on the teaching side (ie. the lecturers, the admin and the tutors) send to COMP1011_Teacher-list;

- to email all students currently in COMP1011, send the email to the address COMP1011_Student-list.

The set of students that are members of CLASS_Student is not necessarily the same as the set of students who are currently enrolled in CLASS. This is because students may be members of the UDB class CLASS_Student for longer than they are officially (or technically) enrolled in CLASS. This is done to allow students to access their account (and some classes) both before the start of the session, and after the end of the session, and there is sometimes an overlap of class membership (depending on the particular class involved).

If you need to send email to students depending strictly on their actual official enrolments, then you should use the enrol pageboy described briefly above and in more detail in the Enrol Pageboy article.

Note:

- By default, non-CSE accounts, and CSE undergraduate students are not able to send email to course mailing lists. This can be changed upon request from the LiC. This is a security feature intended to reduce spam.

- Because these lists aren't manually constructed, they can't be manually modified. The only way to add/remove somebody from a virtual alias is to add/remove their account to/from the relevant UDB class. This will usually require SS assistance.

- These virtual mail aliases are used extensively within CSE to construct mailing lists that go to research groups or the School. They can also be used to construct mailing lists based upon group membership, but it is slightly trickier to get the authorised posters correct.

1.2.1: Emailing UDB class intersections

A special form of virtual alias can be used to email people in one class who are also in another (ie. the intersection of the classes). The general form is <class1>+</class1><class2>-list. For example, mlalias 3978+comp3-list for all students enrolled in the 3978 program doing third year courses.

1.2.2: Emailing members of a UDB class from past sessions

All the virtual aliases described above use the current contents of the UDB to determine class membership. However, if you want to send email to past members of a UDB class, then you will need to use a virtual address that refers to historical dumps of the UDB database that have been made at the end of each session since session 1 of 2001.

These virtual addresses are of the form: ${UDBCLASS}-list-${year}${session}. ie: Appending the year and session (eg: -03s2 or -2002s1) to the end of the <UDBclass>-list address, will get all users who were previously members of that UDBclass at the end of that session.

For example, the address: COMP1021_Tutor-list-03s2 will map to all users who were members of COMP1021_Tutor at the end of session 2 of 2003.

If you need to send email to students according to their enrolment in previous years/sessions, then you should not use this form of virtual address, but instead you should use the enrol pageboy described briefly above and in more detail in the Enrol Pageboy article.

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 05/04/2011

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Vacation mail

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1: Vacation Mail

CSE has an auto-reply program you can use to answer emails if you're going to be away for a while. Just send a mail to on@vacation, with the subject something like "I'm away until dd/mm/yy/" and the body of the mail containing the message you want people to get. When you come back, send an empty mail to off@vacation to disable the auto-reply.

Depending on how you send your mail, you may need to send an extra confirmation mail. If this is the case, you will be sent an email with details after you mail on@vacation. Just send a test mail to be sure that it has activated.

See the man page for more details.

Last edited by Computing Support Group 28/10/2010

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CSE Labs

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1: CSE Computer Labs

1.1: Lab Locations and Hours

There are general access labs located on the first floors of the Old Main, Electrical Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering buildings. Thesis labs are located in the Computer Science building. A detailed description of the lab locations can be found on the Lab Locations FAQ page.

Current lab hours can be found on the Help Desk page.

1.2: Finding an available lab machine

1.2.1: The Lab Command

The lab command can be used to find out what machines are available in a lab. More information is located on the Lab command FAQ page.

1.2.2: Booking and Claiming Lab Machines

The Booking lab computers FAQ page describes how to book a lab machine. Claiming a lab booking describes how to claim a booked computer.

1.3: Using the Lab Computers

1.3.1: Lab Devices

All CSE computers have CD-ROM drives and USB ports (and some have floppy drives) that can be used. Information on how to use these devices can be found on the FAQ page.

A more detailed description of using USB storage devices can be found on the USB Storage FAQ page.

1.3.2: Window Managers

The default window manager on CSE lab machines is Fluxbox, however you can change your default session either by editing your .xsession file, or by selecting the session at the login screen and when it asks if you would like to make it the default, press yes. More information on window managers can be found on its FAQ page.

The Using your account FAQ page has a lot of useful information about how to use and customize your CSE account.

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 04/04/2011

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CSE lab map

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1: CSE Lab Map

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CSE lab locations

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1: Where are the CSE laboratories?

CSE has 5 laboratory precincts:

- The OMB labs are:

- in the Old Main building, behind and below Keith Burrows theatre;

- called clavier, organ and piano

- customised Debian Linux

- The EE Undercroft labs are:

- in the Electrical Engineering building, on the walkway near Rex Vowels theatre;

- called drum, harp, oboe and tuba

- customised Debian Linux

- The ME Undercroft labs are:

- in the Mechanical Engineering building, on the walkway (directly opposite the EE Undercroft)

- called bell, leaf, moog and spoons

- customised Debian Linux

- the labs nearest to the CSE Help Desk

- The Eatery labs are:

- in the Mechanical Engineering building, next to Coffee on Campus

- called bugle and pipe

- customised Debian Linux

- The Thesis labs are:

- in the K17 building

- called banjo and oud

- customised Debian Linux

- available only to computing thesis students

A Lab Map is available for perusal and download.

The different precincts are open different hours. As a general rule the labs nearest the Help Desk, ME Undercroft and Eatery stay open later than the others.

In addition there are 2 restricted-access, special-purpose labs in K17, next to oud:

- The Macintosh lab is:

- called chi

- Mac OS X

- used to teach COMP3511/4511/9511

- available for training purposes

- The Advanced Systems lab is:

- called lyre

- used to teach COMP3222, COMP4336

All of the laboratories are on the ground floor and have the name of the lab on the door. There are 2 printers in each of the 4 lab precincts.

Last edited by Meicheng Whale 13/01/2011

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Lab Hours

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1: When are the labs open?

Current lab times can be found on the Help Desk page.

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Swipe card access

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1: Swipe card access

Access to K17 and to CSE labs is controlled via your UNSW student or staff card.

1.1: Undergraduate and other Course-work Students

Students who study CSE courses will usually be able to enter the general purpose laboratories during the normal opening hours.

Most students at CSE do not have after-hours access to the K17 Building.

Students enrolled in some courses, such as their thesis course, will have access to the K17 building and a special purpose laboratory inside. Your lecturer will tell your if you need to use a special purpose laboratory.

Your card lets you access areas automatically based on your enrolment. Only ask Helpdesk staff for access to an area if:

- You have tested your access and have found that it does not work, and

- You have a reason to enter the area.

If a CSE Academic wants you to work on a special project and you need access to a restricted area then the Academic should request this access from CSE Facilities or the CSE Helpdesk.

If you are not enrolled in a CSE course this session then you will probably not have card access to CSE laboratories or login access to the CSE computers. You should enrol in a course or talk to the CSE Student Office about your enrolment before your card access can be fixed.

1.1.1: Fixing card access problems

If you are entitled to enter an area but cannot, you should go to the CSE Helpdesk.

If your enrolment is correct the Helpdesk staff may contact FM Assist on your behalf but you probably need to go to the FM Assist office. You probably have a problem with the card or the way the access system identifies the card. In this case, FM Assist will re-encode your card.

Most card access problem are due to incorrect magnetic information on the card.

Tell FM Assist the CSE course you are studying that should give you access to the laboratories. They can check this and can ask the CSE Helpdesk for confirmation if they need that.

If after that you still cannot enter the laboratories go to the CSE Helpdesk or send an email. Be sure to tell the Helpdesk:

- Who you are

- The room to which you should have access

- When you used your card to enter the room

- When you went to FM Assist to re-encode the card

The Helpdesk will talk to FM Assist and resolve the problem with access.

1.2: CSE Staff and Research Students

You will need to speak to Facilities, who should be able to make the appropriate arrangements for you.

Last edited by Robert Doran 29/03/2011

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Booking lab computers

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1: Booking a Lab Workstation

CSE runs a booking system in all of the non-restricted laboratories and in the thesis lab. All students are supplied with tokens to make bookings; the number and type of tokens you receive is dependent on the courses you are enrolled in. The minimum period that can be booked is 30 minutes: if you only need a computer for 5 minutes you're probably better off using one of the bookterms. The longest period you can pre-book is 3 hours (since no student receives more than 6 tokens) but, since each token is returned to you at the end of the 30 minutes, in practice you can keep on extending the booking until the lab closes or another booking intervenes.

1.1: Linux Laboratories

The basic command is book but as its syntax is somewhat obscure most students find the GUI frontend to book, tkbook, much easier to use. When you run tkbook, it will look something like this, listing the labs and timeslots available to you. A timeslot marked "." has workstations available for booking; a timeslot marked "Full" may be fully booked, or the lab may be closed at that time (which is rather confusing).

1.2: Windows Laboratories

There is no direct equivalent of book in the Windows labs. Students in the Windows labs should use the web interface to book as below, or ssh to login.cse.unsw.edu.au and run book/tkbook.

1.3: Web Interface

For the benefit of people at home or in one of the Windows labs, there is a web interface to book on the Account Control Panel. Go to the URL https://status.cse.unsw.edu.au/Control_Panel/ (requires Javascript) and scroll down to Lab Bookings. You can then make a booking by clicking on one of the "Open" timeslots.

To unbook a timeslot in tkbook, click on it and then click on "Unbook". To unbook a slot from the web interface, just click on it. You should unbook any booking you can't attend as you will be marked as a defaulter if you just forfeit it.

Last edited by Computing Support Group 28/10/2010

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How to use bookterms

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1: How to use Bookterms

Bookterms are workstations dedicated to the booking system. There are a couple in each lab precinct although you might have to look around a little; for example the Mech Eng Undercroft bookterms are in the K17 lobby near the School Office counter, rather than near the bugle and pipe lab doors. Login sessions on the bookterms are limited to 5 minutes as they are intended for students who want to hastily make/cancel a booking rather than do work.

When you log into a bookterm it puts you directly into a book session so you will get a > prompt rather than the usual %, and it will expect you to enter booking commands. If you are not familiar with book syntax you can see what commands are available by typing help, then help <command> for more details on a particular command.

You can use the bookterms to do quick tasks such as check your email by typing shell at the > prompt which will start a login shell.

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How to use booking tokens

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1: How to use booking tokens

All students enrolled in a CSE course will receive some tokens with which to make bookings. Usually the allocation is 2 tokens per course, but more can be allocated by SystemSupport at the Lecturer in Charge's request.

Tokens are divided roughly into 2 categories: those that are tied to students, subdivided by student type and year, and those that are tied to laboratories. Tokens are always given descriptive names such as yr1token, pg2token, phystoken and thesistoken. The reason tokens are categorised is to make it easy to bind certain laboratories to them, so for instance ENGG1811 students receive phystoken for the Physics labs and can book them, whereas other students can't (and at time of writing can't login there either). Similarly 4th year students receive thesistoken to book in the thesis lab.

In previous years tokens were bound to precincts or times; for instance only students with yr1token could book in the eeundercroft precinct (and they had to use the yr1token to do so) and only students with a pgtoken could book certain labs after 6pm. This is not practiced at time of writing: any linux lab can be booked with any of the general undergraduate (e.g. yr1token) or postgraduate (e.g. pg34token) tokens.

You can see what type of and how many tokens you've received by:

- typing book and then tokens

- /usr/local/etc/bkuser -t $USER

- starting tkbook and then clicking on the tokens button in the top left corner.

- using the Lab Bookings page of the Account Control Panel

If you try to make a booking with an inappropriate token the booking system will reject the booking.

Students receive a maximum of 6 general tokens and 4 special tokens, with each token booking a single slot i.e. 30 minutes. The token is returned to you at the end of the slot at which point you can use it to make another booking, or extend the current one. Your tokens will also be returned to you if the booking cannot be honored (for instance there are not enough Up workstations for one to be allocated to you) and if the lab is FREE at time of allocation.

Students enrolled in a CSE program but not doing any courses, for example students who've deferred, do not receive any tokens and thus cannot make bookings.

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Booking history

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1: Checking your booking history

Should you want to check your booking history, you can either:

- type book then past

- type /usr/local/etc/bkuser -p $USER

bkuser returns more detailed information than book does and hence is useful if a booking is disputed.

Other useful options to bkuser are:

- /usr/local/etc/bkuser -t $USER - your token allocation

- /usr/local/etc/bkuser -b $USER - pending (future) bookings

1.1: Booking States

If you run /usr/local/etc/bkuser $USER you will see that your booking tokens are in one of several states (some of these states are the same as when you run lab):

- PENDING - the booking is for a future timeslot

- TENTATIVE - the booking is for the current timeslot and a workstation has been allocated

- ALLOCATED - the booking is for the current timeslot and the allocated workstation has been claimed

- RETURNED - the booked timeslot is past

- REFUNDED - the booked timeslot is past and could not be honored

- FREEBIE - the booking may not have been necessary because the lab was FREE at the time of the booked slot

- CANCELLED - the booking was cancelled before its time

RETURNED, REFUNDED and FREEBIE are all just different ways of returning your booking tokens to you after the booked timeslot is past.

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Defaulter status in the booking system

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1: What's this "You are a defaulter" message mean?

A defaulter is a person who makes a booking but doesn't use it. Defaulting is discouraged because of the inconvenience it creates for other users who have to wait 7 minutes to see if the workstation will become generally available again, which is even more annoying if they were logged off for somebody who never shows.

You will attain defaulter status upon missing 2 bookings within a 2 week period. Once you become a defaulter you have to either wait 2 weeks or claim 2 bookings in a row to clear the defaulter status. That is, a workstation will be allocated to you but anybody currently logged in will not be logged off as usual - you have to claim the workstation. The inconvenience of this is a mild punishment for the inconvenience you caused others.

Logging in during the booked time, but not at the allocated workstation, is counted as a default.

2: Multislot bookings

Multislot bookings (i.e. more than half an hour) are treated slightly differently. If you miss the first hour (2 slots) you become a defaulter as above. However, if you miss any subsequent hour (also 2 slots) you do not become a defaulter. Once you logout, at any point in the multislot booking, the workstation will become available for use to others. There will be no countdown process at the half-hour nor will they have to wait 7 minutes, even if you don't unbook the slots you ended up not using. However, nobody else will be able to book those slots either so as a courtesy to others you should unbook any slots you decide not to use.

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Claiming a lab booking

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1: Claiming a Workstation

At 7 minutes to the half-hour (i.e. hh:23 and hh:53) the booking system starts a countdown process where it allocates workstations to the next slot's bookings and sends a series of warnings to logged in users who don't hold bookings. On the half-hour mark the current users are forcibly logged out and the workstations will then reject logins from anybody but the booked user for another 7 minutes. Both of these 7 minute periods are known as the grace period because they give the current user of the workstation enough time to gracefully finish their work and logout, and the booked user enough time to gracefully find the lab and login. Or so the theory goes.

In practice users occasionally find they are delayed and do not reach the lab until after the 7 (really 14 in total) minutes have elapsed, only to find that the workstation has allowed somebody else to login. This does not mean the booking has been trashed and you'll have to wait until the next half-hour, however. Go to a bookterm, login and type claim. This notifies the booking system that you are ready to take up your booking and it starts the countdown process for the logged-in user. This means that you will have to wait several minutes to gain your booking if the logged-in user chooses to wait out the entire countdown; a mild punishment for being late.

1.1: Class Bookings

There are 2 types of class bookings: tutorial bookings where nobody other than a student enrolled in the booking class can login for the entire duration of the class booking, and laboratory bookings which are similar to private bookings in that students from other courses are allowed to login after the grace period elapses. A student from the booking class can, however, still claim a workstation as above.

Note that bookings made during the grace period will end up being allocated to the next-but-one booking slot, not the next one. So if you want a booking at 11:00, say, you will have to make it by 10:52.

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Lab command

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1: How can I see which labs have free workstations?

By typing lab <labname>, where <labname> can be one of:

- a laboratory, e.g. bugle

- a lab precinct, e.g. meundercroft

- -A for All or -S for only open labs (not recommended, as both return long listings).

lab queries the current status of the named lab(s) and returns a table similar to this:

% lab bugle

Lab bugle is FREE, last allocation by bugle00 for 16may 18:00 (at 16/05;17:53:03

)

bugle00:0   :Up         Allocated: egar111    [ egar111  ] since 16/05;15:48:44

bugle01:0   :Up         Allocated: atom       [ atom     ] since 16/05;16:07:23

bugle02:0   :Up       UnAllocated: xrow999                 since 16/05;17:41:09

bugle03:0   :Up         Tentative: dand       { shng333  } since 16/05;18:14:20

bugle04:0   :Up       UnAllocated:                         since 16/05;18:11:08

bugle05:0   :Up       UnAllocated:                         since 16/05;18:12:32

bugle06:0   :Up       UnAllocated: xtan000                 since 16/05;18:11:46

bugle07:0   :Up         Tentative:            { bbai737  } since 16/05;17:26:20

bugle08:0   :Up       UnAllocated: jilly234                since 16/05;14:11:59

bugle09:0   :Up         Tentative: amosh      { weka     } since 16/05;14:01:59

bugle10:0   :Up         Tentative:            { jchu666  } since 16/05;17:28:44

bugle11:0   :Up         Allocated: zlzz679    [ zlzz679  ] since 16/05;15:30:36

bugle12:0   :Up       UnAllocated:                         since 16/05;18:11:49

bugle13:0   :Up       UnAllocated: adiego                  since 16/05;17:51:01

bugle14:0   :Up         Allocated: ubje555    [ ubje555  ] since 16/05;13:01:13

bugle15:0   :Up       UnAllocated: rwxl234                 since 16/05;16:54:10

bugle16:0   :Up         Allocated: jcshoe     [ jcshoe   ] since 16/05;15:01:44

bugle17:0   :Up       UnAllocated: ckhc818                 since 16/05;15:01:55

bugle18:0   :Up         Allocated: swel188    [ swel188  ] since 16/05;15:44:08

bugle19:0   :Up         Allocated: reneeg     [ reneeg   ] since 16/05;16:11:04

bugle20:0   :Up         Tentative:            [ jdoe     ] since 16/05;17:58:43

In this case workstations bugle04, bugle05 and bugle12 are free. You could also try waiting to see if the people who've booked bugle07 and bugle20 turn up to claim their bookings.

A lab can be in one of 3 states:

- FREE - fewer than 90% of the (available) workstations are booked (does not mean nobody's logged in)

- FULL - 90% or more of the (available) workstations are booked

- CLOSED.

(Available workstations are those that are Up and Bookable.)

The workstation which performed the 'last allocation' is the current lab leader. Bookings may not be honored if the lab leader becomes sick.

For each workstation, 5 types of status are returned:

- general viability

- either Up or Down

- booking status

- Broken

- OutOfService

- NotBookable (rare)

- UnAllocated - no bookings for this slot

- Tentative - booked, but not claimed yet

- Allocated - booked and claimed

- currently logged-in user, if any

- current booked user, if any

- time of last login/logoff.

For class bookings, the status is always Tentative, as shown below:

% lab bell

Lab bell is FULL, last allocation by bell00 for 16may 18:30 (at 16/05;18:23:04)

bell00:0    :Up         Tentative: jilly666   [ COMP1911 ] since 16/05;18:05:44

bell01:0    :Up         Tentative: ywho222    [ COMP1911 ] since 16/05;18:04:43

bell02:0    :Up         Tentative: gmcd888    [ COMP1911 ] since 16/05;18:07:49

bell03:0    :Up         Tentative: tice474    [ COMP1911 ] since 16/05;18:07:41

bell04:0    :Up         Tentative:            { COMP1911 } since 16/05;18:24:28

bell05:0    :Up         Tentative:            { COMP1911 } since 16/05;17:58:24

bell06:0    :Up         Tentative: slug678    [ COMP1911 ] since 16/05;18:03:51

bell07:0    :Up         Tentative:            { COMP1911 } since 16/05;17:53:45

bell08:0    :Up         Tentative:            { COMP1911 } since 16/05;18:35:03

bell09:0    :Up         Tentative:            { COMP1911 } since 16/05;17:45:49

bell10:0    :Up         Tentative:            { COMP1911 } since 16/05;17:45:53

bell11:0    :Up         Tentative:            { COMP1911 } since 16/05;17:54:23

bell12:0    :Up         Tentative:            { COMP1911 } since 16/05;18:24:01

bell13:0    :Up         Tentative: zchez      [ COMP1911 ] since 16/05;18:06:18

bell14:0    :Up         Tentative:            { COMP1911 } since 16/05;17:54:09

bell15:0    :Up         Tentative: psou567    [ COMP1911 ] since 16/05;18:02:38

bell16:0    :Up         Tentative:            { COMP1911 } since 16/05;18:00:05

bell17:0    :Up         Tentative:            { COMP1911 } since 16/05;16:56:05

bell18:0    :Up         Tentative: awux333    [ COMP1911 ] since 16/05;18:02:56

bell19:0    :Up         Tentative: afaf944    [ COMP1911 ] since 16/05;18:04:46

1.0.1: Planning Ahead

lab only shows you what's free in the current timeslot. Students have query access to the bookings database; you can view forward bookings and plan your own by one of the following methods:

- tkbook

- http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~csg/booking.html

- /usr/local/etc/booking ddmmm[-ddmmm] hh:mm[-hh:mm] <labname>

- e.g. /usr/local/etc/booking 18may-25may 09:00-12:00 eatery

- e.g. /usr/local/etc/booking 24jul ALL

- the Lab Bookings page of the Account Control Panel

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USB storage on CSE Lab Computers

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1: USB Storage Devices in the Labs

USB storage devices - popularly known as USB keys, thumb drives and memory sticks - can be used on any lab workstation that has a USB port on the front of the case or on Apple workstations where the USB ports are easy to reach.

Don't bother looking for USB ports at the back of the computers. The Computer Support Group does not want people plugging or unplugging things at the back of our computers. For this reason we do not permit the use of USB devices on computers without front USB connectors.

1.1: How it works

The basic command, after plugging the key into the USB port, is priv usb mount. As with priv cdrom this command is only available while logged in to the console of a computer and only works for USB devices attached to that computer. The command puts the contents of the USB device inside the directory /mnt/usb/N where N is usually 1. You change files in that directory to change the files on the USB device.

When you finish you must unmount the device before disconnecting it. Do this by running the command priv usb umount. This tells the computer to stop changing files on the device and properly save all of the changes made.

1.2: What storage devices can I use?

Most USB devices should work. Our computers are configured to work with almost all devices for which Linux kernel support has been written.

However, the device must be formatted with FAT, VFAT or HFS+ before you can use it on CSE computers. Our computers do not support NTFS, Ext2 or Ext3 formats, or other filesystem formats. Linux does not have read/write drivers for NTFS or for other filesystems. The ext formats have permission issues, so they are not mountable either.

Windows will usually format large devices with NTFS. If you have a large external harddisk, use your personal computer to format the first 32GB as a VFAT partition and you can mount this on the CSE computers. Use that partition to transfer large files between CSE and home or to backup your home directory. This means you can use at least the first 32GB even if our computers can't mount the rest of the disk.

If your key has a filesystem other than (V)FAT or HFS+, ask SystemSupport for assistance in accessing your device.

1.3: Using the priv usb command

There are four options:

- priv usb list - list all supported devices that are currently available. Each device will have a number (0, 1, ...), an indication of whether it is currently mounted, and some vendor-specific information.

- priv usb mount [N] - mount the key at /mnt/usb/N where N is the number of the device. If only one device is available (i.e. only one USB port) it will be mounted, otherwise you will need to give the number of the device to mount. e.g. priv usb mount 2.

- priv usb umount [N] - unmount all USB keys that are present and mounted. If a device number is given, just that device will be unmounted.

Always unmount a key before unplugging it.

- priv usb clean - unmount all keys that are mounted but not present, an indication that the devices are in a confused state. This command is run automatically when any USB storage device is removed so it should not be necessary to run it by hand; it is included here for completeness.

Once you have plugged and mounted a USB storage device you can access all the data on it simply by accessing the files under /mnt/usb/N

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Lab screen messages

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1: I've got a great suggestion for a screensaver message!

While they are unused, the lab workstations cycle through a number of helpful and occasionally amusing messages on the login screen. Students are welcome to suggest a message they would like added to this collection. Student societies, in particular, are allowed to add advertisements for events to the message collection.

Some caveats:

- informative messages are far more likely to be accepted than amusing ones

- the message must be concise, no more than 1-2 lines

- for student society advertisements, a small graphic may be added

- society advertisements will only be run for the fortnight preceding the event

- acceptance or rejection of the proposed message/advertisement is entirely up to SS. Don't assume our sense of humor matches yours.

Send your suggestion for a message, or even just a topic, you'd like to see to System Support.

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Window managers

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1: Window Managers

1.1: What is a Window Manager?

A window manager is the program that lets you manipulate windows. It generally draws a frame around the windows that you can use for closing it, moving it and many other things.

Unlike Microsoft Windows, in UNIX-based environments there are lots of different choices for how your desktop looks and feels! Many people eventually find a window manager style that suits them well, allowing them to efficiently and intuitively interact with applications.

1.2: How do I change my Window Manager

You can select a different window manager using the "Sessions" menu in GDM before you login.

If you select the "System Default Session", then your .xsession file is run. And if you don't have one if these, the Fluxbox window manager is run (Note).

You can modify your .xsession file yourself, or run the chwm program, which will write one for you.

Be careful when editing your .xsession, as you can easily make mistakes that will prevent you from logging in. If this happens, you can bypass your .xsession file by selecting a different session in the "Sesssions" menu at the login prompt.

1.3: What is available?

There are many Window Managers installed at CSE, some more in StuLocal, and you can even install them yourself into your home directory!

Some options include:

- Fluxbox - A modern, sleek and lightweight. It tries to leave you with as much screen space to yourself as possible. It provide multiple desktops, "tabs" (useful feature if you get to know it) and many other bits and pieces. See the Fluxbox FAQ page for usage tips. It is the default Window Manager if you do not have an ~/.xsession.

- twm - the Tab Window Manager is basic but reliable.

- fvwm2 - provides a 3-D look to window frames. It is an updated version of the original fvwm. It provides you with multiple virtual desktops so you can divide up your work, and is infinitely configurable!

- ctwm - an improvement on twm, ctwm provides multiple virtual desktops so you can divide up your work, and lots of window options.

- Window Maker - is another fast, decent looking window manager.

You can also load a full "Desktop Environment". These tend to be a bit more familiar to users of Microsoft Windows, but are also much slower to load up, and tend to be quite resource intensive and can break in weird and wonderful ways...

- KDE - The K Desktop Environment. Many CSE users use this environment.

- GNOME - The GNOME Desktop Environment.

1.4: Why isn't KDE the default Window Manager?

We are often asked why KDE isn't the default window manager, because it works much like Microsoft Windows?

There are several reasons:

1. We would like students to be aware that there are other options out there. With practise, the alternatives are actually much more efficient for getting work done!

2. KDE is still quite slow to start up, and can provide too many options for a new user.

3. KDE is a very large, integrated set of software. We cannot effectively support the complexity of this environment - when it breaks, it can be quite challenging to find the exact problem (hence our cleankde script which just tries to remove everything).

There are also some historical reasons that haven't been as much of an issue in recent years:

1. KDE used to be dreadfully slow to start on slower computers. Only our booking terminals get this slow. It also hogged lots of precious RAM. Our current generation of lab machines have plenty of RAM and graphics power.

2. We had lab machines only capable of 8-bit colour. This worked best with a lightweight WM with a custom (low colour) theme.

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Remote machine access

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1: Remote access to desktop machines

Users do not, by default, have permission to log into csg-linux machines (other than the login servers) remotely.

You can log in at the console, but attempts to connect via SSH will be denied.

If you do require remote access to a desktop machine, ask your supervisor/sponsor/superior (if applicable) to request this access on your behalf. Access to your own machine is no problem; access to any other machine will of course require permission from that machine's owner.

2: Access to lab machines

If you require SSH access to lab machines, you will need to discuss this with your supervisor (if applicable) and SS, to determine whether this can be justified. Theere is great potential for disruption for other users, which is something we are extremely keen on preventing.

If it is decided that the circumstances warrant it, we can place you in the CourseworkLabTelnet class, which will grant you access to the following labs:

Bongo, pipe, tuba, bugle, clavier, organ, piano, leaf, moog, drum, spoons, bell, harp.

You should understand that this is not something to be taken lightly, and that the needs of lab users take absolute precedence.

Please take extreme care not to disrupt in-hours functioning of the lab machines, especially during crucial assignment/exam periods.

You should only run your processes out-of-hours. Use a cron job on your desktop machine to remote-launch them, or launch them manually. Manual launching is preferred, as you'll be more able to keep an eye on them. Lab opening hours can always be found from the Helpdesk Home Page.

Processes must not run during lab opening hours - any processes found running past 8am may be terminated without warning. Please monitor your processes carefully to ensure that they all terminate correctly.

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Using various devices in the labs

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1: Using Various Devices/Drives on a Lab Workstation

The workstations bought for the student laboratories are usually not fully spec'd (they do not have burners, for instance) but they still have several drives that students can access.

1.1: CD-ROM

A data CD has to be mounted as a filesystem before it can be read. Usually only root can mount a new device on a *nix computer, so CSG has written a Priv Script to handle this for non-root users. Insert the CD-ROM and type priv cdrom mount. You should now be able to read the CD's contents at /cdrom. This command will only work for the person logged into the console of the computer and only for the CD-ROM drive on that computer.

When you have finished with the CD, type priv cdrom umount, to unmount the filesystem, and then eject to eject the disc.

1.2: Floppy

Only the Dell machines have floppy drives.

There is a set of commands collectively known as mtools that enable you to read and write to MS-DOS (Windows) floppy disks. The floppy disk drive is :a and the most common operations are:

- mdir - list the files on the floppy

- mcopy a:/file file.txt - copy a file from the floppy to ./file.txt

- mcopy file.txt a:/file - copy ./file.txt to the floppy

- mdel a:/file - delete file from the floppy

- mformat a: - format the floppy

If you happen to have a linux floppy, you can try mount /floppy. Nobody's ever asked us to make this work, so no guarantees...

1.3: USB

USB keys need to be mounted in a similar fashion to CD-ROMs, using the priv usb command. See the USB Keys FAQ for more information.

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Burning Software on Lab Machines

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1: Burning Software on Lab Machines

On CSE lab machines there is a command

priv cdrom burn

which can be run to burn any software on our software mirror. https://mirror.cse.unsw.edu.au.

It can also be used to burn any of the Microsoft titles under the schools MSDNAA https://mirror.cse.unsw.edu.au/pub/MSDNAA/cdindex.html.

For the MSDNAA discs you will need to supply a disc number. This is the "Disc Part No." column from the MSDNAA link above (for example it takes the form X13-97868 - for visual studion 2008 express edition).

Please note that some disc images are cdroms whilst others are DVDs (both dual and single layer).

It should also be noted that currently only the imac lab machines have dual layer burners.

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Setting proxies

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1: Setting proxies in a web browser

Direct HTTP and FTP connections to external hosts are not permitted on our network.

In order to access external websites amd FTP servers, you must configure your web browser to use our proxy.

Our proxy is located on www-proxy.cse.unsw.edu.au, on port 3128. It handles all HTTP (port 80) and FTP requests for hosts outside the UNSW campus network.

You can either configure your browser to use our Autoconfiguration file, or you can configure it manually. Note that Safari (for MacOS) requires manual configuration.

1.1: Automatic configuration

1.1.1: Firefox 1.0

- Select 'Preferences' from the Edit menu

- Select the General icon

- Click the 'Connection Settings' button in the 'Connection' pane.

- In the dialog that appears, select 'Automatic proxy configuration URL'

- Enter http://www.cse.unsw.EDU.AU/NetscapeProxyConfig.pac in the box below

- click OK, then OK.

1.1.2: Internet Explorer

- Choose the "Tools" menu

- Select "Internet Options.."

- Select the "Connection" tab.

- Click on the "LAN Settings.." tab

- In the "Automatic Configuration" pane:

- Tick the "Automatically detect settings" box

- Tick the "Use automatic configuration script" box

- Enter http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/NetscapeProxyConfig.pac in the Address box

- Click "OK", then "OK"

1.2: Manual configuration

An alternative, if the above causes problems, is to use Manual Proxy Configuration. The automatic configuration should work and provides more robust exceptions, so you should use that unless you have problems.

1.2.1: Firefox 1.0

- Follow the first 3 steps as for automatic configuration

- Select "Manual configuration"

- Make sure the "Use the same proxy server for all protocols" box is NOT selected.

- Enter: www-proxy.cse.unsw.edu.au in the HTTP field, and 3128 in the adjacent Port field.

- Ensure all other protocols (Secure, FTP, Gopher, Socks, etc) have BLANK proxy address and port fields.

- Click OK (in all dialogs) to save the changes.

1.2.2: Internet Explorer

- Follow the first 4 steps as for automatic configuration

- Ensure "Automatically detect settings" and "Use automatic configuration script" are NOT selected.

- Tick the box "Use a proxy server for your LAN"

- Tick the box "Bypass proxy server for local addresses"

- Click on the "Advanced" button

- Make sure the "Use the same proxy server for all protocols" box is NOT selected.

- Enter: www-proxy.cse.unsw.edu.au in the HTTP field, and 3128 in the adjacent Port field.

- Ensure all other protocols (Secure, FTP, Gopher, Socks, etc) have BLANK proxy address and port fields.

- Click OK (in all dialogs) to save the changes.

1.2.3: Safari

1. Click on the "Apple" icon on the top-left corner

2. Choose "System Preferences.."

3. Choose "Network" in "Internet & Network"

4. Choose the interface that you are configuring for in the drop down menu (eg. "Built in Ethernet" or "Internal Modem").

5. Select the "Proxies" Tab

6. Tick "Web Proxies" and enter www-proxy.cse.unsw.edu.au and insert Port 3128.

7. Enter in the "Proxy Settings for these Hosts & Domains": .unsw.edu.au

8. Close and Save Changes.

1.3: Problems

1.3.1: Access Denied

After setting up proxy servers for your browser, if you get errors such as the one below:

The requested URL could not be retrieved

While trying to retrieve the URL: www.someurl.com:443

The following error was encountered:

* Access Denied

it means you have setup HTTPS (Secure HTTP) requests to go through the proxy. Your proxy settings need to be modified so that HTTPS ("Secure" in IE) requests do not use the proxy - you're probably using manual/advanced proxy configuration instead of automatic.

Go back and check that your configuration uses BLANK entries (both server and port) for the HTTPS: protocol.

1.3.2: Bad Request (HTTP to HTTPS server)

This error often looks like this:

Bad Request

Your browser sent a request that this server could not understand.

Reason: You're speaking plain HTTP to an SSL-enabled server port.

Instead use the HTTPS scheme to access this URL, please.

Hint: https://www.cse.unsw.edu.au:443/

Apache/1.3.34 Ben-SSL/1.55 Server at www.cse.unsw.edu.au Port 443

It usually occurs because you need a / (forward slash) on the end of your URL. This is normally hadnled automatically by the web server, but a bug in the server prevents this working correctly.

So, try your original URL again, but with a slash on the end.

1.3.3: ERROR: Incorrect proxy settings OR Proxy does not support HTTPS

This error occurs when you have your browser set to use a proxy for "secure" or "https" connections. Please follow the above instructions on configuring your proxy, and pay particular attention to these points:

- Do not tick the box that says something like " Use the same proxy for all protocols ".

- Do make sure that the text-box for "secure" is empty.

Last edited by Computing Support Group 28/10/2010

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Apt proxy

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1: apt-proxy at CSE

Ubuntu and Debian Linux use a program named apt to install system updates and additional software. CSE runs an apt-proxy service that allows you to get all these updates at no cost to your IPQ quota. To use the CSE apt-proxy, you need to edit the /etc/apt/sources.list file to reference our server.

1.1: Debian

Here's a sample configuration for your /etc/apt/sources.list file. Note that you may replace (or replicate) stable with testing or unstable if you are running those Debian releases.

# /etc/apt/sources.list for Debian stable using CSE's apt-proxy

deb http://mirror.cse.unsw.edu.au:9999/debian stable main contrib non-free

deb http://mirror.cse.unsw.edu.au:9999/debian-non-US stable/non-US main contrib non-free

deb-src http://mirror.cse.unsw.edu.au:9999/debian stable main contrib non-free

deb-src http://mirror.cse.unsw.edu.au:9999/debian-non-US stable/non-US main contrib non-free

deb http://mirror.cse.unsw.edu.au:9999/debian-security stable/updates main contrib non-free

You can download this file from http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~csg/apt/debian/sources.list

1.2: Ubuntu

Here's a sample configuration for your /etc/apt/sources.list file, using 10.10 or maverick meerkat. Note that you may replace maverick with lucid, karmic, jaunty, hardy or dapper if you are running those earlier Ubuntu releases.

# /etc/apt/sources.list for Ubuntu maverick using CSE's apt-proxy

deb http://mirror.cse.unsw.edu.au:9999/ubuntu maverick main restricted universe multiverse

deb-src http://mirror.cse.unsw.edu.au:9999/ubuntu maverick main restricted universe multiverse

# plus major updates after release

deb http://mirror.cse.unsw.edu.au:9999/ubuntu maverick-updates main restricted universe multiverse

deb-src http://mirror.cse.unsw.edu.au:9999/ubuntu maverick-updates main restricted universe multiverse

deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu maverick-security main restricted universe multiverse

You can download this file from http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~csg/apt/ubuntu/sources.list

1.3: Accessing apt-proxy from outside CSE

If you are accessing the CSE apt-proxy from outside CSE or for some reason you are on the CSE network and not using the CSE web proxy, you may receive the error 404 NON_EXISTENT BACKEND while downloading updates. You may be able to fix this by editing your /etc/apt/apt.conf file.

- From a terminal window, run an editor (such as nano) as root to edit the configuration file:
sudo nano /etc/apt/apt.conf

- After the line that reads Acquire::http::Proxy "FALSE";, insert a line that reads :
Acquire::http::Proxy::mirror.cse.unsw.edu.au "DIRECT";

- Save the file (CTRL-O in nano), close your editor and then from the terminal prompt type ...
sudo apt-get update

- You should no longer see the previous error

If your network does not allow outgoing connections on port 9999, then you may need to contact your network administrator.

Last edited by Craig Robert Howie 03/03/2011

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Web browsers

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1: Web Browsers

1.1: GUI browsers

CSE's preferred web browser is Mozilla Firefox which is installed in all the linux and Windows laboratories. On linux it can be started from the Fluxbox desktop menu or by typing firefox into an xterm. On Windows it can be started from the Start menu.

As it's part of the operating system and not easily removed, Internet Explorer is available in the Windows labs but in order to avoid the many IE exploits out there, we recommend you use it only if you need to visit one of those wretched websites that have been written to only work for IE. And complain to the webmaster!

Safari is available in the Macintosh lab.

1.2: Text browsers

It may surprise you to learn that you don't need a graphical browser to look at websites. In the linux labs there are also three text-based web browsers available:

- lynx - the most basic, lynx does not display images

- links and w3m - which display images.

Why would you want to use a text-based browser? They're fast, much faster even than Firefox, which is (or used to be) pretty lightweight for a GUI browser. If you're working on something and just need to quickly check a web reference, or writing HTML, it's often easier and quicker to type lynx <URL> than to invoke a GUI browser.

Last edited by Computing Support Group 28/10/2010

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CGI scripts

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1: Writing, installing and using CGI scripts

The CSE webservers can do more than simply serve static html pages. They can also process dynamic content of all kinds, including embedded PHP, server-parsed HTML (.shtml files ) and CGI applications (both interpreted languages such as perl, python or shell scripts, and compiled executables)

You may also want to check out World Wide Web related pages or Creating Website pages.

1.1: How do I write a CGI script?

For more details on CGI scripting than you ever wanted to know, check out Google Directory's CGI section.

For all things PHP-related, visit http://www.php.net

1.2: Okay, I have a script I want to run. Where do I put it, and how do I access it?

While PHP and SHTML files can be served from anywhere under your public_html directory, CGI scripts and executables themselves must be placed under your public_html/cgi-bin directory, or they will not run, without extra provisions being made.

For example, if you create a script called /home/YourUserName/public_html/cgi-bin/test, you can run this script using the URL: http://cgi.cse.unsw.edu.au/~YourUserName/cgi-bin/test

Make sure that your script is executable! (ie. chmod +x test.pl)

If you really need to run a CGI program outside of your cgi-bin directory, you can enable it with the following .htaccess directive:

<Files "mycgiprogram">

SetHandler application/x-setuid-cgi

</Files>

The actual processing of dynamic content is handled not by www.cse.unsw.edu.au itself, but rather by cgi.cse.unsw.edu.au - a DNS pointer to a pair of load-sharing CGI servers. Where possible, links to dynamic content should point directly to cgi.cse rather than www.cse, however some fairly smart URL handling should redirect most requests automatically.

1.3: Help! It doesn't work!

First up, the most common CGI/PHP errors boil down to permissions issues. Here are the minimum permissions needed in order for everything to work:

- Static files (html/txt/jpg etc) are handled by www.cse, which runs as the w3serv user. These files therefore either need to be owned by the w3serv user/group, or to be set other-readable (mode o+r, or 644).

- Directories do not need to be readable by w3serv, but they do need to be executable by that user (mode o+x, or 601). Note that the entire chain of directories leading to your content, whether static or dynamic, from public_html downwards, need to be set mode o+x. Take for example the file public_html/foo/bar/somefile.php. If public_html, foo or bar are not accessible by the w3serv user, the file will not be accessible.

- Dynamic content (PHP scripts, SHTML pages and CGI programs) need to be owned by the user in whose home directory they reside. This means that /home/someuser/public_html/cgi-bin/test.pl must be owned by someuser. Files owned by anotheruser will fail to run. In the case of group-owned directories (such as class/project accounts), this is obviously a problem. To address this, use the priv takeover command to change ownership of the files to the group account. If you use this command, ensure that you enable group-write access, as you will lose owner access to the files when the ownership changes. The target group must be a member of the GroupCGI class - contact System Support to have this added.

- All dynamic content is executed by the user that owns the home directory. If you wouldn't have permission to run the program yourself, (or any programs that it in turn executes) from a shell, then it won't work on the CGI server, either.

- PHP and SHTML files need to be readable by the owner, but do not need to be executable (mode ug+r or 600).

- CGI programs, in addition to residing under public_html/cgi-bin, must be executable by yourself (mode ug+rx, or 700)

1.3.1: Using PHP5 rather than PHP4

CSE uses PHP4 by default on the CGI servers though now people will probably want to use PHP5. Add these lines to a .htaccess file to use PHP5:

AddType application/x-setuid-php php

Action application/x-setuid-php /cgi-bin/php5-cgiwrap

1.4: How do I access files in my home directory?

Short answer: you can't.

Long answer: Because CGI scripts are by their very nature designed to be executed by the general public, we consider them to be inherently untrusted. Even the most innocuous-looking script could have exploitable security flaws that could result in loss or leakage of sensitive information, or compromise the security of your account, if given access to all of your files. To prevent this, the CGI servers are set up so that they can only access files under your public_html directory.

Your public_html directory is accessible via /web/YourUserName - this is the filesystem path you should use to access data files etc. in your scripts. This path is available on all CSG-linux machines, allowing you to use and test your scripts from the command line without having to reconfigure them.

1.5: It still doesn't work properly! How can I see debug information?

CGI programs on our servers are handled by a program called CGIwrap, which provides a secure, controlled setuid environment for CGI execution, along with a handy debugging facility.

To debug a script, set the handler for your script to be the one with debugging. This is best explained with an example. Say you need help debugging http://cgi.cse.unsw.edu.au/~YourUserName/cgi-bin/somedir/problem.cgi. You should create a .htaccess (note leading period) file in the same directory, with text like:

<Files "problem.cgi">

SetHandler application/x-setuid-cgid

</Files>

This tells the webserver to use the debugging-enabled cgiwrap instead of the usual one.

Note that the .htaccess file must be made readable by the webserver by using chmod 644 .htaccess.

1.6: I'm getting CGIWrap errors, how do I fix them?

The other common-but-cryptic CGIWrap error message is Script does not have same UID (Script does not have same UID), which basically means that the file is not owned by the owner of the home directory in which it resides - and thus needs to be chown'ed (usually using priv takeover) before it will run.

1.7: What about security?

For a very comprehensive introduction to this somewhat fraught subject, see the WWW Security FAQ.

For details on restricting web access to specific users / hosts / etc, see Restricting Web Access

Writing insecure server-side applications is all too easy, and an awful lot of the pre-built scripts freely available on the web have glaring security shortcomings. To ensure that security is not compromised by ill-considered (or even malicious!) programs, we have placed a number of security restrictions on CGI processes.

By restricting access to user home directories, running scripts as the file owner, and requiring that file ownership match the home directory, and preventing excess resource usage, we can effectively prevent badly-written, insecure, exploited, or even malicious programs from adversely affecting our systems to any great degree.

This doesn't mean that you shouldn't keep a defensive-coding attitude, though. Some useful security tips include:

- Ensure that your scripts are not world-readable, especially where they contain sensitive information such as database passwords

- Where appropriate, restrict access with .htaccess files - consider restricting access to specific users/classes/groups, restricting access to on-campus machines, etc.

- Wherever sensitive information is involved, including any kind of password authentication, please use SSL for greater security.

1.8: Error Messages

You may also want to check out World Wide Web related pages or Creating Website pages.

1.8.1: Real UID could not be changed!

One of the more common (and also the more cryptic) CGIWrap errors is Real UID could not be changed!. This is usually caused by process limits on the CGI servers. We enforce fairly strict limits on the number of simultaneous processes that can be run on the CGI servers by any one user, and also on the amount of resources they consume. If running your script would exceed these limits (for instance, a badly-behaved script failing to exit, consuming vast quantities of CPU time or RAM or forking multiple background processes), then access will be denied, and this error will be returned.

To fix this, you can use the priv cleancgi command. To list your CGI processes, use priv cleancgi list, and to kill them, use priv cleancgi clean.

Of course, you should always code defensively in order to avoid this sort of situation. Set timeouts on potentially lengthy operations, and ensure that you clean up any background processes that you launch.

1.8.2: Script does not have same UID

This error most frequently occurs in the case of group accounts.

Our CGI setup requires that any CGI scripts run from your home directory are owned by you. This error message occurs when a CGI script is not owned by the right person.

Read the Help Me section for information on solving this problem, including using the priv takeover command.

1.8.3: Error 500: Malformed header from script

There are many reasons you could get a 500 error. It basically means "something else went wrong with the script". However, they usually include further details, and in this case we are talking about one that starts with "Malformed header from script".

This error message occurs when your CGI script does not return a Content-Type header (and possibly other headers) before a blank line. It is often the result of errors from your code being output before the reply headers.

Your best bet is to turn on Debugging Mode to see the full text of the error, and fix it.

CGIWrap redirects stderr to stdout. This is generally useful but CGI scripts written elsewhere may rely on stderr being discarded. When such scripts are run under CGIWrap they may have unwanted debugging output included in their HTML output or if the debugging output is produced before the script header they may fail entirely.

2: WebSVN on CSE CGI servers

Configuring WebSVN is essentially a matter of downloading the sources and changing one line in a configuration file. But, the process can be time consuming because several software components are involved, some of which users have no control over, getting useful diagnostic information requires some effort, and the cgi environment is imperfectly replicated by a user's terminal session.

1. Download PhP source from: http://websvn.tigris.org/servlets/ProjectDocumentList;jsessionid=24F17B3F5279F7DE3BB39F064A2C4A03

2. Extract the file into a cgi-bin directory
tar xzf websvn-2.0.tar.gz -C $HOME/public_html/cgi-bin

3. Recommended: add a version-independent link so that URLs will not change if the websvn version does:
ln -s $HOME/public_html/cgi-bin/websvn-2.0 $HOME/public_html/cgi-bin/websvn

4. Create a config.php file:
cp $HOME/public_html/cgi-bin/websvn/include/distconfig.php $HOME/public_html/cgi-bin/websvn/include/config.php

5. Edit the config.php file, adding a line: $config->parentPath('/web/<cse-username>/');

A path beginning with /web is essential! /home/cse-username/public_html will not work. The path is to a server-side svn repository, thus it should NOT begin with file://.

6. Place a copy of the svn repository itself (NOT a checked out directory) directly in the $HOME/public_html directory.

Everything in the repository will be accessible over the internet. To grant access to specific subfolders it is necessary to migrate them into a new repository (with dump, filter, create, load, see http://svnbook.red-bean.com/en/1.1/ch05s03.html, and also http://svn.tartarus.org/svn-tools/svndumpfilter2?view=markup).

7. Access the repository: http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~<cse-username>/cgi-bin/websvn

A list of the repositories in public_html should be displayed. If not, verify that step 5 was completed correctly and check the file permissions on the repository (for files: o+r, for directories: o+rx).

8. Clicking on one of the repositories should bring up a list of folders and files.

Several configuration errors can cause a blank page to appear instead. To see a meaningful error message, one can edit
$HOME/public_html/cgi-bin/websvn/listing.php;
after the showTreeDir function, add a line:
echo " test: ";
An error like: XML error: no element found (3) at line 3 column 0 byte 45 indicates that websvn cannot access the repository. An svn command will also be displayed. Check that it works directly at a terminal session, but note that the subversion installation called by the cgi server is different to that available to most users through a terminal session. In particular it might be a different version.

For more debugging information one can edit $HOME/public_html/cgi-bin/websvn/include/svnlook.php; in the getLog function find the line beginning $cmd = quoteCommand(... Add another line afterward:
$cmd = "svn --version";
Then inside the while (!feof($handle)) loop, after $line = fgets($handle); add a line:
echo " line:$line: ";
Accessing the page should now reveal the version of the svn command.

An error like: svn: Expected format '3' of repository; found format '5' indicates that the cgi version of svn is too old. Until it is upgraded, repositories will have to be downgraded, see http://svn.collab.net/repos/svn/trunk/notes/repos_upgrade_HOWTO

SVN instructions by tbourke 20080808

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 13/04/2011

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Restricting web access

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1: Restricting Access to Web Pages

So you have one or more web pages that you want to publish via the web but you don't want to make them available to everyone? A solution is to use the htaccess password mechanism that is part of the Apache Web Server. This Apache feature allows you to publish static web pages to validated users via a web browser prompt for a username and password.

For added security, you can force users to access your pages using an SSL (Secure Socket Layer) connection. This means transmitted data is encrypted, so passwords and webpages cannot be read in cleartext over the internet. There are several ways of securing your page. You will put together all the different ones that you want to use. Read the examples section to see some more complete examples that put everything together.

1.1: Checklist

Check this when securing a directory

- Have I got the required SSL for password-protected areas?

- Have I set the file permissions correctly?

- Do I want to restrict normal filesystem access?

1.2: General Notes

1.2.1: Scope of .htaccess file (how to limit specific files)

By default, a .htaccess file is applied to the directory it lives in, and all sub-directories. So you'll often just create the .htaccess in your public_html directory, or in a subdirectory.

To limit your restrictions to a specific file, put all of the directives inside a <Files> directive.

For example, you only want to restrict access to a "secure.html" page:

<Files "secure.html">

... entries restricting access ...

</Files>

To only restrict a subdirectory, put the .htaccess file inside it instead.

1.2.2: File Permissions

The web server needs to be able to read your .htaccess file. If one exists and the web server can't read it, then it will deny access to be on the safe side.

So, you should make all of your .htaccess files world readable:

$ chmod 644 .htaccess

The parent directory itself also needs to be accessible (executable):

$ chmod 711 parent_directory

1.2.3: HTTP access only (no filesystem access)

If you don't want people to access a directory through the normal UNIX filesystem, then you will need to use priv webonly. This program makes a directory group-owned by the webserver, so that only you and the webserver can get inside it through the normal unix filesystem.

Usage:

$ priv webonly directory_name

For more complete information on how this works, run priv help webonly.

An alternative to using priv webonly is to have a AlternativeCGI that does the authentication for you.

1.3: Password protection

You may wish for people to enter a password to view a page. Note that if you are using password protection, it is strongly encouraged that you force an encrypted connection.

1.3.1: Requiring an Encrypted Connection

To stop others from easily extracting your password from network traffic, you should always use encrypted connections for password-protected pages.

The following snippet can be put in your .htaccess file to force access to go through an encrypted connection:

<IfModule !mod_ssl.c>

RedirectPermanent / https://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/

</IfModule>

Observe the https in the redirect.

(Note: if you are using a Personal Domain or CGI Scripts with a password, you will need to change www to username.web or cgi respectively).

Then, you should put any other restrictions (the parts that require a password) inside the following:

<IfModule mod_ssl.c>

... parts requiring password go here ...

</IfModule>

These say "if the ssl module isn't enabled, redirect the browser to the https site". The other part makes sure it won't ask for a password to get the redirect (you don't want the user to be asked for a password twice).

1.3.2: Password-file based access (invent your own username and password)

The simplest form of password-based access control is to list usernames and encrypted passwords in a file. Typically, this file is called .htpasswd.

Lets assume that you're restricting the secure directory, so you're working inside /home/username/public_html/secure/: $ cd /home/username/public_html/secure/

First, you need to create the password file, this doesn't have to be in the same directory, but often is... We can do this using the htpasswd command (-c means create). First we create a user called "bob".

$ htpasswd -c .htpasswd bob

New Password: (type password)

Re-type new password:

Adding password for user bob

Now the bob user is there. You can add other users the same way but without -c.

Next, you need to tell the web server to restrict access based on that file. For portability, instead of using /home/username/public_html/ to refer to your web area, we use /web/username/, which is equivalent and will also work on the CGI servers.

Add this to the .htaccess file (remember that we were in the "secure" directory of your web area):

AuthUserFile /web/username/secure/.htpasswd

AuthName "Access to Private Web Pages"

AuthType Basic

require valid-user

This lets any user in the .htpasswd file get access. You can limit to specific users by using require user username1 username2 ... instead of require valid-user.

1.3.3: CSE users

You can authenticate CSE users using YP. Put this in your .htaccess to turn that on. This way you won't need a password file.

AuthName "Restricted to CSE Users"

AuthType Basic

AuthYP On

I've also included the usual AuthName and AuthType for completeness.

If you want any CSE user, you can just use: require valid-user.

Or for specific users: require user user1 user2 user3 ...

1.3.3.1: Specific groups (e.g. members of a certain course)

To restrict to users in a subject, say COMP1234, you refer to the netgroup (which means putting a @ in front):

require group @COMP1234

If you want to restrict access to people in a unix group, say csg, use:

require group csg

OR

require group @group.csg

Some frequently-used groups include:

- Staff and equivalent: @Employee @Visitor @Conjoint

- Subject: @COMP1234

- Subject teachers (not students): @COMP1234_Teacher

If your group does not work, it may be necessary for SS to add a netgroup priority to it. You can check a netgroup priority by running acc .COMP1234 'format=${netgroup}' (note that the @ is replaced with a . (period)).

1.3.4: Unipass

You shouldn't need unipass authentication. Don't do this unless you know what you're doing (and are a member of staff).

Unipass authentication uses a radius server and a customised radius module:

AuthName "UniPass Restricted area"

AuthType basic

# stuff to turn on UniPass authentication

AuthUseUnipass On

Then you can use require user z1234567 s9876543 to list specific users.

The examples below include a combined CSE/UniPass example, which requires a little bit more special handling.

1.4: Host-based access

You can restrict based on the IP address or domain name that the user is coming from:

This will only allow people to access the page if their computer's domain name ends in .unsw.edu.au.

order allow,deny

allow from .unsw.edu.au

This is a similar example, but restricts it to the university by IP address:

order allow,deny

allow from 129.94.

allow from 149.171.

1.5: An Alternative Solution

There is an alternative to use a .htaccess file. This is to use a special CGI script that effectively proxies access to your directory. Then the secure directory can be owned by you and not accessible to anyone else (not even the webserver).

You can implement the authentication using a cookie, or form-based password, etc. More information on writing CGI scripts can be found here.

1.6: Commonly Used Examples

This section has a few common examples. Feel free to suggest new examples to SS if you believe a particular one will be useful.

1.6.1: Restrict a directory to course students only

The complete .htaccess file for COMP1234 will look like:

# No non-SSL access

<IfModule !mod_ssl.c>

RedirectMatch /(.*)$ https://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/$1

</IfModule>

<IfModule mod_ssl.c>

AuthName "COMP1234 Students only"

AuthType basic

AuthYP on

require group @COMP1234

</IfModule>

1.6.2: Restrict access to any valid CSE user and specific UniPass users

This sample needs to turn off "authoritative" sources, since we use more than one authentication method.

<IfModule mod_ssl.c>

AuthName "CSE and Unipass Authentication Example"

AuthType basic

# stuff to turn on UniPass authentication

AuthRadiusAuthoritative Off

AuthUseUnipass On

# stuff to turn on YP authentication

AuthYP on

AuthYPAuthoritative Off

SSLRequireSSL

require group @User      # ie, anyone with a valid CSE account

require user s1234567 s2345678  # list of valid UniPass usernames

</IfModule>

<IfModule !mod_ssl.c>

Redirect / https://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/

</IfModule>

1.6.3: Require a password on a CGI script

Interesting points here are:

- A single file only is restricted (secure.cgi)

- The SSL redirection is to cgi instead of www because it is a CGI script

- We use a userfile instead of YP authentication

<Files "secure.cgi">

<IfModule mod_ssl.c>

AuthName "Restricted page"

AuthType basic

AuthUserFile /web/username/.htpasswd

require valid-user

</IfModule>

<IfModule !mod_ssl.c>

# no non-ssl access

Redirect / https://cgi.cse.unsw.edu.au/

</IfModule>

</Files>

1.7: See Also

- World Wide Web - WWW FAQs

- .htaccess files - use and configuration of .htaccess directives

- man htpasswd or man apache (on a linux machine)

- Apache Server Documentation Project (particularly the Apache 1.3 auth section).

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 13/04/2011

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Creating a website

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1: Creating a Website at CSE

Each user account is entitled to a website, which is hosted out of the home directory of the account.

You may also be interested in using CGI Scripts and general information about World Wide Web.

1.1: Executive summary

Your entire website, i.e. all files and scripts comprising it, has to be contained within your ~/public_html directory. Symbolic links to files outside public_html will not be followed. It is customary to put CGI scripts in a cgi-bin subdirectory. File permissions have to be set so as to be accessible by the webserver (see next section). You can access your website by either of these URLs:

- http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~username/

- http://username.web.cse.unsw.edu.au/

which both map to ~username/public_html/index.html on the filesystem. This is your base website; subdirectories and files other than index.html are simply appended to the URL e.g.:

http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~username/cgi-bin/coolscript.pl

If you're on a CSE-linux computer you can shorten http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~username/ to http://www/~username/ (this doesn't work for the username.web form of the URL).

1.2: File Permissions

The webserver runs as a user (w3serv, for the interested) and therefore is treated as just-another-user by the filesystem when it tries to access your public_html. This means you have to set world file access permissions:

- world-execute on all directories including your homedir, a step often forgotten

- world-read on all files, unless they are scripts

- world-execute on all scripts

As always, never set world-write on any file or directory.

1.3: Detail

You can set up a website with public access by putting your home page in the file index.html, or one of the alternatives listed below, in a directory called public_html in your home directory. public_html is created for users on their first login but needs to be manually created for other accounts. Your home directory and the public_html directory will both need to be world-executable (which allows anybody to access the directory), because to the filesystem a browser is coming from the outside world - even if it's you running the browser looking at your own web page on the CSE system. You can do this using chmod. The HTML files within public_html that you want people to be able to access need to be world-readable. Any scripts you want people to be able to run need to be world-executable and, if you like, can also be world-readable.

How to setup a website in one minute:

- cd this sets your current working directory to your homedir

- mkdir public_html if necessary

- chmod o+x public_html

- chmod o+x .

- vi public_html/index.html (or use your favorite editor)

- chmod o+r public_html/index.html

When asked to access a CSE website, i.e. the CSE webserver receives a request for either http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~username or http://username.web.cse.unsw.edu.au, it looks within ~username/public_html for a file called one of the following:

- index.html

- index.htm

- index.shtml

- index.cgi

- index.php

This file is the homepage. If it does not exist or isn't world-readable the webserver will return an error if somebody tries to access the base website. However, URLs accessing a specific file within the website will still work. For example, with the following directory:

%ls -l ~fblo123/public_html

total 100

-rw-r-----  1 fblo123 fblo123 278767 May  2 21:21 index.html

-rw-r--r--  1 fblo123 fblo123 278767 May  2 21:21 aboutme.html

the URL http://fblo123.web.cse.unsw.edu.au/ will return an error, but http://fblo123.web.cse.unsw.edu.au/aboutme.html will work.

index.html needs to be written in HTML as will, most likely, the majority of your files. By convention files in your website, like other files, are suffixed to indicate the content: indeed, HTML files need to be suffixed with .html in order to be rendered by most browsers. Scripts don't necessarily need a suffix as long as they start with a line invoking the relevant interpreter, but it will make life easier for you if you label them .pl or .php appropriately. Each HTML file is a webpage. When beginning to build your website, you will probably hyperlink most of your webpages to index.html; later as you become more ambitious you may want a definite structure. There are many places to learn about HTML, but a couple of good sites for beginners are:

http://www.htmlcodetutorial.com/ http://http://www.htmldog.com/guides/htmlbeginner/ which also includes a Beginner's Guide to CSS.

If you just want information on the HTML tags (elements) there are lots of websites for that also, but W3.org is about as authoritative as you can get:

http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/index/elements.html

HTML is easy to write. Bad HTML is even easier. Cast an eye over http://webpagesthatsuck.com/ occasionally and learn some basic design principles.

1.4: Related topics

There are lots of other questions relating to your own website at CSE!

- World Wide Web (start here)

- CGI Scripts

- Restricting Web Access - How to restrict access to web pages

- Personal Domain - Can I get my own domain?

- htaccess - usage and configuration of .htaccess directives

- Robots.txt - How can I have my own robots.txt file?

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Internet access

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1: Accessing the Internet at CSE

This document provides the information needed to setup your computer to access the internet at CSE.

1.1: Network Connection

First of all, you need to be connected to the network. This is either by a Wired Network Connection, Wireless Network Connection, or through a VPN.

Once you have connected, you should have an IP address that starts with 129.94. (or 10. for OpenVPN). If your IP address starts with 169.254., then you should read about DHCP#Problems.

1.2: Proxy Settings

All (non-secure) web access must go through the school's proxy servers. You will get errors if you do not use them.

Please visit the Setting Proxies item for details on configuring your proxies.

1.3: IP Quota

CSE uses a locally developed system called IPQ for tracking internet traffic usage. For a computer to be able to access the internet, it must have quota available to it. Normally, if you use DHCP, your IP address will automatically be assigned to your CSE username for IP Quota charges. If you do not use DHCP, however, your machine must explicitly be set to your username. This is done by System Support.

Please read the IP Quota page for more information, including what happens when you run out of quota!

1.4: Common Problems

- DHCP#Problems - Problems getting an IP address using DHCP.

- IP address starts with 169.254., or DHCP errors.

- Setting Proxies#Problems - You have incorrect proxy settings, most likely you are using the proxy for something you shouldn't (e.g. https or secure websites).

- Access Denied error viewing webpages (from the proxy)

- Bad Request - You're speaking plain HTTP to an SSL-enabled server port

- This proxy server does not support HTTPS

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Personal domain

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1: Can I get my own domain name?

Yes!

All CSE accounts get an automatic domain name at USERNAME.web.cse.unsw.edu.au.

If your username is jsmith123, you can browse to http://jsmith1234.web.cse.unsw.edu.au/. This URL is equivalent to http://cgi.cse.unsw.edu.au/~jsmith123/. It runs on the CGI servers, so you can put PHP and other CGI Scripts there.

1.1: Forcing redirects

Usually, people visit your page via a URL like http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~username/. If you want everyone to be automatically redirected to your special web.cse domain, you need to use a .htaccess file.

Because of the way the web domains are implemented, you can't just say " Redirect /~username/ http://username.web.cse.unsw.edu.au/ " - this will give you a Redirect loop (error "URL Redirection limit exceeded"). A more specific approach is required.

Edit ~/public_html/.htaccess. This file controls your top-level directory.

Add this to the top, replacing <username> with your username:

RewriteEngine On

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^<username>.web.cse.unsw.edu.au [NC]

RewriteRule (.*) http://<username>.web.cse.unsw.edu.au/$1 [R=301,L]

1.1.1: Important Notes

- Forms - If you are using the POST method to submit to CGI Scripts, then you will need to make sure that the form uses the right domain name. If form data gets a Redirect, then the data is lost.

- SSL access: If you are using Secure web pages, you may need to change the http to a https.

1.1.2: How does it work?

You can read up on using Apache's rewrite module here.

In essense, it says "if the hostname used to access the webpage is not USERNAME.web.cse.unsw.edu.au, then redirect (301 = temporary redirect) the browser to the other web page.

1.2: See Also

- World Wide Web - WWW FAQs

- htaccess files - Usage and configuration of .htaccess directives

- CGI Scripts

- Restricting Web Access

- Robots.txt - How to have your own robots.txt file.

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 08/04/2011

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Robots txt file

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1: How can I have my own robots.txt file?

A robots.txt file tells internet search engines to search or not search certain areas of a website. These files are only looked for in the top level of a webserver.

We cannot let people change the one for www.cse.unsw.edu.au, but there is a way to get your own "top level" web area.

You should set your homepage up to only operate from the username.web.cse.unsw.edu.au address, as described in Personal Domain. Then, if you put a robots.txt file in your public_html directory, it will appear at the top level of that domain.

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 06/04/2011

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Connecting your laptop

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1: Connecting your laptop to the CSE Network

All staff and postgraduate students with an assigned office or desk will usually have at least 2 network wall ports available for their use. To use a laptop, simply fill out a New Network Connection Form; SS will then assign an IP to the laptop and activate the wall port. The MAC address will be printed on the network card and can also be learnt via the ifconfig -a (*nix) and ipconfig -all (Windows) commands, or under Network on a Mac. Look for a field with a name like 'physical address', 'hardware address' or 'ethernet address' with a value something like 25:00:40:ad:6d:88.

Do not attempt to plug your laptop into the network in the labs.

All of the switches through which the lab machines are connected have port security enabled, which means that the switches will not allow any machine other than the registered and recognised lab workstation to be connected to the CSE network via their ports. Attempting to connect any machine other than the lab workstation will result in the switch blocking all connections to that port (including reconnection of the registered workstation), and has been known to result in more serious network related problems.

2: Uniwide Wireless Network

Since semester one 2008, uniwide has become the only wireless network in place in UNSW. Therefore CSE wireless was decommissioned. For the information on supported Operating Systems and instructions on how to setup unwide on your laptop please visit the UNSW IT website for staff or the UNSW IT website for students.

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Wired network

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1: The CSE Wired Network

This document dicusses how to get your self-administered computer up on the CSE network.

For information on installing an operating system, you should also refer to that section of Running Your Computer.

1.1: Who can do it?

Wired connection to the CSE network is only available to staff and postgraduate students. Basically, if you are allocated a desk within the K17 building, then you can probably get a wired network connection.

1.2: Registration

First, you must register your computer at the New Network Connection Form.

Please be sure to fill it out accurately.

Note: When choosing a host name, please do not select a musical instrument or composer - these names are reserved for CSE-maintained computers. Otherwise you may choose almost any sensible name. If you don't care, you might just use username-laptop or username-desktop (or similar).

Once you have submitted the registration form, it will be sent to SS for processing. It shouldn't take more than one working day. High workloads (such as at the beginning of session) will delay processing of forms.

SS will reconfigure the DHCP and DNS servers. After that, if your computer is connected to our network and configured to use DHCP, it will be allocated an address and you can start working. SS will also send you an email to tell you that your computer has been registered.

1.2.1: To DHCP or not DHCP

We recommend that you use DHCP so your computer automatically configures to use its assigned IP address. Otherwise, you will have to set the address yourself. Currently, all assigned IP addresses do not change (static IPs) - even if using DHCP.

In rare cases, a computer will not use DHCP on our network (eg. a robot with a broken dhcp client). In this case, you would use a static address with the following details:

IP Address

as supplied by SS when you Registered

Subnet Mask

255.255.252.0

Gateway

129.94.172.1

Primary DNS

129.94.172.11

Secondary DNS

129.94.172.12

1.3: When your computer has networking

Note that traffic to your machine will be charged to your IP Quota.

Be sure to set your proxies correctly.

You would also be well advised to look at Mirrors and local sources of software and other information in the Running Your Computer section.

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Wireless Network

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1: Wireless Network

For on-campus wireless network connectivity you need to use UniWide, this is the UNSW Campus Wireless Network for UNSW staff and students.

CSE does not administer UniWide and has no control over this resource, so please contact the IT service desk (students/staff) with UniWide problems.

For more information and setup instructions go to the UNSW IT website (students/staff).

At one time CSE had its own wireless network. With the introduction of UniWide this is now only available for a very limited number of research projects.

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VPN

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1: VPNs at CSE

VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) are a method of creating an encrypted tunnel into another network. They make it possible to securely appear on the CSE network even when you are overseas.

For information on configuring the VPN connection, please see :

- OpenVPN

Please note : The CSE PPTP VPN service was discontinued in February 2010. See this CSE Forum post for details.

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 07/04/2011

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OpenVPN

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1: CSE OpenVPN Network

CSE runs a VPN using the OpenVPN software. This package works on all major operating systems and distributions and has a relatively straightforward setup across the board.

1.1: Overview

CSE's VPN service allows users to:

- Encrypt network traffic between computers on CSE's untrusted or wireless subnetworks and CSE's servers and lab computers, and

- Access computers on CSE's server, trusted and untrusted subnetworks in a secure fashion from outside of the university.

Each time a user connects their computer to CSE's VPN service they are required to enter their CSE username and password. Their username is used to "tag" the network traffic they generate. Traffic coming from outside of the university to the user via their VPN connection will be charged against their IP quota.

1.2: Basic Configuration

Essentially, you install openvpn, grab the config file and CA certificate file, and then run openvpn using the config file...

1.2.1: Install OpenVPN

For Windows, you can visit the OpenVPN Community Software page and get the installer from there. We recommend that you use version 2.1.1

For MacOSX, you can visit the Tunnelblick Homepage and download the installer from there.

For MacOSX, you might also wish to check out the Viscosity Homepage.

On Linux/*NIX, there should be an openvpn package for whatever distribution you're running. On Debian: apt-get install openvpn.

1.2.2: Configure OpenVPN

Download and save the CSE Certificate Authority file.

When saving "cacert.pem" on MS-Windows, make sure to change the Save as Type from "Text Document" to "All Files". If you don't do this it will be saved as "cacert.pem.txt" and it won't work. If you are using Microsoft Internet Explorer, be sure to check that the filename is cacert.pem, as IE will try to save the file as cacert.cer. Make sure that you save the cacert.pem file in the same folder as the configuration file.

Then save the following text in a configuration file:

# OpenVPN config file for use with UNSW/CSE wireless

# get cacert.pem from http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/cacert.pem

dev tun

remote wireless-vpn.cse.unsw.edu.au

tls-client

tls-remote wireless.vpn.cse.unsw.edu.au

ca cacert.pem

proto udp

pull

auth-user-pass

Save using the filename wireless.ovpn for MS Windows. On other platforms use the filename wireless.conf

Though the configuration uses the name "wireless" it can be applied to any connection method.

The running instructions contains information on where to put these files (if it is important).

For Windows installations, we recommend you place the wireless.opvn file and the cacert.pem in the OpenVPN configuration file directory for which you will find a shortcut in the OpenVPN program folder in the Windows Start Menu. By default, this is C:\Program Files\OpenVPN\config

1.3: Run OpenVPN

1.3.1: Linux/*NIX

If you want to run Openvpn manually on Linux you should not put the config file in /etc/openvpn, otherwise it will get run automatically at reboot. Put it somewhere else, and run:

sudo /usr/sbin/openvpn --config wireless.conf

You will be prompted for username and password, and then it should all start working.

If you are logged in as root (which should generally be avoided) you can leave-off the sudo.

1.3.1.1: Running OpenVPN automatically on Linux

If you place the wireless.conf file (and cacert.pem) in /etc/openvpn, then openvpn will be run on this config file every time your computer boots. With the default configuration this can be awkward because it will prompt for a username and password and the boot sequence will not complete until these are given.

An alternative is to place the username and password, each on a separate line, in a file, e.g. /etc/openvpn/userpass. Then change the auth-user-pass line in wireless.conf to have the name of the file as well. e.g.

auth-user-pass /etc/openvpn/userpass

For you own security you should not use your normal password, but a special authentication token.

To test this out (without the need to reboot), run

/etc/init.d/openvpn start

These instructions are based on the Debian distributon. Other distributions are likely to be similar but haven't been tested

1.3.2: MacOSX

You should grab the two Config Files, please make sure to put them in the openvpn directory (located in ~/Library/openvpn/ - the openvpn folder is a subfolder of the Library folder located in your home directory). OpenVPN will try to locate the key files in this directory, unless the paths to them are specified in the configuration file in absolute terms.

Then simply double click the tunnelblick app and you will see an icon appear in the top right of the menu bar. You can use this icon to connect/disconnect.

1.3.3: Microsoft Windows

The openvpn installation on MS-Windows associated the OpenVPN program with .ovpn files. If you simply open (double-click) wireless.ovpn the file will be opened in an editor so you can review it. If you right-click you will get a menu which includes "Start OpenVPN on this config file". If you select that it will run OpenVPN and prompt for username and password.

Note that the above will only work if you have administrator privileges. If you do not, you need to run Openvpn as Administrator.

1.3.3.1: Windows XP

To do this, create a shortcut from openvpn (in \Program Files\openvpn\bin\openvpn.exe) to the folder where you have wireless.ovpn. Access the "shortcut" tab of the "properties" dialog for this shortcut and

- Change the target to read: "C:\Program Files\OpenVPN\bin\openvpn.exe" "wireless.ovpn"

- Clear the "start in" field or set it to name of folder with the wireless.ovpn file

- tick "run as different user."

Now when you double-click on this shortcut, it should prompt for the Administrator password, then run openvpn successfully.

1.3.3.2: Windows Vista and Windows 7

You need to run the OpenVPN Gui as administrator. You can do this by right clicking on the icon and choosing "Run as Administrator". You can make this permanent by right clicking on the icon, selecting Properties, and then checking "Run this program as an administrator" from the Compatibility tab.

1.4: Additional Notes

1.4.1: Multiple Connections

OpenVPN normally identifies each connection by the username that was used for authentication. This means that you normally cannot have two concurrent OpenVPN connections that are authenticated with the same username. If you attempt to make a second connection with the same username, the first one will be disconnected.

To alleviate this, our VPN configuration allows you to add an arbitrary suffix to your username which is stripped off during authentication, effectively providing you with multiple unique usernames. So, if you have two computers for which you want to have VPN tunnels established, you could configure one to authenticate as myusername.notebook and the other as myusername.home. Note that the suffix is separated from the username by a period (dot, or fullstop).

1.4.2: External Sites

By default the VPN does not allow your network traffic to flow through it to the outside world. This means that when you try to connect to any sites outside of CSE the network traffic will flow directly between your computer and these sites, rather then being routed through the VPN and then to the sites.

Sometimes this isn't ideal, such as when when you are trying to access services subscribed to by UNSW which use UNSW's IP address to allow access. It is, however, possible to cause all your network traffic to be routed through CSE rather than just the network traffic for CSE's own subnetworks. To enable this, when you authenticate add a suffix beginning with the string ".setdefaultroute" to the end of your username. This causes a default route to be set for the VPN which routes all your traffic through CSE's VPN, not just the traffic addressed to CSE's subnetworks.

Note that if you are using a username suffix as described in the previous section, the .setdefaultroute suffix must appear after the arbitrary suffix you chose e.g. <username>.<arbitrary suffix>.setdefaultroute

There's a minor problem in this however, and that is when all of your traffic flows through the VPN your local DNS server may be unreachable. This is particularly a problem when you are using the VPN from home through something like an ADSL connection. In such a case your DNS server would normally be set to be the address of your ADSL router (e.g., 192.168.0.1), but once the VPN is set up this can no longer be reached.

A solution to this is to allow OpenVPN to reconfigure your DNS settings so that your computer uses the DNS servers at CSE. This makes sense and it also allows you to use short names for servers---such as "williams" instead of "williams.cse.unsw.edu.au".

To make this happen under Linux you need to install the following files in the configuration directory you use for OpenVPN and then restart the VPN on your computer:

1.4.2.1: wireless.conf.setdefaultroute

Add these lines to the end of wireless.conf file above:

up wireless-up

down wireless-down

1.4.2.2: wireless-up.setdefaultroute

#!/bin/sh

#

resolv_conf_new="/etc/resolv.conf.openvpn"

resolv_conf_old="/etc/resolv.conf.openvpn.keep"

#

rm -f "$resolv_conf_new $resolv_conf_old"

#

env > /tmp/dummy

#

n=1

dns_set=0

while true; do

#

eval v=\$foreign_option_$n

if [ "a$v" = "a" ]; then break; fi

#

opt=`echo "$v" | cut -d' ' -f1`

case $opt in

dhcp-option)    subopt=`echo "$v" | cut -d' ' -f2`

param=`echo "$v" | cut -d' ' -f3`

case $subopt in

DNS)    echo "nameserver $param" >> $resolv_conf_new

dns_set=1

;;

DOMAIN) echo "domain $param" >> $resolv_conf_new

dns_set=1

;;

esac

;;

esac

#

n=$(($n + 1))

done

#

if [ $dns_set -ne 0 ]; then

cp -p /etc/resolv.conf $resolv_conf_old

mv -f $resolv_conf_new /etc/resolv.conf

fi

1.4.2.3: wireless-down.setdefaultroute

#!/bin/sh

#

resolv_conf_old="/etc/resolv.conf.openvpn.keep"

#

if [ -e $resolv_conf_old ]; then

mv -f $resolv_conf_old /etc/resolv.conf

fi

1.5: Troubleshooting

There is a dynamic web page at http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/wirelessvpn/test.php which will check where the incoming connection is coming from, and report if you seem to be using the VPN correctly.

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 12/04/2011

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PPTP VPN

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1: Using the CSE PPTP Virtual Private Network (VPN)

From February 2010 the PPTP service has been withdrawn please use the OpenVPN service instead. See this CSE Forum post for details.

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Disk quota

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1: Disk Quotas at CSE

Due to the unfortunate fact that resources are limited, each account has a fixed amount of disk space available -- a disk quota. The current allocation of quota is published on the Resource Quotas Policy Page.

Some courses allow you more space because they involve the use of particularly large files. You can check your quota using the rquota command (see below).

It is extremely easy to fill up disk space and exceed your quota without realising it. Any file automatically generated by the computer can quickly grow very large, as can graphics files (especially in postscript or bitmap formats). Copious amounts of email, or very large email messages and/or attachments will quickly eat up space while they sit in your mailbox. Web downloads, particularly images and sound, should be treated as a source of future quota problems.

You can get more detailed information by using the disk_guess command (see below) which will list your six biggest files and six biggest directories. If you run disk_guess -p, you will also get a listing of recent file size changes.

core files are another easy way to consume disk space. When a program crashes, it will often `dump core', creating a core file containing information about the state of the program when it crashed. core files are often very large (megabytes), but are also very useful when trying to work out what went wrong. If you don't intend to use them for this purpose, they can be safely deleted by using the rm command.

$ rm core

1.1: How do I check my current Disk Quota?

The rquota command shows your current disk usage. It looks like this:

$ rquota

blocks   quota   limit  #warns   files   quota   limit  #warns

1243  104448  134448               7   20889   21889

The meanings of the fields are:

Field

Meaning

blocks

Number of kilobytes used

quota

Number of kilobytes allowed (soft limit)

limit

Hard limit (see this section)

#warns

Number of days warning before your soft kilobytes limit becomes strict

files

Number of files used

quota (2)

Number of files allowed (soft limit)

limit (2)

Hard limit on files allowed

#warns (2)

Number of days warning before your soft files limit becomes strict

The du command is a standard UNIX command to show disk usage in a directory and all subdirectories.

The disk_guess command will give you a breakdown of what your largest files and directories are.

Running disk_guess will produce an output similar to:

You are currently using 2264K which is below your quota of 10240K

Your 6 biggest files are:

208K ( 9.19%) in ./.netscape/cert7.db

148K ( 6.54%) in ./.netscape/cache/1C/cache3B14957C003044B.pdf

48K ( 2.12%) in ./.incoming-mail

40K ( 1.77%) in ./.netscape/history.db

36K ( 1.59%) in ./Library/TEX/SimpleLibrary.mch.prf.0.dvi

32K ( 1.41%) in ./.netscape/cert5.db

Your 6 biggest directories are:

592K (26.15%) in ./.netscape

380K (16.78%) in ./GNUstep

336K (14.84%) in ./GNUstep/Library

328K (14.49%) in ./GNUstep/Library/WindowMaker

288K (12.72%) in ./JavaFiles

244K (10.78%) in ./Library

You have 732K used up in dot files (or directories) larger than 20K.

The dot files are:

92K in ./.kde

592K in ./.netscape

48K in ./.incoming-mail

The above shows that you have about 200K (8.8%) used in netscape cache files. These are almost certainly unnecessary. To remove them, run rm -r .netscape/cache/*

You can also visit the accinfo website for a web interface.

See the Resource Quotas Policy for information on where the disk quota limit number comes from.

(advanced) If you wish to find out the breakdown of UDB classes that your quota allocation comes from, run: acc explain=dlimit.

If acc and rquota show different numbers, then you probably have a preserved disk quota, which is only temporary at the start of sessions to iron out ripples in quotas as class allocations vary.

1.2: How do I get more Disk Quota?

You cannot purchase additional disk quota.

Only staff and research students can get extra disk quota. They should consult the Extra Disk Space page for more information. Note that you must have your request approved by your academic supervisor.

1.3: Quotas on other filesystems

Some people have directories other than their home directory.

To check the disk quota on that filesystem, run: rquota -f /path/to/filesystem. You don't have to be on the fileserver to run it. The path to the filesystem is usually the full path without your username on the end.

So, say you have files on /srvr/username, you would run:

$ rquota -f /srvr

1.4: What is the difference between soft and hard limits?

To help stop you being surprised by hitting your disk quota, there is a small amount of flexibility.

Your soft limit is your actual quota, you can actually go past that in usage. Your hard limit is the usage you cannot go past - file access will fail if you have this much usage.

You are only allowed to be over your soft limit for 7 days. If you don't get under it within 7 days, your soft limit will become hard and you will not be able to create new files. You will receive email if you are over your soft limit, so take notice of it!

1.5: Problems

- Clean Files - I need to get more space, which files can I safely clean up?

- Can't Save Files - problems saving files (check your disk quota)

- File Questions - All sorts of questions about files

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 11/04/2011

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Print quota

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1: Printing Quotas at CSE

See also:

- Accessing Printers for help on printing to CSE printers from a non-cse computer

- Articles tagged printing for more information on printing at CSE.

1.1: How do I check my current Print Quota?

The most reliable command is priv pquota.

Your print quota is also visible in your account info, displayed using the acc command (Acc). This is updated when you print something, or run priv pquota.

You can also visit the Control_Panel website for a web interface.

See the Resource Quotas Policy for information on where the print quota limit number comes from.

1.2: How do I get more Print Quota?

You have two options if you require more print quota:

1. You can purchase more quota through the helpdesk

2. You are staff of a postgraduate student, whose work/research requires more print quota than your default allocation. You should ask your supervisor to contact SystemSupport detailing the reason for extra usage, plus the additional amount required.

1.3: What about Colour Printing?

Undergraduates do not have access to colour printing facilities.

Staff and postgraduates should refer to the Colour Printing FAQ item.

To check your colour printing quota, you can run: priv pquota colour.

1.4: How do I see where all my quota went? (Usage history)

You can view detailed usage logs using the priv pquota -v command.

We recommend viewing it through a pager, like this: priv pquota -v | less.

1.5: When does my Print Quota reset to zero?

Print Quota (along with IP Quota) is reset ONLY on Monday of week 1 of session 1 and again in session 2 each year. It is not reset for summer session.

1.6: How often do quotas get updated?

Quotas are not updated as soon as your print job is finished. Print logs are collected and processed every hour. Please be aware of this when printing so that you don't go over quota.

If you do go over quota, that amount will be subtracted from your next allocation or purchase, providing less next time.

1.7: Can I transfer unused print quota to my friend?

Only purchased quota can be transferred, and only when you are leaving CSE, and it must all be to one account. To request a transfer, contact SystemSupport. Be sure to include user account details of the intended beneficiary.

Allocated "free" quota will not be transferred.

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 11/04/2011

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IP quota

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1: IP Quota at CSE

CSE utilises a system called "IPQ" for tracking internet usage.

1.1: How do I check my current IP Quota?

You can find out your current quota by running ipq on a CSG-administered linux machine e.g. login.cse.unsw.edu.au.

Or, you can visit the Account Control Panel, and view the IP Quota module.

You can also check out the IP Quota Allocation Policy for details on how much you are entitled to under the policy.

1.2: How do I get more IP Quota?

Please refer to the page on IP Quota Exceeded messages.

1.3: How do I see where all my quota went? (Usage history)

The Account Control Panel IP Quota page provides a detailed breakdown.

Or, for those low-level buffs, you can view detailed usage logs using priv ipq_summary (returns daily totals) and priv ipq_list (returns details for a single day). Use priv help ipq_list and priv help ipq_summary for help using them.

You will receive an email every week telling you how much of your quota has been used so far.

1.4: When is my IP Quota reset?

IP Quota (along with print quota) is reset in sessions 1 and 2. IP quota that was allocated in the previous session is lost and a new allocation of quota is made to each account according to the enrollments and professional activites of the account owner. The reset occurs ONLY on Monday of week 1 of session 1 and again in session 2 each year. It is not reset for summer session. However, students enrolled in summer session courses will be allocated extra IP Quota.

If you purchased extra quota then the purchased amount will not be reset. At the start of the next session the quota you purchased but have not used will be available.

1.5: What is the difference between "Daily" and "Session" Quota?

Daily quota is usually 20% of your session quota. You can use up to your daily quota each day, and your session quota must be spread over the whole session. Your daily quota also comes off your session quota.

The purpose of limiting daily access is purely for your own protection. We help you avoid accidentally using all of your quota in one day if you have an accident. If you need to download something that is larger than your daily quota (and you've checked the local mirrors first) email SystemSupport who will temporarily increase your daily limit.

2: How does IPQ work?

See the IPQ Homepage and also the more general IPQ documentation. Or did you mean to ask what network traffic is charged to your ipquota?

3: Problems

3.1: Run out of quota

You have Run out of quota. Be sure to check your usage.

3.2: I have quota, but it claims I have run out!

Obviously you should check your usage first. Look closely...

If you are sure you haven't run out of quota, then there are several potential causes:

- If you are using a lab machine, or CSG-administered computer (e.g. login server), then contact SystemSupport. The ident service may be broken.

- If you are using a personal or self-administered computer that uses DHCP to get its IP address, then check that your current IP address is valid. Try getting a new one (in Windows, use "Repair" in the right-click menu of the network connection).

- If you are not using a DHCP machine, then it's possible that it is registered under someone else's name, and they have run out of quota. Contact SystemSupport to get it sorted out. You can check your current registered machines in the Account Control Panel

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 12/04/2011

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IP quota exceeded

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1: I keep getting the "IP Quota Exceeded" message, help!

People often get a message stating their IP quota is exceeded when they aren't expecting it.

The first thing you should do is check your IP quota by running ipq:

$ ipq

"johndoe" (User name) OverQuota=No

Interval      Usage      Quota

========== ========== ==========

Daily        0MB   120.00MB

Session    97.43MB   600.00MB

You can be over quota in two ways - you've gone over your daily limit for today, or you've exceeded your session limit.

If you are over your daily quota and you have gone over because you are trying to download a large file that isn't on our mirror, and is research-related, then email System Support who will temporarily increase your daily quota (this does not increase your session quota). Otherwise you will have to wait till midnight.

If you are over your session quota you can gain more quota depending on who you are:

- undergraduate or postgraduate coursework student - you can purchase more quota through the helpdesk

- postgraduate research student - your supervisor should email SystemSupport detailing the reason for extra usage, plus the additional amount required

- staff or academic visitor - email SystemSupport requesting more quota. If you want to request a lot more (more than several gigabytes) then you should discuss your download needs with the CSG Manager.

If you are not over quota, there are several things that could be causing the problem which will usually depend on the class of computer you are using

- CSE-maintained Linux machine - for example a lab computer, or any Linux machine administered by CSE.

- CSE-maintained Windows machine - a Microsoft Windows operating system, part of the CSE domain, administered by CSE.

- DHCP based network connection - your machine uses DHCP to get its IP address.

- Non-DHCP IP Address - you use a self administered machine, with a fixed username for IP Quota.

1.1: CSG Administered Machines

For IP Quota problems for a machine run by CSE, you should contact SystemSupport. You should have first checked that you aren't over quota.

1.2: DHCP Managed Machines

When registering your computer for the CSE network, you should elect to use DHCP. This method provides more secure protection for your IP quota, as it is only allocated to you when you hold a valid DHCP lease.

In other words, make sure that your computer is properly set to use DHCP, and is receiving a valid IP address from the DHCP server.

1.3: Statically Managed machines

If you do not use DHCP, you should contact System Support when getting an over quota message. Occasionally the User->IP mapping gets corrupted on the IPQ server - it should get fixed overnight, but SS can help you through the day.

When contacting SS, be sure to include:

- The name of the computer you are having problems on

- Your username

- The time of day when you got the error

- If convenient, whether you get the same problem when logging into a different computer.

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 12/04/2011

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IP Quota charges

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1: What Network Traffic is Charged to Your IP Quota?

Despite being it called IP quota, only TCP/IP traffic is charged. UDP and ICMP traffic are both too small a percentage of CSE's internet bill to be worth limiting (at time of writing anyway).

Presently, only traffic coming into CSE is considered part of your quota.

1.1: What is Charged

All TCP/IP traffic from an IP address that is external to UNSW, apart from the exceptions listed below. This includes but is not restricted to:

- HTTP and HTTPS - all web browsing on sites external to UNSW

- FTP, SCP, SFTP, P2P (file sharing) - all file transfers from sites external to UNSW

- SSH, Telnet, rlogin etc. - all traffic over a login connection

- IRC, MSN Messanger etc. - all instant messaging

1.1.1: Gotchas

Several examples of network traffic that users didn't realise would chew up their ipquota at such a rate:

- streaming audio - listening to music on websites e.g. internet radio;

- streaming video - watching videos on websites e.g. movie previews;

- leaving your web browser on for hours or overnight while it's displaying a website with changing content e.g. advertisements or tickers. The images in the ads are not large but when downloaded every second for hours on end they can add up to megabytes. Disable javascript or leave your browser on a static website;

- downloading papers from a website that you thought was part of UNSW but is actually external.

The last is worth emphasising. Whenever you click on a link on a UNSW website, watch where you end up. Many course websites link to a copy of a paper on an external website rather than a local copy. So does the UNSW library.

Just because you have logged into the UNSW library before downloading a paper it does not mean the paper will be considered part of UNSW and therefore be free. Sirius frequently redirects users to external sites and these downloads will be charged to your IP Quota.

1.2: What is Charged Less

There are several local mirrors of software in CSE and UNSW. If you cannot find the software you want on these local sites, which are free, you can get cheap downloads from:

- http://mirror.aarnet.edu.au

- http://planetmirror.com

Downloads from these sites are charged at only 10% of usual i.e. if you download 10MB only 1MB will be deducted from your ipquota.

Sites in the .au or bigpond.com domains are charged at 20% of usual i.e. if you download 10MB only 2MB will be deducted from your ipquota. This includes sites where the .au is embedded in the domain, e.g. au.yahoo.com.

1.3: What is Not Charged

- email

- downloads undertaken while you are dialled up to UDUS. These are charged to your UDUS allocation instead.

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 11/04/2011

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Purchase quota

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1: How to purchase more resource quota

This describes the process to obtain more resource quotas. Currently, only print and IP quotas can be purchased.

1.1: Obtaining more print quota

Your quota is renewed at the beginning of each session; unused quota does not roll over unless it was purchased.

1.1.1: Undergraduates and course-work students

If you run out of quota, or want to print more than your allocated quota, you will have to increase your quota by purchasing a larger allocation. To do this:

- Collect a form from the CSE Help Desk (room G03 in the Mechanical Engineering Building);

- Pay the Cashier (in the Chancellery - C22 on the university maps);

- Take the receipt back to the Help Desk staff, who will increase your print allocation.

The cost is $1.00 for 10 pages. Only whole dollar amounts can be purchased.

Purchased print allocation will be carried over to next semester (subject based print allocations will not).

1.1.2: Postgraduate thesis students

Thesis students can request extra print allocation through their thesis supervisor. Their supervisor can then mail SS with an appropriate request.

1.1.3: Staff and Visitors

Staff and visitors can request extra pages by mailing System Support.

1.2: Obtaining more IP quota

The procedures for obtaining more IP quota are essentially the same as for the print quotas above - make sure when requesting it that it is clear which type of quota you require.

Last edited by Computing Support Group 28/10/2010

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Extra disk space

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1: Extra Disk Space

There are three ways you can get extra disk space at CSE.

- Additional Disk Quota in your home directory

- A second home directory on one of our computing clusters

- Scratch space on one of our computing clusters (or very rarely, one of our other serves)

1.1: How?

All requests for any type of additional disk space must be made through your supervisor.

They will need to email System Support and include the following details:

- How much extra space?

- What purpose is it for?

- How long is the extra space required?

1.2: Additional Quota

Additional Disk Quota for teaching/research purposes can be requested through your supervisor. Generally, additional space beyond 1 GB is not allocated on a central fileserver. You will need to use your local computer instead.

1.3: Second home directory

If you have (or it is deemed appropriate that you should have) access to one of our computing clusters, arrangements can be made to give you a second home directory on the cluster in question, for storing data related to your work on that cluster. This is arranged on an individual basis between your supervisor, System Support and yourself.

1.4: Scratch space

If you only require temporary space, or space for non-critical data, you can be given some scratch space on an appropriate machine. This will not be backed up - so will likely be completely lost in the event of a disk failure.

Last edited by Computing Support Group 28/10/2010

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Available Software

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1: Available Software

This page lists the software that is available to staff and students at CSE. If you cannot find the software you are looking for anywhere on this page (or its subsequent links) then it is likely that we are unable to provide it.

1.1: Software mirror

A variety of software can be found on the CSE software mirror for operating systems such as Windows, Linux, and Mac OSX.

1.1.1: Automatic updates

CSE also mirrors automatic updates for Windows and Mac OSX. More information can be found at the Automatic Updates FAQ page

1.2: Software loans

A variety of software can be loaned from the Helpdesk. Please visit or contact the Helpdesk for more information.

- Location: Mechanical Engineering (J17) Undercroft, Room G03

- Telephone: +61 (2) 938 55438

- Email: helpdesk@cse.unsw.edu.au

1.3: Essential Windows Software

This page will try to list some of the most used software packages for Microsoft Windows. All files linked here are on UNSW servers and downloading them will not count towards your IP quota.

1.3.1: Microsoft Developer Network Academic Alliance (MSDNAA)

The School of Computer Science and Engineering is a member of the MSDN Academic Alliance program. This means that CSE have a license agreement with Microsoft to provide software such as Windows 7 to staff and students. This is administered by ELMS (e-academy License Management System). See the ELMS FAQ page for more details.

The old MSDNAA system can be accessed through the MSDNAA mirror site (CSE username and password required).

For Microsoft Office information, please see the section below.

1.3.2: Antivirus & Antispyware

- Symantec Antivirus The University has licensed Symantec Antivirus for all staff and students, as well as their home PCs. We strongly advise all Windows users install this. The software can be downloaded from the IT Services web site

- Adaware

- Spybot

1.3.3: Internet software

- Mozilla Firefox (web browser) Firefox is an excellent browser and is recommended over Internet Explorer for everyday use.

- Mozilla Thunderbird (email) Although Windows ships with Outlook Express, you may also like to try an alternative.

1.3.4: Office Suites

- Open Office

- Microsoft Office is available under CAUDIT for UNSW staff. See below.

1.3.5: Accessing Linux Servers

- puTTY (SSH terminal) puTTY is an excellent open source SSH client. You can download the client from our mirror.

- winSCP (file copy utility)WinSCP will allow you to easily copy files between your PC and your CSE home directory.

1.4: Microsoft Office

We are able to provide Microsoft Office for Windows and Mac OSX. However, this falls under the Microsoft CAUDIT licence program, which has tighter restrictions on software. Specifically, it can only be installed on CSE- or UNSW-owned machines. Furthermore, we cannot lend out the installation media and so have to perform the installation ourselves. Please contact ss@cse.unsw.edu.au (or x54199) to arrange an installation, quoting your machine's asset code (found on a yellow or white barcode on the machine).

1.5: Matlab

Matlab is available for general use on all CSE lab machines. In addition to this, the university carries a site-licence that allows staff members (and students with staff IDs) to use the software outside of the CSE lab machines for research purposes. Please contact SS to arrange access to the Matlab installers.

More information on using Matlab can be found at the Matlab FAQ page.

1.6: UNSW IT Software Distribution

IT at UNSW provide a variety of software to staff and students. They can be site-licensed or available at a discounted price.

1.6.1: Adobe Acrobat Professional (and other Adobe products)

Adobe products are available at a discounted price. Neither UNSW nor CSE carry a site-license for these software.

1.6.2: Symantec AntiVirus

Symantec AntiVirus is available for staff and student use under a site-license.

Last edited by Adrian Pua 26/05/2011

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Automatic Updates

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1: Introduction

Automatic updates are large and may chew through your IP quota very quickly. Because of this, CSE has software update mirrors for both Microsoft Windows and Apple OSX, so any traffic from these servers will not be deducted from your quota.

2: Windows

If you visit this page, you will find full instructions on how to configure your Windows install to point to the CSE mirror.

3: Mac OSX

In order to reconfigure software updates to point to the CSE mirror, all you need to do is bring up a terminal, and enter one of the following commands (this must all be on one line):

Snow Leopard (10.6)

sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.SoftwareUpdate CatalogURL http://persephone.cse.unsw.edu.au:8088/index-leopard-snowleopard.merged-1.sucatalog

Leopard (10.5)

sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.SoftwareUpdate CatalogURL http://persephone.cse.unsw.edu.au:8088/index-leopard.merged-1.sucatalog

Tiger (10.4)

sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.SoftwareUpdate CatalogURL http://persephone.cse.unsw.edu.au:8088/index.sucatalog

After this, you can perform the software update as per usual. Make sure that it is trying to contact persephone.cse.unsw.edu.au when it is connecting.

If you need to revert to getting Software Updates from the Apple servers, use the following command:

sudo defaults delete /Library/Preferences/com.apple.SoftwareUpdate CatalogURL

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 06/04/2011

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Non cse software

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1: Tips for general software at CSE

This page is intended to provide hints and tips that people have found useful over time. It relates to more general software - not things which are specific to CSE (though quirks may be mentioned).

Also note general information on Running Your Own Computer at CSE

- Subversion - Handy Hints for the Subversion version control system.

- SSH - Secure Shell tips, tricks and pitfalls

Last edited by Computing Support Group 28/10/2010

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Subversion

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1: Tips for using Subversion

Subversion is a version control system, similar to CVS.

1.1: Links

- http://svnbook.red-bean.com/

1.2: Tips

1.2.1: Converting a database to a different backend format

You need to dump and reload the database.

$ svnadmin create --fs-type=fsfs fsfs-repo

$ svnadmin dump repo | svnadmin load fsfs-repo

$ mv repo backup-repo

$ mv fsfs-repo repo

Thanks to Joakim Simonsson and Daniel Woo, link

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MSDNAA

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1: MSDNAA

The School of Computer Science and Engineering is a member of the MSDN Academic Alliance program. More details are available on the MSDNAA mirror site.

Last edited by Computing Support Group 28/10/2010

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ELMS

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1: Overview

ELMS (e-academy License Management System) is a service that CSE uses to manage the delivery of software and product keys under its MSDNAA licencing agreement. It is provided to all MSDNAA subscribers by a third party company, e-academy.

All new MSDNAA products will use the ELMS system, starting with Windows 7 Professional, and existing products will be migrated over time.

To access ELMS, go to http://msdn70.e-academy.com/au_37782/

The MSDNAA agreement we administer is the agreement between MicroSoft and the School of Computer Science and Engineering only, not between MS and the University. Under the terms of this agreement, only CSE academic staff, or students currently enrolled in a CSE course or postgraduate program are entitled to MSDNAA software.

2: Using ELMS

2.1: Authentication and user data

When you select the log-in link from the ELMS home page, the ELMS system will connect to an authentication server at CSE. You will need to use your CSE credentials to log on. Your CSE username and password are entered on a system controlled by CSE and are not transferred to or stored on the ELMS site.

The authentication server returns your UNSW ID, given name, family name and CSE email address to the ELMS system. This data is necessary to create an account for you, and to enable the ELMS system to send product download information and product keys.

2.2: Obtaining product keys

Once you are logged on the ELMS system, you can request any software which has been made available. Please ensure that you use the software in accordance with the MSDNAA licence agreement - please read the End User Licence Agreement and the Program Usage Guidelines.

2.3: Getting software

2.3.1: Downloading software with your own computer

You will need to be running a Windows operating system if you wish to download software from the ELMS site.

Until we can configure the new Webstore, the images that are downloaded come from outside UNSW and DO count towards your CSE IP quota. This will be resolved shortly

2.3.2: Using the CSE lab computers to download software

Provided you have access to an external hard disk or USB memory stick with sufficient space, you will be able to use the Windows Virtual Machine available on all CSE lab computers to download software if you do not have access to a computer that runs a Microsoft Operating System.

ELMS uses a custom download manager which is a small executable file that you download and run. This download manager connects to the mirror server, downloads the encrypted packages containing your software and decrypts them automatically.

You must make sure that you download the software to your external storage, and not C:\TEMP which is the default location for the downloader application. There is insufficient space to store both the encrypted download packages and the converted ISO images for DVD images. There may be enough space on the virtual machine's hard disk to successfully download smaller CD images.

For DVD images, we recommend that you have at least 8GB of free space on the storage device you want to download the software onto. There needs to be room for the file used for software delivery AND the unpacked software

2.3.3: Borrowing media

You may also choose, if the option is available, to check out a CD or DVD from the CSE Help Desk. The ELMS system manages the allocation of discs to users automatically. Please wait until you receive an email with confirmation that a disk is available before visiting the Help Desk There are often limited numbers of discs available, and you may be on a waiting list. Please collect your disc within 24 hours of receiving your email or your reservation will be cancelled and you will need to request a new reservation.

2.4: Getting Help with ELMS

As ELMS is an third party product, you should contact e-academy directly using the information in the FAQ section of ELMS. CSE will not be able to help you with product key information.

If you have problems logging on to ELMS, then you should contact ss@cse.unsw.edu.au

Last edited by Craig Robert Howie 22/05/2011

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Mathematica

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1: The Site License

The whole of UNSW is covered by a volume based Mathematica Site License.

This is a 100 user concurrent floating license - which means 100 users at one time can connect back to the license server.

You can use Mathematica from any of the lab machines, just type mathematica at the prompt to start. The address of the licence server is wolfram.lic.unsw.edu.au

The licence server for Mathematica is now provided centrally. The address of the licence server is: wolfram.lic.unsw.edu.au

2: Home Use Licenses

If you want home-use licenses, you need to contact IT Services by e-mailing the Software Distributor at: softdist@unsw.edu.au to enquire about currrent licencing restrictions and access to installion media.

If it turns out you are having difficulty installing the software please check support.wolfram.com and support.wolfram.com/install

3: Download

Mathematica software can be downloaded from here: http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~mathem/

You need to enter your Unipass login and password to access the CSE mirror page.

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 16/12/2010

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Matlab

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1: Matlab for CSE people

1.1: Introduction

UNSW has a Matlab site licence which allows it to be installed (for educational and non-commercial purposes only):

- On any computer belonging to UNSW

- On any computer personally belonging to a member of UNSW staff;

For details of this licence, see: www.it.unsw.edu.au/staff/software/matlab.html

Thus:

- All CSE computers that are administered by the CSG, have matlab installed on them by default. To use matlab on such machines (eg: on a lab machine or a login server such as williams), just login and run matlab

- All CSE computers that are self administered (see: http://taggi.cse.unsw.edu.au/Policies/Self_Administered_Computers), may have matlab installed on them This is explained in the next section.

- The UNSW Matlab site licence cannot be used by any non-staff member to install matlab on a computer not owned by UNSW. In particular it cannot be installed on a machine privately belonging to a UNSW student. In general, students will need to purchase their own matlab licence, such as the academic version of Matlab's licence that is available from the UNSW bookshop.

1.2: Installing and using Matlab on a Self Administered CSE Machine (Staff with UniPass)

IT at UNSW hosts the Matlab installer and license codes for people with a Staff ID and UniPass.

- Visit www.it.unsw.edu.au/staff/software/matlab.html

- Click "Download product and view licensing information" and log in with your UniPass (NOT your zPass).

- Download the appropriate installer and follow the installation instructions found on the page.

The current UNSW licence, restricts staff to installing Matlab on only one privately owned machine at a time. If you have already used your staff id to install matlab onto one machine, then you will not be able to install it onto another.

1.3: Installing and using Matlab on a Self Administered CSE Machine (PhD students)

The following information only applies to people who do not have a UNSW staff ID and UniPass.

- Ask SS to make you a member of the matlab group

- Download your own copy from https://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~matlab/.

- Login with your CSE userid and password.

- Download the iso images for the Matlab installation (either Windows or Linux versions).

- Download the license file (license.dat).

Last edited by Adrian Pua 13/05/2011

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VMware Academic Program

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1: Overview

The VMware Academic Program (VMAP) is a service provided by VMware which allows current students and staff of CSE to obtain one year licences for a range of virtualisation products. Products include VMware Workstation 7.0, Fusion 3.0 for Mac and vSphere.

To access VMAP, go to http://e5.onthehub.com/d.ashx?s=oo30qimh1a

The agreement we administer is with the School of Computer Science and Engineering only, not the University. You must be CSE academic staff or be enrolled in a current CSE subject or postgraduate program to be entitled to software under the School's agreement.

For more information on the VMAP agreement, please read the End User Licence Agreement and the Program Usage Guidelines.

2: Using VMAP

2.1: Authentication and user data

When you select the sign-in link from the home page, the VMAP system will connect to an authentication server at CSE. You will need to use your CSE credentials to log on. Your CSE username and password are entered on a system controlled by CSE and are not transferred to or stored on the VMAP site.

The authentication server returns your UNSW ID, given name, family name and CSE email address to the VMAP system. This data is necessary to create an account for you, and to enable the VMAP system to send product download information and product keys.

2.2: Downloading software

We are currently experiencing some issues checking out products if you are using the CSE proxy servers. While we attempt to resolve them, if you are having problems we recommend that you use the Uniwide network or your home network. The images that are downloaded do not come from the CSE mirror, and will count towards your CSE IP quota.

2.3: Getting Help with VMAP

As VMAP is an third party product, you should contact e-academy directly using the information in the Help section of VMAP. CSE will not be able to help you with product key information.

If you have problems logging on to VMAP, then you should contact ss@cse.unsw.edu.au

Last edited by Computing Support Group 28/10/2010

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Microsoft windows

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1: Microsoft Windows at CSE

This page provides information useful if you are running Microsoft Windows at CSE.

1.1: Installation Media

CSE is a member of the Microsoft Academic Alliance Program. This allows students and staff free access to many Microsoft products (NOT Microsoft Office) for research purposes. You can download ISO's for these products from the CSE Mirror. Please be sure to read and abide by the Terms of Use as provided at that site.

1.2: Updates and Maintenance

The CSE Mirror has a special setup to allow Automatic Updates to be downloaded from it, saving you IP quota.

For details, visit http://windowsupdate.cse.unsw.edu.au/.

Note that this service does not catch the updates when you visit the "Windows Update" site (e.g. via the link in Internet Explorer). It only affects the Automatic Updates feature - so you should turn that on and set it to download and install updates regularly.

Staff and students of CSE can install a copy of Symantec Anti-virus from UNSW IT Services.

A good free virus scanner is ClamWin.

1.3: Useful websites to read before installing Windows

Microsoft Windows is notoriously subject to security problems such as hacking, viruses/worms/trojans and malware. There are so many computers out there firing out viruses and trawling for new computers to add to their botnets that the Internet Storm Centre estimates the mean time before your new computer is compromised is only 20 minutes. If you are installing base Windows XP it takes more than 20 minutes to download patches such as Service Pack 2 which means you are likely to be compromised before you've even finished setting up your computer. It has happened to several CSE people so learn how to secure your pc before you start installing. Once you've installed a fully patched Windows, the first things you should do are:

- install and configure a firewall, even if only XP's inbuilt one

- install and configure anti-virus software, preferably one that has automatic updates and also recognises some of the more common malware

- create a user account for yourself which you use to login instead of Administrator.

SANS guide to Windows XP: Surviving the First Day

SecurityFocus: A Home User's Security Checklist for Windows

Microsoft Technet on why you shouldn't login as Administrator (root)

Microsoft Technet on running Windows XP without logging in as Administrator

More tips from a Windows expert on how to run Windows without logging in as Administrator

A tool from Microsoft to help you diagnose why a program seems to want Administrator access although many computer security professionals prefer Sysinternals' filemon and regmon. Sysinternals' programs are very highly regarded in the computer security field.

You can always amuse yourself with Microsoft's Live Safety Center but it's very far from a state where you can rely upon it.

NSA guides to securely configuring Windows XP and 2003: also has guides for linux and Mac OS X.

US-CERT has a number of short, easy to understand articles on setting up firewalls, recognising phishing attempts and other aspects of computer security. These are very introductory and do not include actual configuration details.

Becoming familiar with Microsoft Technet is probably the single best thing you can do (after configuring your firewall and anti-virus software, of course). Technet is full of articles on all imaginable aspects of running Windows and also contains all the Microsoft Security Bulletins.

Last edited by Computing Support Group 28/10/2010

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Debian

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1: Debian at CSE

This page provides information useful if you are running Debian at CSE.

1.1: Installation Media

You can get the Debian installation CD/DVD media on the CSE Mirror (Note about DVD images on the mirror).

1.2: Updates and Maintenance

We recommend that you point your apt sources at our mirror's apt-proxy. This way you get all the latest updates without costing you any IPQ! Here's a sample configuration for your /etc/apt/sources.list file. Note that you may replace (or replicate) stable with testing or unstable if you are running those Debian releases.

# /etc/apt/sources.list for Debian stable using CSE's apt-proxy

deb http://mirror.cse.unsw.edu.au:9999/debian stable main contrib non-free

deb http://mirror.cse.unsw.edu.au:9999/debian-non-US stable/non-US main contrib non-free

deb-src http://mirror.cse.unsw.edu.au:9999/debian stable main contrib non-free

deb-src http://mirror.cse.unsw.edu.au:9999/debian-non-US stable/non-US main contrib non-free

deb http://mirror.cse.unsw.edu.au:9999/debian-security stable/updates main contrib non-free

You can download this file from http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~csg/apt/debian/sources.list

1.3: Accessing the apt-proxy from outside CSE

information on accessing the CSE apt-proxy from outside CSE can be found on the apt-proxy page.

1.4: Support

You may find help at the Support forum. COMPSOC may also provide help with problems if you ask nicely.

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 06/04/2011

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Ubuntu

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1: Ubuntu at CSE

This page provides information useful if you are running Ubuntu at CSE.

1.1: Installation Media

The easiest way to obtain Ubuntu is to download it from the CSE Mirror, or to burn a copy to DVD yourself using the lab machines, with the priv cdrom burn command.

If this isn't a practical option for you, you can also borrow a copy of the DVD from the CSE Helpdesk in J17-G03 (in the Mechanical Engineering Undercroft, across the hall from Leaf lab). We don't keep a vast stock of them on hand, however, so if you can download/burn your own, we'd prefer you do that instead.

For installation, we recommend that you peruse the official installation guide, which can be found at http://help.ubuntu.com/ and in their wiki at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Installation. We also provide some basic instructions to help get you started with this machine at CSE

1.2: Updates and Maintenance

Ubuntu uses a program named apt to install system updates and additional software. CSE runs an apt-proxy service that allows you to get all these updates at no cost to your IPQ quota. To use the CSE apt-proxy, you need to edit the /etc/apt/sources.list file to reference our server. Configuration information can be found on the apt-proxy page.

1.3: Support

You may find help at the SupportForum. COMPSOC may also provide help with problems if you ask nicely.

1.4: Installation Guidance

The following is based on the installation from an Ubuntu Dapper (6.06) installation CD. The target machine was connected to the CSE Untrusted Network and our network servers were configured to provide it with a DHCP lease.

- Make sure the machine is connected to the network then switch it on and boot it from the Ubuntu 6.06 CD.

- As the Ubuntu installer will check for updates via the Internet during installation, we recommend that you configure the CSE web proxy before starting. Otherwise you will probably find that the installer appears to 'hang' at around 84%, while it attempts to access the update servers. To configure the web proxy details, go to the System menu, select Preferences and choose Network Proxy. You will see the following screen :

- Select Manual proxy configuration and enter the following information in the HTTP proxy line only.

- Proxy Server www-proxy.cse.unsw.edu.au

- Proxy Port 3128

- Close this window and start the installation by double-clicking on the Install icon found on the desktop.

- Installation will ask some questions about language, time zone and other locale information. Select the options you require.

- The harddisk will be partitioned for the new installation. I made a new partition and did not save the previous partition. If you wish to keep an existing partition (such as Windows) and use both the new and the old then you will need to partition and configure Ubuntu differently. Read this link for a guide.

- Select the initial account and password. This account will not have superuser (root) access but the password chosen for this account will be used to run commands as root with the sudo command. We strongly suggest that you choose your CSE username for this account. This will make things a lot easier later on.   Please choose a long password containing numbers and punctuation. A weak root password will leave your machine vulnerable to compromise.

- ... More installation actions occur then you remove the CD and reboot the machine.

- The machine boots into the new installation and sets up the base system.

- Once this is done log in using the account you created during installation

- Log out (using System menu, Quit and then Log Out and then login again using the new account.

- Set the Network proxy settings again using the method described above. If you skip this step, then the package updates will not work.

- Open a terminal program. (Click on Applications at the top left then Accessories and then Terminal)

- Get the CSE package sources file:
cd /etc/apt

sudo rm sources.list

sudo wget -nd http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~csg/apt/ubuntu/sources.list
NB : This file is configured for karmic-koala or 9.10. If you are running an older version, you will need to edit the file and replace all references to karmic to the version you are running (e.g. intrepid, hardy, gutsy etc). See http://taggi.cse.unsw.edu.au/FAQ/Apt_proxy for more details.

Update the Ubuntu packages with the list you just downloaded.
sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get --fix-missing upgrade
(You could also use Ubuntu's Graphical Package Manager instead of the last two steps to update the package list)

- To configure access to various CSE services look at the section Accessing CSE Services from within CSE at RunningYourComputer.

1.5: Accessing your home directory

The instructions below are specifically for computers connected to the CSE network.

1.5.1: Viewing your home directory in Nautilus

To view the contents of your home directory, you can connect to the server using the Nautilus File Browser. Click the Places menu and select Connect to Server. Use the following picture to help with the information required in the dialog box that appears.

After clicking OK, a folder should appear on your desktop. Double click the folder, and enter your CSE password into the dialog box. Don't worry about changing the workgroup. Your home folder should be displayed in a Nautilus window.

1.5.2: Installing the SMB file system

You will probably want to mount your CSE home directory. The Nautilus file browser will let you see the contents of your home directory, but if you want to mount this drive for easier access, you must install the SMB file system.

You can do this from a Terminal prompt by typing

sudo apt-get install smbfs

Mounting your home directory

Ubuntu requires some additional preparation to mount your home directory correctly. This information can be found on the using your home directory page.

Last edited by Robert Doran 27/05/2011

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Setting up mysql

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1: How do I set up my own MySQL database?

To set up your own MySQL server, you will need access to grieg, our "server server". If you don't have access, see Running your own server for details.

1.1: Installing your database:

Once you have access, you can run the following commands to set up a new MySQL server. Of course, you'll need to replace "YourUserName" with your actual user name.

$ ssh grieg

$ priv srvr

$ cd /srvr/YourUserName

$ mkdir database

$ cat > database/my.cnf <<EOF

[client]

port=3306

socket=/srvr/YourUserName/database/mysql.sock

[mysqld]

port=3306

socket=/srvr/YourUserName/database/mysql.sock

set-variable = key_buffer_size=16M

set-variable = max_allowed_packet=1M

[mysqldump]

quick

EOF

$ cp database/my.cnf ~/.my.cnf

$ mysql_install_db --datadir=/srvr/YourUserName/database

1.2: Securing your MySQL database

Once you've installed the database, you need to set passwords to secure it. To do this, you can use the following commands. Please note that you will need to run priv srvr if you have logged out since creating the database.

$ mysqld_safe --datadir=/srvr/YourUserName/database --log=mysqld.log --pid-file=mysqld.pid --log-error=mysqld_err.log --socket=mysql.sock&

And run

$ /usr/bin/mysqladmin -u root password MyRootPassword

where MyRootPassword is a suitably non-guessable string. This will set the password for the 'root' mysql user. (Note that this is NOT the same as the UNIX 'root' user. You do not need root access to the system in order to do this.)

That being done, you can now create your own MySQL users, each with their own passwords (again, these are purely local, and do not correspond directly to UNIX usernames), in order to actually run queries on the database:

$ mysql -u root -pMyRootPassword

mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO MyLocalUserName@localhost IDENTIFIED BY 'MyLocalUserPassword' WITH GRANT OPTION;

mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO MyLocalUserName@'%' IDENTIFIED BY 'MyLocalUserPassword' WITH GRANT OPTION;

mysql> exit

$ mysqladmin -u root -pMyRootPassword shutdown

Once again replacing MyLocalUserName and MyLocalUserPassword with suitable values.

Note that you should NOT use your own login password for this. Database passwords can appear in log files, and you might need to store them in in plaintext in programs you write to access your database. This is an unacceptable security risk where your own login password is concerned.

1.3: Starting and stopping your database

The MySQL server daemon needs to be run from grieg, within the priv srvr environment. This means that you need to run priv srvr after logging in to grieg.See Running your own server for details.

To start the server:

$ mysqld_safe --datadir=/srvr/YourUserName/database --log=mysqld.log --pid-file=mysqld.pid --log-error=mysqld_err.log --socket=mysql.sock&

The server will continue to run in the background, until it is shut down, even if you kill the shell that you ran it from.

To stop the server:

$ mysqladmin -u root -pMyRootPassword shutdown

If you do not require continual use of your database (ie, unless you are running an 'always on' service such as a publicly-accessible web application), then please shut it down after use to conserve system resources for other users.

Connecting to your database

You are now ready to connect to your database.

To connect using the command-line client:

$ ssh grieg

$ mysql -uMyLocalUserName -p

Password:

And type your local user password. This can be specified on the command line ( -pMyLocalUserPassword ) if required in scripts, etc, but the above method helps keep passwords out of your shell history, which is always a good thing.

To connect from other hosts (assuming the mysql client is installed), add the parameter -h YourUserName.srvr to the command line.

To connect from other clients (ie, scripting languages or database-enabled applications), see the documentation for the software in question. It is important to note that the host to connect to is YourUserName.srvr, NOT grieg.

A note on logfiles Although it's a good idea to keep logfiles, which is why we've included them in the commandlines above, a busy database can log an awful lot of data to these logfiles. If they log so much data that you fill up your directory and run out of diskquota, your database may stop working. You will have to truncate the logs and restart the database if that happens, so keep an eye on the size of your logfiles and rotate them regularly.

Last edited by Craig Robert Howie 09/05/2011

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Fluxbox

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1: The Fluxbox Window Manager

Fluxbox is the default Window Manager at CSE.

1.1: What is Fluxbox?

Fluxbox is a window manager that is based on the code from BlackBox. It is lightweight and tries to leave you with as much screen space to yourself as possible. It provides multiple desktops, "tabs" (useful feature if you get to know it) and many other bits and pieces.

1.2: How do I switch between workspaces?

Use Alt-F[num]. For example, for the first workspace, use Alt-F1. For the second, Alt-F2 etc.

1.3: How do I move windows between workspaces?

To move a window between workspaces, either:

1. right click on the window's top bar, select send to, and a workspace,

2. or click the little square button on the top left of the window. This causes the window to become omnipresent (appear on all workspaces), so just change workspaces and unclick it again (so it stays at the new place).

1.4: What other useful shortcuts are there?

Here is a brief list of some useful shortcuts you can use in Fluxbox:

Alt-F[num]

switch to workspace number [num]

Alt-Tab

cycle through windows in current workspace

Alt-Shift-Tab

cycle backwards

Alt-leftmouse-drag

move the window around by dragging any part of the window

Alt-rightmouse-drag

resize the window by dragging any part of the window.

Middlemouse-drag

drag a tab onto another window to put it into the other window's tabs. To pull it out again, just drag the tab (using middle button) away from the window.

(*) Control-Tab

cycle through tabs

(*) Control-Shift-Tab

cycle backwards through tabs

(*) These are CSE specific keybindings, see:

See Changing Keybindings for information on how to modify these yourself.

1.5: How can I change my Fluxbox options?

There are 3 ways you can change options:

- Open the main menu, go to Settings, and then Configure. In there you can change many of the available options.

- Run fluxconf. This is a utility program to change many options. It includes several that aren't available through the settings menu. You can also change keybindings by running fluxkeys.

- Edit your ~/.fluxbox/init file by hand. Most of the options are very readable. Here you get the most flexibility, but also have more chance of breaking something. Be careful.

1.6: Help, the colours all look ugly!

The answer is to change your style. There are several styles available on the system. You can change your style by opening the Fluxbox menu (right-click on the desktop), and go to Settings -> Styles and selecting one of the available ones.

The CSE default style is "Operation12". There is another called "Operation8bit": Some lab machines by default had only 8-bit colour, which means things like gradients (which include many similar colours) didn't work well. The default style uses few colours, so works on these displays and on remote desktops. If you are having trouble with colouring, try that one.

1.7: How do I set the background?

To set a background picture, use fbsetbg, Esetroot, bsetroot, or xsetbg

In your ~/.fluxbox/init file, at the bottom add a "rootCommand"" (this is a command used to set the root window background). For example, I have at the moment:

session.screen0.rootCommand: Esetroot -center /path/to/picture.jpg

Take a look at the man pages for those commands for extra help.

1.8: How do I change the key bindings?

Key bindings are the key strokes used to accomplish certain tasks - eg switching workspaces. If you wish to modify the defaults, or add your own, take a look in ~/.fluxbox/keys. There is also a utility program to help you change bindings - try running fluxkeys.

The Fluxbox documentation has some useful information on available events and key definitions.

The author recommends the following as useful bindings to add to your ~/.fluxbox/keys file:

# control-alt-x = xterm

Mod1 Control X :ExecCommand xterm

# control-alt-a = aterm

Mod1 Control A :ExecCommand aterm

# control-alt-r = fbrun (a small box to run programs from)

Mod1 Control R :ExecCommand fbrun

Obviously you can easily make up your own... say your favourite editor is nedit, you might want Mod1 Control N for nedit...

1.9: How do I change the menu items?

The default menu is a very good example of how to write a menu specification. See ~/.fluxbox/menu for your own menu. Once again, take look at the Fluxbox documentation for useful pointers.

1.10: How do I customise the look of my Fluxbox?

Firstly, there are several default styles available. Go to the fluxbox menu -> Settings -> Styles and choose your own scheme. The default is Operation12 (Operation with larger fonts).

If you really want to customise your look, you should investigate Fluxbox themes. There are many available on the Fluxbox website, as well as information on how to create your own.

1.11: See Also...

There are several other places you should look at for further information:

- The CSE Window Managers FAQ item.

- Fluxbox homepage: http://www.fluxbox.org/

- Fluxbox documentation

- Fluxbox FAQ

- Fluxbox Wiki: http://www.fluxbox-wiki.org/

These sites also provide further pointers if they don't have what you want.

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 12/04/2011

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Fedora

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1: Fedora at CSE

This page provides information useful if you are running Fedora at CSE.

1.1: Installation Media

You can get the Fedora installation CD/DVD media on the CSE Mirror (Note about DVD images on the mirror). Just follow the link to the latest version (currently 14), architecture (probably i386), then iso for CD images.

For installation, we recommend that you peruse the official installation guide, which can be found at http://fedora.redhat.com/ and following the "Documentation" link. We also provide some basic instructions to help get you started with this machine at CSE. We also mirror the Linux documentation Project.

1.2: Updates and Maintenance

There are a couple of different common package management options for Fedora.

1.2.1: APT

We recommend that you point your apt sources at our mirror. This way you get all the latest updates without costing you any IPQ! Here's a sample configuration for your /etc/apt/sources.list file. Note that you may need to change 4 to another number if you're running a different release.

# /etc/apt/sources.list for Fedora core 5 using CSE's mirror

rpm http://mirror.cse.unsw.edu.au/pub/fedora 5/i386 os updates stable

rpm-src http://mirror.cse.unsw.edu.au/pub/fedora 5/i386 os updates stable

(Note: This example hasn't been tested. Please let ss@cse know if it works (or not) for you!).

1.2.2: YUM

1.2.2.1: Configure Yum to load updates from the CSE mirror

By default, yum is configured to use package archives located on mirror servers outside of UNSW. So, before doing any updates we recommend the following change to point to the CSE mirror.

yum's package archive configuration files are contained in the directory /etc/yum.repos.d. In this directory you'll find a file called fedora-updates.repo. Using your favourite editor edit the first baseurl and mirrorlist lines. Put a # at the beginning of the mirrorlist line to make yum ignore it. Change the baseurl line to this:

baseurl=http://mirror.cse.unsw.edu.au/pub/fedora-updates/$releasever/$basearch/

These changes will point yum to CSE's mirror for updates.

1.2.2.2: Running Yum to update packages

Next, in a Terminal window (Applications--Terminal), run "yum -y update". This will install all the most recent Fedora updates for your computer.

Write this command down somewhere convenient and run it at regular intervals, like weekly, to ensure that your computer has all the latest patches.

It's usually wise to reboot your computer after each update to ensure that new and patched libraries and services are restarted. Do so now. After this your computer is all ready for you.

1.2.2.3: Automatic updates with yum

You can use cron to configure your computer to run yum and install updates automatically. To do this log in to your computer as root and run crontab -e in a terminal window to edit root's existing crontab. Usually vi is root's default editor, if you prefer another editor you will have to set and export $EDITOR. Add a line similar to the following to the crontab and then save it:

30 3 * * 0 yum -y update

This will run yum to install the updates at 3:30AM each Sunday morning. Your computer must be left on at this time for this to work. If you want to set another time for the update, consult the manpage with man 5 crontab.

1.3: Support

You may find help at the SupportForum. COMPSOC may also provide help with problems if you ask nicely.

Externally, there's the official Fedora documentation and the Unofficial Fedora FAQ.

1.4: Installation Guidance

You can find a separate guide with specific details for configuring and operating your Fedora Core 5 installation here at CSE at the URL below. It includes how to configure printing to CSE's printers, how to access your CSE home directory via the network, and how to use CSE's own mirror server to install updates and patches.

Installing Fedora

(being constructed from) http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~csg/installing_fedora_5_at_cse/

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 11/04/2011

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Installing fedora

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1: Installing Fedora

This is a simple guide to help users install Fedora for machines that are connected to the CSE network via a cabled connection, i.e. plugged into a wall socket.

If you require any further information, refer to the Official Fedora Installation Guide.

1.1: Getting the Installation Media

Note If using DVD images, be sure to read about using DVDs On Mirror.

The first step is getting a copy of Fedora Core 5 on either DVD or CD-ROM. Probably the best (fastest and cheapest) is to download the ISO image files from CSE's mirror at:

http://mirror.cse.unsw.edu.au/pub/fedora/5/i386/iso/

(or here if your CPU is capable of amd64/em64t 64-bit extensions and you wish to use them).

The available images are shown below:

You can use either the single DVD ISO image (after burning it to a DVD, of course), or use the five CD-ROM ISO images (disc1-5) after burning them to CD-ROM. Which way you go depends on whether your target computer has a DVD drive, and whether you have facilities to burn the DVD.

1.2: Starting the Installation

I'm going to assume here that you are going to overwrite whatever was on the target computer. When done the only thing on the computer will be a fresh install of Fedora Core 5

Make sure that the BIOS is set to boot from CD/DVD and then insert the DVD, or the first CD-ROM (disc1), into the drive in the computer. Then turn it on.

All going well you should get a screen that looks like this:

Press ENTER.

After a few miles of kernel startup diagnostic and status lines, you'll be prompted to test the DVD/CD-ROM image. This is the first step of the installation proper. I'd recommend doing the test. Have a coffee while you wait.

1.3: The rest of the initial installation

For the rest of the initial installation, read the prompts and messages along the way and give what seem to be sensible replies for how you want your computer to work when you're done.

I do recommend the following though:

1. A "U.S. English" keyboard is what most CSE computers use.

2. Use "Remove linux partitions on selected drives and create default layout." unless you really know what you're doing. AND beware that this will wipe any existing installations.

3. You will need to know about the network you are using. At CSE, you are probably using the Wired Network and can just use the default DHCP settings.

4. Pick the appropriate time zone (I'll let you work out what that is) and tick the UTC box (unless dual booting with windows).

5. You'll probably also want to tick the "Software Development" box when asked what things you'll be doing with the computer. If there's anything special or wierd in your agenda, also select "Customize now" and see if there's anything shown that you'll need.

When you've finished selecting the various installation options the installer will popup a window saying that it's "Checking dependencies in packages for installation...". This takes a while and it'd be tempting to go off and get another coffee. This isn't a good idea as the installer will want you to click one more thing before it actually starts installing.

Once the installation starts you'll have plenty of time for a cup of coffee. In fact, have a cup of coffee, a doughnut, and read the paper and do its cryptic crossword.

If you're installing from CD-ROM then don't wander too far away. It'll want you to put in another one of the five CD-ROMs from time to time.

When the installation is complete you'll see a pop-up window telling you so and a [single] option to reboot. Accept the inevitable and make sure (in the BIOS) that your computer will boot from hard disk this time. Remove the CD-ROM/DVD.

1.4: After the initial installation

Once you've done the initial installation and have rebooted the computer it will start the newly-installed Linux. There's still more to do before you can use it however. This reboot will take a while until it gets to the "Welcome" screen (see next paragraph). There is time for another quick coffee while you wait.

The first interesting thing that happens after the initial install and reboot is the "Welcome" screen. This tells you that you are about to do some configuration.

1. Check the firewall settings and make sure that any services you want to be reachable from other computers are ticked. I very strongly recommend that you leave the firewall enabled.

2. Set the date and time, and enable the Network Time Protocol (NTP). NTP will keep your computer's time to within a fraction of a second of the actual time. This can be vital if you are working with multiple computers at a time and are trying to keep them synchronized.

3. Create a user account which you'll be using for your day-to-day work. Don't use the "root" account for day-to-day work. "root" is the omnipotent super-user account. If using "root" it's too easy to make a mistake and then wonder why your computer doesn't boot any more, why you've suddenly been afflicted with the worst case of pimples ever, and why your boyfriend/girlfriend/dog has left you. Using a normal user account for most of your work can avoid this.

Once the configuration is done the computer will think to itself for a bit. Sorry, but there probably won't be time for a coffee at this time.

1.5: Some finishing up

After the configuration it'll come up with a log-in screen. Log in as "root" using the password you entered during installation so we can do some updates to prevent evil Internet-based hackers making your computer a base of operations for themselves.

1.5.1: yum

"yum" is a program. It is part of Fedora Core 5 and is used to fetch and install new software packages, patches and updates.

1.5.2: yum and the CSE web proxy

Normally yum fetches downloads from the Internet by going to external servers directly. This won't work in CSE. yum has to be configured to use one of CSE's web proxies instead. To do this add the following line to the end of /etc/profile:

export http_proxy=http://www-proxy.cse.unsw.edu.au:3128/

If you made the above change in a Terminal window, close the window and open another one so the change takes effect.

1.5.3: yum and the CSE's own Fedora mirror

At this point, you should make the changes to your yum configuration files as documented in the Fedora Maintenance Information.

1.6: Printing

Fedora uses CUPS for printing. To setup CSE printers, you should refer to the CUPS Section of Accessing CSE Printers.

1.7: Email

It is very important that email to the root account on your computer not be directed to the root account at CSE. Please read the instructions at RedirectingRootEmail to ensure that your root email stays on your computer.

1.8: Accessing your home directory

Refer to Remote Home Directory.

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 17/04/2011

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Gentoo

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1: Gentoo at CSE

This page provides information useful if you are running Gentoo at CSE.

1.1: Installation Media

You can get the Gentoo installation CD/DVD media on the CSE Mirror, Probably here (Note about DVD images on the mirror).

1.2: Updates and Maintenance

We recommend that you set your local mirror to CSE's. This way you get all the latest distfiles without costing you any IPQ! At present CSE doesn't provide an rsync mirror for emerge sync.

To use the CSE mirror, you need to edit the /etc/make.conf file, and find a line about GENTOO_MIRRORS. You should either set this to only the CSE mirror, or just add the CSE mirror to the start of the list (note that this will use other mirrors if CSE is unavailable, thus using your IPQ). You will end up with a line like this.

# Use CSE's mirror

GENTOO_MIRRORS="http://mirror.cse.unsw.edu.au/pub/gentoo"

## Or using other mirrors

# GENTOO_MIRRORS="http://mirror.cse.unsw.edu.au/pub/gentoo http://some.other.mirror/gentoo ..."

1.3: Support

You may find help at the Support forum. COMPSOC may also provide help with problems if you ask nicely.

Last edited by Computing Support Group 28/10/2010

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DVDs on the mirror

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1: Accessing DVDs on the CSE Mirror

Unfortunately, due to limitations in the Apache webserver, you cannot access files larger than 2GB through it.

If you are looking at the CSE mirror with the http:// protocol, you will notice that DVDs appear only a few hundred megabytes in size, rather than gigabytes. The images are not faulty, just the web server.

The solution is to use a different protocol, e.g. ftp, and a client that supports large files (e.g. lftp for linux, or Coreftp for Windows).

Find the URL for your DVD, change the http:// to ftp:// and see if that does the job.

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 06/04/2011

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SSH

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1: Using SSH at CSE

SSH is a very useful tool for creating secure connections between computers.

To use it to get a remote shell, just run ssh computername

If logging in as a different user, use ssh username@computername

1.1: Problems

1.1.1: BadAtom X Error

Running certain programs (usually TCL programs, e.g. give/sms/tkrestore) over a forwarded X connection may result in an error that looks like this:

X Error of failed request:  BadAtom (invalid Atom parameter)

Major opcode of failed request:  18 (X_ChangeProperty)

Atom id in failed request:  0xef

Serial number of failed request:  12

Current serial number in output stream:  15

This is because TCL (at present) requires a "trusted" X connection. Previously all SSH X forwarding was "trusted", but recently it defaults to non-trusted.

To tell SSH to connect and do Trusted X11 Forwarding, you can either use the -Y option to ssh, or add ForwardX11Trusted yes to your ~/.ssh/config file.

1.2: More information

A more comprehensive document about using SSH at CSE is kept here.

Last edited by Computing Support Group 28/10/2010

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SSH Key Files

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Or, how do I log into an account without a password?

(This is mostly copied from the ssh and ssh-keygen manual pages.)

1: Public key authentication

Public key authentication is based on public-key cryptography, using cryptosystems where encryption and decryption are done using separate keys, and it is unfeasible to derive the decryption key from the encryption key. The idea is that each user creates a public/private key pair for authentication purposes. The server knows the public key, and only the user knows the private key.

A private key file often has an associated passphrase for extra security. The key can only be used when the private key file can be read and the passphrase is supplied by the person running the program. We urge you to use a passphrase.

The file ~/.ssh/authorized_keys in an account lists the public keys that are permitted for logging in. When the user logs in, the ssh program tells the server which key pair it would like to use for authentication. The client proves that it has access to the private key and the server checks that the corresponding public key is authorized for logins to the account.

Please create your SSH key files before you ask anyone to grant you login access to an account.

2: Creating SSH Keys

The user creates his/her key pair by running ssh-keygen. This stores the private key in ~/.ssh/id_dsa (protocol 2 DSA), or ~/.ssh/id_rsa (protocol 2 RSA) and stores the public key in ~/.ssh/id_dsa.pub (protocol 2 DSA), or ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub (protocol 2 RSA) in the user's home directory. By default, ssh-keygen creates RSA key files in ~/.ssh/.

The public key (eg: id_rsa.pub) should then be appended to the ~/.ssh/authorized_keys file of the account the person wants to access. The authorized_keys file has one key per line, though the lines can be very long. After this, the user can log in just by having the private key readable on their local computer.

Anyone who already has login access to the account can add your key. You can also ask CSE System Support to add the key, though you will need to prove that it is appropriate for you to have access to the target account.

3: Using SSH Keys

When accessing the account the person provides the private key file (eg: id_rsa) and the passphrase that was used to create it and that is checked against the public key in the target account before access is granted. Supplying a private key to log in can be done like this:

ssh -i .ssh/id_rsa account@login.cse.unsw.edu.au

The most convenient way to use public key authentication may be with an authentication agent. A private key is registered with the agent along with its passphrase. After that the running agent program it will supply SSH connections with the registered key. See the ssh-agent for more information.

4: About Passphrases

The passphrase may be empty to indicate no passphrase, or it may be a string of arbitrary length. A passphrase is similar to a password, except it can be a phrase with a series of words, punctuation, numbers, whitespace, or any string of characters you want. Good passphrases are 10-30 characters long, are not simple sentences or otherwise easily guessable (English prose is generally easy to predict so makes a bad passphrases), and contain a mix of upper and lowercase letters, numbers, and non-alphanumeric characters. The passphrase can be changed later by using the -p option to ssh-keygen.

There is no way to recover a lost passphrase. If the passphrase is lost or forgotten, a new key pair must be generated and the public key copied to the corresponding target accounts.

5: Common Problems

5.1: The public key is in the target account but logins still do not work

If group write permission is enabled on the account directory this can stop users from sshing as the account even though the user's public-key has been appended to the authorized_keys file of the account. A description of this problem is given in the section about ~/.ssh/authorized_keys in the sshd manual page. The CSE SSH server is set with StrictModes=yes.

You need to make sure your home directory, .ssh directory and the authorized_keys are not group writable.

5.2: You forgot the passphrase to your private key

There is no way to recover a lost passphrase. If the passphrase is lost or forgotten, a new key pair must be generated and the public key copied to the corresponding target accounts.

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 01/06/2011

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SSH authorized keys for course class accounts

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1: SSH authorized_keys for course class accounts

1.1: Summary

A system script runs every morning that checks the SSH authorized_keys files belonging to every course class account. It adds keys that are missing but which are authorised to be there, and deletes keys that are present but that are not authorised to be there.

1.1.1: Creating an SSH access key

See the SSH Key File Guide.

1.1.2: Giving a user SSH access to a course class account

The user $USER is authorised to have SSH access to the course class account: $courseclass, servicing the course: $COURSE, if the user is either:

1. A member of $COURSE_Supervisor or $COURSE_Lecturer. Membership of these system classes is controlled by the teaching allocation files (described in more detail in the article on Teaching administration).

2. A member of a system class explicitly specified in the file: /home/$courseclass/.ssh/ssh_authorized (described in the section onSpec File format below);

3. Explicitly named in the file: /home/$courseclass/.ssh/ssh_authorized; (described below);

If the user does not want to wait for their public key to be automatically added to the course class account's authorized_file (by the system script when it runs early the next morning), then they should get someone with appropriate permissions to manually add their public key to the the course class account's authorized_keys file. This person will usually be the course administrator or lecturer.

Email will be sent to both the class account and to the user whenever the system script adds or deletes public keys from the course class account's authorized_keys file.

1.2: Background

Course class accounts (eg: cs1011), have ssh authority files (eg: /home/cs1011/.ssh/authorized_keys) that contain public keys that come from those users that are considered to have authority to access (log in as) these class accounts. These authorized users will usually be course supervisors or lecturers, but may include other sets of users like tutors, and/or other interested and authorized individuals.

1.2.1: The problem (pre mid 2008)

Unfortunately, even when a particular user's association with the course ceases, and the user is no longer a member of the appropriate UDB course class, the user's ssh public keys can remain in the class account's ssh authority file indefinitely, or at least until someone manually intervenes. Not managing these ssh authority files properly can lead to unauthorised or inappropriate access being granted to the class account, and a consequent loss of security.

1.2.2: The solution (post mid 2008)

As of mid 2008, a script runs daily which:

1. Automatically regenerates the .ssh/authorized_keys file from the public key entries belonging to all the users who have authorised access to the class account.

2. Sends email to the class account if user keys are added to, or removed from, the class account's authorization file.

3. Sends email to all users whose keys are added to, or removed from, any class account authorization file.

The script only regenerates authorized_keys for those class accounts that have a ~/.ssh/ directory.

Email is sent whenever there is a change to the class account authorization file.

Email includes:

- The name of the user whose keys were added or removed (if known).

- The actual keys that were added or removed.

- The name of the file that was the source of the key (appended to the end of each key).

1.3: Spec files

Obviously, the script needs to be told the set of authorized users for each class account, and (perhaps less obviously) the set of files from which to source the authorised users' public keys.

Two spec files are used to define both these sets of authorized users and public key sources for each class account:

1. The global spec file: /home/sms/lib/ssh_authorized.default.

This spec file defines the default set of users that have authority to access any class account and includes the lines:

+@${COURSE}_Supervisor

+@${COURSE}_Lecturer

(See spec file format below for a description of what this means)

2. The class account spec file: /home/${courseclass}/.ssh/ssh_authorized.

This spec file allows the course account to add or remove any user or set of users to/from the default authorised set.

- The global spec file is always read before the class spec file.

- It is expected that in most cases the global spec file will suffice, and that course classes will not need to create their own spec file.

- Individual users (and their source files) are added to or removed from the list of authorized users (and their source files) in the order in which they are read from the two spec files.

1.3.1: Spec File format

Both the global and the class account spec files have the following format:

('+' | '-') (user | '@' group) [ '[' expiry ']' ] {pub_key_source} [ '#' comment ]

where:

+

Include the user or group.

-

Exclude the user or group.

user

The login name of the user to be included or excluded. In general, if a user is included (ie: with a '+') then an expiry date should also be specified (see expiry dates below for more details)

@group

The UDB group whose members are to be included or excluded (eg: COMP1911_Lecturer). The group spec may include the string ${COURSE}. The value of ${COURSE} is expanded appropriately for each course class account processed, and allows the global spec file to specify general course related classes (eg: ${COURSE}_Supervisor).

[expiry]

The optional date after which the user or group is not to be included (with '+'), or excluded (with '-'). If given, the expiry date must be enclosed in square brackets, and may be specified as either:

[dd/mm/yyyy]  or   [ddMMMyyyy]

where dd, mm and yyyy are the numeric date, month and year, and MMM is the alphabetic month (eg: jul).

If a group is specified, and an expiry date is not given, then the group members are no longer included (or excluded) when their respective group membership expires.

If a user is explicitly nominated, and an expiry date is not given, then that user is no longer included (or excluded) when their account expires. Users included (with a '+') without an expiry date will cause a warning email to be sent to the class account no more than once a week.

pub_key_source

This is the relative pathname of the file(s), rooted at each user's home directory, that contain the public keys to be included in the class account's .ssh/authorized_keys file. By default (ie: if no files are explicitly specified), the source files to be included (or excluded) will depend upon the classification of the user.

If the user is a member of Employee then the default source files are:

.ssh/id_dsa.pub

.ssh/id_rsa.pub

.ssh/authorized_keys

If the user is not a member of Employee then the default source files are:

.ssh/id_dsa.pub

.ssh/id_rsa.pub

For the rationale behind including .ssh/authorised_keys, see the section onTransitive Authorization below.

#

Optional comments start with a #, extend to the end of line, and are ignored.

Blank lines are also ignored.

1.3.2: Examples

+@${COURSE}_Tutor    # include keys of members of the tutor course class.

+janedoe[10/4/2009]  # include jane's default ssh key files till 10/4/2009

-janedoe .ssh/authorized_keys   # exclude jane's authorized_keys file

+ janedoe [10/4/2009] .ssh/.special_file # include jane's special_file

+joeblo[10apr2009] .ssh/joes_special_key_file another_file # include joe's key files till 10/4/2009

# note that joe's default ssh key files are not included.

1.3.3: Transitive Authorization

The inclusion in a class account's SSH key file (~C/.ssh/authorized_keys) of the public keys from a user's public key source file: ~U/.ssh/authorized_keys allows for transitivity of authorization. By default, transitive authorisation is only done for users who are members of the UDB class Employee.

For example:

If user A has SSH authority to become a user B, then user A's SSH key(s) will appear in user B's authorized_keys file (~B/.ssh/authorized_keys).

If user B has authorization to SSH into the class account C, and if B is also a member of the UDB class Employee, then by default, the public keys found in B's authorized_keys file(~B/.ssh/authorized_keys) will be included in the authorized_keys file for the class account C (~C/.ssh/authorized_keys). In this way, by default, A is given transitive SSH authority to become the class account C.

This default transitivity is specifically intended to make it easy for Employees at CSE, who are authorized to SSH into a class account, to pass onto the class account the public keys originating from their accounts outside of CSE (typically generated either on their private computer(s) at home, or on their personal laptop). This presumes that such users will include their public keys from their non-CSE accounts in their .ssh/authorized_keys file at CSE, primarily so that they can login to CSE remotely as themselves.

It is because this automatic transitivity is potentially a security risk, that it has been restricted to CSE Employees by default. Note that most tutors and class accounts are not members of the UDB class "Employee"

If desired, it is possible to explicitly include the authorized_keys file of non-employees, or to explicitly exclude the authorized_keys file of employees, using entries in the class account's ssh_authorized file.

In the following example:

- userE is a member of Employee to whom we want to confer SSH access, but not transitive access.

- we want to confer transitive SSH access to Tutors (who are generally NOT members of the UDB class Employee).

~C/.ssh/ssh_authorized:

+userE # include default employee SSH key source files

-userE .ssh/authorized_keys # remove transitive access

+@${COURSE}_Tutor # include default non-employee SSH_key source files

+@${COURSE}_Tutor .ssh/authorized_keys # include transitive access

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 20/05/2011

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SSL Certificates

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1: SSL Certificates

CSE uses a wildcard certificate to secure its internet services provided by GoDaddy Inc.

The details for the certificate are :

SHA1 Fingerprint - 3A:D0:3B:03:14:67:89:1C:80:53:2B:A9:D8:5C:3D:CA:47:69:DC:E5

MD5 Fingerprint - 16:4A:3F:26:AA:70:5E:E6:69:F2:2D:D7:6C:09:2E:0A

CA Root Certificates (if required)

The Root Certificates used by our certificates are provided in most operating systems and browsers. Should you need to install certificates manually, they can be found at https://certs.godaddy.com/Repository.go

Last edited by Computing Support Group 28/10/2010

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SCP and SFTP

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1: SCP

Secure copy (SCP) and Secure FTP (SFTP) offer more secure file transfer alternatives to FTP.

1.1: Linux

On Linux, SCP transfers can be initiated via the command line. Bring up a terminal, and follow the instructions below, replacing source with the name of the file you want to copy, username with your CSE username, /path/to/ with the path on the server, and target with the filename that you want the copy to have.

1.1.1: Copying to server with SCP

scp source username@login.cse.unsw.edu.au:/path/to/target

1.1.2: Copying from server with SCP

scp username@login.cse.unsw.edu.au:/path/to/source target

1.1.3: Using SFTP

SFTP can be used interactively to browse remote file systems and select files for upload and download

sftp username@login.cse.unsw.edu.au

Type help at the login prompt to view the available commands.

1.2: Mac OS X

1.2.1: Command line

If you bring up a terminal, you can perform the same method as Linux to use SCP and SFTP.

1.2.2: Fugu

Fugu is a suggested STFP/SCP client for Mac OS X. CSE users can log into login.cse.unsw.edu.au with their CSE username to access their files. Users will be prompted for their password upon login.

1.3: Windows

1.3.1: WinSCP

WinSCP is a suggested SFTP/SCP client for Windows operating systems. CSE users can log into login.cse.unsw.edu.au with their CSE username and password. You can either choose to enter your password before login or upon login.

You can also save the login details by clicking the Save... button.

1.3.2: PuTTY SCP

An alternative SCP client is PuTTY PSCP.

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 06/04/2011

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User Firewall

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1: User Firewall

1.1: Introduction

User Firewall System enable users to add, remove and maintain personal firewall rules for:

- Hosts they own, and

- Hosts that are in Untrusted Subnetwork

So if you have a computer with an IP address starting with any of the following prefixes

- 129.94.172.

- 129.94.173.

- 129.94.174.

- 129.94.175.

you can use this tool to manage its traffic through CSE's gateway. If you require a port to be opened for a computer that does not start with these prefixes, then you should email System Support ss@cse.unsw.edu.au with

1.2: How to use

There are two interfaces available for this program:

- "Priv firewall": which is a command line tool. To use this tool you should type "priv firewall" in an xterm on any of the CSE managed linux boxes.

- CSE's Account Control Panel: which is a graphical web interface. Login to Account Control Panel using your CSE username and password, and then go to firewall icon under Computing Resources . Here is an snapshot of this interface:

Every rule is given an expiry date when added. Currently, rules operate for a year. This means that one day you will receive an automated email saying that your rule is about to expire. Then if you require the rule you should extend it through any of the above mentioned methods.

1.3: Emails

On a number of accasions users receive automated email from this system, here is a list:
- One week before a rule expires.

- When the rule expires (but still the rule is kept as inactive for a week).

- When the inactive rule is removed (a week after expirying)

- When an IP address does not belong to a given user anymore, the associated rules expire.

1.4: Limitations

- Rules can only be added through user accounts. In another words, rules cannot belong to a utility account or a group

- Rules should belong to untrusted subnet.

1.5: Having Difficulty?

If you are having difficulty using the program, you can email System Support ss@cse.unsw.edu.au to ask for help.

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 06/04/2011

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Restoring files from backup

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1: Restoring files from backups

2: Restoring deleted files

There is no 'undelete' command in UNIX. Instead, a deleted file must be retrieved from backups. There are three types of backups maintained at CSE: "incremental backups", "full backups", and "snapshots".

The tools described here are searching through massive file indices and and are quite slow to startup. Give them several minutes before assuming something is wrong.

2.1: Using tkrestore

The easiest way to restore from incremental or full backups is to use the command /usr/local/bin/tkrestore. If you are not running X (for instance, you are dialled up on an ssh session) you should use the various text based command line tools described below.

2.1.1: Description of tkrestore

What follows is a brief description of tkrestore, and its operation. For more details of tkrestore, click on the help button while using tkrestore.

- Within tkrestore, files and directories available for restoration are listed on the left.

- Files that are available from incremental backup sources are flagged with an i, while those coming from full backup sources are flagged with an f.

- The user selects files to restore in the left side. Using the Add button adds them to the list of files to restore listed on the right.

- Clicking on the Restore button will eventually restore all those files currently listed in the Restore window, into a directory under your home directory called: ~/Restored_Backup/ source-date, where source is either i or f depending on the backup source, and date is the date on which the backup was taken.

Be aware that restorations can significantly increase your disk usage. In fact it is quite possible for restorations to fail or be left incomplete because the user requesting the restoration has exceeded their disk quota during the restoration.

2.1.2: Incremental Restorations

Incremental backup restorations are performed immediately, or at least as soon as the user clicks on the restore button (tkrestore calls the program /usr/local/bin/restorebu to do this).

Currently, you need to explicitly select every file you wish to restore from incremental backups, as restorebu will not allow you to restore directories (and by implication, their contents and sub-directories) from incremental backups.

2.1.3: Full Backup Restorations

Unlike Incremental restorations, full backup restorations cannot always be done immediately, and need to be recorded with the backup system first before they are performed. This is because:

- The restoration tape drive may be unavailable when the user requests a restoration;

- The desired tape media source may not currently be loaded in the tape library, and may require operator intervention before the tape is made available, and the files can be restored;

Unlike incremental backups, you can restore directories (and by implication, their contents and descendants) from full backups.

Full backup restorations are performed in batches every 15 minutes by the server on which the tape library is installed. As long as the appropriate tape drive, library, and media are available, each recorded full backup request is serviced, and email is sent to the user making the request once the files and directories are finally restored. If a tape required for restoration is not loaded in the tape library, email is sent to the system operator requesting that the tape in question be loaded into the library.

2.1.4: Restoring files from a group account

tkrestore can also be used to restore any files that are in your project group account, providing that you are a current member of the group, and the home directory of that group account has user ID execution sticky bit turned on. You can run a quick test:

listbu -u groupname

...to see if that has been set. If it returns:

ERROR: listbu: the S_ISUID bit is not set on this user account. Contact the owner or ss to enable group restores

...then send an email to ss. Otherwise, if it returns a list of files available for restoring, then you can run tkrestore to restore them. (When you run tkrestore, select groupname from the list box under "List files for:")

2.2: Text Based restoration tools

tkrestore uses Tk/TCL, and as such, can only be used over a graphical connection (usually X based) with a CSE machine. Text based restoration tools exist that can be used over non-graphical connections, but currently these tools only enable restorations to be made from incremental backups, and not from full backups. The following tools may be used:

- /usr/local/bin/restore.simple. This shell script provides a simple text based interface to two of the basic incremental backup commands: /usr/local/bin/listbu, and /usr/local/bin/restorebu. It allows the user to specify, expand, and restore selected versions of file backups, which it restores into current directory with the suffix ".RESTORED". Note that this differs from tkrestore which restores files into the directory ~/Restored_Backup/~/.

- You can also directly use the basic incremental backup commands: /usr/local/bin/listbu, and /usr/local/bin/restorebu.

For example listbu -r mail/INBOX | restorebu -l will restore the most recent version of the file mail/INBOX into your current working directory.

See the manpages for listbu and restorebu for more details.

Last edited by Computing Support Group 28/10/2010

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File permissions

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1: File Permissions

This document provides an introduction to UNIX file permissions.

You should also read Secure File Permissions for information on sensible permission settings.

1.1: What are file permissions?

File permissions control who can access your files. It is important to keep permissions in mind so that others can't view private files, or worse, edit or delete them.

Every file and directory has permissions. You can view them by using the -l flag on the ls command. For example:

$ ls -l file

-rwxr-x---    1 jsmith   jsmith       1918 Mar  5 08:36 file

The fields on this line are (bold being the interesting ones):

1. The file permissions

2. The number of hard links to the file (you can generally ignore this)

3. The owner of the file

4. The group-owner of the file

5. The size of the file

6. The date the file was last modified

7. The file name.

The permissions field is what we're mainly interested in, but the owner and group-owner are also worth being aware of.

Permissions are displayed in a special form using 9 characters. You'll actually see 10 in the field, but the first one is used to give the file type ("-" for regular file, "d" for directory, "l" (letter L) for symlink, and some more). So, in our example, these characters are = rwxr-x---. The 9 characters are actually three groups of three. Each group of three represents permissions for a certain class. There are three classes, displayed from left to right: user, group, and other. The user is you, the owner of the file. By default, group is the same as user, but if you are in a group project group will be set to the name of that group. other is absolutely everybody else, including people from outside CSE! Within each class there are three flags (bits): read, write, and execute. These have slightly different meanings with files and directories:

For a file, if the type of access is:

- read - The file can be viewed by a person, or read by a program

- write - The file can be changed by a person, or written-to by a program. A person with write access can add to a file, or completely blank it.

- execute - The file can be executed as a command. Note that this is usually only set if it is a binary program or script.

For a directory, if the type of access is:

* read - The directory contents can be listed. The ls command will show its contents - a person can see the names and attributes of files within the directory. * write - The directory contents can be changed. A person or program can add or delete a file in that directory (regardless of whether they have write access to the actual file!). * execute - A program can access files within this directory. For example, you can only use the cd command to change into a directory if you have execute permissions.

Symbolic links (symlinks) are another special type of file, but these are just pointers to another file. You can't change permissions on a symlink in Linux, but the permissions on the file it points to still apply. Generally a symlink looks like this: lrwxrwxrwx and is the only file you should see with full permissions, unless you're absolutely sure of what you're doing.

So, lets quickly break this down for our example:

User/owner

Group

Other/world

rwx

r-x

---

The owner of the file can read, write or execute this file.

The group-owner of the file can read or execute the file, but they can't modify it.

Anyone else has no access to the file - they can't read, write or execute it.

This is good, as the general public can't access the file.

1.2: Setting File Permissions

Be sure to read the Secure File Permissions FAQ entry!

File permissions can be changed using the chmod command. For a full description of its usage, have a read of the chmod man page. The primer also contains a good description of using chmod, and standard representations for permissions - see sections 2.2.15 and 2.2.16. It is definitely a recommended read with this document. There is an online copy of the primer available in the help documentation pages.

Last edited by Computing Support Group 28/10/2010

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Secure file permissions

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1: Using Secure File Permissions

This document is intended to help users understand and thoughtfully set permissions on their files. Having insecure permissions can allow malicious users to do anything from reading or replacing your files, editing your work (without you being aware of it), to executing programs under your account.

Please keep in mind that unauthorised access of files (regardless of their permissions) is a serious breach of the University's Conditions of Use for computing resources.

1.1: Are my file permissions secure?

This question is generally best answered by yourself with a bit of knowledge about what's going on. For that, read the File Permissions overview FAQ first. However, there are some commands you can run to do a rough sanity check on your file permissions. For fully understanding their meaning, I suggest you read the manual page for find.

NOTE: In most of the examples, the find command is executed on the current working directory ( . ), rather than the home directory explicitly ($HOME). This is so that you can use them in any directory with a simple cut and paste. To help remind you that they are for use in the home directory, there is a cd command before each. cd without any arguments will change to your home directory.

1.1.1: Minimal Access on Home Directory

Your home directory itself should have little or no access. Particularly, it shouldn't have read or write access for anyone besides the owner.

$ ls -ld $HOME

drwxr-xr-x  105 jsmith   jsmith       8192 Mar 11 15:01 /import/server/1/jsmith

$ chmod 711 $HOME/

$ ls -ld $HOME

drwx--x--x  105 jsmith   jsmith       8192 Mar 11 15:01 /import/server/1/jsmith

1.1.2: Nothing world writable

First we change to the home directory, or directory you want to check. The second command checks the current directory and all its children for files that have the "write" bit set in the other/world class of permissions, ignoring symbolic links (which are the only type of file for which world permissions are not a problem).

$ cd

$ find . -perm +002 ! -type l  -ls

14008420    0 -rwxrwxrwx   1 jsmith   jsmith         42 Mar  9 13:33 ./unsafefile

It has found an unsafe file! This is a bad one, since anyone can change its contents! You can see the permission string as the third field of the output. This command finds all world writable files and uses chmod to remove that access:

$ cd

$ find . -perm +002 ! -type l -exec chmod o-w {} \;

1.1.3: Nothing outside of your public_html should be world readable or executable

This is true in most cases. There are a few instances where you may want to make a program or file available to everyone else, but you should know exactly which ones these are anyway. Your public_html gets a special exclusion, because files on your website generally need to be world readable for the web server to access and display them. If you have a website, your home directory itself also needs to be world executable (but no more!).

$ cd

$ find . -path ./public_html -prune -o -perm +007 ! -path . ! -type l -ls

15089686    4 -rw-r--r--   1 jsmith   jsmith        477 Feb  3 16:59 ./somefile

Here we search for the world read, execute or write perms, but not inside public_html and not symlinks. The results show us that somefile is world readable and probably shouldn't be. Correcting this can just use a similar method:

$ cd

$ find . -path ./public_html -prune -o -perm +007 ! -path . ! -type l -exec chmod o-rwx {} \;

1.1.4: All directories in your public_html directory should be executable only

If a directory in your public_html is readable, people (including the webserver!) can see its contents.

$ cd

$ find ./public_html -type d -perm +006 -ls

16973841    4 drwxr-xr-x   2 jsmith   jsmith       4096 Jan 14 18:32 ./public_html/misc

Here we see that the misc directory in public_html is world readable. In most cases, we don't want or need world read in public places, so we clean all of them up:

$ cd

$ find ./public_html -type d -perm +006 -exec chmod o-rw {} \;

1.1.5: All files in your home directory should be owned by you

This is a security check to make sure other people haven't put files into your directory at some point.

$ cd

$ find . ! -user $USER -ls

14008508    4 -rw-------   1 root     jsmith        204 Jan 14 10:36 ./.onetimepassword

3850281    4 -rwx------   1 ev1ld0er     jsmith       3356 Dec 10 14:57 ./tmp/nastiness

$

This is just looking for any file that isn't owned by you. You can do a similar check for group ownerships - just replace -user with -group.

The example shows the .onetimepassword file. This is actually ok - it is created by the otpasswd command. You can probably trust things that are owned by root - that is the system administration super-user.

There is another file, owned by ev1ld0er. It isn't even readable by you! If it concerns you, you should contact HelpDesk or System Support. If you know where it is from, trust it, and don't need it anymore, just delete it (but you can't change the ownership directly, only root can).

1.2: What are reasonably safe default permissions?

If you do not intend to publicise files, then the following guidelines for default permissions should do the trick:

Set your umask to 077. If you're using the "bash" shell (the default shell), add umask 077 to your ~/.bashrc file. This will make files created by default without any access for other people. You can then "opt-in" the files that need increased permissions.

The following list is in increasing order of access.

* Regular files should be mode 600 (user read/write only). * Executable files should be mode 700 (user read/write/execute only). * Directories should be mode 700. * Your home directory should be mode 711 (so that the web server can reach your public_html). * Your public_html should be mode 711. * Public files should be 644 for general read, or 755 if execute is needed. * A directory containing public files should be mode 711. * A public directory should be mode 755 (i.e. you want a user to be able to list all contents).

Remember - don't give more access than you need. If in doubt, choose the mode nearest the top of the above list.

Never give world write access.

*Notes*

It is worth noting that just because a file appears in the above list doesn't mean it is currently insecure. If the restrictions on the parent directory are strong, then the files inside it should be safe. Nevertheless, if everything has the right permissions, you won't have to worry so much about forgetting to fix up file permissions if you move a file out of a secure tree.

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 14/04/2011

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Unix file permissions

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1: Unix File Permissions

A basic understanding of how Unix file permissions work will aid users in keeping sensible permissions on files they own or use and block malicious users from reading or worse, changing, these files. Every file and directory, from / downwards through the hierarchy, has an owner and a group owner, and 9 permissions set on it. For each of the owner/group owner/everybody else, whether they can read/write/execute the file is defined. These entities are also referred to as user/group/world or user/group/others.

There are plenty of online articles on this topic, two to start with are in Wikipedia and The Linux Documentation Project. The rest of this FAQ will assume you understand what the basic 9 permissions mean.

1.1: To see the permissions on a file

Type

ls -l filename

or

ls -ld directory_name

for a directory but not its contents.

1.2: To change the permissions on a file

Use chmod. Type man chmod to see the options available. Only the file owner or root can chmod a file.

1.3: To set default permissions on new files - umask

Use umask. Becoming wise in the ways of umask can save you a lot of chmodding, particularly when working in a group account directory. Without umask, files are created with permissions 666 (-rw-rw-rw-) and directories 777 (drwxrwxrwx); umask acts to reverse (mask) the specified permission bits. The default umask in CSE is 027 (rw-r-x---), set in your .profile, so instead of 666 files are created as 640 (-rw-r-----) and directories 750 (drwxr-x---) which are a lot more secure. You can check your umask at any time by simply typing umask and change it with umask <new mask>.

Never set world-write permissions on a file or directory! This can potentially enable anybody in the world to change the file, or add/delete files to/from the directory. If you think you need world-write on something, for instance to share a directory with a friend, then what you really need is a group account.

1.4: Providing group access

Access to a file may be given to members of a group. It is assumed the reader has already read about the effect read/write/execute permissions have on group access to files and directories.

If your account owns a file you can set the file to be in any group that you are a member:

chgrp groupname filename

Other members can then read the file if you make it group readable:

chmod g+r filename

Or, can access files within a directory if you make the directory group executable:

chmod g+x directory_name

A useful property of file permissions is the group sticky bit that will cause all files subsequently created within a directory to be in the same group as the directory:

chmod g+s directory_name

This simplifies management of group directories as all files created will automatically be accessible by other group members.

Last edited by Robert Doran 20/01/2011

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Cleaning up files

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1: Cleaning up Files

If you are (nearly) over your Disk Quota, then you will need to delete or compress some files. So, here are some tips.

1.1: Clues

The disk_guess program will give you some clues as to what takes up the most space.

1.2: How to compress files

There are a number of programs you can use to archive and compress your files. In the UNIX environment three popular and useful ones are gzip, tar, and compress. These programs have manual pages you should read if you intend to use them (just follow the links above).

There are a plethora of compression utilities available in the Windows environment, the most common being WinZip and WinRar (though now Windows XP has built-in compression options in the right-click menu). These can be used to handle binhex-ed files (you may need to rename the file into something with ".bhx" suffix first). If you normally use a UNIX computer but need to decode a file in binhex (or other windows-based) format you may be able to use our Windows Terminal Servers to run the WinZip software.

One of the main reasons that people at CSE need to compress files is that they have exceeded their quota on their UNIX account. To make this process easier, here are some instructions for compressing files and directories in your UNIX account:

- To compress a single file, you can use any of the three methods mentioned above, e.g.

gzip myfile.c

which will produce a compressed version called myfile.c.gz but taking up much less space. You can uncompress it with the command gunzip.

- Both gzip and compress will only work on a single file, so how do you compress a whole directory structure? Say you have completed the CSE subject COMP1011 and you have a directory (conveniently called 'comp1011') full of files you no longer need but might want to look at later. How do you compress the whole lot?

You can use the program called tar to archive this whole directory, and its subdirectories and all the files in those directories, into a single file. This saves space by compacting the data together, but does not actually compress anything. In the example mentioned here you would use the command:

tar cvf - comp1011 | gzip > comp1011.tar.gz

Note that this will leave the comp1011 directory untouched and you will have to remove it yourself to save the space. Also note that we use gzip to compress your tar archive (This handy trick can save you a lot of disc space.)

If you are over quota and attempting to compress enough data to bring you back under quota, the fact that you are over quota may prevent you from being able to create new files (such as compressed versions of existing files). To get around this problem, you may have to move enough of the offending material into /tmp to bring you under quota before you can create any new compressed files.

1.3: How to delete files

The rm program (for remove) is used to delete files.

If you want to delete a directory and all files under it, you can use rm -r (-r is for recursive).

Be very careful using rm -rf directory/. It is quite easy to delete your whole home directory if you type the wrong thing!

1.3.1: Old Files

If you have work from previous sessions that you don't really want to delete ("just in case"), then just remember that if it's over a month old, it should be on our Full Backups. You can check with Restoring Files for files marked as f.

1.3.2: Temporary files

Many programs store files in a disk cache. You can safely delete most of these. Here are some examples of directories that contain cache data:

~/.fonts.cache-1

~/.mozilla/*/*/cache

~/.java/deployment/cache

~/.adobe

1.3.3: Not-so-important files

These directories are usually fairly large and safe to delete. You may lose some settings though for the related program. If you use that program regularly, you may not want to delete it.

~/.openoffice

~/.openoffice.org2

~/.eclipse

1.3.4: Files that don't want to be removed

Sooner or later everyone makes a slip and ends up giving a file a dumb name that seems to make it impossible to delete the file. Trying to rm it just returns the error message no such file or directory. But as you should know by now, in Unix there is always a way.

There are two main cases:

The filename has hidden characters

Usually the hidden character is one or more spaces, sometimes it's a control character. You can amuse yourself by guessing the number of spaces and enclosing the filename in quotes, e.g. rm "foo " Or you can try to force a match on the filename by using the file-completion feature of your shell (ie. type in the first few characters of the filename and then hit the TAB key), or using the wildcard *.

The filename has shell metacharacters

The classic case is a filename starting with -. You can try referring to the file as ./-foo, or escape the metacharacter with a \, or use the '-' or '--' flag in the rm command (use man rm to see which is installed on your system), which forces rm to take whatever follows as the name of a file to be removed.

If none of these work then your best bet is to avoid trying to name the file yourself. Use rm -ri . to make Unix find the file for you, and with great care say 'y' to the file you want removed, and 'n' to all the others.

A less dangerous method is to refer to the file by its inode number, which is its real name as far as Unix is concerned anyway. Use ls -i to find out the inode number, and then use

find . -inum inode -ok rm '{}' \;

The advantage of this method is that it also allows you to rename the file if you actually want to keep it, but have been unable to access it because of the funny characters. To rename the file, use

find . -inum inode -ok mv '{}' new-file-name \;

If you don't want the -ok safety check, use -exec instead.

Last edited by Robert Doran 08/12/2010

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Core files

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1: Core files

While looking at your account one day you may notice a file called core. It will probably be a very big file and you won't remember creating it. That's because you didn't; core files, also called core dumps, are generated when a program crashes. The application dumps everything in its memory to the core dump so you can go through it, figure out what's wrong and debug the program.

To do this, type file ~/core to check which executable created the dump, then gdb <executable> <core file> to enter the debugger. Type where to get a stack trace.

You can limit the size of the core dumps by putting ulimit -c <size> in your .profile if you use a Bourne-type shell, or limit coredumpsize <size> in your .login if you use a C-type shell. If you set the size to 0, no core files will be generated.

Last edited by Computing Support Group 28/10/2010

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Cant save files

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1: Problems saving/copying files at CSE

If you are having problems saving files, it is most likely that you have run out of Disk Quota.

You should Check your quota, and probably clean up some files.

If you are still over your quota, even after cleaning up your files, there could be a number of reasons:

1. There are files owned by you somewhere other than in your home directory (or /tmp), eg. in a directory belonging to another user whose group you are in. Such groups are frequently used for group assignments in some subjects.

2. Your .Xauthority file does not have write permission set, which the system interprets as meaning "I can't write to this account, so it must be over quota".

3. You have not deleted or compressed enough files.

If you are under your disk quota but you still can't save files, contact Helpdesk (for undergrads) or System Support (for everyone else).

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 12/04/2011

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Converting files to and from postscript

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1: Converting Files to and from Postscript/PDF

1.1: Commandline

There are numerous commands for converting files from one format to another; man -k <file format> will help you find them. This is a short list of a few common conversions:

- pstotext <-> ascii2ps: ascii to Postscript and vice versa

- ps2pdf <-> pdf2ps: Postscript to PDF and vice versa

- pdflatex: LaTeX to PDF (PDF to LaTeX is harder and requires intermediate steps using DVI)

- wvPDF: Microsoft Word to PDF (and try wvMime to view the Word file).

None of these commandline utilities are guaranteed to preserve all formatting in the conversion, or even to work on all input files.

1.2: Application

Applications often have a function to convert file formats. xpdf can save files to Postscript. Word processors such as Microsoft Word, OpenOffice and LyX can all export files to PDF. Again, some formatting may be lost in the conversion.

Last edited by Computing Support Group 28/10/2010

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Saving files to postscript

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1: Saving Word, Mozilla and other documents as Postscript

Postscript is not, strictly speaking, a file format: it's a typesetting language. Consequently, you will not find it listed under the Save As... options in applications such as Microsoft Word, OpenOffice, Firefox, Adobe Reader and so on. If you want to save a file as Postscript (perhaps to print later) most applications support this but it is under the Print options rather than the File options.

When you click on Print... in any of the above applications you will see that under the option to select a printer, there is also an option to print to file. This may be a data entry field so you can enter the name of the file; often it's just a tick box which, when selected, prompts you for a file name. Either way, when you click on Print or Save the Postscript that would have been sent to a printer is instead written to the file you've specified. You can view this Postscript file with gv to verify it's the same file/webpage you were just looking at but if you look at the file with an editor, for instance, you'll find it's unreadable as it's now embedded in Postscript commands

Most applications either allow you to enter the complete file name including suffix, or set it to .ps. Microsoft Word has to be different and by default will set the suffix to .prn. If you select All file types from the drop-down menu then you can enter your own suffix.

You might need to select/enter a printer name before the print to file option works.

Valid Postscript has to start with a line like %!PS-Adobe-3.0. If these are not the first characters in the file then the file won't print (the version number may be different though, for instance 2.0).

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 12/04/2011

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Displaying Postscript and PDF files

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1: Displaying PS/PDF files

If you want to read files rather than, or before, printing them on a CSE-linux computer there are a couple of options.

1.1: Postscript

The Postscript viewer is Ghostview: type gv file.ps. Desktop environments such as KDE and GNOME have their own ghostview implementations (kghostview and ggv respectively).

1.2: PDF

There are 3 viewers for PDF:

- Adobe Reader: type acroread file.pdf

- Xpdf: type xpdf file.pdf

- Ghostview again

Acroread has more features, tends to give crisper results and can handle more font types, but is slower to start up and consumes much more memory so we recommend using Xpdf or Ghostview unless the results are unsatisfactory.

These applications can also print the file. All 3 allow you to enter the print command so you can try formatting the output with mlpr or otherwise experimenting, instead of just using lpr.

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Virtual file system

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1: OpenCms Virtual File System (VFS)

The OpenCms VFS works like a normal file system, but stores the data inside a database. For that reason, you will not be able to find any of these files on your regular file system. Because the VFS looks and acts like a file system, VFS paths are expressed like URL- or UNIX-style paths. The root folder is /, and subsequent folders are noted by a name followed (optionally) by a slash.

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 11/04/2011

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Printing from selfadmin computers

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1: Accessing CSE Printers

This document describes how to print to printers from a self administered computer.

See Display And Print Files for general information on printing at CSE, especially from CSE-managed linux computers.

1.1: Methods

There are several methods to access printers. Each can be done from different operating systems.

The following list provides our recommended method, based on ease of use:

- Microsoft Windows: SMB/CIFS

- MacOS-X 10.5 and above: SMB/CIFS

- Older MacOS-X: SMB/CIFS

- Linux/UNIX: CUPS or LPD

Whichever method you use, don't forget to set paper size to A4 wherever possible. Many applications default to US Letter, which stalls the printer.

1.1.1: SMB/CIFS

1.1.1.1: Generic Information

The share name for a printer is: \\samba.cse.unsw.edu.au\queuename (the queue name is usually the printer name, see Print Queues for further information)

1.1.1.2: Microsoft Windows

1. Go into Control Panel -> Settings -> Printers and select Add Printer.

2. You are adding a "Network printer".

3. The share name is \\samba.cse.unsw.edu.au\printername.

If you get an error (eg. The network path was not found.), try replacing \\samba.cse.unsw.edu.au with \\129.94.175.200

You may be asked for a username and password, use your CSE username and password.

Note that Windows remembers your password until you reboot. If your printer doesn't work after a reboot, try logging into the server. Go into Start -> Run and type in the printer share name. You should be prompted for a password, and after entering that successfully your printing should work.

1.1.1.3: Xerox printers in Vista or Windows 7

Please visit this page for instructions on how to print to the Xerox Apeosport 450 I printers from Windows Vista or Windows 7.

1.1.1.4: HP LaserJet printers in Windows 7

Please visit this page for instructions on how to print to the HP LaserJet printers from Windows 7.

1.1.1.5: OSX 10.5

1. Select "Print & Fax" in System Preferences

2. Press the + button to add a printer

3. Click the "Advanced" button on the toolbar.
By default this button does not appear. If this is the case:

1. Right-click (or control-click) on the toolbar

2. Select "Customize Toolbar..."

3. Drag the "Advanced" icon into the Toolbar

4. Press "Done"

5. Click the "Advanced" button on the toolbar.

4. Select "Windows" from the "Type" list. (It may take several seconds before this list becomes selectable). Note: Do not click the Windows button on the toolbar, use the dropdown list.

5. Enter smb://cse-reddwarf.cse.unsw.edu.au/printername" in the URL field

6. Enter the printer name in the Name field

7. Select the appropriate printer driver. You can usually use the Generic Postscript option if you are not sure. For printing to Fuji Xerox printers, eg. ApeosPort 450i model on various levels in K17, you may download the driver from Fuji Xerox OnlineSupport page.

8. Press "Add"
The first time you print you will be prompted for a username and password. Use your CSE username and password. You can tick "Remember this password in my keychain" to store the password so you do not have to do this every time.

1.1.1.6: Older MACOS-X

See the LPD section... Samba is possible also on OS X although setup requires you to enter your username and password in clear text, adding the printer may be a security risk. Here's how to do it anyway.

- Open System Preferences /Applications/System Preferences and then the Hardware select Print & Fax submenu

- If using OS X 10.3, select Printing and select Set Up Printers.

- If using OS X 10.4, click the Add Printer button, as shown below.

- If using OS X 10.3, hold down the Alt/Option key on your keyboard and click Add in the Printer List window (continue to hold Alt/Option until the Add Printer sheet opens).

- If using OS X 10.4, hold down the Alt/Option key on your keyboard and click More Printers in the Printer Browser window (continue to hold Alt/Option until the Add Printer sheet appears).

- In the top pull-down menu, choose Advanced.

- In the Device pull-down menu, choose Windows Printer via SAMBA.

You will need the printer name and printer model to proceed.

- In Device Name, give the printer a name .

- In Device URL, type: smb://Username:UserPassword@cse-reddwarf.cse.unsw.edu.au/printername, where Username is your SCSE Username, UserPassword is your SCSE password, and printername is the name of the printer.

- In the Model pull-down menu, choose the driver for that printer.

- Click Add and close Print Center.

1.1.1.7: Linux/*NIX using SAMBA

See the smbclient or CUPS documentation, or ask Google.

1.1.2: CUPS

CUPS is a relatively recent printing system which is generally fairly easy to get going with most printers. It is only used under Linux/UNIX/OSX and is the recommended method for printing with Ubuntu.

First, read the Important Note about lpd printers.

1. Determine the name of the printer you wish to use.

- Ubuntu: Using Gnome desktop, click the System menu, select Administration and then Printing.

- Fedora: Log in to your Fedora computer as "root" and start the printing configuration tool (System--Printing).

- Generic: Run a browser, enter the URL http://localhost:631/ (the address to the CUPS admin panel). You will be prompted for a password - use your root password.

3. Select "New" to create a new printer queue entry.

4. For the name of the printer enter the name of the CSE printer, eg. "ouch", etc.

5. Select "Networked UNIX (LPD) as the queue type. Set the name of the queue to be the CSE printer name, and the server to be either "score.cse.unsw.edu.au" or "stave.cse.unsw.edu.au" (neither in particular).

- Ubuntu: For the printer model, select "Generic" and then "Postscript Printer"

- Generic: For the printer model select "PostScript Printer".

7. After you have clicked "Finish" and the printer queue has been created, there is still one more thing to do... ( The next three steps are not necessary for Ubuntu)

8. Select the printer queue in the printer configuration window.

9. Click "Edit" and then select the "Queue type" tab.

10. Tick the "Strict RFC1179 compliance" box, click "OK" and then "Apply".

1.1.3: LPD

1.1.3.1: Important Note

When printing to lpd, you must only use a CSE account that you are authorised to use, in most cases this is your CSE username. It is a breach of the Yellow Form or Rules of Conduct to use or attempt to use other account names.

1.1.3.2: Linux/*NIX Simple lpd

First, read the Important Note.

Install the lprng package.

Edit /etc/lprng/lpd.conf and add this line:

force_localhost@

You should then be able to print to CSE printers just like in a lab machine, except you need to add @score to the printer name. For example:

$ lpr -Plump@score file.ps

1.1.3.3: MACOS-X lpd

First, read the Important Note.

This method is recommended for OSX v10.6.

Use the Setup Printer Utility which can be reached either from System Preferences -> Printer and Fax or Applications -> Utilities.

- click on the Add Printer icon.

- select IP Printing with Printer Type : LPD/LPR

- fill in the printer name, its associated printserver and select the driver as shown below

- you can find which printserver to use by typing lpq -P<printername> into a CSG-linux computer; the first line returned will say "Printer: <printername>@<printserver>.

- you can find the printer model by typing whichprinter -v <printername> into a CSG-linux computer.

- OSX printing:

1.1.3.4: Microsoft Windows lpd

It's not even worth trying, just follow the Windows SMB/CIFS method.

1.1.4: Queues

Both methods allow you access to several queues. Most of the time, you will simply use the printer name as the queue name. See Print Queues for more information.

1.1.5: UniWide

In order to access the printers through UniWide, you can connect to the CSE network via OpenVPN then follow the instructions above.

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 09/05/2011

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Printing multiple pages

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1: Printing Multiple Pages on One Physical Page

In order to save your printquota, you should print more than one logical page per physical page wherever possible. This is particularly easy to do with lecture slides which have lots of white space surrounding the text, and which are usually designed to be printed multiply.

The basic command is mlpr. It has many options (type man mlpr for all of them) but the most immediately useful are:

- -P printername

- -2, -4. -8: 2, 4 or 8 logical pages per physical page

- -L, -P: landscape or portrait orientation (portrait is default)

- +d: don't print dividing lines between the logical pages (dividing lines are default).

So to print 4 lecture slides on each side type mlpr -L -4 -P<printer> <file>.

Many lecturers do this for you, so check the course website before assuming the lecture notes you just downloaded need to be run through mlpr.

Last edited by Computing Support Group 28/10/2010

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Print queues

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1: Print Queues

The following print queues, or virtual printers, are defined for our printers:

- .a3 - A3 printing on selected printers

- .name - prints user's name as background (also prints duplex)

- .dup - prints both sides of paper

- .sgl - prints single side of paper

- .ps - forces Postscript printing

- .text - forces text printing

See Default Print Settings to see which of these queues are enabled by default and which have to be specified if you want to use them.

Last edited by Computing Support Group 28/10/2010

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Cancelling print jobs

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1: Cancelling a Print Job

All of CSE's printers are spooled - that is, your print request is sent as a job to a printserver, which adds it to a queue for the requested printer. If you change your mind about printing the file, it is much easier to remove it from the spool than from the actual printer. Once the printer has read the file into its memory and started printing, it is pretty hard to stop it.

1.1: Linux

Check the printer spool with lpq -P<printername>. Each printjob has a number associated with it. Identify the number of your job, then use lprm -P<printername> <job number> to remove it.

For example, you want to cancel printing a job on the printer shooter:

% lpq -Pshooter

Printer: shooter@stave 'shooter.dup'

Queue: 1 printable job

Server: pid 31702 active

Unspooler: pid 31703 active

Status: processing 'dfA407drum16.orchestra.cse.unsw.EDU.AU', size 6403478, format 'f', IF filter 'lasercnt.student' at 16:36:24.695

Rank   Owner/ID               Pr/Class Job Files                 Size Time

active fblo123@drum16+407           A   407 (STDIN)            6403478 16:36:24

% lprm -Pshooter 407

You can remove more than one job at a time by listing all their numbers or by saying 'all': man lprm for more details.

1.2: Windows

- from the Start menu select Printers and Faxes

- double-click on the printer you sent your job to: this will open a window showing the printer queue

- select your printjob by clicking on it, then choose Cancel from the Document menu at the top of the window.

1.3: Once the job has started printing

If the job is listed as active on the queue, or no longer appears on it, then that means it is being or has been read into the printer's memory and the above commands, which talk to the printserver not the printer, won't work. If it's a staff printer, you will have access to the Cancel button, which will stop the printer reading more of the printjob but will not stop it from printing whatever is already in its memory. Obviously this will only help if the printjob is a large one; a small job will be completely read and you will not be able to stop it.

There is no access to the Cancel button on the student printers. Once the job has started printing you cannot stop it, and it will be deducted from your printquota.

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Out of paper

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1: For staff printer

If there is no printer paper in a staff print room please go to the FIPRAS office (Room G08) to get some more.

It is School policy to not engage a staff member to fill the printers with more paper. It is expected that students and academics who use each printer will get new paper from FIPRAS when it is needed.

2: For student printers

Student printers are monitored by cse staff, this means papers and toner are refilled when they are low. However if these printers are found out of action due paper jam, out of paper, etc then please do not hesitate to contact cse helpdesk helpdesk@cse.unsw.edu.au or phone ext 55438 (or 02 938 55438).

Student printers can be found around cse general purpose labs and inside Chil/Oud/Banjo labs.

Last edited by Loc Van Huynh 02/02/2011

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Default print settings

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1: Default Print Settings

CSE's printers are divided into 'student' and 'staff' depending on their location. The default print settings on these are only slightly different.

On Student printers the following settings are on by default:

- duplex - both sides of the paper are used

- watermark - your username is splashed across the page in light grey so you can identify your printouts

- bounding box - text files are printed inside a box with a title bar.

On Staff printers the following settings are on by default:

- duplex - both sides of the paper are used

- no watermark

- bounding box - text files are printed inside a box with a title bar.

The default print queue, which uses these settings, is where printjobs end up if the printer's base name is used in the print command. Several different queues, or virtual printers, are provided for each [real] printer to turn these settings on or off.

1.1: Turning off duplex

To print single-sided, append .sgl to the name of the printer. For example lpr -Pouch.sgl foo.txt. This also turns off the watermark so you can print 'nice' pages suitable for a report.

1.2: Turning off/on the watermark

Either print single-sided as above, or - if you want duplex - append .dup to the name of the printer. For example lpr -Pouch.dup foo.txt.

On staff printers, if you want the watermark it can be added by appending .name to the name of the printer. For example lpr -Plate.name foo.txt.

1.3: Turning off the bounding box and title/header

aps -~B -~H | lpr <rest of lpr flags>. aps is a useful preprint filter with a lot more options than -B and -H, which control the box and header respectively. man aps for more details.

1.4: Forcing text/Postscript

All non-Postscript files sent to the CSE printers are converted into Postscript before printing starts. If, for some reason, you want to print out the actual Postscript instead of having it interpreted, append .text to the name of the printer. Similarly, if you've got some text that you really want to be interpreted as Postscript, append .ps to the name of the printer.

One important default setting is that of page size. As much as possible the CSE printers will force printjobs to print to A4, even if the print command specified a different size. However, this is hard to enforce for some applications, so if your application allows different paper sizes it's a good idea to set A4 as the default. Many applications written in the USA have Letter as the default, which may require manual reset to A4 before the job will print.

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A2 and A3 Printers

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1: Are there any A2, A3 etc. printers?

Not for students. Should such paper sizes be required, it has to be arranged via a CSE staff member.

Some of the staff printers have an A3 queue and are loaded with A3 paper. You can print to this queue by appending .a3 to the name of the printer. For example lpr -Pni.a3 bigfile.txt

The current list of A3 queue enabled printers in K17 is:

- basement and ground floor -

- 1st floor - colour1, ichi, olly

- 2nd floor - ni

- 3rd floor - san

- 4th floor - boat3, shi, yon

- 5th floor - csegbw1, go

- 6th floor -

You can also look for a3queue in the world-readable file /home/conform/config/cse/printerinfo.

CSG has a printer which will print larger sizes such as A1 and A2; access to this printer has to be arranged through SystemSupport.

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Xerox ApeosPort printers and Windows Vista or 7

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1: Printing to the ApeosPort 450i printers from Vista or Windows 7

If you are running Windows Vista or Windows 7 and you wish to print to the Apeos Port 450i printers (ni, san, shi and go), you will need to follow the instructions below:

1. Firstly, you should authenticate against our samba server to get the permission to print. Click the Start button and choose Run.... Then enter \\samba.cse.unsw.edu.au\username where username is your CSE username. Then at the login window enter your user CSE username and password.
You may need to repeat this if you've rebooted your computer since the last printing job.

2. You need the right driver. Visit the Xerox Global Printer Driver page. Click "get driver" under the "Free Download" section near the top of the page. Select your operating system (Windows 7 or Vista or Vista x64 if you're reading this page) and language. Click the "PostScript" driver link. Read the agreement and click "Accept" to initiate the download. Take a note of where the file is saved (in Vista this is usually the "Downloads" folder).

3. Go to the folder where you saved the file and double-click the file. This executable extracts the driver to a specified directory. Once this is done, it opens up an "Add Printer" dialog. For future installations, you can get to this dialog through Start -> Control Panel -> Printers and select Add Printer

4. Choose Add a local printer

5. Choose Create a new port with type Local Port

6. Type \\samba.cse.unsw.edu.au\printername like the following for printer ni

7. Next step is to install the driver. Click on "Have Disk ..." and choose the location where you extracted the driver on step 3. Choose "Xerox Global Printer Driver PS".

8. Type in a good name for it

9. And you are done.

Last edited by Computing Support Group 28/10/2010

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HP LaserJet printers and Windows 7

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1: Printing to the HP LaserJet printers from Windows 7

If you are running Windows 7 and you wish to print to the HP LaserJet printers, you will need to follow the instructions below. The example illustrated here is a HP LaserJet 4100 DTN printer.

1. Firstly, you should authenticate against our samba server to get the permission to print. Click the Start button and choose Run.... Then enter \\samba.cse.unsw.edu.au\username where username is your CSE username. Then at the login window enter your user CSE username and password.
You may need to repeat this if you've rebooted your computer since the last printing job.

2. Choose Add a local printer

3. Choose Create a new port with type Local Port

4. Type \\samba.cse.unsw.edu.au\printername like the following for printer late

5. Next step is to install the driver. Select HP for the manufacturer, then pick the model corresponding to the printer you are installing the drivers for, eg. HP LaserJet 4100 Series PS for postscript printing.

6. Type in a good name for it

7. And you are done.

Last edited by Computing Support Group 28/10/2010

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Xerox printer maintenance

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1: Xerox multifunction printer needs attention

1.1: Affected systems

Fuji Xerox ApeosPort 450I multifunction printers

If any of the Fuji Xerox multifunction devices need attention, please email printers@cse.unsw.edu.au with a description of the problem/request.

If the problem/request is out of normal office hours it will be attended to first thing the next business day.

Please do not call Xerox

In the event of any extended downtime there are additional printers located on each floor and five other Xerox devices located throughout the K17 building.

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 06/05/2011

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Changing the toner in Xerox printers

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1: Changing the toner in Xerox multifunction printers

1.1: Introduction

The Xerox multifnction devices will display two messages indicatig the amount of toner present in the device.

1. 'Toner Cartridge needs to be replaced' - indicates there are approximately 1000 pages left in the toner.

2. 'Replace the Toner Cartridge' - needs no further explanation.

Spare toner cartridges are kept in the Computer Support Group offices on the first floor (room 111) except those for the colour1 printer which are kept in the print room.

Please inform System Support of any problems with the printers ss@cse.unsw.edu.au.

1.2: Proceedure

1. Make sure that the machine is not in use before opening the front cover.

2. Hold the bottom of the toner cartridge and slide it out of the machine.

3. Hold the toner cartridge by its handle and pull it out slowly. (be gentle)

4. Remove the new toner cartridge out of the box and shake it from side to side before removing it out of the bag.

5. Hold the toner cartridge by its handle and slide it into the machine until it clicks in.

6. Close the front cover.

7. Place the used toner cartridge into the empty box and bring it to room 111 for recycling.

1.3: Notes

- Each toner cartridge has a capacity of approximately 30000 pages at 5% coverage.

Last edited by Computing Support Group 28/10/2010

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Colour printing

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1: Colour Printers and Who can Use Them

There are a couple of colour printers in CSE:

- colour1 - level 1

- colour4a - level 4

Only staff have permission to print to the colour printers by default.

Supervisors may request System Support to give permission for postgraduate research students who need to print colour pages for their thesis submission. Only a small number of pages of colour print quota will be allocated, as colour printing requires special and expensive toners and paper. You will be expected to print only the pages that require colour, not the entire paper.

Last edited by Computing Support Group 28/10/2010

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Poster Printing

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1: Poster Printing

The Computer Support Group manages a poster printer in the level 1 printer room (K17 107). The printer can print full colour ink prints on various types of paper up to A0 size.

You may not print to this printer directly but you can send a PDF of the poster to Chris (chrisp at CSE) in the Computer Support Group. The page size should be set correctly for the PDF. (Set it to A1 if you want an A1 poster)

All content should be embedded in the PDF. This ensures that issues such as missing images, font mismatches, or typographical layout errors do not occur.

It is worth mentioning that your job should be sent to us a day or two before it is needed. Do not try to get it printed in the hour [or same day] before you are due to board a plane. This takes into account time available to us and any media or technical problems we might have with the device.

If you need a rush job or lamination, this is the place to go: http://www.p3.unsw.edu.au/

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Running your computer

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1: Running a Computer at CSE

Check out information about the following topics. Note that much of it applies to computers at UNSW, not only CSE.

This page is a hub of information. If you are running a computer at CSE, please be sure to scan through this page so you have a rough idea of what sort of help you can find here.

This topic is split into several sections based on category:

1.1: Important Bits

All people running their own computer that connects to CSE Services should read and be aware of the Policy on Self Administrated Computers. This document describes your rights and responsibilities with regards to CSE services and your own data.

We would like to particularly highlight the following:

- You must think about Backups of your data.

- You must be aware of security, and keep your computer up to data with updates from your Operating System/Applications. You will want to read the section on your Operating System / Distribution and possibly read about Mirrors and Local Software.

- We strongly recommend that you set your username to be your CSE username (regardless of your operating system).

Generally, you will also probably want to look at Accessing CSE Services.

Did we mention? Be sure to BACKUP YOUR DATA !

1.2: Getting on the Network

You will either be using the Wired Network (cable into wall port), or the Wireless Network. Or you may even be travelling and using a VPN.

1.3: Mirrors and Local Software

For general software, you should be familiar with local software repositories. Here are a few:

- CSE Mirror - CSE's mirror has copies of lots of software, including Firefox, Mozilla, RedHat, Linux Kernel, OpenOffice, ...

- Home Computing - The CSE Home Computing site contains a copy of everything on the homecomputing CD. A good collection of software thats handy when studying at CSE.

- ~java - The CSE Java page has local copies of installation files and documentation for Sun's Java software.

1.4: Borrowing CDs

If you are a CSE staff member of Postgraduate student then you can borrow copies of many of the MSDNAA images as well as the popular Linux Distributions. Enquire by email to SS (at) CSE to see if we have what you want.

1.5: Operating Systems and Distributions

These pages provide some specific help and configuration details for these software environments. You should also be sure to read the below sections on accessing services.

- Linux - Regular Users

- Ubuntu Linux

- Fedora Linux

- Linux - Advanced Users

- Debian Linux

- Gentoo Linux

- Microsoft Windows

- MacOSX related pages

We have separated linux distributions into two categories. The Regular Users category (Ubuntu, Fedora), have much more user-friendly installers, and are generally easier to get started with. However, if you are already comfortable running a linux computer, then we recommend Debian or Gentoo to the advanced users. They tend to be more tricky to install, but often easier to manage once you are comfortable with their package-management tools. If you're even a little bit unsure, try Ubuntu.

1.6: Accessing CSE Services from within CSE

There are many services people may want to access from their self administered computer at CSE:

- Accessing CSE Login Servers - You can still access many of the programs you used to have on your computer.

- Self Admin Backups - be sure to backup your data. It won't happen magically on your own machine!

- Accessing Your Home Directory

- Accessing the Internet

- Accessing email, especially Using IMAP.

- Printing from selfadmin computers

- Accessing Matlab

- Accessing Windows Terminal Servers (accessing Microsoft software (e.g. MS Office) from operating systems other than MS Windows)

Note that most of these operations are simpler if you have set your username to be the same as your CSE username.

1.7: Getting within CSE from outside CSE

If you are outside of K17, you should be able to become effectively "inside" by connecting to a VPN.

Please refer to the VPN page for information on using them at CSE.

1.8: Software Gotchas

This section collects a few FAQs that address common problems encountered.

- SSH Errors - People sometimes have problems accessing GUI applications through SSH.

- Setting Proxies - People occasionally have problems with proxy settings.

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 14/04/2011

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Accessing CSE login servers

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1: Logging on to CSE remotely

CSE runs a number of login servers that can be used to run many of the programs that are installed locally on CSE managed systems. Use these servers if you want to work from home or while you are away.

To access these servers, you will need an SSH client. If you want to run programs with a graphical user interface you need to run an X-Server on your local computer.

SSH is a very useful tool for creating secure connections between computers. Normally you would connect to one of our main login servers which have the hostname login.cse.unsw.edu.au. You may be permitted to log into other CSE login servers such as grieg.cse.unsw.edu.au.

1.1: Linux

1.1.1: Simple Text Programs

You may just want to check your CSE home directory, compile a program, remove a few files, run priv commands or a text mode mail client such as mutt or pine. You can do these things with a text mode SSH connection. Run: ssh computername

If logging in as a different user, use ssh username@computername

1.1.2: X-Windows Programs over SSH

If you are running a graphical user interface such as gnome, kde or similar, you have everything you need.

From a terminal window, type : ssh -Y your_cse_username@login.cse.unsw.edu.au

(replace your_cse_username with your actual username )

After entering your password, you will now be logged on to one of the login servers. You may now run commands like ical, priv commands, acc commands and many others.

1.2: Windows

To connect to CSE servers with Windows you will need to install and configure an SSH client and an X-server. We would recommend that if you don't already have these installed that you choose PuTTY and XMing. An alternative to XMing would be cygwin, but this is an extensive application with features that you are unlikely to need and is non-trivial to install.

1.2.1: What is PuTTY

PuTTY is a Windows SSH client which gives you a terminal window like you use in the CSE laboratories. PuTTY can be found on the CSE homecomputing CD which can be borrowed from the CSE Help Desk OR can be downloaded from: http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~homecomputing/

1.2.2: What is Xming?

Xming is a standalone open source X Server for Windows. Programs that use a graphical user interface require an X server on your home computer. Xming can be found on the CSE mirror at http://mirror.cse.unsw.edu.au/pub/xming/ You should download the setup program and optionally the fonts package.

If you just want to run text mode programs you won't need to install an X-Server such as X-Ming. Putty will be enough.

1.2.3: Installing PuTTY and XMing

Run the setup programs for PuTTY and Xming. We suggest that you choose the default options for the installation, and choose the options to create icons for PuTTY and Xming on the desktop. Xming must be running before you run PuTTY. When it is running, you will see an X icon in the system tray (the bottom right hand side of your Windows screen). If you forget, you can always run it after running PuTTY, even if you are logged on to the CSE login server.

1.2.4: Configuring PuTTY and XMing

When you run PuTTY for the first time, you will see a window like the one below.

1. In the box below Host Name (or IP Address) enter login.cse.unsw.edu.au. If the lecturer for your subject has suggested you use a specific server, enter it instead. For more information about CSE servers and their uses see: www.cse.unsw.edu.au/help/computing/facilities/computers/index.html

2. Make sure SSH is selected.

3. Enter login.cse.unsw.edu.au in the box below Saved Sessions.

4. Click the [-] to expand SSH from the window on the left (if necessary) and click X11. You should see this screen. Ensure that the checkbox for Enable X11 forwarding is selected.

After you have clicked the check box, scroll the left hand window back to the top and click on the Session heading. You should see the same screen as in Step 1

5. Click the Save button. The host name you entered should now appear below Default Settings. In the future, you will be able to connect by simply double-clicking this host name.

6. Click the Open button.

7. If you see a window like this: click the Yes button.

8. When you see: login as: enter your CSE username.

9. When you see: username@servername.cse.unsw.edu.au’s password: enter your CSE password. This should remotely log you into your CSE account.

1.3: Mac OS X

OS X has everything you need to connect remotely.

You will have an X11 icon in the Applications/Utilities Folder. If you launch this, you should get a terminal window. If you don't see one, select it from the X11 menu at the top of the screen.

To connect to the CSE login servers, run : ssh -Y your_cse_username@login.cse.unsw.edu.au

(replace your_cse_username with your actual username)

Enter your password and you can now access (almost) the same environment as a CSE lab computer.

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 17/04/2011

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Remote home directory

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1: Accessing Your Home Directory

This page describes various methods of accessing your home directory from non CSG-maintained machines (self-admin or machines at home).

1.1: Methods

1.1.1: Using SMB (samba)

First, note that when using samba from outside the cse network, for example from uniwide or a machine at home, you will need to use a VPN. These instructions are the same once you are on the VPN.

The network path for our SAMBA server is //cse-reddwarf/your_cse_username. the following should also work: //samba.cse.unsw.edu.au/your_cse_username.

Note that you can also specify other users/groups as the username and it will be accessed using your permissions.

1.1.2: Using a file transfer protocol

The previous methods all discuss mounting your home directory so that you can treat it like a normal drive. This section mentions different tools that you can use to occasionally copy files between computers without maintaining a constant connection.

You can use:

- rsync

- scp (related to SSH).

- winscp

- ftp

SCP/SFTP are recommended as they are secure methods to transfer your files.

1.2: Operating System specific

1.2.1: Microsoft Windows

The SMB information should cover most of it.

1.2.2: MacOSX

You can mount your CSE home directory via samba or afp. From the finder, choose the connect to server option under the go menu.

Type smb://samba.cse.unsw.edu.au/your_cse_username in the server address field and it's pretty straight forward from there.

* OSX samba connection:

To get at your home directory via afp type bach.cse.unsw.edu.au

* OSX apple file protocol connection:

1.2.3: Linux/*NIX

Linux has numerous ways of getting at samba shares...

1.2.3.1: Basic

For smb access, you will need the samba software suite.

For simple one-off access, you can use the smbclient command.

To mount your home directory using samba, you need to have smbfs and/or cifs support in your kernel, and you will use a mount command (as root) like this:

mkdir /mnt/cse

mount -t smbfs -o username=your_cse_username //samba.cse.unsw.edu.au/your_cse_username /mnt/cse

It should prompt you for your password.

1.2.3.2: Ubuntu

By default, Ubuntu needs to run the mount command using sudo. This normally results in the directory being mounted with root as the owner, with read-only access for you, which is clearly not satisfactory.

The instructions below will allow you to easily mount your CSE home directory without having to use the sudo command.

1.2.3.2.1: Install the SMB File System

Ubuntu does not install the SMB file system by default. You must install the smbfs package if you haven't already done so by following the instructions found on the Ubuntu page.

1.2.3.2.2: Create a mount point

Your home directory will be mounted in a directory on your host. We recommend that you name this folder cse and that you create this folder in /home/ubuntu_username on your computer. You can of course call it whatever you like, but all of the instructions that follow will assume that you have called it cse. From a terminal, type :

mkdir /home/ubuntu_username/cse

(ubuntu_username is the name of the account that you are using on your computer. Hopefully it is the same as your CSE username, but that is not absolutely necessary)

1.2.3.2.3: Change permissions on some SMB files

In order to mount the CSE home directory without using the sudo command, you must change permissions on two smb bin files. Use the following commands from a terminal :

sudo chmod u+s /usr/bin/smbmnt (enter your ubuntu password if prompted) sudo chmod u+s /usr/bin/smbumount

1.2.3.2.4: Create an fstab entry in /etc/fstab

To make mounting your home directory easier, we recommend that you create an entry in /etc/fstab. You can do this with the following commands from a terminal :

sudo pico -w /etc/fstab

At the end of the file, insert the following line (substituting ubuntu_username and cse_username as appropriate)

//cse-reddwarf/cse_username /home/ubuntu_username/cse smbfs noauto,username=cse_username,user,rw 0 0

The information above must appear on the same line - if it is split up, then the mount will not work

Press CTRL-X and then y to save the file.

1.2.3.2.5: Mounting and unmounting the home directory

If you have correctly completed all the above steps, you should finally be able to mount your CSE home directory.

To mount your CSE home directory, simply type mount /home/ubuntu_username/cse. When prompted for a password, you must enter your CSE password.

You should now be able to see your CSE home directory by typing ls -l /home/ubuntu_username/cse.

To unmount your CSE home directory, you should be able to type umount /home/ubuntu_username/cse. Make sure you do not have any files open and there are no other terminals accessing the directory. If you are told that "only root can unmount", then try smbumount /home/ubuntu_username/cse.

1.2.3.2.6: Advanced Alternative

If you have already installed the smbfs package and just want to mount your home directory without modifying fstab or the binary files, you can issue the following command from a terminal prompt :

sudo mount -t smbfs //cse-reddwarf/cse_username /your_mount_point \

-o username=cse_username,uid=ubuntu_username,gid=ubuntu_username

The uid and gid options are necessary to mount the home directory as the ubuntu user and not root.

Last edited by Simon Garrod 10/05/2011

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Windows terminal servers

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1: Accessing Windows Terminal Servers

This document describes how to access CSE's Windows Terminal Servers. These services are made available to staff and postgraduate research students as a means of running some Microsoft software (e.g. Office) when not using a Microsoft-based computer.

1.1: Basics

There are two terminal servers available:

cse-jarre - the primary terminal server with Office and Acrobat. It is purely for basic word-processing type use, and not for long running processes or development. cse-vivaldi - the "development" server with Visual Studio and some other packages. This server isn't guaranteed to be as reliable or responsive for interactive (word-processing) use, as others may be doing more intensive work on it.

Do not save any work on the local drives of these machines. They may be wiped at any time. Any data should be saved in your Z: drive, found in "My Computer".

1.2: Accessing from a CSE linux machine

For basic word-processing type applications, just run win. This uses the rdesktop software to conncet to the cse-jarre server.

For development work, run win -developer.

1.3: Accessing from another machine on the CSE Network

You will need the rdesktop software to connect to windows terminal servers. You can use it by simply telling rdesktop the server to connect to:

$ rdesktop cse-jarre.cse.unsw.edu.au

1.4: Etiquette

Like any server, the terminal servers are a finite resource; if you quit win without logging off your session will go stale and will hang around holding onto resources needed by other users. Therefore when you have finished working you should log out of win, not just close the window. This is done by selecting "Log off" from the Start menu.

1.5: Accessing from outside the CSE network

For best performance outside the CSE network, we recommend that you install rdesktop on your computer. There are then a couple of methods of connecting to the server.

1.5.1: VPN

If you connect to a VPN, you will effectively be on the CSE Network, and can connect as described above.

1.5.2: SSH Tunnel

You can also use the SSH software to create a tunnel port to jarre.

The following command should forward the rdp port (3389) on your computer, via the login servers, to the rdp port on the terminal server (you will need to leave the connection open as you use rdesktop.

$ ssh -L 3389:cse-jarre:3389 login.cse.unsw.edu.au

Once that is started, you can connect rdesktop to your own computer. Don't use the ssh terminal that opened up for this, as that is running on the CSE login server...

$ rdesktop localhost

1.6: A note on rdesktop

The rdesktop software was originally written by our very own Matt Chapman while he was doing his undergraduate degree here.

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 07/04/2011

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Self admin backups

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Users self-administering their computer do not get the benefit of automated (from your viewpoint) backups of files. To assist users with their backups, CSG provides a "space" on a special backups server called selfstore.

1: Essentials

Hostname

selfstore.cse.unsw.edu.au

Directory

/backups/yourusername/

Accepted Protocols

SSH and associated file transfer methods such as SCP and SFTP and Rsync-over-SSH. Connections using FTP-over-SSL (FTPS) will not work.

2: Guidelines

- This server is only to be used for backup purposes. Under no circumstances should you be running processes on this server that aren't directly related to transferring files from your computer.

- Users have a generous quota on the filesystem, but are still encouraged to backup appropriate files. Do not backup your entire harddisk - just important user/data files and configuration files.

3: Who can access the Selfstore?

All staff and postgraduate research students (who are expected to be running their own computer) should already have access to selfstore.

If you do not have access and require it, you will need to ask System Support (through your supervisor if applicable) for access to selfstore. They will enable your access and create a directory.

4: How to backup files to Selfstore

This space can be accessed using SSH-capable tools. On Windows computers you can ZIP up files and copy them to Selfstore using WinSCP.

We recommend using rsync or unison - particularly because they can be used to transfer only changed files. To sync the current directory:

rsync -avzH -e ssh  username@selfstore:/backups/username

Windows users should install Cygwin to use Rsync and SSH on their computer.

You should use the -H option to rsync (in addition to -av or whichever options you normally use) to preserve hard links. Otherwise, frequent users of hard links will use considerably more space than the original data, including the loss of the information link.

5: Checking quota

You can check your quota on selfstore by running this command when you are logged into selfstore:

$ rquota -f /backups

6: Archives of Selfstore

6.1: Incremental Archives

Incremental backups are not performed on selfstore. If you require incremental backups, you should manage them yourself. One way of doing this is to use the --backup-dir option of rsync.

This may result in multiple copies being made of (various versions of) the same file. As this can dramatically increase your disk usage on selfstore, you should only perform incremental backups in this way for a small, critical subset of your files. We do appreciate users minimising space usage where possible.

6.2: Full Archives

Once a session, all user directories on selfstore are completely backed up onto tape. Note that this compares with the monthly backups taken of user directories on other file servers maintained by the CSG.

Users may restore from these tapes (using tkrestore - see the documentation on backups), but note that any restored files will be restored into the user's CSE home directory (assuming it exists), and not into the user's directory on selfstore, nor (fairly obviously) into the filesystem on the user's self admin machine.

7: Questions

If you have any questions about this service, please contact System Support.

Last edited by Computing Support Group 28/10/2010

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Resources at CSE

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1: What common computing resources are available at CSE?

1.1: Standard Resources

- Creating Website - your own website

- Reading Mail - your email account

- Extra IP Quota

- Extra Disk Space

- Extra Print Quota

- Special Lab Bookings

1.2: Special Resources

The below are not given automatically, but do not require additional authorisation:

- Wireless Network

- Mathematica

- MSDNAA - Microsoft Academic Alliance Program. Students and staff can download+install most Microsoft software for uses within the license terms.

All additional resources are for academic/research purposes, and must be sponsored by an appropriate staff member (details on each page).

- Thesis Labs

- Hosting Services - Hosting websites, virtual hosts, DNS, mail, etc.

- Self Admin Backups - How and where to backup data from your self-administered CSE computer.

- Services Server - A special server to run services (e.g. web/database servers) on. Special mechanisms let you use privileged ports (e.g. port 80 for www).

- Remote Machine Access - Remote access to machine XXX

- Windows Software - accessing Windows software from a Linux computer.

- Cluster Computing

1.3: Teaching Resources

These only apply to people involved in teaching courses. Most people do not have access to these.

- CourseSupportForums - Managing course forums on the SupportForum

1.4: Other

If you need a resource not listed here, your best bet would be to contact People.SystemSupport with full details of what you need, and why.

2: Common Policy related Information

Policies governing the use of CSE computing resources can be found here.

Below are a few topics covering the commonly sought after information queried by users:

- Computers Provided by CSE

- CSE Standard Equipment

- Self Administered Computers

- Allocation of old computers to Staff and Students

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 23/05/2011

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Hosting services

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1: What Hosting Services can CSE provide?

Firstly, it must be emphasised that everything CSE hosts is subject to the university's Rules Relating to Student Use of Computing and Electronic Communications Facilities. Special attention should be paid to Clause 4 - Non permitted uses in that document. Provision of the below services may be subject to explicit approval by the University.

All websites (including domain names) hosted anywhere within the university network or resources must comply with the following policy: UNSW Website Policy. This policy covers all uses, including domain names, of university resources in any form. You should read this. It provides a break-down of which parts of the policy apply depending on your exact use of the resource.

Finally, please note that all requests must come from a suitable person. Student projects require sponsorship of an academic member of staff. Requests should be submitted through your supervisor/sponsor to System Support.

1.1: General Hosting - running your own server for an external project at CSE

System Support handles these requests on a case-by-case basis.

Note that the UNSW Website Policy has explicit rules for domain names and other services that point inside the UNSW IP space.

1.2: Website Hosting - having your website hosted on CSE servers.

CSE can provide a "Utility" account for hosting a website. As for any account, it may provide a website inside the public_html directory, which will appear as www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~accountname/. See the section below on Virtual Hosts for further information on having a special domain name directed at this location.

Please note that this service does not automatically include e-mail hosting. This is a separate service, and may not be required in most cases.

1.2.1: Virtual Hosts - Having CSE servers act as a separate domain (e.g. www.myproject.org).

CSE can tell its web servers to act as a virtual host for your domain. This means that you can point www.myproject.org to CSE webservers, and they will appear to act as that domain, rather than www.cse.unsw.edu.au.

Notes:

- If your website requires CGI/PHP scripts under the virtual host, then it will need to point to the CGI servers, rather than the main WWW server. Be sure to include this requirement in your request to SS.

- For technical details on what a virtual host is, refer to the Apache Web Server Documentation

What to do:

- Request the virtual host from SS, who will (after authorisation) configure the web/cgi servers to accept your domain name.

- Point your domain name to the appropriate IP addresses. If CSE is hosting your domain, then be sure to include this in your request. If you are managing your own domain, then you should run host www.cse.unsw.edu.au, or host cgi.cse.unsw.edu.au to get the IP address(es) to point your A records at. If it is a www.something domain, then you may simply by able to CNAME it to the CSE host.

1.3: DNS Hosting - Delegating your domain to be run by CSE DNS servers.

Contact System Support if you require this.

Note that the UNSW Website Policy has explicit rules for domain names that point inside the UNSW IP space.

1.4: Mail Hosting - Having the CSE mail server accept and handle e-mail for a separate domain.

This is handled on a case-by-case basis - talk to System Support if you need this.

1.4.1: Secondary Mail Server - Having CSE act as a secondary MX for your domain.

As above - if you need this, talk to us.

Last edited by Computing Support Group 28/10/2010

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Running your own server

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1: Running your own server

You may find that your work or research requires functionality that the CSE servers don't support. For instance, to take 2 common requests, we have no publicly available database, nor does our webserver support java servlets (JSP). Instead we provide a 'server server' ie. a (physical) server computer that you can use to run your (logical) server on. Currently this physical server is called Grieg. Access to it has to be requested from SS; if you are a student you will have to get your supervisor to ask it on your behalf (as with any allocation of extra computing resources).

You can log into Grieg using SSH and your CSE username and password. Once logged in you will be able to use the files in your CSE home directory. Once on grieg you have a choice as to how to proceed :

- You can run your server in the normal way; it will be allocated a non-privileged port (>1024) but will only be accessible from the CSE network.

- If you want or need to use a privileged port, however, then you will need to run priv srvr. This allocates a dedicated IP address to you; it also creates a directory local to grieg which can be accessed from anywhere on the CSE (trusted) network by cd'ing to /srvr/YourUsername. The dedicated IP address will be in the range 149.171.x.y where x and y are calculated from the user's UID. The name for this IP address will be YourUserName.srvr.

The shell that calls priv srvr, and all new children of that shell will be able to bind to privileged ports on this IP. For instance, from that shell you can run a webserver on port 80 and access it on the CSE network via the URI http://YourUserName.srvr/. To use the IP from a new login you will need to run priv srvr again.

Note that the /srvr/YourUsername directory created by priv srvr has a fairly small diskquota and should only be used for server configuration files and your database or other constantly accessed files. Anything that can reasonably be kept in your main home directory should be, as far as possible. Extra diskquota on the /srvr filesystem can be allocated by SS if you can justify it.

Use grieg ONLY for running your server, not for editing, compiling or other work. It may look like your private server but its resources have to be shared among many users. In particular, it is used to teach a couple of courses.

1.1: Web services

The URI http://YourUserName.srvr/ is not accessible outside CSE. If you need to access a web site from outside the CSE network, you must run it in the priv srvr environment bound to port 80. It can then by accessed using the fully qualified URI http://YourUserName.srvr.cse.unsw.edu.au/.

1.2: Automatically starting your server

The services server is occasionally rebooted for maintenance reasons. If your application is providing a service to the wider community, then you probably want it to automatically restart when it is rebooted. This can be done using crontab. A description of how to set up crontabs can be found here. To run jobs at start-up add a line like this to the crontab file by running crontab -e:

@reboot     /path/to/command_to_run arguments

The command will be run whenever the server starts up after a reboot. Take note that cron does not provide many environment variables, and your script should set any it needs itself. If it needs to be run in a priv srvr environment, then it should also run that command (in full: /usr/local/bin/priv srvr) before running the service.

1.3: Running Tomcat

1.3.1: Using the local Tomcat installation

You should set the values of environment variables $CATALINA_BASE and $CATALINA_HOME so that you make use of the Tomcat installation already on Grieg.

$CATALINA_HOME should point to the Grieg installation, located in /usr/share/tomcat6, while $CATALINA_BASE points to the location of the non-common files located in your directory.

To set $CATALINA_HOME:

export CATALINA_HOME=/usr/share/tomcat6

To set $CATALINA_BASE:

export CATALINA_BASE=/srvr/foo/apache-tomcat-6.0.32

Replace foo with your username, and edit the full path according to the location of your Tomcat installation.

If you would like to read more about this, you can read the /usr/share/doc/tomcat6-common/RUNNING.txt.gz file on Grieg.

1.3.2: Starting and stopping Tomcat

To start Tomcat:

$CATALINA_HOME/bin/startup.sh

You should then be able to access the page from within the CSE network at http://foo.srvr:8080/ (where foo is your username).

To stop Tomcat:

$CATALINA_HOME/bin/shutdown.sh

Note: If you configure the server to be visible from outside of the CSE network, the shut down process and the address is slightly different. See the section below for more information.

1.3.3: Making server visible from outside the CSE network

If you would like be able to see your server from outside of the CSE network then you will need to modify your server.xml file, which lives in the conf folder in your Tomcat installation (e.g. /srvr/foo/apache-tomcat-6.0.32/conf/server.xml). Open the file and make the changes below.

- Set the address in the Connector tag. Find the following line:
Connector port="8080" protocol="HTTP/1.1"
Change the port to 80 and add the address of the server:
Connector port="80" protocol="HTTP/1.1" address="foo.srvr"

- Disable the shutdown port as this seems to connect to the wrong IP and there isn't much you can do about it. Find the following line:
Server port="8005" shutdown="SHUTDOWN"
And replace it with:
Server port="-1"
Because of this change the regular shutdown.sh script will not work properly, so the shutdown sequence will need to be changed. See the Modified shutdown sequence section below.

Once these changes have been made, you can access the server from within the CSE network at http://foo.srvr/ (the 8080 is no longer required as it is now running on port 80) and from outside the CSE network at http://foo.srvr.cse.unsw.edu.au/. As always, substitute your username for foo

1.3.3.1: Modified shutdown sequence

You should first specify an appropriate location for $CATALINA_PID, which keeps track of the process ID of the Tomcat process. Having this file around makes it easier to find the process you are running.

To set $CATALINA_PID:

export CATALINA_PID=$CATALINA_BASE/logs/catalina.pid

Note that you can place this anywhere, but it would make sense if you place it somewhere within your Tomcat directory.

Once you have set this value, you can start your server as per normal.

To stop the server without having to manually determine the process ID, create a script somewhere appropriate (I would suggest something like $CATALINA_BASE/bin/force-shutdown.sh) and copy the following lines into the file:

#!/bin/sh

# check if file exists and filesize is greater than 0

if [ -s $CATALINA_PID ]; then

# check if process is running

kill -0 `cat $CATALINA_PID`

if [ $? == 0 ]; then

# kill Catalina process

kill -USR1 `cat $CATALINA_PID`

# remove PID file

rm $CATALINA_PID

else

echo Catalina process not running.

fi

else

echo File $CATALINA_PID does not exist

fi

Don't forget to change the permissions so that the file is executable.

chmod u+x $CATALINA_BASE/bin/force-shutdown.sh

Last edited by Adrian Pua 25/05/2011

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Cluster computing

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1: Cluster Computer at CSE

A couple of clusters of hosts are available for special purposes.

They are managed separately, and originate from different funding purposes.

- Vina Cluster

- Leo Cluster

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Leo cluster

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1: The Leo Cluster

1.1: Specifications

The leo cluster is a collection of 14 hosts with the following specifications:

- Dual Intel Xeon 3.2GHz CPUs with EM64T (64-bit) extensions.

- 4GB RAM

Also associated with the cluster is a special-user fileserver (leonas) with a 1TB disk array.

1.2: Access

Permission must be obtained from the "responsible owner" of the leo cluster, though SS must be employed to actually grant access. Anyone in the LeoAccess class may be provided with a scratch directory on leonas though SS should notify the owner of the leo cluster whenever this happens.

1.3: Usage

The Leo Cluster operates using the Sun Grid Engine software. To import the Sun Grid Engine PATHs into your environment, run this command (or add it to your ~/.profile or ~/.bashrc).

source /home/sge/env.sh

1.4: Documentation

The full set of documentation can be found in /home/sge/current/doc/ (especially the PDFs). You'll probably want to refer to the file Users Guide.pdf.

1.4.1: NOTES

The qmon program fails on our system for an unknown reason. You will need to use the command-line utilities for job and queue management instead (or let us know if you somehow get qmon working...).

1.4.2: Submitting Jobs

1.4.2.1: Job notes

Notes on properties of jobs that are submitted:

- Jobs are run without a controlling tty, so be sure that your login scripts are aware to not run tty-specific commands on startup. This can be achieved with the following structure: if tty -s; then     # commands requiring a tty (won't be related to your job) fi

1.4.2.2: A test job

There is a simple test job to confirm that you can submit jobs, and that the execution works. This assumes that you have setup the environment (as in Usage).

$ qsub $SGE_ROOT/examples/jobs/simple.sh

You can then monitor the status of the job using qstat.

When the job is complete, you will find stdout/stderr files in your home directory names like this: [script-name].o[job-id] and [script-name].e[job-id] for stderr. e.g. our example will result in something like simple.sh.o3 and simple.sh.e3, where the 3 is any number.

1.4.2.3: Some Sun Documentation

The following is a direct extract from the Sun Grid Engine documentation:

(But note that the qrsh command does not work here).

8) Using Grid Engine

--------------------

The main submit commands are qsub, qrsh and qtcsh. See the man pages for

submit(1) and qtcsh(1) for more details.

qsub

----

In general, qsub is used for traditional batch submit, where I/O

is directed to a file. Note that qsub only accepts shell scripts, not

executable files --- wrapper scripts must be used to submit binary

files directly.

qrsh

----

qrsh acts similar to the rsh command, except that a host name is not

given.  Instead, a shell script or an executable file is run, potentially

on any node in the cluster. I/O is directed back to the submitter's

terminal window. By default if the job cannot be run immediately, qrsh

will not queue the job. Using the '-now no' flag to qrsh will allow jobs

to queue. Note that I/O can be redirected with the shell redirect

operators. For example, to run the uname -a command:

% qrsh uname -a

The uname of some machine the scheduler selects in the cluster will then

be displayed on the submitting terminal. To redirect the output,

% qrsh uname -a > /tmp/myfile

The output from uname will be written to /tmp/myfile on the submitting

host. To allow the command to queue:

% qrsh -now no uname -a

If a suitable host is not immediately available the command will block

until a suitable host is available. At that time, the command output will

be displayed on the submitting terminal.

See the qrsh(1) man page for more details.

qtcsh

-----

Grid Engine contains a modified tcsh, qtcsh which will automatically

submit jobs listed in a task file to the cluster. See the qtcsh(1) man

page for more details.

2: Setting up a user SSL key

Since our authentication system is Certificate Security Protocol (CSP in Sun documentation) we need to create SSL keys for users on the system.

The grid engine comes with some scripts which will create and sign certificates using its own CA. These are located in the following location.

~sge/current/util/sgeCA/sge_ca

To run the script you need to be root and set some environemnt variables, SGE_ROOT=/home/sge/current & SGE_CELL=leo. You will also need to create a temporary file in the form of cseusername:User Name:email. So the final command to genreate the users Key would be ~sge/current/util/sgeCA/sge_ca -usercert filename

This will create files in the following location, with the required keys

current/sgeCA/sge_qmaster/leo/userkeys/$USERNAME

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 07/04/2011

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Vina cluster

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1: The Vina Cluster

The vina cluster is a collection of 20 machines.

Each machine has the following specs:

- 2.8GHz Pentium 4 CPU

- 1GB RAM

Manuel Chakravarty is the person generally responsible for the cluster, as it is largely used in the COMPNNNN - Distributed Systems subject.

The vina cluster is essentially a virtual, remote lab. You can login (using SSH) to any of the machines vina00 through vina19.

Use of this cluster is for teaching and research exclusively. It is a resource shared among a fair sized group of people. Try to avoid running simulations on this cluster unless that is why you were given access. Tutors are given access primarily to help with automarking of assignments.

Last edited by Computing Support Group 28/10/2010

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Condor

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1: Introduction

Condor is a high-throughput computing system that offers the option to use dedicated nodes as well as idle non-dedicated nodes for distributing its tasks. Condor "schedules" tasks via a main scheduling server (or servers), so the user doesn't have to individually pick out which computer they want to run a job on. This generally means that a job will be sent to the first unclaimed node that meets the job requirements.

2: Accessing the Condor pool

Currently, a user needs to be part of the condor group in order access the CSE Condor pool. Please contact SS if you require access. Once a member of the group, the user can log on to any machine in the pool and start using Condor.

3: The Condor pool

Currently, all lab machines are part of the Condor pool, with the exception of the computers in chi lab.

4: Important binaries (Or: How I learned to stop worrying and use the Condor)

Condor has many executables. This section gives a brief rundown of the most important ones for normal users.

4.1: condor_status (Pool status)

For the purposes of checking the status of a node in the Condor pool, condor_status is the binary to use. This can be run at any machine that has Condor installed but only lists the status of machines that can run jobs. That is, it lists whether or not a node is available.

- Unclaimed means a Condor job can be set to run on that machine.

- Owner means that resources are currently being utilised by a non-Condor process.

- Claimed means that a Condor job is currently running on that machine.

4.2: condor_submit (Job submission)

To submit a job to the Condor pool, one must first create a submit file, which is a simple text file that tells Condor the details of the job as well as its machine requirements. An example submit file could look like:

Executable     = hello

Universe       = vanilla

Output         = hello.out

Log            = hello.log

Queue

As is probably obvious, this would run the hello executable in the vanilla universe, write output to hello.out and keep a log of its progress within the Condor pool in hello.log. It's a good idea to be explicit with the paths of any files specified in the submit file.

Once the file is created (let's say we created hello.submit in this case, though it can be called anything), one should use condor_submit to send the job to the queue. In this example, the command would be:

condor_submit hello.submit

Doing this will tell the server of the details of the job, and the server would then try to match it up with an appropriate machine. To check the status of a job, one can check the log file specified in the submit file, or use condor_q.

The official project homepage has more examples of job submission files.

4.3: condor_q and condor_rm (Job management)

To check the status of queued jobs sent from the current machine, one can use condor_q. The -long and -analyze switches can be used for more detail.

To remove a job from the queue, condor_rm followed by the job number (which can be determined from the log file or by using condor_q) can be used.

4.4: condor_compile (Checkpointing)

Some jobs can be relinked with condor_compile to take advantage of Condor's checkpointing system in the standard universe. An example of this is the submission of hello. One would start with a C++ code file hello.c. One would then create the object file:

g++ hello.c -c hello.o -o hello.o

The next step would be to relink with condor_compile

condor_compile g++ hello.o -o hello

The job can then be submitted using the standard universe, and it will be checkpointed and migrated to another machine whenever a machine enters the owner status for an extended period of time.

5: Universes

Condor offers several different universes in which to run jobs. The universe in which a user wants a job run must be specified in the submit file. The following universes are available:

- Standard for jobs that can be relinked with condor_compile

- Vanilla for jobs that can't be relinked

- PVM

- MPI

- Globus

- Java for running Java jobs on a JVM

- Scheduler

A detailed description of each universe can be found here.

6: Detailed documentation

Further Condor documentation can be found at the official project homepage, and in particular the manual.

Last edited by Computing Support Group 28/10/2010

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Cryptolab

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1: CryptoLab

Cryptolab consists of 24 servers behind a cryptogate. It is used to teach COMP3441. The 2009 version of the cryptolab implements the gateway and lab machines as virtual machines operating in a single VMware ESX server. This is different from the past where the gateway and the lab machines were separate physical computer located in the CSE server room.

2: What it is?

- 24 virtual computers named after the chemical elements.

- 3 virtual switches:

- 1 to connect to outside,

- 1 to use vlans and with a trunk on an external physical switch to connect the physical gear,

- 1 which is set to be promiscuous for sniffing

- 3 physical hubs

- 1 wireless access point

All behind a firewall under CSG control.

3: What is the purpose?

- To provide computers and network with which students can create subnetworks and experiment with routing, firewalls and kernel configurations.

- Students have root access to the computers.

4: Architecture

5: Gateway=cryptogate-vm

- Its firewall isolates the lab computers from the rest of CSE, UNSW and the internet.

- It is configured with both DHCP and DNS serving the lab machine subnetwork. The default Linux machines are configured to use DHCP to acquire their networking details. This includes using as their DNS server. cryptogate-vm's DNS server is a simple caching server, but it does know about the lab machines and can resolve their names and IP addresses.

- Remote access to the lab machines is by SSH or Remote desktop to ports on the gateway.

6: The lab computers

- They run Fedora 10 by default but the CryptoAdmin can install any operating system.

- The configuration is identical for all machines.

- They have 3 Ethernet interfaces:

- eth0 (under Linux) is connected to cryptogate-vm via the "CryptoMainSwitch". This is the way in which external network traffic (such as ssh) reaches each virtual lab machine.

- eth1 is connected to an 802.1q VLAN trunk. This trunk is switched so that when any virtual machine brings up a VLAN interface on this network interface, it will be able to communicate on that VLAN to other similary configured machines. To configure a VLAN, see the section "How to configure a vlan".

- eth2 is connected to "CryptoPromiscSwitch" which works like a hub.

- They use DHCP (the server runs on the gateway) to get their network configuration and machine name.

7: Remote access to the cryptolab machines

- Access to each lab machine is via port-forwarding through cryptogate-vm

Machine name

Alias

IP address

Port forwarded

on cryptogate-vm

for the SSH (X)

Port forwarded

on cryptogate-vm

for the RDP (Y)

hydrogen

h

192.168.0.1

101

3381

helium

he

192.168.0.2

102

3382

lithium

li

192.168.0.3

103

3383

beryllium

be

192.168.0.4

104

3384

boron

b

192.168.0.5

105

3385

carbon

c

192.168.0.6

106

3386

nitrogen

n

192.168.0.7

107

3387

oxygen

o

192.168.0.8

108

3388

fluorine

f

192.168.0.9

109

3389

neon

ne

192.168.0.10

110

3390

sodium

na

192.168.0.11

111

3391

magnesium

mg

192.168.0.12

112

3392

aluminium

al

192.168.0.13

113

3393

silicon

si

192.168.0.14

114

3394

phosphorus

p

192.168.0.15

115

3395

sulfur

s

192.168.0.16

116

3396

chlorine

cl

192.168.0.17

117

3397

argon

ar

192.168.0.18

118

3398

potassium

k

192.168.0.19

119

3399

calcium

ca

192.168.0.20

120

3400

scandium

sc

192.168.0.21

121

3401

titanium

ti

192.168.0.22

122

3402

vanadium

v

192.168.0.23

123

3403

chromium

cr

192.168.0.24

124

3404

- The SSH column shows the port on cryptogate-vm which forwards to TCP port 22 of the corresponding lab machine. Used on Linux/UNIX machines.
ssh -p X root@cryptogate-vm (where X is the port forwarded)

- The RDP column shows the port on cryptogate-vm which forwars to TCP 3389 (Remote Desktop) of the corresponding lab machine. Used on Microsoft Windows machines.
rdesktop cryptogate-vm:3381 -u administrator (to use rdesktop with hydrogen)

8: Physical networking

The new lab does retain some of the physical components from the old lab - namely a switch, three hubs and the wireless access point. The same 802.1q trunk shared by the eth1 interfaces of the lab machines extends out to the Cisco switch. It is preconfigured with each physical non-trunk port being its own separate VLAN. The physical switch ports connected as shown in the following table.

Switch port

VLAN

Connected to

1

101

Hub #1 - port 1

2

102

Hub #1 - port 2

3

103

Hub #1 - port 3

4

104

Hub #1 - port 4

5

105

Hub #1 - port 5

6

106

Hub #1 - port 6

7

107

Hub #1 - port 7

8

108

Hub #1 - port 8

9

109

Hub #2 - port 1

10

110

Hub #2 - port 2

11

111

Hub #2 - port 3

12

112

Hub #2 - port 4

13

113

Hub #2 - port 5

14

114

Hub #2 - port 6

15

115

Hub #2 - port 7

16

116

Hub #2 - port 8

17

117

Hub #3 - port 1

18

118

Hub #3 - port 2

19

119

Hub #3 - port 3

20

120

Hub #3 - port 4

21

121

22

122

23

123

Wireless AccessPoint

24

Trunk

9: How to configure a vlan

9.1: On fedora

The following code shows how to configure a Fedora Linux network interface file for a VLAN. In this case, the VLAN is number 13 and the configuration file is /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth1.13 . Once this configuration file is in place, it only needs either service network restart or ifup eth1.13 to be run.

This creates an eth1.13 interface which will appear and work like a normal network interface ( such as when ifconfig -a or tcpdump is run). It's worth noting that running tcpdump on eth1 without the VLAN ID will show traffic for all VLANs (including the VLAN tags).

Do ensure that the vconfig package is installed otherwise the above will not work.

VLAN=yes

DEVICE=eth1.13

BOOTPROTO=none

ONBOOT=yes

IPADDR=10.13.0.2

NETMASQ=255.255.255.0

NETWORK=10.13.0.0

BROADCAST=10.13.0.255

9.2: On Windows Vista & Server 2008

Microsoft Windows operating system do not support VLANs (802.1q or otherwise). However, many network car manufacturers (such as Intel) provide VLAN support in their device drivers. Here's how to configure 802.1q support into Vista and Server 2008.

Firstly, note that the Windows virtual lab machines have virtual Intel E1000 network cards.

Secondly, download the following from the cryptogate-vm (those drivers were founded on www.intel.com):

- http://cryptogate-vm/IntelDrivers/AllNetworkAdapterDrivers_13_5.zip (v13.5 for Server 2008 at time of writting)

- http://cryptogate-vm/IntelDrivers/PROVISTAX64_v13_5.exe (v13.5 at time of writting) Note that this is the 64-bit version.
Next, do the following:
- Replace the Microsoft network card driver with the Intel one from AllNetworkAdapterDrivers (Start->Computer->Properties->DeviceManager)

- Install Provista64.

Once both of those are installed, you'll find a VLAN tab in the properties for the network interface where you can create new virtual LAN interfaces.

Those new virtual LANs will show up in the network connections manager:

Note that in the network connections manager diagram, the names of the interfaces associated with the trunk have already been changed to be more meaningful. E.g, "Local Area Connection #2" has been changed to "Local Trunk".

10: Administration of the lab

By means of the VMware Infrastructure Client tutors and lecturers have greater access to the lab machine. This allows to insert virtual media into each machine's CD/DVD drive and install whatever operating system (thought Linux remains available as an install option when booting). Also the power switch and reset button of each machine is now accessible via the VIC.

10.1: Install the Virtual Infrastructure Client

VIC can be installed on a Windows box, it can be download at engesx04.cse.unsw.edu.au

Warning! You need to have the CSE OpenVPN working (have a look at the VPN taggi page)

Warning! The message "uses an invalid security certificate.The certificate is not trusted because it is self signed. " will appear, just add the exception)

Warning! It has to be installed as an administrator

10.2: Connect to the CSE virtual farm

Once the VIC is installed, you can connect to vim.cse.unsw.edu.au with the login CryptoAdmin

Note: the password will be communicated later

Select the Virtual Machines & Templates view :

Then you can see the console of the machine, reset it, stop an start it as well as connect a CD or an iso file.

10.3: Install Fedora on one of the lab machine

Each machine is configured so it first boots on the CD/DVD, then on the network card and finally on the hard drive. So if the CD/DVD drive is not connected, the following menu will appear while booting:

###########################################

##############  PXE boot  #################

###########################################

1 : will install fedora10 64 bits

2 : will boot from the local hard drive

default is to boot from the local hard drive

By default, the machine boot on the local hard drive, if the user types "1" and then "enter", a new Fedora10 operating system will be installed.

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 16/05/2011

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Course forums

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1: Managing course support forums

This information relates to the CSE Support Forums. Specifically, it is for course managers and lecturers who administer the courses.

To ease the burden on everyone, there is a special script available that provides limited 'Administrator' abilities. This script is called priv manage-forums.

To create a set of forums for your course, run (replacing COMP1234 with your course code):

priv manage-forums COMP1234 add-course

1.1: Getting Help

For a list of commands that can be run with this script, run:

priv manage-forums help

For each sub-command, you can get help by giving that command help as the first argument. Note that you still need the course code:

priv manage-forums COMP1234 list-access help

1.2: General usage notes

All forum and group names managed by the script are automatically prefixed with the course code, so there is no need to use the course code in the forum/group names.

1.2.1: Groups

There are several groups that are automatically managed by the CSE Systems:

- Students - This group contains all students (and staff) of the subject

- Teachers - This group contains all subject staff (tutors, supervisors and lecturers)

- Admins - This group contains all subject lecturers and supervisors (including the course account)

Otherwise, you can create, delete and change group memberships using the following commands (extracted from help):

create-group - Create a new subject group

delete-group - Delete a group and all its permissions

groupadd - add a user to a group

groupdel - remove a user from a group

list-group - List all groups, or list all group members

Use priv manage-forums COMP1234 help for more information on each.

1.2.2: Creating and Deleting forums

The forum deleting operation is the most complicated, and we thus ask that you think carefully before creating new forums so that you do not have to delete anything frequently.

1.2.3: Permissions

Permissions in the forums are applied at two levels. First, each forum has a default set of permissions. These can be modified using the change-forum-access command. Then, if a default permission on a forum is set to 'private', you must specify access by group - which is the second form of permissions.

To view current permissions on a forum, we recommend the use of the access-info option: priv manage-forums COMP1234 access-info forum_name

There are several types of permissions you can set. These are listed in the help for change-group-access and change-forum-access. Most are self-explanatory. Note that view means that people will be able to see the forums in listings, and read means they will be able to read posts. If they don't have view access, but do have read access, then they can read the forum using a direct URL - it just won't be in the indexes.

1.2.3.1: Default forum permissions

From the change-forum-access help:

change-forum-access - Change default access permissions for a forum

Usage: change-forum-access    ...

Where the perms you can change are:

view, read, post, reply, edit, delete, sticky, announce, vote, pollcreate, attachments

And the leading option can be:

.  (public) completely public (only available for view and read)

*  (registered) all registered users

=  (private) only explicitly granted access by groups (use change-group-access)

!  (moderators) only moderators

If no changes are specified, then a listing of the current permissions is given

We strongly discourage setting any permissions to "completely public", as then anyone on the internet can post to it (including ad-bots). The script disallows public access for all but the read and view permissions.

Note that forum moderators can be setup using the add-moderator and del-moderator commands.

Note also that all newly created subforums are automatically setup with the same default permissions as the primary forum, but NO group permissions.

1.2.3.2: Group permissions

If your forum has permissions marked as private, then access is determined by looking up a set of group or user-based permissions. These permissions can be setup using the change-group-access command. Use priv manage-forums COMP1234 help change-group-access for more information.

Note that group permissions aren't as complicated as default perms. You simply have to add (+) or remove (-) a permission.

1.2.3.3: Examples

If you wish to restrict read and view access for your Main forum to only your students:

First, we see what the current permissions are:

$ priv manage-forums COMP1234 change-forum-access Main

Default permissions for Main: (key is in help)

.view *read =post =reply =edit !delete !sticky !announce =vote =pollcreate =attachments

So we need to change view and read permissions to be private:

$ priv manage-forums COMP1234 change-forum-access Main =view =read

We can view the current group-based permissions on the Main forum:

$ priv manage-forums COMP1234  access-info Main

Forum access for COMP1234 Main:

Moderators: COMP1234 Admins

Forum Access:

Type Who

========== ===================

view: PRIVATE, but no groups specified, so no-one

read: PRIVATE, but no groups specified, so no-one

post: MODERATORS

reply: MODERATORS

edit: COMP1234 Admins, COMP1234 Teachers, COMP1234 Students

delete: MODERATORS

sticky: MODERATORS

announce: MODERATORS

vote: COMP1234 Admins, COMP1234 Teachers, COMP1234 Students

pollcreate: COMP1234 Admins, COMP1234 Teachers, COMP1234 Students

attachments: COMP1234 Admins, COMP1234 Teachers, COMP1234 Students

So, we need to allow our student and teaching groups to view and read our forum:

$ priv manage-forums COMP1234 change-group-access Main Students +view +read

$ priv manage-forums COMP1234 change-group-access Main Teachers +view +read

And we're done!

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 11/04/2011

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Support forum

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1: CSE Support Forum

The CSE Support Forum can be found at https://cgi.cse.unsw.edu.au/~forums/support/.

1.1: Purpose

The purpose of the forum is to enable all members of the CSE community to share knowledge, and contribute towards solving each other's problems. It is intended to replace a large amount of consultation and support which was previously provided by the System Support group (ss@cse email).

1.2: Using the Forum

1.2.1: Asking Questions

You should ALWAYS consult the FAQ first.

When asking a question, be sure to include plenty of information to save you and your helper time. The more information you include, the more likely that someone will recognise and answer your problem.

As a guide, you should always include the computer name and operating system that you're having trouble on. You should include the version number(s) of (and name of!) software involved. It might be useful to knwo the time you encountered the problem.

If you are getting errors, include the full text of the error messages (if under 50 lines).

Do say what you've already tried to do to fix it, and/or where you've searched on FAQ/google.

Be wary of assumptions. Sometimes the problem is deeper (or shallower) than you might guess, and your assumptions may cause you to exclude useful information.

Treat those who help you with respect.

1.2.2: General Rules

Basic netiquette rules apply, and all use of University resources (including this forum) are under the computer use policy.

1.2.3: Monitoring the forum

Several mechanisms have been provided to make it easier for people to participate and monitor the forum.

1.2.3.1: Monitor topic (email)

When posting to a topic, there is an option below the message box, titled "Notify me when a reply is posted". We encourage leaving this ticked so that you can follow the thread to receive answers or requests for clarification.

1.2.3.2: Monitor forum (email)

If there is a particular forum that you are interested in, then you can choose to receive emails when all new topics (and/or replies) are posted in a forum. Visit the main page of the forum (click on its name), and at the bottom you should see a "Watch this forum for new topics" link.

1.2.3.3: Email Digests

By visiting this URL, or selecting the "Digests" option on the top of the main forum pages, you can configure email digests. These can be setup to be received daily or weekly on whichever forums you are interested in, plus there are several other useful options.

1.2.3.4: RSS feed

There is an RSS feed available for recent posts. It's URI is https://cgi.cse.unsw.edu.au/~forums/support/rss.php. You may use any RSS aggregator to view the feed.

Firefox provides a very simple facility to view an RSS feed:

- Open Manage Bookmarks from the Bookmarks menu.

- Click on the Bookmarks Toolbar Folder

- Open the File menu (in the bookmark manager), and select New Live Bookmark....

- Give it whatever Name and Description you'd like (e.g. "CSE Support Forum"

- Put the RSS URI: https://cgi.cse.unsw.edu.au/~forums/support/rss.php into the Feed Location field.

- Press OK.

You should now have a "CSE Support Forum" (or whatever you called it) drop-down list in your bookmarks toolbar. You can click on this to see all the recent topics, and click on a topic to open it.

You can customise the forums and categories that are included in the RSS feed if required :

- To change the number of posts returned

- The default number of posts that is returned in the RSS feed is 15. You can change this to any number between 1 and 50. The querystring option for this is c=. rss.php?c=30 will return a maximum of 30 posts.

- To choose the forums you wish to monitor

- You can change the RSS feed to only include the forums that you are interested in. The querystring option for this is f=. You can now include more than one forum ID if required if you separate them with commas. You can find a forum's ID by looking at its URL. For example, the URL for the New Services forum is https://cgi.cse.unsw.edu.au/~forums/support/viewforum.php?f=2. This would mean that the forum ID is 2. rss.php?f=2 would only show posts from the New Services forum rss.php?f=1,2,12 would show posts from forums 1,2 and 12 (CSE Service Notices, New Services and Requests&Suggestions)

- To exclude certain categories

- You can exclude certain categories from the RSS feed. The querystring option for this is c=. You can include more than one category ID if required if you separate them with commas. A category is a 'main heading' on the main page, such as Announcements or CSE Courses. The category ID can be found by looking at its URL. For example, the URL for the CSE Courses category is https://cgi.cse.unsw.edu.au/~forums/support/index.php?c=6. This would mean that the category ID is 6. rss.php?x=6 would exclude any post from the CSE Courses category rss.php?x=5,6 would exclude any posts from the Other/Miscellaneous and the CSE Courses categories

- Combining querystring options
Options can be combined using the & character. For example to exclude posts from CSE Courses (category 6) and return 30 posts, you would use the following URL

https://cgi.cse.unsw.edu.au/~forums/support/rss.php?x=6&c=30

1.2.4: Course forums

(course lecturers/administrators only)

For course forums, see Course Support Forums.

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 11/04/2011

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Licence Servers

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1: Licence Servers

This page lists brief information for various license servers used by CSE staff and students. The contacts listed should be notified if there are any issues with the associated server/s.

1.1: Altera, Xilinx

Port/server: 27000@louie.cse.unsw.edu.au

Contact: Jorgen Peddersen

Email: jorgenp@cse.unsw.edu.au

Extension: x57229

1.2: ASIP Meister, Synopsys, XTensa

Port/server: 27000@bach.cse.unsw.edu.au

Contact: Jorgen Peddersen

Email: jorgenp@cse.unsw.edu.au

Extension: x57229

Notes: Self-managed and for use by Jorgen's research group only

1.3: Mathematica

Port/server: wolfram.lic.unsw.edu.au

Contact: IT Service Desk (Software Distribution)

Email: itservicecentre@unsw.edu.au

Extension: x51333

1.4: Matlab

Port/server: 27000@mathworks-1.lic.unsw.edu.au, 27000@mathworks-2.lic.unsw.edu.au, 27000@mathworks-3.lic.unsw.edu.au

Contact: IT Service Desk (Software Distribution)

Email: itservicecentre@unsw.edu.au

Extension: x51333

1.5: Modelsim

Port/server: 1717@cad4.ee.unsw.edu.au

Contact: Electrical Engineering

Email:

Extension:

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 28/04/2011

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Forgot password

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1: I Forgot My Password!

Oops!

Go to the Help Desk, in the Mechanical Engineering Undercroft (opposite the Leaf Lab). Make sure you take your student card.

The helpful people there will reset your password and you will need to re-initialise your account.

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 27/05/2011

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Unipass

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1: UniPass - your universal password

Your UniPass is the password given to you when you enrol by UNSW IT Services. It gives you access to your MyUNSW account and to your UniMail account. Like all passwords you should keep it secret and never let anybody else see it.

You can read more about UniPasses on the DisConnect website.

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 11/04/2011

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Course groups

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1: Course Groups

1.1: Introduction

Several CSE courses require students work together in groups on common projects, sharing access to common files.

Usually, such groups need to be managed by system staff. However, a system has been created at CSE which delegates management of these groups to course administrators using the priv command:

priv update-groups

System support will still need to set up the initial configuration files, and may need to update these files occasionally, but in general, course administrators should be able to completely administer group creation and membership for themselves once the initial group management configuration files have been set up.

CSE has a separate system for User Managed Groups (UMGs) that allows groups to be created which can be managed by their constituant members. However the UMG system is quite separate from the Course Group system.

The main advantage that Course Groups have over UMGs is that they allow additional general group properties to be managed consistently over the large sets of groups, without requiring dubious tricks with UMGs. The course group system also provides an automated system for administering these groups safely and consistently across different years and sessions without requiring any manual checking or intervention by course administrators.

This document describes specificly what course administrators need to do to administer this system, while the Course Groups document describes specificly what system administrators need to do to administer this system.

1.2: User Guide For Course Administrators

1.2.1: Overview

The course administrator:

1. Gets system staff to set up the general attributes of the groups to be created, in particular they will define the group prefix P (eg: sew3b).

2. Creates the file defining the specific groups and their membership.

3. Runs the command priv update-groups P (eg: priv update-groups sew3b

This will create the group accounts that each of their student members can access.

Thus student S, who is a member of group Pn, should be able to:

- Log into a CSE machine as themselves;

- Create and access files and directories within their group's home directory (/home/Pn/) that can be shared between all members of their group.

1.2.2: Group attributes

General course group attributes are stored in the group attribute file in /home/ss/conf/group-manager/. This file:

- Has the same name as the ARG passed to the priv script used to manage course groups (ie:
priv update-groups ARG
);

- Is accessible only to system staff.

The following attributes need to be defined and sent to system staff to enter into the group attribute file for your course groups:

Prefix

The course group prefix to which the group number is appended. This is usually the same as the argument ARG is passed to the priv script but it need not be;

Width

The width of the group number appended to the group prefix

Course

The Course associated with the group

Config

The full pathname of the course group membership file which defines the group members and group expiry, and is the file administered by the course admins. This file location is dealt with more fully in the next section under Spec file location

Expiry

This is the expiry date of the group accounts. By default, groups expire before the start of the next session, but you may prefer to have them expire when the group attribute file expires (which is determined by setting valid_until in either this file (the group attributes file), or the group membership file (described below).

Authorised posters

This determines the users authorised to send email to the virtual mail address group.coursegroup-list By default, this is all users within CSE.

Home base

This is the location of the homes of the course groups . The system default is usually fine, but if your course makes particular use of specific server (like a database server), then you might prefer to keep all course groups on the filesystem local to that server.

Extra Classes

These are additional UDB classes that allow for things like extra disc quota, or access to specific servers

Group Description

By default this will be Group NN for $Course, but you may change this to a more descriptive string if you prefer.

1.2.3: Group membership and expiry

The group membership file is the file that you, the course administrator, will need to edit to determine group membership and expiry.

1.2.3.1: Spec file location

The spec file is best located somewhere in the course admin's account, usually in a directory reflecting the groups' year and session. (eg: /home/$course_admin/YYsS.work/groups)

Note that the full pathname of the group spec file needs to be assigned to the config variable in the Group attribute file, and that this config file is only accessible to system staff (SS). So if the course admin wants to be able to change this file's pathname each year/session (because the group spec file is located in a different directory each year/session), without having to involve SS each year/session, then the course admin should:

- Create a soft link with a fixed name that always links to (or points at) the current group spec file (eg: /home/$course_admin/coursegroup -> /home/$course_admin/YYsS.work/groups);

- Arrange to have the full pathname of the soft link assigned to the config variable in the group manager config file.

1.2.3.2: Spec file format

The course group spec file has the following format:

[ 'valid_until' '=' ddMMMyyyy ]

{ NN '=' user{','user} }

Where:

ddMMMyyyy

the date up to which the group spec files are valid (eg: 12dec2009). The group manager config file can assign the course group expiry to this date if required

NN

the group number that is appended to the group_name_prefix (eg: 01)

user

the user to be added as a member of the group group_name_prefixNN

1.2.4: Managing course groups

Once:

- The group attribute file has been created by SS defining the attributes you want for your course groups;

- The group membership file has been created (or modified) by you;

You can create or update your course groups by running:

priv update-groups ARG

where ARG is the special name defining your course groups.

It is recommended that ARG be the same as your course group's prefix, but it is actually determined by the name of the group attributes file (in /home/ss/conf/group-manager/). If this is not actually the same as your course group's prefix, then for your own reference, you should insert a comment into your group membership file specifying what ARG is.

1.2.5: Important Notes

- An existing group home directory will be archived and cleaned out (ie: re-initialised) if:

- The group was previously expired. OR

- There are no group members (in the new definition file) that are in common with the existing group membership.

This is done to ensure that group home directories are cleaned out when appropriate, and that users do not inadvertantly get access to previous groups' files.

Thus:

- Adding new members to a group, or deleting some members from a group, will retain that group's home account (with all its existing directories and files), and make them accessible to all new members of the group.

- Renumbering an existing group will cause the old group account to be cleaned out and archived, and a new group account to be created.

If groups are not being created correctly, and you are certain that the course membership file is correct, then SS should be contacted to check that the group attribute file (which is only accessible to SS) is correctly set up.

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 07/04/2011

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Cron jobs

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1: Running Regular Jobs with Cron

If there is a script that you would like to run regularly, rather than trying to remember to do it yourself you can schedule a computer to run it for you. The daemon that does this is called cron and the scheduled script is called a cronjob or crontab, after the command used to instruct cron about your job.

1.1: Creating a cronjob

To create a cronjob, login to the computer that you wish to run the job on and run

crontab -e

This will open an editor in which you will create the cronjob. The syntax of a cronjob is not very obvious but is explained quite well in the manpage (or by typing man crontab). The crontab will appear as /var/spool/cron/crontabs/<username> on the computer.

1.2: Removing a cronjob

To remove the crontab, simply run

crontab -r

Note that crontabs are machine-specific, so you can't see them from another computer. To keep track of your cronjobs, you can create a directory in your homedir called .crontabs or crontabs. Every night a script is run on CSE computers that checks the cronjobs and compares them to what is stored in your crontabs subdirectory. If necessary the crontab is copied across to your homedir (of course, you can copy it there yourself). If the script finds differences between the crontab on the computer and the one in your homedir, you will be mailed.

Last edited by Computing Support Group 28/10/2010

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DHCP

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1: DHCP at CSE

DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) is a network protocol used to get an IP Address and other important network details when connecting to a network.

CSE uses DHCP on a number of its networks to ease networking configuration, and also to provide some IP Quota safeguards.

1.1: Problems

There are several potential causes of problems with DHCP.

1.1.1: Incorrect MAC Address

For most DHCP at CSE, you are required to register your "MAC" address centrally. This is used both for IP Quota purposes as well as providing a static IP (in some cases).

Please check that the mac address that you registered is the correct one. You can find out the registered one as it is listed in the "owned machines" or "wireless" sections of the Account Control Panel.

1.1.2: Bad physical connection

Yes, that's right. Perhaps your cable or wall port is broken. Try a different one (but DON'T unplug another computer to do it). If you are using wireless, try a different area of the building. Note the coverage areas from the Wireless Network page.

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 11/04/2011

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Disabling Multicast Advertising on OSX

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1: Disabling Multicast Advertising on OSX

1.1: The problem

OSX has an interesting feature whereby it effectively takes on the IP address of other Macs, for the purpose of forwarding certain network broadcasts on their behalf.

Unfortunately, this behaviour sets off alarms in our network monitoring systems, and can also confuse our maintenance automation and network infrastructure security. As such, it's something we require users to disable when connected to the CSE network.

1.2: The solution

Disabling multicast advertising requires editing a configuration file on your computer. As manually editing configuration files can potentially disable your machine if you make a mistake, it's important that you back up your Mac before continuing.

The file you need to edit is /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.mDNSResponder.plist.

So, open up a terminal and type

$ sudo nano /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.mDNSResponder.plist

Scroll down to the ProgramArguments section, and add the line <string>-NoMulticastAdvertisements<string>:

<key>ProgramArguments</key>

<array>

<string>/usr/sbin/mDNSResponder</string>

<string>-launchd</string>

<string>-NoMulticastAdvertisements</string>

</array>

Save and exit. If you used emacs to edit instead, it's important that you remove the auto-backup file com.apple.mDNSResponder.plist~ that emacs creates, or your Mac will not restart correctly.

Restart your mac, and your friendly sysadmins will thank you for making their lives easier.

OR download a little app to do the above here

Last edited by Computing Support Group 28/10/2010

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- no-ads.pkg

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Stop xfig crashing with KDE

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1: How to stop xfig crashing under KDE

There is a bug in the version of xfig at CSE, causing it to freeze under certain circumstances when users are using the KDE desktop environment.

SS has investigated this bug, and have found a workaround in the Debian bug reports for xfig. To make xfig work:

- Launch "KDE Control Center" (in the Settings menu)

- Choose Appearance & Themes --> Colors

- at the bottom of the panel uncheck the button labelled: " Apply colors to non-KDE applications "

From: http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=235674

At the time of investigation, a fixed version of xfig is not available.

Last edited by Computing Support Group 28/10/2010

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Stulocal

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1: stulocal

Stulocal is a software repository maintained by students, for students.

For more information, see their homepage: http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~stulocal/.

Last edited by Computing Support Group 28/10/2010

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OpenCms

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1: OpenCms at CSE

This page provides information useful if you need to edit CSE web pages using OpenCms.

1.1: What is OpenCms ?

OpenCms is a professional level Open Source Website Content Management System. OpenCms helps to create and manage complex websites easily without knowledge of html. An integrated WYSIWYG editor with a user interface similar to well known office applications helps the user creating the contents, while a sophisticated template engine enforces a site-wide corporate layout.

1.2: The OpenCms Workplace

1.2.1: What is the OpenCms Workplace?

The Workplace is the centre of OpenCms. All Editors will use the Workplace to create and edit their web content. The majority of technical administration is done through the Workplace, and system administrators will use it to manage cache, check logs and install new modules.

1.2.2: Logging in

To be able to use the OpenCms Workplace you will need to use your CSE credentials. If you have not previously updated web pages, you might not have write access on the OpenCms system. If that is the case for your then you will need to contact the web administrator to get update privileges on the OpenCms system. If you have not yet done so please contact web admin on webmaster AT cse DOT unsw DOT edu DOT au.

Next, surf to the OpenCms Workplace site were you would find the main page.

The Main OpenCms login web page:

From there just press the login link, which will take you to the login window. On the login window you will need to use the credentials that the web admin provided you with. If your login was successful you should see a new window pop open. If that does not happen, make sure that your browser does not block pop-ups. You are now in the OpenCms Workplace.

1.2.3: Can I make a certain directory my default starting point when I first login to the Workplace?

Yes you can. This is achieved by going to Preferences by clicking on the Preferences tab on the top right corner of the work place. From there and under the Startup Settings you will find the option "Start with folder" the default would be "/", by pressing the small yellow folder image, beside that option, you can choose where the Workplace should startup when you first login, after you choose the location press the Okay button and your are done. (see image below)

1.2.4: I don't know what all the buttons in the workplace navigation do, is there a way to display text of what they are?

Yes. The default setup is that the navigation buttons are only displayed as images. When this is the case if you go over the navigation button after a short period of time text will pop up telling you the name of the navigation button.

You can however, change this behaviour and make it display the navigation button and its name all the time. You can achieve that by going into Preferences and under General options change Head button style to Image and text instead of Image only. (see image above)

1.2.5: Changing your password

You can not change your password from within OpenCms; the system uses your existing CSE credentials.

If you forgot your password or need to change it please contact SS.

1.3: New web page creation

To add a new web page to your part of the CSE site you will need to do the following:

1. Login to the OpenCms Workplace (if you do not know ohw to do this, reading the heading Logging in above.

2. go to the place in the file system were you want to create the new web page.

3. Click on the New Button located on the top left-hand corner of the Workplace. (see image below)

4. you would be presented with the a new resource type selection page, from it you will need to choose Page with free text then pressing continue.

5. You would be presented with a Create new page form. You will need to choose the name of the web page which it would be saved under, and from a drop down menu, the CSE template it needs to use (for example index.html and CSE About Template) if you want to create the new page in the about cse section of the cse website.

1. When you press continue, you would be faced with the Properties page of the newly created web page. Fill in the title of the page or simply just press Ok to finish the process.

1.4: I am not happy with WYSIWYG editors, can I use a straight HTML source editor instead?

Of course, when you go to the page you want to edit in the OpenCms Workplace you can just click on the word Source in the editor's navigation bar (see image below) and you will be switched to source code view were you can write pure HTML code there or do all your editing in your favourite web editor and just copy the source code to the source view of the page in question.

To switch back to the WYSIWYG view just press the Source button in the navigation again.

1.5: When I go to edit a page I only find it in HTML source, where is the WYSIWYG editor?

It depends on the browser you are using, if you happen to be using Safari or Opera web browsers, then you will only see a source editor, this is due to the fact that in their current versions Safari and Opera are not compatible with the WYSIWYG editor in OpenCms.

Browsers known to show the WYSIWYG editor correctly are Firefox v2.0.11 and above and IE v7. Please try using one of those two browsers, we recommend Firefox since it is the browser we have done most of our testing on.

1.6: Where to upload images and documents?

There is a convention set-up in the OpenCms system to where to upload images and documents. This convention goes as follows:

- Images (files with extensions like gif, png, jpg etc) Would go in the images folder in the immediate directory were you want to add the links to the web page in.

For example: I am adding an image to a StudentOffice web page, then you upload the image you want to add to "/people/studentoffice/images/". The images folder is actually configured to be just that, thus in OpenCms the images folder would have extra functionality that are graphic oriented.

- Documents (any files that are not images or web pages, eg. files with extensions like doc,pdf,txt etc) Same as images, such files go to a designated folder called downloads. Like the example above, if you wanted to add a link to a pdf you will need to upload the pdf file to /people/studentoffice/downloads/

Notes:

When referencing to images and documents in your web pages, you should either browse to the file in question, or if you know where it is, just write the address directly in. However, if you do the latter, make sure that you do not add the main web address eg. www.cse.unsw.edu.au, instead just put the address relative to OpenCms. In the example above, if the pdf document is called document.pdf, it would be referenced in the link to it as follows: "/people/studentoffice/downloads/example.pdf" This way OpenCms would be able to check internally for correct links in the web page when published.

If you do not find an image folder in the place you expect, then keep going to one directory above the one you are searching at until you find it. For example, if you want to add images to "/people/studentoffice/extrafolder/images/", but you don't find an images folder there, then if you go one directory above, you will generally find it there. In this example it would be "/people/studentoffice/images/".

1.7: I press the upload button but nothing happens?

The default way OpenCms uses to upload files is via a Java applet. There is a possibility that the applet is not compatible with your computer's setup. To make uploads work do the following:

Press on the Preferences tab on the top right hand side of the OpenCms navigation panel. In the page you are presented with you will need to un-tick the box beside the words "Use Upload-Applet" then press ok.

Now when you press the upload button a standard HTML upload page will be presented to you.

1.8: I created a group of web-pages externally, can I import them to OpenCms?

If you created web pages outside of OpenCms and want to upload them all to OpenCms and apply template formatting you will need to do the following:

- Zip all the webpages (directories intact) in a somename.zip format.

- Login to the OpenCms Workplace.

- Go to the location of were you want the files to be uploaded.

- You will need to press the New button on the top left side of the Workplace in the Cms. choose "Extended HTML-Import" then press next, press Advance (you should be presented with something similar to the image below) then browse to the zip file you have created.

- You will only need to choose the zip file, fill the Image gallery and the Download gallery sections with the relevant information depending on the location of the files you are working with, and choose the Template you want to use (for example is CSE undergrad Template) and check the Overwrite Files and Keep Broken Links check boxes.

- Now press the Ok button and the OpenCms should do the formatting and template modifying of the pages to the one you choose as it uploads all the files to OpenCms, it will basically, move all images to /specifiedfolder/images/ all downloads (i.e documents, pdfs etc) to /specifiedFolder/downloads/ and give all web pages the correct template you picked from the list.

- Please make sure that all links for your newly created web pages are properly referenced before you upload them.

1.9: Editing an existing web page

You are able to edit an existing web page via two methods.

- First Method:

After logging in the OpenCms Workplace go to the page via the side Navigation menu then left-click with your mouse over the file that needs editing and choose Edit page from the pop-up menu. That would take you to a WYCIWYG editor of the chosen page, from which you can edit the web page like a normal office application document.

- Second Method: (Recommended method)

After logging into the OpenCms Workplace open a new web browser and then go to https://opencms.cse.unsw.edu.au/ When you are already logged in the OpenCms Workplace going to the given address would actually take you to the OfflineProject from there you can navigate the site just like to navigate the normal cse website until you get to the page you want to edit.

On the page you want to edit simply press on the Direct Edit button as indicated by the arrow in the image below.

1.10: How to add/delete/modify links in sections of the CSE website that have side navigation?

The side navigation is read dynamically to each section of the CSE website that has one. If you want to add/delete/modify the links or their position in the navigation you can do it in the following way:

- Login to the OpenCms workplace.

- Navigate to the section of the site you want to modify.

- If you left click (or control click for one button Mac mice) over the image beside the name of a file you will come up with a list of options.

- Choose from the list Properties. You will be presented with something similar to the image below.

- If the file was not in the side navigation then you will need to check the checkbox called Add to navigation, then write what you want the link to be called and lastly specify where do you want the link to be located. After that just press Ok.

- press on the actual word of the file to make the OpenCms workplace take you to that page in the offline site, from it you can see how the new link looks like and if it works if you are happy with it then close that page and from the workplace publish that page.

- If the link you want to add to the side navigation is to an external webpage (one that does not reside inside OpenCms) then you will need to create an external link first to the desired destination. You can do that by pressing the New Button (an Image that looks like a wand) on the top left corner of the OpenCms workplace, from the list of new resource types choose External Link then press Continue. In the next screen give the link a name (preferably a short name with .html attached to the end e.g. contacts.html), provide the actual full link URL then press continue. In the next screen you are given the chance to add the link to navigation if you want to then press finish. After you publish the newly created link it will show up on the side navigation.

1.11: News & Events page creation

The creation of News pages is set-up to be dynamic via the OpenCms system; to create a new News entry, you will need first to logon into the OpenCms workplace, then proceed to the News & Events page via the OpenCms file explorer. (see image below)

When you click on the news/index.html link via the Workplace explorer, the actual page will come up with extra information that only users logged into the OpenCms workplace would be able to see. (see image below)

If you press the plus sign as shown in the image above, you will be presented with a formatted page, which you would need to fill. (see image below)

You will be faced with several fields, which are explained in the table below. (The information in the table below would be displayed for each field while you are on the form page if you go over the question mark bubble image)

Title:

Enter the title of the news article (this will show up as the title on the full detailed view of the news article). (Mandatory field)

Teaser Title:

Enter the teaser title of the news article (This is what people will see as the article link on the News page/Front page of the CSE website). (Mandatory field)

Content:

Is the actual news content for this article, you also have the option here of adding images to the article. (Mandatory field)

Links:

If there are supplementary links that will help the reader of the article this is where you add them.

Priority:

The priority of the news article, needed to build a sort order for news article lists, else it will sort by date

Release date:

Enter the date when this news article should be available to the public. (Mandatory field)

Archive date:

Enter the date when this news article should move to the news archive page.

Notes on the above table:

- If you publish a news article before the release date, the article will only show up on the news page (in the online project) after the release date.

- The Links and Priority fields are the only optional fields.

1.12: Is there an easy way to create redirects to external/internal web pages?

If you want to have a link for example www.cse.unsw.edu.au/somewhere/something.html, that goes to www.someplace.com then you should do the following:

- Login to the OpenCms Workplace.

- Go to the location were you want to add the redirect.

- Press on the New button in the navigation bar (it has an image of a magic wand)

- From the list of new resource types that show up choose External Link then press Continue.

- Choose the name of the external link (e.g something.html) then type in the URL you want this file to actually go to in the Link URL field then press continue.

- Unless you want to add it to the side navigation (if there is one at that location) you can press Ok here.

- Go with your mouse over the small image of the globe beside the name of the new file and press the left click on the mouse. From the menu that pops up choose Publish directly.

- Go to the new created page via the web to make sure that it goes to the intended destination.

You are done.

1.13: Restrict web access to a file/web page

If you want to render a web page inaccessible via the Online project, but you want to keep the file, you will need first to login into the OpenCms workplace, go to the said file/web page, left click your mouse over the file you need to deny access to and then choose Availability. (see image below)

From the screen you are presented with (see image below) you will need to fill in the Date expired field by choosing the calendar icon, as shown in the image below, then choose the date you want the page/file to expire on, doing so would render the file/web-page inaccessible from the CSE website, but still accessible in the OpenCms workplace.

1.14: Publishing web pages to the Online Project

You finished updating a web page via the OpenCms workplace in the OfflineProject, how do I get the page published in the Online Project?

After saving the page and taking a look at the updated page making sure it is all correct, you can update the page via two methods:

1 Enter the page again via the Direct Edit button as explained above and then press the Publish Directly button located on the Top left side of the page. (see image below)

2 Via the workplace section you can right click the webpage/s you just updated (any page that has been updated since last publish will display a small yellow flag beside it) and then from the menu that pops up choose Publish Directly._(see image below)_

Both methods above will initiate the publishing procedure and check the page/s for any link errors and then inform you when the page/s have been published successfully.

1.15: Whenever I try to publish some pages, OpenCms complains that there are broken links even though when I check them they work!

OpenCms has a link checking system that goes through each page that is about to be published. In CSE we have a special situation were there are still parts of our site that exist outside of OpenCms, however, all the redirections are made in the background and are done before the link request reaches OpenCms. The OpenCms system itself does not know of this special arrangment and thus if there are links that seem to be coming from inside the Cms that OpenCms can not find, it will complain about them.

If you encounter any of the following you can ignore the broken link warnings (though if you added such a link yourself, you should check that it is working manually to be safe).

- Any link that starts with ~

- Any link that starts with /db/

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 11/04/2011

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Offline project

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1: OpenCms Online/Offline Project

By default there are two projects in OpenCms; Online and Offline. The Online Project contains files currently published. No documents in the Online project can be edited.

The Offline Project contains all of the files in the Virtual Filesystem. In a way, it is the master working copy of the VFS. When working with a web page, you will be in essence working on the Offline version of the page; any changes you make on the file will not be reflected on the web until the page gets published.

Last edited by Computing Support Group 28/10/2010

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UDB

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1: UDB - Universal Database

The UDB, also known as the (Ubiquitus OR User OR Useful OR Universal) Database, is the system used by CSE to store account information.

Most users will interact with the UDB using the acc command.

Most student account information is automatic maintained by scripts that get data from NSS periodically. Most staff, visitor and course information is maintained semi-automatically, or manually, by the System Support Group.

Last edited by Computing Support Group 28/10/2010

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NSS

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1: NSS - New South Student

NSS refers to "New South Student", which is a system used by the University to manage enrolments, financial data, and more. You will normally interact with it via MyUNSW. CSE regularly updates account information from NSS (into the UDB).

Not to be confused with NSQ - New South Q, the old name for the UNSW Student Centre.

Last edited by Computing Support Group 28/10/2010

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Credit Card Payments

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1: How To Accept Credit Card Payments

Research groups at CSE occasionally want to run conferences and wish to accept Credit Card payments for subscription fees.

You can use our web server to host your conference website however presently CSE does not have any facilities for managing payments.

1.1: External Organisations Providing Credit Card Payment Facilites

There are many organisations providing payment facilities of which Paypal is perhaps the most famous.

If you work with NICTA, they can process credit card payments.

1.1.1: UNSW Treasury

The UNSW Treasury also manages credit card payments and could potentially manage them for you. This would have the advantage of depositing the funds directly into your UNSW funding account which makes the finance side of this much simpler.

The procedure for setting up such a UNSW service isn't well established so we do not know how long it would take.

First send FIPRAS at CSE an email with this information:

- type of conference

- dates

- likely number of people

- costs

- which fund should receive the payments

- if there will be early bird payments

- any special requirements, etc.

FIPRAS will then ask the Treasury to begin setting up a service for you.

There is a method for reporting to you what payments the Treasury processed but we do not yet know the details for this. The Treasury should tell you more about this when they set up a service.

Last edited by Computing Support Group 28/10/2010

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UNSW Mobile Phones

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1: UNSW Mobile Phones

Some staff at CSE use mobile phones that are on a UNSW service contract with Optus. The phone handset may or may not be also owned by UNSW.

1.1: Lost or Stolen Phones

If a phone is lost or stolen it is important to disable the number quickly as it may be used to incur large call fees for UNSW.

Allocating a new SIM is relatively quick and simple during office hours. Once the new SIM is assigned the old SIM can no longer be used. Call Deana McKenzie (02 9385 8085, deana.mckenzie@unsw.edu.au) at UNSW IT and ask to transfer the number to a new SIM. A stock of spare SIMs is kept by UNSW IT and Deana can ask Optus to assign one of them a contracted number at short notice.

A number can be immediately blocked by calling the Optus Mobility and Converged Technical Service Desk at 1800 200 487. This number provides technical troubleshooting support 24x7. It also provides Optus Business Mobile coverage info. To use this service you must have your mobile number and end user name as it appears on the Corporate Account that UNSW has with Optus.

An RWS should be submitted to get the new SIM. This is needed for stock reconciliation and an account code should be provided. The spare SIMs are free, however.

Last edited by Computing Support Group 28/10/2010

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Warranty Support Numbers

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1: Apple

Contact Apple Technical Support on 1300 321 456 or 1300 301 596 for custom contract warranty

For more options see Support or Contact pages

For on campus Apple support see Computers Now who are located in the Quadrangle Building (E15), contact them on 02 9385 2377

There is a Sydney based company called Unisys who are contracted to provide onsite support, their number is 1800 709 440

For a request for onsite service use the CompNow website

2: HP

Contact HP Technical Support on 13 10 47

For more options see Support or Contact pages

3: Microsoft

Contact Microsoft on 13 20 58 for product and activation key problems.

4: Dell

Dell ProSupport is on 1300 662 370

Dell Gold Support (Servers) 1800 733313

5: Lenovo

131-426

Information correct at the beginning of October 2009, please email System Support any corrections or suggestions for additions

Last edited by Computing Support Group 28/10/2010

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Policies

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Welcome to the home of CSG Policies. Policies regarding the use of CSE's computing resources are kept here.

CSE's policies should be read in conjunction with UNSW's IT policies posted on the UNSW IT Services website.

Last edited by Computing Support Group 28/10/2010

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Acceptable username policy

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1: Acceptable Usernames for CSE accounts

See also Account Names FAQ.

1.1: Summary of Policy

Students have the username of their account generated for them; holders of most other types of CSE account have their username assigned by People.System Support (SS). These users may choose their username from several different formats based upon their actual name, known as named account. Usernames of the form initial + last name or first name + initial are strongly encouraged; other forms are rarely allowed.

1.2: Who This Policy Applies To

All users entitled to a username based upon their actual name. These users are

- academic and general staff

- tutors and demonstrators

- Help Desk supervisors

- undergraduate thesis students

- postgraduate research students

- Co-op and summer research scholarship students

- student representatives

- student society executives (COMPSOC, SESOC, BINFSOC, CSE Revue)

- visitors to academics

1.3: Who Maintains This Policy

CSG, under delegation from the CSE Computing Committee. See Facilities Committee minutes from 1999.

1.4: Policy Description

The rationale behind named accounts is to make it easier for other people to email the user. The localmail program queries the System.UDB to try to match an email address to a username, so the closer the match between a user's actual name and their username the more likely intended email will reach them.

The original version of the policy was written to cover the transition from usernames based upon student numbers and is archived here. This is the version currently enforced by CSG.

1. the username must be at least three characters long. For ease of use, a maximum of 8 characters is recommended.

2. the username must start with a letter, must be alphanumeric only and must be all lowercase. Punctuation characters are reserved for the mlalias program.

3. the username must reflect and be derived from the user's first and last names as they appear in the user's account. The accepted forms are:

- first name plus initial of last name, in either order

- initial of first name plus last name, in either order

- initials of first, middle and last names, in that order.

4. if the user's first or last names are long (8 or more characters), they may substitute a diminutive (first name only) or the first syllable of the name for the full name. Diminutives are well-known short forms of names, such as Rob for Robert.

5. the username must not equate to only one of the user's names, no matter how rare the user deems their name to be, except in the case where the user only has one name.

6. the username must not be a nickname, a dictionary word or potentially offensive, or conflict with an existing username.

New staff or visitors[1] who can show they have an established internet identity that differs from one of the accepted options may request SS to give them this identity as their username, provided it meets the other conditions.

If SS and the user cannot reach agreement on the proposed username, the dispute may be referred to the CSG manager.

[1] For the purposes of this policy, a staff member is a person who has a continuing or fixed term appointment with the School or a person with a visiting academic appointment.

Last edited by Craig Robert Howie 01/03/2011

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Allocation of old computers to Staff and Students

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1: Giving Old Computers to Staff and Students

Computer Equipment assets of CSE, such as Desktops and Laptops purchased at less than $5000, will cease to be regarded as CSE assets when the Head of School deems them to have depreciated or aged to an appropriate degree. The equipment may then be given away, usually to the current user of the asset. Maintenance and eventual disposal of the (former) asset becomes the responsibility of the recipient (its new owner).

We will not simply give away computer equipment to anyone who asks for it. This policy only permits us to give away a computer if particular conditions are met.

Read the policy carefully. Only contact FIPRAS if your request meets the conditions below.

1.1: What this policy covers

The policy is only intended to cover devices for storing and manipulating personal data. This would be laptop and desktop computers and associated monitors, laptops, PDAs and external harddrives.

This policy is still being tested and does not yet apply to a wide range of circumstances. It applies if the following are all true:

- the asset is over 5 years old, and

- it is currently on long-term, off-campus loan to the recipient.

Or, if the following are all true:

- the recipient is a higher degree research student who has completed their thesis, and

- the asset was the main work computer of the recipient for their work here, and

- the asset is over three years old.

1.2: What this policy does not cover

An asset will not be given away if it:

- Is on the UNSW asset register. Only assets purchased at more than $5000 are on the UNSW asset register. These are covered by UNSW asset policy and cannot be given away.

- Is not like a laptop or desktop computer or basic data storage device. Examples of items not covered by this policy are: printers, cameras, network hardware or, larger computers (rack-mount servers).

- Is covered by warranty

- Still retains most of its hardware value

- Continues to be used by current CSE researchers and does not need to be replaced with newer equipment.

1.3: Asset Transfer Procedure

Person who wishes to own the equipment would:

- provide the Head of School with an explanation of why it is important that asset be transferred to the new owner rather than be retained by the School.

- remove software licensed to UNSW computers. If the computer is no longer a UNSW asset such things as CAUDIT MS Windows and MS Office, or UNSW licensed Matlab, or Mathematica must not be on the computer.

- agree to wipe sensitive information from the equipment when it passes from their custody.

There will be a disposal sign-off procedure where the Head of School authorises the change of ownership from the School to an individual. Then the asset is marked as disposed and a record is kept of who the new owner is.

A form for transferring ownership (CSE Equipment Disposal Form) is available from the FIPRAS website.

1.4: Goals of this Policy

This policy is intended to cover the transfer of school assets to individuals. This is a major change from earlier policy which prohibited individuals from keeping CSE assets.

This policy would reduce the work associated with:

- disposing assets through UNSW asset disposal.

- recovering computers and wiping personal information prior to disposal.

- storing old computers that no one is using but still hold important research data.

- reallocating obsolete but potentially useful computers

- tracking old assets that are still used in the building

This policy also seeks to balance two conflicting principles:

1. That CSE assets not be disposed in a way that gives individuals an undue financial advantage.

2. That assets that CSE no longer needs be given to people who can still make good use of them. Old work computers of researchers often contain data and software that is still valuable to the researcher.

UNSW no longer tracks assets that were purchased for less than $5000 so almost all computer equipment is not on the UNSW asset register. The money spent is "expensed" in the year of purchase and items are not depreciated on UNSW tax.

CSE still tracks assets less than $5000 to ensure they are used properly. CSE can reduce this administrative burden by giving assets to those current and former researchers who can make the best use of the asset.

Last edited by Robert Doran 12/05/2011

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CSE Standard Equipment

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1: CSE Standard Equipment List

This list is designed to be used in conjunction with the School's policy for provision of computer equipment. It was last modified on 11 August 2010

It comprises a wide range of well specified computers that the School will provide to its researchers. In compiling this list, the School has leveraged savings made by the University in negotiating preferred pricing on specific configurations with its suppliers. Changes to these specifications will require written approval from a supervisor or School head, and will invariably result in a significant cost increase. This would need to be provided by separate research funds.

Researchers can choose any of the options below :

2: Desktop Computers

All desktop computers are provided with an external 1TB USB hard disk for backup and security hardware to lock the computer to the researchers work area.

2.1: HP Desktop

HP 8100 Elite Convertible Mini Tower

Intel Quad Core i7-860 2.8GHz / 8MB L3 cache w/ Hyper-Threading and Turbo Boost to 3.46GHz

8GB Ram(4x2GB)

500GB HDD

nVidia Quadro NVS 295

DVDRW

USB Mouse & keyboard

3Yrs NBD Warranty

1 x LP2475W 24" monitor

or

2 x LA2205WG 22" monitor

2.2: Mac Desktop

Apple iMac 21.5"

Intel Quad Core i5 2.70GHz / 6MB L3 cache w/ Turbo Boost

8GB RAM

1TB Hard Drive

ATI Radeon HD 6770M 512MB GDDR5

SuperDrive

Apple USB Mouse

Apple USB Keyboard w/ Numeric Pad

AppleCare Protection Plan -GOV/ENT/EDU - iMac 3yr on-campus warranty

3: Notebook Computers

All notebook computers are provided with an external 1TB USB hard disk for backup and security hardware to lock the computer to the researchers work area.

3.1: HP Notebook (ultralight)

HP 2540p notebook

12.1" LED-backlit WXGA anti-glare (1280 x 800)

Intel Dual Core i7-640LM 2.13GHz / 4MB L3 Cache w/ Hyper-Threading and Turbo Boost to 2.933GHz

4GB 1333DDR3 RAM

160GB SATA 1.8" SSD Drive

DVD+/-RW DL SM SATA 9.5mm Drive

Intel HD Graphics with dynamic frequency Microsoft DirectX 10.1 (Shader Model 4.1) Weight 1.3kg

Battery 4~6 hours

Additional items

LA2205WG 22" monitor

Desktop Pack (docking station, keyboard and mouse)

3.2: HP Notebook (balanced)

HP 8440p notebook

14.0" HD+ AntiGlare (1600 x 900)

Intel Dual Core i7-620M 2.66GHz / 4MB L3 cache w/ Hyper-Threading and Turbo Boost to 3.33GHz

4GB RAM

250 GB 7200 rpm SMART SATA II Hard Drive

or

160GB Solid State Drive (Intel) DVD+/-RW SuperMulti DL LightScribe Drive

NVIDIA NVS 3100M graphics with 512 MB dedicated gDDR3 video memory

3 year on-site warranty

Additional items

LA2205WG 22" monitor

Desktop Pack (docking station, keyboard and mouse)

3.3: HP Notebook (performance)

HP 8540p notebook

15.6" HD+ AntiGlare (1600 x 900)

Intel Core i7-620M 2.66GHz / 4MB L3 cache w/ Hyper-Threading and Turbo Boost to 3.33GHz

4GB RAM

320 GB 7200 rpm SMART SATA II Hard Drive

DVD+/-RW SuperMulti DL LightScribe Drive

NVIDIA NVS 3100M graphics with 1GB MB dedicated gDDR3 video memory

3 year on-site warranty

Additional items

LA2205WG 22" monitor

Desktop Pack (docking station, keyboard and mouse)

3.4: Macbook Pro

MacBook Pro 13"

Dual-Core Intel Core i5 2.3GHz

4GB RAM

320GB Hard Drive

AppleCare 3 year Warranty

Additional items

Apple Keyboard (Aluminium)

Apple Mighty Mouse

Mini DisplayPort to DVI and VGA adapters

13" Vyper Sleeve

LA2205WG 22" monitor

Last edited by Craig Robert Howie 11/05/2011

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Computers Provided by CSE

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What this policy covers

This policy directs CSE to provide one computer for each higher-degree research student and staff member. The computer will be funded by general school equipment funds and not by funds assigned individually to that person. It is intended that the computer be the person's primary workstation while they are working at CSE.

When the computer stops working, or is not able to perform normal computer tasks it will be replaced by CSE.

The computer and associated peripherals that are supplied according to this policy remain the property of CSE and must be returned when the person finishes studying or working at CSE. Equipment that is still useful will be reallocated at the discretion of the Computer Support Group (CSG).

Defining a primary workstation

This is a laptop or desktop computer that the person will work on directly (rather than remotely) to perform most day-to-day computing tasks. It would be able to run desktop applications as well as software for programming and compiling.

Computers with be regarded as more than a primary workstation if they have more CPU cores, RAM, disk, or other resources than is normal for a commodity computer. Examples of this would be:

- A shared login computer with many cores

- A high-end desktop workstation able to perform intensive computing tasks

- An expensive laptop with a CPU and RAM normally found in a desktop computer

We urge you to use one of the shared servers at CSE for intensive computing rather than buy a new, expensive computer for yourself.

A primary workstation will come with the following extra features and peripherals:

- at least 3 years warranty from date of purchase

- Anti-theft kensington cable lock for laptops with a personal key. (CSG has a master key)

- Anti-theft cables and locks for desktop computers and monitors. Fitted and locked by CSG.

- OSX for Apple computers

- Screen, mouse and keyboard

Some additional accessories can be included in the purchase on request, such as:

- Docking station for laptop

- External harddrive

These extras are included so the person can comfortably use the equipment daily and so that it and the data it contains can be recovered (or replaced easily) in case of mishap.

People this policy does not cover

Some funded contract research positions support the full cost of research. Such contracts should fund equipment unless otherwise agreed by the Head of School.

People this policy covers

Administration staff

They will be given a computer according to their duties.

1.3.2: Academics and other Researchers

This is anyone who is a:

- Higher Degree Research Student

- Core Academic or Research Academic Staff Member, or

- Research Support Staff Member

These people are referred to as "Researchers" in the rest of this document.

Researchers will be provided with a computer according to the rules in the sections below: The computer CSE will provide and Replacement of old, faulty, or lost computers.

Visiting Academics

They will be given a working computer from spare equipment that CSG or an academic can make available. The computer will be similar to one a researcher might receive.

The computer CSE will provide

Researchers who need a general computer

Most researchers will just need a primary workstation (defined above) to work on and may use existing shared servers for intensive computing tasks. In that case they will select a computer from our standard equipment list. The computer will be:

- New or nearly new with at least two years of warranty cover.

- Supplied by a UNSW preferred supplier. (Currently Apple or HP.)

The list will be updated by FIPRAS and CSG depending on market availability, technical merit, OH&S guidelines and UNSW computer purchase guidelines.

How to get the computer

The Researcher should consult the list of computer options at CSE Standard Equipment and choose the appropriate model. They should then go to the Procurements Officer at FIPRAS (Room G08). The appropriate paperwork will be generated and a computer will be provided to the researcher a few days later.

2.2: Researchers who need a special computer

If there is a special research requirement for a more powerful computer it can be bought instead of one from the standard list. CSE will provide funding equivalent to that of a standard computer from the list. Any additional cost has must be funded by research funds.

The qualify for general computer funds the purchase must come from a UNSW preferred supplier. Also, the purchase must include:

- screen and keyboard

- cable lock if the computer is a laptop

- at least three years on-site warranty

Or, those things must already be available. This is a requirement for good OHS practice and to make sure appropriate purchases are made.

If you intend to run the computer headless as a research machine then it won't need a screen. However, it won't then be a primary workstation so you aren't entitled to general funding.

The computer remains the property of CSE and, if the person using it leaves CSE, it will be reallocated at the discretion of the Computer Support Group. Due consideration will be given to reallocation the computer within the research group that partly funded it.

How to get the computer

The Researcher should go to the Procurements Officer at FIPRAS (Room G08). They should bring a description of the special computer and a detailed justification, including endorsement from a supervisor or head. The Procurements Officer will refer the description to CSG for review and a purchase order will made.

Note that special orders will take longer to be delivered than standard computers.

Researchers who require a computer that is not from a UNSW preferred supplier

General CSE funds cannot be used to purchase a computer that is not from a UNSW preferred supplier. The purchase must be paid for wholly from research funds. Such purchases are outside the scope of this policy.

CSE can provide computer peripherals such as a monitor or external harddisk.

Extra Software

Some common software is covered by site licences at CSE and can be installed on the computer by the researcher at no extra cost.

At the time of writing Windows 7 is available under the CAUDIT licence. Other software such as MS Office is also available.

Extra software should be paid for by special research funds.

Replacement of old, faulty, or lost computers

The end-of-life for a computer will be defined by CSE asset disposal policies. When the computer reaches its end-of-life CSE will provide the researcher with a replacement computer from general CSE equipment funds.

Before the end-of-life the following rules apply:

- Faults will be repaired under warranty where possible.

- If a computer has been damaged, lost, or stolen then the researcher must provide the Head of School's office with an explanation of what happened to the computer and an assurance they exercised all due care for the computer.

- If the computer cannot be used for normal research computing tasks because it is not powerful enough it will be replaced with one that is. Note that for special computing requirements additional funds may be required to purchase newer or more powerful equipment.

- If the computer cannot be used for normal research computing tasks due to hardware failure it will be fixed under warranty. If it cannot be fixed under warranty it will be replaced by a similar or better computer.

- The replacement computer will be funded by general CSE equipment funds.

- Laptop batteries are not covered by warranty in the same way as the rest of the laptop. CSE will replace a laptop battery if it fails before the end-of-life of the computer and if replacement batteries are still available from the supplier.

When the person already has a computer

People may come to CSE with their own computer. If the computer can practically be used for CSE work we recommend the person continue to use it. For instance, a researcher might have already configured their computer to run their research software or might be comfortable with the environment they are already using.

CSE can provide a new computer at a later time when the researcher's own computer is too old or fails.

Peripherals, such as a monitor can be supplied if this helps the researcher use their existing computer.

Goals of this Policy

- Reduce administrative burden for processing purchases

- Simplify paperwork for those submitting requests for equipment by offering simple choices.

- Provide a "standard working computer" to a researcher or staff member. The alternative is to ask the researcher to spend time finding vendors and selecting equipment within a funding allowance.

- Save money by selecting more modest equipment

- Save money and time with bulk purchases of common items (eg: laptop locks)

- Allow a small stock of computers and monitors to be kept for immediate allocation to researchers.

Written by Robert Doran, April 8, 2010. Reviewed by: Kathy Mitris, Yvonne Balakian, Craig Howie

Last edited by Adrian Pua 26/05/2011

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Distributed computing policy

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1: Distributed Computing Policy

1.1: Revision History

1.2: Summary of Policy

Users occasionally require more than the use of a desktop and the general-access servers in order to do their research. CSG has a couple of options available for distributed computing.

1.3: Who This Policy Applies To

Staff, postgraduate research and undergraduate honours students with a need to use more than a couple of computers to conduct their research.

1.4: Who Maintains This Policy

Computer Support Group.

1.5: Policy Description

There are two server clusters available in CSE for users with a legitimate need for multiple computers: Hosts.LeoCluster and Hosts.VinaCluster. Leo is intended for AI research; access to it is currently affirmed by Waleed Kadous. Vina can be used for any research; access to it is currently affirmed by Manuel Chakravarty. People.SystemSupport will then be notified and will put the user in the relevant access class, after which they will be able to login to the cluster. On very rare occasions, research may require more computers than these clusters can offer, in which case overnight use of the student laboratories may be requested from People.SystemSupport. Access to the labs is only granted after the researcher (and supervisor, if applicable) discusses their research requirements with the CSG Manager. Daytime use of the student laboratories for research is not granted.

Users who require more powerful computers than CSE can provide could consider consulting the High Performance Computing Support Unit.

Last edited by Computing Support Group 28/10/2010

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Flexi time

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1: Flexi-time Rules for CSG

1.1: Summary of Policy

This policy defines the general flexi-time rules for CSG staff.

1.2: Policy Background

This policy extends Part 4 (particularly section 21) of the UNSW General Staff Enterprise Agreement.

The intent of the policy is to define a framework which gives flexibility to working hours (to assist with varying personal requirements and with handling seasonal work demands), while at the same time:

* honouring "core hours", that you can be expected to be at work and not dumping unexpected load on others in the group.

* not spending large amounts of accumulated flexi-time in a way that makes it hard for the group to work around your absences.

1.3: Who This Policy Applies To

This policy applies to all CSG staff except those people who, because of particular face-to-face contact requirements, have non-flexible roster hours (the System Support group and the Help Desk people). Any hours worked outside of rostered hours may be covered by this policy.

1.4: Who Maintains This Policy

CSG Manager, in consultation with CSG staff and the School Executive Officer.

1.5: Policy Description

1.5.1: Core Hours

Core work hours are from 10am till 12noon, and from 2pm till 4pm. People are expected to be at work (which may be from home or elsewhere, though this should be understood beforehand and if you are going to do it regularly then you should fill out the "working from home" form).

Any plan not to be at work during core hours should be discussed and agreed with your supervisor beforehand. Where this is not possible due to short notice, ring in as soon as possible to minimize any disruption that might be caused by your absence.

1.5.2: Span of Normal Working Hours

While people will generally be working during "office hours", there is no particular requirement to work solely within office hours. That is, if it is personally convenient (maybe because the muse strikes you at 2am) you may work (possibly from the comfort of your own home) whenever is useful.

When work is required outside of office hours (such as handling a power shutdown on the weekend, or being called in by pager while on pager roster), this will typically be considered overtime, must be agreed beforehand with the CSG Manager, and will be paid at overtime rates (which is normal rates for part-time staff, sorry guys).

1.5.3: Maximum Accretions

A maximum of one week (35 wours) of flexi-time can be accumulated at any time. A maximum of 10 hours can be carried over from one year to the next.

If any seasonal work requirements (such as at the start of session) lead to excessive flexi-time be accumulated, it is likely that some of this should be worked as over-time. Talk to your supervisor (or you may lose some of the time accumulated).

1.5.4: Maximum Spend

A maximum of two consecutive work days can be taken as flexi-days, though these can be used in conjunction with annual leave or other forms of leave. In any case, this should all be discussed and agreed with your supervisor beforehand.

1.6: Exceptional Circumstances

As with most employment issues, if any exceptional circumstances make application of this policy difficult, talk to your supervisor or to the CSG manager. It is possible that some mutually agreeable arrangement can be made.

-- GeoffOakley - 12 Apr 2005

Last edited by Computing Support Group 28/10/2010

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Loan procedure

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1: Procedure for the loan of school equipment.

Summary of Procedure

There is often a need to take various school assets of campus. The school has a 'Equipment Loan Form' which facilitates the loan and acts as a record of the loan. School equipment cannot be taken off campus without prior authorisation from the Head of School. Adequate notification should be given to allow for various signatures to be sought.

Who This Procedure Applies To

This procedure applies to any school asset, which has a school barcode(either a UNSW(6-digit) or a CE(6-digit) barcode), which is to be taken off campus.

Procedure Description

1. Request is made for the loan of a school asset, either by email, phone or in person.

2. Blue loan form is collected and filled out by requester.

3. CSG or Stores ensure the loan form is signed by the Head of School and, if applicable, the supervisor before releasing the asset, no exceptions.

4. Blue loan form is collected by CSG or stores and the equipment is released. If collected by CSG the loan form is to be sent to stores, as they administer all school loans.

5. Stores update the schools Asset Database.

6. All loans are to be returned to stores who acquit the loan. A copy of the form can be given to the person for there records if requested.

7. Stores update the schools Asset Database.

8. Stores notify CSG on the return of the asset.

Last edited by Robert Doran 27/05/2011

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Preferred suppliers

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1: List of Preferred Suppliers

Below is a list of reliable suppliers that have been used in the past by the CSG when purchasing equipment.

Important note regarding preferred suppliers

UNSW has signed a contract with HP (through e-volve) (entry 1 below) to provide standard desktop and laptop configurations at greatly reduced prices as well as a discount for non-standard configurations. HP and Apple (entry 2 below) are currently our two preferred suppliers for desktops and laptops. Please talk to CSG if you have requirements which will not be satisfied by these standard configurations for the best ways of meeting your needs. Purchases from suppliers other than e-volve (for UNSW standard models) or Computers Now (for Apple hardware) will generally not be approved unless there are specific grounds for requiring it.

1.1: UNSW IT Procurement (HP)

Website

https://www.it.unsw.edu.au/staff/hardware/computers.html

Provide

- desktops

- laptops and laptop docks

- monitors

At this time (February 2010) there is a choice of one desktop system and three laptop systems. The specifications are at this page and the purchase order form is here.

1.2: Computers Now (Apple Reseller)

Website

http://www.compnow.com.au

Email

sales.unsw@compnow.com.au

Phone

02 9385 2377

Provide

- desktops (PowerMac / iMac)

- laptops (PowerBook / iBook)

- servers (xServe)

- peripherals, components & consumables (including iPods, memory, hard drives etc)

- software (Mac related)

- servicing (liaison to Apple Service Provider)

- kensington laptop security locks

1.3: UNSW IT Services (formerly ACSU)

Website

http://www.it.unsw.edu.au/software/

Provide

software licensing

1.4: Compulock

Website

http://www.compulock.com.au

UNSW Sales Rep

Bill Nicolau

Email

sales@compulock.com.au

Phone

02 9519 881

Provide

computer security cables

Last edited by Robert Doran 05/11/2010

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Resource quotas policy

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1: Computing Resource Quotas Policy

See also the Quota Questions FAQ.

1.1: Summary of Policy

Users do not have unlimited access to CSE's computing resources. Disk usage, printing and internet traffic (excluding email) all have per-user quotas. Base quotas are set in appropriate classes in the User DataBase (UDB) for the various categories of user at CSE. Additional quota must be requested from System Support or purchased.

1.2: History of Policy

- (March, 2004 - Previous revision (avg 50% increase in disk quotas))

- 12 April, 2005 - First revision in online form. Substantial base disk quota increases for most classifications.

- 19 June, 2006 - Added new proposed numbers

- 27 Oct, 2008 - Updated with latest numbers

1.3: Who This Policy Applies To

All users

1.4: Who Maintains This Policy

Computer Support Group, CSE Computing Committee

1.5: Policy Description

This policy is broken down by user classification. Some users will fall inside several classifications. All users should fall under at least one classification (otherwise they wouldn't have any resources).

1.5.1: Base allocations

Current allocation numbers:

Green indicates an increase since the previous policy revision (up to 100%)

Blue indicates an increase of 100% or more

Red indicates a decrease in quota

Classification

Disk Quota

IP Quota

Print Quota

Enrolled in CSE Program

160MB

250MB(*)

100 pages

Enrolled in non-CSE Program

80MB

250MB(*)

100 pages

Enrolled in a CSE subject (#)

60MB

50MB

150 pages

Undergraduate thesis students

500MB

500MB

1000 pages

Postgraduate research students

1000MB

1000MB

1000 pages

Staff

2000MB

5000MB

100000 pages

Visitor/Conjoint accounts

as per staff

1000 pages

Casual tutors (base)

nil

100MB

1000 pages

Casual tutors (#)

120MB

100MB

750 pages

Student Executive (societies)

100MB

100MB

200 pages

Courtesy accounts

200MB

50MB

1000 pages

(*) This is an effective amount. It is actually 125MB for being in a course, plus 125MB for being enrolled in any subject (#) These allocations are received per subject.

General Notes:

- Students get quota once for being in a program, and again for each course (subject) that they are enrolled in.

- Some subjects have special needs, and thus may have additional resource quotas

1.5.2: Additional allocations

The following guidelines are to help People.SystemSupport handle additional resource requests. The numbers are given as Maximum/Suggested increments. The maximum is inclusive of the base allocation. The suggested increments are for when there is no clear need for a larger increment (up to the maximum). Disk quotas are for primary fileservers.

Classification

Disk Quota

IP Quota

Print Quota

Undergraduate thesis students

? (1GB/100MB,250MB,500MB)

1GB/200MB,500MB

?

Postgraduate research students

2GB/100MB,200MB,500MB,1GB(2GB/500MB,1GB)

3GB/500MB,1GB

?/500,1000 pages

Staff/Visitor/Conjoint

5GB/100MB,200MB,500MB,1GB,2GB(5GB/1GB,2GB)

10GB/2GB,5GB

n/a

- All student requests must be approved by the student's academic supervisor.

- All staff requests must be approved by the staff member's supervisor, if applicable.

- Colour print quota: Postgraduate students may be allocated a one-off colour quota of up to 500 pages. This is representative of their being around for a number of years and is the culmination of their thesis (printing it).

This approval represents an acknowledgement that the person's research/function requires the additional resources. In some cases, additional funding may be requested to cover the resource costs.

When a user requires further disk quota, they will need to move their home directory to another machine. A rough guide for such home directories is 1GB base, up to 10GB maximum. Unlimited space (up to disk size) can be used if a scratch space is allocated. A scratch space is not backed up, but also not quota-ed.

1.6: Checking your current allocation

1.6.1: Disk Quota

You can check your current disk quota, and current disk usage by running the disk_guess command. Typical output of this command will look like the following:

You are currently using 8880K which is below your quota of 22528K

Your 6 biggest files are:

<list of files here>

Your 6 biggest directories are:

<list of directories here>

It will also alert you to files which you may not wish to keep in your account, such as core files and .o files. You can get a less detailed output of your disk usage by running the rquota command.

The acc explain=dlimit will also show you a breakdown of your quota, showing you why your quota is set to the value it is. If acc and rquota show different numbers, then you probably have a preserved disk quota, which is only temporary at the start of sessions to iron out ripples in quotas as class allocations vary.

1.6.2: Print Quota

Your current print quota and print usage can be seen in the output of acc. When you run the acc command, you will see some lines relating to your print quota, such as

Printer Usage Status : Post-census Allocation      3585

: Purchased                     75

: Used                        1072

: Available                   2588

The Post-census Allocation refers to how many printing pages you have been allocated due to being enrolled in CSE programs and courses. If your Available quota is 0 or less, you will not be able to print, and will need to purchase more print quota to be able to continue printing (or, in the case of research/thesis students, more may be able to be requested by your supervsior on your behalf). See the CSE Help Desk to purchase more quota.

More detailed information with regards to your printing can be obtained through the priv pquota command. This will show you how many pages you have printed out each day, and give approximate times for the printing. priv pquota -v will show you each print job you have sent, how many pages it was, which computer it was printed from and which printer it was sent to.

1.6.3: IP Quota

Your current IP quota can be seen in the output of ipq, or acc (note that acc is only updated once each day). Detailed information on your usage and allocation can be found using a combination of priv ipq_explain, priv ipq_summary, and priv ipq_list.

1.7: Implementation

When implementing quota increases, decrease additional quotas of all children by the relevant amount, so that any with additional allocations do not get further increases.

For example, say old staff quotas were 200MB, and new 500MB. Also, employee abc has 600MB total disk quota (200MB + 400 additional). When staff quotas are increased, their additional allocation should be reduced by 300MB to keep the total balanced. Resulting in 500MB + 100 additional.

Also take note to apply the above to sub-classes as well as users. Subjects with extra quota allocations should be equivalently balanced.

1.8: Technical Notes

Relevant UDB fields (all are cumulative from subclasses):

- Disk Quota: dlimit, plus the following which should never be used directly: temporarydlimit, preservedlimit

- Print Quota: baseprintallocation, equinoxprintallocation, solsticeprintallocation. Additional allocations are stored in the print quota system.

- IP Quota: ipqbase, ipqequinox, ipqsolstice. Additional allocations are stored in the IP Quota system.

-- SimonB - 12 Apr 2005 -- RobLawther - 23 Jun 2005

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 11/04/2011

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Self Administered Computers

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1: Self Administered Computers

1.1: Introduction

The School of Computer Science and Engineering (the School) provides a large number of wide ranging computing facilities for the use of staff and students of the School. This includes a large number of computing servers, lab workstations, personal workstations, and a large number of devices to support a peripheral and networking infrastructure.

Most of these computers and devices on the CSE network are installed, maintained, and administered by the School's Computing Support Group (CSG). However, the School needs to maximise the number of such systems made available to its user population, while minimising the number of people employed in the CSG to support such systems. To do this, two simplifying decisions have been made:

1. The range and variety of software and hardware systems provided and administered by the CSG needs to be restricted to the smallest subset of such systems that can meet the needs of the largest number of the users (or groups of users) within the School. In practice, this means that the CSG is charged with defining and providing the fewest number of systems that can cater to our three primary groups of users: students, academics, and administative staff.

2. In order to make the administration of these systems as simple and as practical as possible, these software and hardware systems need to be kept under the full control of the CSG where possible. This generally means restricting system root or administrative access to members of the CSG and to noone else.[1];

Nonetheless, some staff and postgraduate students have particular research interests or needs that cannot be met by the general systems provided by the CSG, and who require specific or special software or hardware systems to meet these needs. In general, these staff and/or students will require root or administrative access to these special systems, so that they can install, maintain or administer these software or hardware systems as they see fit. The computers and/or devices hosting such special purpose software or hardware systems are called Self-administered Computers, as they are not considered the responsibility to the CSG to install, maintain or administer.

The responsibility for the installation, maintenance and security of such self-administered computer systems (and of the data held on them), lies entirely with the user (or users) with root or administrative access to such systems. In addition, before such self-administered computers or devices are permitted to have a permanent connection to the CSE network, the CSG requires that these self-administered systems do not behave in ways that interfere with the operation of other computers or systems, either within the School or externally.

This document describes the resources provided by the CSG to those who self-administer their computers, and sets out the requirements laid out by CSE Security Committee's policy on self-maintained computers that these computers and/or devices must satisfy in order to be connected to the CSE infrastructure.

1.1.1: Who This Policy Applies To

This policy applies to all staff and postgraduate students who want to connect to the CSE network, a computer or networked device to which the CSG does not have root access or administrative privileges. It is also recommended that any user who connect to the CSE network via the wireless or dial-up subnets also read this policy and implement, at minimum, the advice on security in the section onSecuring computers within CSE

1.1.2: Who Maintains This Policy

The CSE Security Committee.

1.2: Concepts and Definitions

The School recognises the following classes of computer:

School computers:

Computers (and associated hardware such as printers, monitors and keyboards) which are purchased using the School's Operating Funds.

Non-school computers:

Computers (and associated hardware) purchased using research grants or work/study-related funds other than the School's Operating Funds. These computers still remain a `school asset'.

Private computers:

Computers purchased from other funds, often paid for by individual academics or students.

Virtual computers:

Computers created by such tools as VMware. They have no physical existence but otherwise behave in the same way as real computer hardware. It is possible for a self-administered computer to run a CSG-administered Virtual computer, or for a CSG-administered computer to run a self-administered Virtual computer.

The Owner is responsible for the presence and operation of that computer on the School's network. The CSG owns all School computers and CSG-administered Virtual computers. All other computers (Non-school and Private computers and non-CSG-administered Virtual computers) must be owned by a person who is accountable for the computer and who the CSG and others can contact regarding that computer. Non-school and Private computers are owned by the person who provided or authorised funds for their purchase. Virtual computers are owned by the owner of the computer running the tool that created them. A person may own more than one computer.

The Primary User of a computer will either be the owner, or a person nominated by the owner to whom the computer has been allocated for use on a day-to-day basis. The CSG will ordinarily deal with the primary user (henceforth referred to as the User), however the owner is finally responsible for all issues pertaining to the computer.

Administrative Access: Any computer on the School's network is either CSG-administered or is self-administered. That is, either the CSG or the user has administrative access to the computer. Administrative access confers the ability to perform actions such as: reconfiguring the operating system; installing software or modify files not owned by the user (unless specifically granted access by the owner or by an administrator); affecting the operating environment of users other than themselves; and changing or installing device drivers and modifying the hardware configuration (except for optional or removable components such as external USB or serial devices).

Software support consists of:

1. the installation of one or more separately bootable operating systems on the one computer.

2. the configuration of the operating systems to allow (at a minimum): connection to the School's Ethernet or wireless networks; use of the School's WWW and FTP proxies; use of the School's printers; sending and receiving email through the School's email system; and the access of the user's home directories on a CSG-administered computer.

3. the maintenance of a standard single-boot CSG-installed operating system.[2]

Software support includes installation and configuration of application software where this requires administrative access.

Hardware support consists of repair or maintenance of a computer or its component parts (including keyboard, video display and mouse), as covered under the warranty agreement, when these break or fail to perform their expected function.

1.3: CSG administration of a computer

A computer is deemed to be CSG-administered when its operating system has been installed and configured by a member of the CSG, and administrative access to the computer is restricted to the CSG (ie: only CSG staff have legitimate root or administrator access to the computer). CSG-administered computers have locking or sealing mechanisms to prevent them from being opened and their BIOS and hardware removed or tampered with.

The CSG very strongly recommends users of other computers similarly lock down their computers.

When the CSG administers a computer they ensure that the computer is operational and usable. This means that one of the School's standard operating systems is available on the computer and that standard applications are also available. The operating system and the applications will run and operate correctly; a user on the computer will have reliable access to School network resources such as printers and their home directory; and they will be able to access the Internet.

Any problem or failures during the expected life of the computer will be resolved or repaired by the CSG.

For School computers the CSG will undertake any repairs or upgrades to ensure the computer will operate satisfactorily. For Non-school or Private computers the owner is responsible for any repairs and upgrades.

While being administered by the CSG all aspects and configuration of the computer, the operating system, and any installed applications which can affect the usability of the computer are under the sole control of the CSG. This includes hardware configuration (excepting removable devices such as USB devices), network configuration, installed application software (where such software requires administrative privileges to install).

Users of CSG-administered computers can request configuration changes to those computers. Where practical, and in particular, where such changes are either shown to be of benefit to, or are necessary for, the majority of users, such requests will normally be honoured.

1.4: Self-administration of a computer

Administrative access includes `root' (Unix/Linux) and `administrator' (Windows) privileges. Since access to the inside of a computer can often allow administrative access to be achieved, internal physical access is also considered to be a form of administrative access.

A computer is considered to be self-administered (that is, not CSG-administered) when any user other than CSG staff has available, gains or uses administrative access to that computer.

By self-administering a computer, the user takes responsibility for ensuring that the computer is usable for its intended purpose. This includes providing support, updating configurations, upgrading software, ensuring the computer is as secure as possible from internal and external threats, installing the latest security patches and anti-virus updates, and diagnosing problems. The user also takes responsibility for a number of services that the CSG normally provides, such as backups. See the section on Responsibilities of the User for more detail.

Before being initially connected to the School's network, or after any Operating System installation, a member of the CSG may have to conduct a security audit of the self-administered computer.

1.4.1: Gaining and relinquishing self-administration

A user must have the consent of the owner to gain administrative access to a computer. If the user is a student then they must also have the consent of their supervisor. An email from the owner (and supervisor if applicable), affirming their consent, must be copied to the CSG via System Support (or ss). The CSG must also be informed of any proposed changes to the computer that affect its connection to the School's network, for instance the installation of a new interface or operating system.

An owner may relinquish the administrative access of a user at any time and request the computer become CSG-administered. The CSG will then reformat the hard disk (obliterating all data), reinstall a standard operating system and applications onto the computer, and seal the computer. It is up to the user to retrieve any data they require off the hard disk before the computer is turned over to the CSG.

1.4.2: Operating systems and software available for self-administered computers

The CSG can make available a standard operating system and standard applications for any self-administered computer. The standard operating systems include the Debian and Redhat distributions of Linux, Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000, and Mac OS-9 and OS-X. Standard applications typically include compilers, editors, database systems, office products (spreadsheets, word-processors, etc.), WWW browsers, email clients and virus checkers. This list of applications varies with different operating systems.

Some of this software is also available for other computers (such as Personal computers), depending on licensing restrictions. Otherwise, procuring, licensing, installing and configuring software on self-administered computers is the responsibility of the owner.

1.4.3: CSG Support of self-administered computers

In general, the owners of self-administered computers are primarily responsible for all aspects of the installation, configuration, and maintenence of their computers. The CSG may be called upon (as a resource of the school) to help the owner with problems, but the CSG is not in any way obliged to provide any help. Any help that is provided will depend heavily on the nature of the problem and on CSG's other priorities. The CSG has many responsibilities and few resources, and it may be that the only support that the CSG can reasonably offer is to reformat the hard disk and reinstall the operating system.

The CSG will ensure that access to CSE infrastructure is available for correctly configured self-administered computers. This includes access to the network, to printers and to home directories on CSG-administered servers.

For School computers, the CSG will ensure that the computer hardware is operational and will repair or replace such computers which fail or break as a result of ordinary usage during the expected lifetime of the computers.

Hardware problems for other computers are the responsibility of the owner. The CSG will rarely be able to assist.

1.4.4: Responsibilities of self-administrators

When gaining administrative access to a computer the user takes on responsibility for tasks normally performed by the CSG. This includes, but is not limited to:

1. Complying with School and University rules and policies regarding use of computers.

2. Installing and configuring the operating system and application software. This covers all aspects of the system: for instance, creating printer configuration files and ensuring root mail is sent to the user rather than to root@cse.unsw.edu.au.

3. Maintaining and upgrading software. The CSG strongly recommends users join the appropriate mailing lists so they will be apprised of news and alerts concerning their software. Many software distributions have (semi-)automated update mechanisms; these are particularly useful for getting security updates for software.

4. Ensuring data and work stored on the self-administered computer is backed up. The CSG will continue to back up the user's home directories on CSG-administered servers.

5. Securing the computer and monitoring and maintaining the security of the computer. This is covered in more detail in the Appendix under the section on Securing computers within CSE

1.5: Appendix

1.5.1: Securing computers and devices within CSE

1.5.1.1: Rationale

Security of CSE computers is required for a number of reasons:

Legislative Compliance:

There are various laws and regulations relating to the use, storage, interception, and transmission of various types of data and/or information within the University and Australia. The school is required to ensure that its computers and network infrastructure are secured in such a way that they are not used, either directly or indirectly, to contravene any of these laws and regulations or for any criminal purpose.

Effective use of shared resources:

The School's computing infrastructure, the campus-wide network, and the Internet beyond, is a collection of shared resources. The effective use of these resources depends on a high degree of co-operative responsibility taken by all users of these resources. Anything that impinges upon the fair use of, or access to, these resources by others is a Bad Thing and much of the security infrastructre is about preventing the misuse of, or denial of access to, these shared resources, whether such actions are intentional or not.

To maintain the Good Name of the School and University:

The School of Computer Science and Engineering and the University of New South Wales are held in high regard nationally and internationally. Our continued success as a leading educational and research institute depends on, inter alia, maintaining that high regard. Any activity that reflects poorly on our good name is of itself a Bad Thing.

1.5.1.2: Maintaining Security

1.5.1.2.1: Fundamental security measures

Most illegal or antisocial activity is instigated by unauthorised users who gain access to the computer or device by exploiting known or potential vulnerabilities in the device or in the systems running on that device. The following security measures will help reduce such exploits and attacks:

Restricting Physical Access:

Preventing the devices from being stolen or being opened; having their BIOS or hardware tampered with or removed; or allowing the computer or device to be booted from a floppy or other removeable (and uncontrolled) device.

Proper Software Selection and Configuration:

Selecting software and configuration options with security being a primary concern; Installing software from known and trusted sources; Choosing and configuring secure system passwords and permissions for all installed software systems.

Enabling only essential services:

This reduces the number of systems or services that can be attacked. Most computers only need to accept SSH connections for satisfactory use. Listening for other connections (NFS, ftp, WWW, etc) increases the number of vulnerabilities that might be exposed and exploited. As a general principle, turn off all services; then only turn on those services that are found to be essential.

Keeping software current:

Staying up to date with, and installing:

- New versions of software which often patch or fix security vulnerabilities (as well as add new features);

- The latest virus signatures and security updates.

New viruses often reach CSE within a day or so of being reported overseas, while vulnerabilities in other systems and services are exploited within days of their discovery. It is therefore essential to check for and install such updates from reliable sources on a regular basis (at least weekly).

Eternal Vigilence:

Monitoring system security is essential. This will vary from system to system, but will include making sure that monitoring tools are running and checking reports and logs from those tools and from other system services.

A compromised computer often provides a more secure and trusted platform from which further attacks may be made on other computers. Thus the security of the whole computer system and network can depend on the security of its weakest member, which is why it is particularly important that all computers and devices within CSE (including self-administered computers and devices) be kept as secure as possible.

1.5.1.2.2: Basic steps to securing a computer

The following tips are the bare minimum security maintenance steps that users are expected to take to help protect their computers against compromise. It is also expected that users configure any servers or services that they are running correctly, and with security in mind, but this is too large and wide a topic to be covered here.

All Platforms:

- Install a good firewall and configure it to block all privileged ports except for essential services. If you don't know what something is doing, it probably isn't essential

- Most Windows and Mac users don't run servers on their computers and therefore don't need to keep ports open; *nix users usually run SSHd

- You do not need to keep privileged ports open at your end in order to access websites, instant messaging or other aspects of the internet.

Windows:

- Point Windows Update to http://windowsupdate.cse.unsw.edu.au/

- Ensure your antivirus definitions are current and being automatically updated, for instance enable Norton LiveUpdate.

Debian:

- Add http://mirror.cse.unsw.edu.au/debian-security to /etc/apt/sources.list. See the FAQ for more.

Mac OSX:

- Ensure that Software Update checks for updates daily from http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/

You should also subscribe to the security updates mailing list for your operating system: all major and most minor vendors will have a link for this on their website (usually under Support).

1.5.1.3: Breaches of Security

As part of its charter to prevent, detect, monitor, and remedy, any illegal or antisocial behaviours that either: contravene laws, prevent or restrict the effective use of shared resources, or that besmirch the good name of the School or University, the CSG regularly runs security scans of computers on the network, constantly monitors CSE network traffic, and responds to reports from ITS and external parties regarding traffic entering or exiting the CSE network.

Traffic and/or behaviour that will trigger action by CSG include:

- Denial of Service attacks;

- Port scanning;

- Packet sniffing;

- The creation or intentional dissemination of viruses, worms, trojans, or other malware [3];

- The storage, transmission or distribution of restricted or copyrighted material (eg: porn, video, or music);

This includes traffic generated from computers connected to CSE via dialup, wireless or other remote connections as well as ethernet. If traffic from a host is deemed undesirable, whether indicative of a compromise, malice or misconfiguration, then the CSG will generally:

- Disconnect the host from the network

- Disable network access permissions as required or necessary

- Email the recorded owner of the host, and the user (if known), about the incident.

If the computer is self-administered then the owner is subject to the Three Strikes Policy

When a member of the School is responsible for this antisocial behaviour they will be subject to the University's disciplinary proceedings as well as any criminal codes that might apply.

1.5.2: Three Strikes Policy

The Three Strikes Policy applies whenever a self-administered computer or network device that either belongs to CSE, or that is connected to the CSE network, is detected engaging in any of the antisocial or illegal behaviour outlined under the Section on Security.

As soon as such antisocial or illegal behaviour is reported or detected:

1. The computer or device responsible is (usually) isolated from the network

2. An email is sent by ss to the owner(s) and administrator(s) of the computer or device explaining the situation;

3. A strike is applied against the owner(s) and administrator(s) of the computer or device.

Note that the strike is counted against the owner(s) and administrator(s) of the computer or device, and not against the specific computer or device exhibiting the behaviour.

These strikes accumulate, and determine the number of steps and the severity of the actions required to be taken by the owner and/or administrator before the computer or device is permitted to be reconnected to the CSE network.

Strike 1:

The computer or device will not be re-connected to the CSE network until the administrator has indicated that they have sensibly dealt with the issue.

Strike 2:

The computer will not be re-connected until the administrator has assured the CSG that they have removed the exploit or infection and taken steps to prevent a similar compromise. Typically this assurance will take the form of a detailed email sent to System Support stating exactly what steps were taken, and why. For instance, the self-administrator will have to have done some (if not all) of the following:

- Used an appropriate tool (such as Norton on Windows computers);

- Found, identified, and removed one or more pieces of malware[3];

- Found and fixed bugs or errors in their scripts, programs, or configuration;

- Loaded appropriate security patches for the operating system;

- Updated virus signatures and security patches;

- Put systems in place that monitor the system, and update patches as they are released.

Strike 3:

The third incident will lead to permanent disconnection until the computer or device has been completely and demonstrably reset.

In the case of a computer for instance, the hard disk will need to be reformatted, and the operating system reinstalled from scratch, with all the most recent security patches and software installed and operational. System Support will usually need to witness some or all of these steps.

In some cases, the CSG may be able to assist with saving data to a backup device while the disk is being rebuilt. We might also be able to provide disk-wiping tools, or installation disks (eg: MSDN-AA). However, such assistance will probably require that the computer be on-campus.

In extreme circumstances, appeals for less drastic action can be made to the School's IT Manager, to the Chair of the School's Computing Committee, or to the Head of School. However, none of these channels are likely to be sympathetic.

Where possible, the CSG will deal with breaches of security internally, and within the School. However, depending on the nature and extent of the damage and/or illegal activity, other agents within or external to the University may have to become involved.

The CSG will not diagnose, clean or reinstall your computer for you. At most they will point you towards websites that may help and lend CD/DVDs of ISOs for installation of some popular operating systems. Symantec's website has removal tools for some of the most common worms and trojans but keep in mind that removal tools are not guaranteed to leave your computer completely clean. Reinstallation is the only way to be sure your computer is 100% under your control again.

1.6: Footnotes

... 1

Although it might be possible for the CSG to confer to a select subset of non-CSG users, temporary administrative rights over some systems, this will usually be at the discretion of the CSG, and under their full control.

... 2

The CSG may assist in the installation of multi-boot systems but will not subsequently support them.

... malware 3

Malware is the common term for ``malicious software'', software intended to damage a computer system or disrupt use of a computer system (including corrupting or stealing information).

July 2010 - Zain Rahmat

Last edited by Kam Hoong Cheong 16/05/2011

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Pages in FAQ:

SSH Key Files

SSH, authorized_keys, passphrase

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "printing":

Pages in FAQ:

Changing the toner in Xerox printers

toner, xerox, printing

A2 and A3 Printers

a3, printing

Out of paper

printing, xerox, paper

Running your computer

selfadmin, linux, windows, network, printing

Poster Printing

a0, a1, a2, poster, printing, lamination

Print queues

printing, queue

Print quota

printing, quota

Xerox printer maintenance

printing, xerox

Colour printing

colour, printing

Printing from selfadmin computers

printers, print, printing

Saving files to postscript

printing, postscript

Printing multiple pages

multiple, printing, mlpr

Default print settings

printing, watermark, duplex

Cancelling print jobs

printing, cancel, queue, remove

Purchase quota

network, printing, quota, ipq

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "GPG":

Pages in FAQ:

Pine GPG

GPG, pine, email, encryption

GPG and Apple Mail

GPG, OSX, email, encryption

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "username":

Pages in Policies:

Acceptable username policy

username

Pages in FAQ:

Account names

account, username

Using your account

account, password, username

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "fedora":

Pages in FAQ:

Fedora

fedora, linux, distro

Installing fedora

fedora, linux, distro, yum

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "core":

Pages in FAQ:

Core files

core, file

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "course":

Pages in FAQ:

Course forums

course, forum

Course groups

course, group

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "mobile":

Pages in FAQ:

UNSW Mobile Phones

mobile, phone, optus, lost, sim

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "mailman":

Pages in FAQ:

Mailman

mailman, email, lists

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "lm":

Pages in FAQ:

Licence Servers

licence, licensing, lm

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "asset":

Pages in Policies:

Allocation of old computers to Staff and Students

asset, dispose, old, computer

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "vfs":

Pages in FAQ:

Virtual file system

vfs, opencms

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "forgot":

Pages in FAQ:

Forgot password

forgot, password

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "windows":

Pages in FAQ:

Running your computer

selfadmin, linux, windows, network, printing

Microsoft windows

windows

MSDNAA

MSDNAA, microsoft, windows

Automatic Updates

automatic, OSX, updates, windows

Windows terminal servers

server, terminal, windows

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "backup":

Pages in FAQ:

Self admin backups

backup, feldman, selfadmin

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "mirror":

Pages in FAQ:

Available Software

software, iso, mirror

DVDs on the mirror

dvd, iso, mirror

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "initialisation":

Pages in FAQ:

Initialise account

account, initialisation

Linux initialisation

initialisation, linux, account

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "secure":

Pages in FAQ:

SCP and SFTP

copy, ftp, scp, secure, sftp, remote, file, access, home

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "home":

Pages in FAQ:

SCP and SFTP

copy, ftp, scp, secure, sftp, remote, file, access, home

Remote home directory

VPN, afp, file, home, remote, smbfs

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "proxy":

Pages in FAQ:

Apt proxy

apt, proxy

Internet access

network, internet, web, proxy, DHCP, quota

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "browsers":

Pages in FAQ:

Web browsers

web, browsers

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "computer":

Pages in Policies:

Allocation of old computers to Staff and Students

asset, dispose, old, computer

Computers Provided by CSE

computer, phd, purchasing, staff, student

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "enable":

Pages in FAQ:

Yellow form

account, yellow, password, enable

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "port,":

Pages in FAQ:

User Firewall

firewall,, network,, port,

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "dispose":

Pages in Policies:

Allocation of old computers to Staff and Students

asset, dispose, old, computer

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "robots":

Pages in FAQ:

Robots txt file

robots, web

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "warranty":

Pages in FAQ:

Warranty Support Numbers

Apple, HP, microsoft, support, warranty

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "filtering":

Pages in FAQ:

Filtering email

email, filtering, procmail

Spam assassin

email, spam, filtering

Our spam filter

filtering, email, spam

Filtering out spam

email, filtering, spam, procmail

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "https":

Pages in FAQ:

Restricting web access

authorised, https, restricting, security, web, htaccess

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "microsoft":

Pages in FAQ:

MSDNAA

MSDNAA, microsoft, windows

Warranty Support Numbers

Apple, HP, microsoft, support, warranty

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "fluxbox":

Pages in FAQ:

Window managers

gnome, KDE, fluxbox, linux, labs

Fluxbox

fluxbox

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "address":

Pages in FAQ:

Disabling Multicast Advertising on OSX

OSX, ethernet, address, arpwatch

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "class_accounts":

Pages in FAQ:

SSH authorized keys for course class accounts

SSH, class_accounts, authorized_keys

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "copy":

Pages in FAQ:

SCP and SFTP

copy, ftp, scp, secure, sftp, remote, file, access, home

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "security":

Pages in Policies:

Self Administered Computers

installation, administration, security

Pages in FAQ:

Secure file permissions

file, permissions, security

Restricting web access

authorised, https, restricting, security, web, htaccess

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "gentoo":

Pages in FAQ:

Gentoo

gentoo, linux, distro

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "phd":

Pages in Policies:

Computers Provided by CSE

computer, phd, purchasing, staff, student

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "USB":

Pages in FAQ:

USB storage on CSE Lab Computers

USB, flash, labs, removable, storage

Using various devices in the labs

cdrom, labs, floppy, USB

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "forwarding":

Pages in FAQ:

Mlalias

alias, email, forwarding, lists, mlalias, redirecting

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "messages":

Pages in FAQ:

Lab screen messages

labs, messages

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "help":

Pages in FAQ:

New to CSE

help, overview, introduction, welcome

Getting help

help

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "tests":

Pages in FAQ:

Regression tests

regression, tests

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "mlpr":

Pages in FAQ:

Printing multiple pages

multiple, printing, mlpr

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "lamination":

Pages in FAQ:

Poster Printing

a0, a1, a2, poster, printing, lamination

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "microsoft":

Pages in FAQ:

MSDNAA

MSDNAA, microsoft, windows

Warranty Support Numbers

Apple, HP, microsoft, support, warranty

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "write":

Pages in FAQ:

Cant save files

file, save, write

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "watermark":

Pages in FAQ:

Default print settings

printing, watermark, duplex

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "OSX":

Pages in FAQ:

Disabling Multicast Advertising on OSX

OSX, ethernet, address, arpwatch

GPG and Apple Mail

GPG, OSX, email, encryption

Automatic Updates

automatic, OSX, updates, windows

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "crypto":

Pages in FAQ:

Cryptolab

cryptolab, crypto, COMP3441

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "cluster":

Pages in FAQ:

Cluster computing

cluster, computing

Vina cluster

vina, cluster

Leo cluster

leo, cluster

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "smbfs":

Pages in FAQ:

Remote home directory

VPN, afp, file, home, remote, smbfs

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "a3":

Pages in FAQ:

A2 and A3 Printers

a3, printing

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "toner":

Pages in FAQ:

Changing the toner in Xerox printers

toner, xerox, printing

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "login":

Pages in FAQ:

Accessing CSE login servers

GUI, SSH, X, login, remote, server, PuTTY, XMing

Login problems

account, password, login, disabled

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "openvpn":

Pages in FAQ:

OpenVPN

VPN, openvpn, network, wireless

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "disabled":

Pages in FAQ:

Login problems

account, password, login, disabled

Account Disabled

account, disabled

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "exceeded":

Pages in FAQ:

IP quota exceeded

exceeded, internet, ipq, quota, DHCP

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "hosting":

Pages in FAQ:

Hosting services

hosting, services

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "expiry":

Pages in FAQ:

Account expiry

account, expiry

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "support":

Pages in FAQ:

Support forum

support, forum

Warranty Support Numbers

Apple, HP, microsoft, support, warranty

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "dns":

Pages in FAQ:

Wired network

network, DHCP, dns

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "web":

Pages in FAQ:

Webmail

email, web

Robots txt file

robots, web

Setting proxies

proxies, web

Web browsers

web, browsers

CGI scripts

CGI, php, scripts, web, htaccess

Restricting web access

authorised, https, restricting, security, web, htaccess

Creating a website

html, web, url

Internet access

network, internet, web, proxy, DHCP, quota

Personal domain

domain, web, htaccess

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "workstation":

Pages in FAQ:

Claiming a lab booking

claim, workstation

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "account":

Pages in FAQ:

Initialise account

account, initialisation

Staff accounts

account, staff

Login problems

account, password, login, disabled

User managed groups

group, account, priv, umg

Student accounts

account, student

Alumni Accounts

account, alumni

Account names

account, username

Accounts Overview

account

Account expiry

account, expiry

Yellow form

account, yellow, password, enable

Account Classes and Groups

account, group

Special accounts

account, special

Group accounts

account, group

Account Disabled

account, disabled

Linux initialisation

initialisation, linux, account

Using your account

account, password, username

Account backups

account, backups

Account not backed up

account, backups, buff

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "vacation":

Pages in FAQ:

Vacation mail

email, vacation, autoreply, outofoffice

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "POP":

Pages in FAQ:

Using POP

POP, email

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "lost":

Pages in FAQ:

UNSW Mobile Phones

mobile, phone, optus, lost, sim

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "ubuntu":

Pages in FAQ:

Ubuntu

ubuntu, linux, distro

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "mysql":

Pages in FAQ:

Setting up mysql

mysql, server, database

Running your own server

database, server, grieg, mysql, postgresql, apache

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "UDB":

Pages in FAQ:

UDB

UDB

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "encryption":

Pages in FAQ:

Pine GPG

GPG, pine, email, encryption

GPG and Apple Mail

GPG, OSX, email, encryption

Email encryption

email, encryption

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "purchasing":

Pages in Policies:

Computers Provided by CSE

computer, phd, purchasing, staff, student

Preferred suppliers

purchasing, suppliers

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "services":

Pages in FAQ:

Hosting services

hosting, services

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "poster":

Pages in FAQ:

Poster Printing

a0, a1, a2, poster, printing, lamination

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "claim":

Pages in FAQ:

Claiming a lab booking

claim, workstation

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "a1":

Pages in FAQ:

Poster Printing

a0, a1, a2, poster, printing, lamination

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "network":

Pages in FAQ:

IP Quota charges

ipq, network, quota

Running your computer

selfadmin, linux, windows, network, printing

OpenVPN

VPN, openvpn, network, wireless

IP quota

internet, network, quota, ipq

Connecting your laptop

laptop, network

Wired network

network, DHCP, dns

Wireless Network

wireless, network

Purchase quota

network, printing, quota, ipq

Internet access

network, internet, web, proxy, DHCP, quota

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "IMAP":

Pages in FAQ:

Using IMAP

IMAP, email

Using maildir

maildir, email, IMAP

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "quotas":

Pages in Policies:

Resource quotas policy

quotas, resources

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "remove":

Pages in FAQ:

Cancelling print jobs

printing, cancel, queue, remove

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "gnome":

Pages in FAQ:

Window managers

gnome, KDE, fluxbox, linux, labs

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "Apple":

Pages in FAQ:

Warranty Support Numbers

Apple, HP, microsoft, support, warranty

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "firewall,":

Pages in FAQ:

User Firewall

firewall,, network,, port,

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "disk":

Pages in FAQ:

Disk quota

disk, quota

Extra disk space

disk, extra, quota

Cleaning up files

cleanup, delete, disk, file, quota, space, compress

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "a0":

Pages in FAQ:

Poster Printing

a0, a1, a2, poster, printing, lamination

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "old":

Pages in Policies:

Allocation of old computers to Staff and Students

asset, dispose, old, computer

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "booking":

Pages in FAQ:

Booking lab computers

booking, labs

Booking history

booking

How to use booking tokens

booking, tokens

Lab command

booking, labs

How to use bookterms

booking

Defaulter status in the booking system

booking

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "yellow":

Pages in FAQ:

Yellow form

account, yellow, password, enable

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "html":

Pages in FAQ:

Creating a website

html, web, url

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "welcome":

Pages in FAQ:

New to CSE

help, overview, introduction, welcome

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "mlalias":

Pages in FAQ:

Mlalias

alias, email, forwarding, lists, mlalias, redirecting

Mlalias moderation

mlalias, moderation, email, lists

Mlalias authorised posters

mlalias, email, lists, moderation

Virtual aliases

alias, email, lists, mlalias, virtual

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "elms":

Pages in FAQ:

ELMS

MSDNAA, elms, Microsoft

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "linux":

Pages in FAQ:

Running your computer

selfadmin, linux, windows, network, printing

Gentoo

gentoo, linux, distro

Fedora

fedora, linux, distro

Window managers

gnome, KDE, fluxbox, linux, labs

Ubuntu

ubuntu, linux, distro

Installing fedora

fedora, linux, distro, yum

Linux initialisation

initialisation, linux, account

Debian

apt, debian, linux, distro

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "licensing":

Pages in FAQ:

Licence Servers

licence, licensing, lm

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "space":

Pages in FAQ:

Cleaning up files

cleanup, delete, disk, file, quota, space, compress

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "authorised":

Pages in FAQ:

Restricting web access

authorised, https, restricting, security, web, htaccess

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "computing":

Pages in FAQ:

Cluster computing

cluster, computing

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "password":

Pages in FAQ:

Forgot password

forgot, password

Login problems

account, password, login, disabled

Unipass

unipass, password

Yellow form

account, yellow, password, enable

Using your account

account, password, username

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "ftp":

Pages in FAQ:

SCP and SFTP

copy, ftp, scp, secure, sftp, remote, file, access, home

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "forum":

Pages in FAQ:

Course forums

course, forum

Support forum

support, forum

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "redirecting":

Pages in FAQ:

Redirecting root email

redirecting, root, email

Mlalias

alias, email, forwarding, lists, mlalias, redirecting

Redirecting mail

email, redirecting

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "outofoffice":

Pages in FAQ:

Vacation mail

email, vacation, autoreply, outofoffice

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "XMing":

Pages in FAQ:

Accessing CSE login servers

GUI, SSH, X, login, remote, server, PuTTY, XMing

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "CGI":

Pages in FAQ:

CGI scripts

CGI, php, scripts, web, htaccess

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "unimail":

Pages in FAQ:

Unimail

email, unimail

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "htaccess":

Pages in FAQ:

CGI scripts

CGI, php, scripts, web, htaccess

Restricting web access

authorised, https, restricting, security, web, htaccess

Personal domain

domain, web, htaccess

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "nologin":

Pages in FAQ:

NoLogin Accounts

file, nologin

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "compress":

Pages in FAQ:

Cleaning up files

cleanup, delete, disk, file, quota, space, compress

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "mathematica":

Pages in FAQ:

Mathematica

mathematica

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "cron":

Pages in FAQ:

Cron jobs

cron

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "domain":

Pages in FAQ:

Personal domain

domain, web, htaccess

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "suppliers":

Pages in Policies:

Preferred suppliers

purchasing, suppliers

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "maildir":

Pages in FAQ:

Using maildir

maildir, email, IMAP

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "ethernet":

Pages in FAQ:

Disabling Multicast Advertising on OSX

OSX, ethernet, address, arpwatch

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "labs":

Pages in FAQ:

Booking lab computers

booking, labs

USB storage on CSE Lab Computers

USB, flash, labs, removable, storage

CSE Labs

labs

Lab command

booking, labs

CSE lab map

labs, map

CSE lab locations

labs

Lab screen messages

labs, messages

Window managers

gnome, KDE, fluxbox, linux, labs

Lab Hours

hours, labs

Swipe card access

swipe, card, access, labs

Remote machine access

remote, SSH, labs

Using various devices in the labs

cdrom, labs, floppy, USB

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "tokens":

Pages in FAQ:

How to use booking tokens

booking, tokens

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "HP":

Pages in FAQ:

Warranty Support Numbers

Apple, HP, microsoft, support, warranty

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "subversion":

Pages in FAQ:

Subversion

subversion

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "latex":

Pages in FAQ:

Converting files to and from postscript

convert, pdf, ps, postscript, latex

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "storage":

Pages in FAQ:

USB storage on CSE Lab Computers

USB, flash, labs, removable, storage

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "umg":

Pages in FAQ:

User managed groups

group, account, priv, umg

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "iso":

Pages in FAQ:

Available Software

software, iso, mirror

DVDs on the mirror

dvd, iso, mirror

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "vina":

Pages in FAQ:

Vina cluster

vina, cluster

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "optus":

Pages in FAQ:

UNSW Mobile Phones

mobile, phone, optus, lost, sim

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "remote":

Pages in FAQ:

SCP and SFTP

copy, ftp, scp, secure, sftp, remote, file, access, home

Remote home directory

VPN, afp, file, home, remote, smbfs

Accessing CSE login servers

GUI, SSH, X, login, remote, server, PuTTY, XMing

Remote machine access

remote, SSH, labs

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "access":

Pages in FAQ:

SCP and SFTP

copy, ftp, scp, secure, sftp, remote, file, access, home

Swipe card access

swipe, card, access, labs

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "delete":

Pages in FAQ:

Cleaning up files

cleanup, delete, disk, file, quota, space, compress

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "file":

Pages in FAQ:

NoLogin Accounts

file, nologin

SCP and SFTP

copy, ftp, scp, secure, sftp, remote, file, access, home

Remote home directory

VPN, afp, file, home, remote, smbfs

Secure file permissions

file, permissions, security

Cleaning up files

cleanup, delete, disk, file, quota, space, compress

Core files

core, file

File permissions

file, permissions

Cant save files

file, save, write

Unix file permissions

unix, file, permissions

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "NSS":

Pages in FAQ:

NSS

NSS

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "php":

Pages in FAQ:

CGI scripts

CGI, php, scripts, web, htaccess

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "distributed":

Pages in Policies:

Distributed computing policy

distributed

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "unix":

Pages in FAQ:

Unix file permissions

unix, file, permissions

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "COMP3441":

Pages in FAQ:

Cryptolab

cryptolab, crypto, COMP3441

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "staff":

Pages in Policies:

Computers Provided by CSE

computer, phd, purchasing, staff, student

Pages in FAQ:

Staff accounts

account, staff

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "alias":

Pages in FAQ:

Mlalias

alias, email, forwarding, lists, mlalias, redirecting

Mail aliases

alias, email

Virtual aliases

alias, email, lists, mlalias, virtual

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "flex":

Pages in Policies:

Flexi time

flex, overtime

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "priv":

Pages in FAQ:

User managed groups

group, account, priv, umg

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "xerox":

Pages in FAQ:

Changing the toner in Xerox printers

toner, xerox, printing

Out of paper

printing, xerox, paper

Xerox printer maintenance

printing, xerox

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "distro":

Pages in FAQ:

Gentoo

gentoo, linux, distro

Fedora

fedora, linux, distro

Ubuntu

ubuntu, linux, distro

Installing fedora

fedora, linux, distro, yum

Debian

apt, debian, linux, distro

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "pdf":

Pages in FAQ:

Converting files to and from postscript

convert, pdf, ps, postscript, latex

Displaying Postscript and PDF files

postscript, pdf

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "removable":

Pages in FAQ:

USB storage on CSE Lab Computers

USB, flash, labs, removable, storage

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "print":

Pages in FAQ:

Printing from selfadmin computers

printers, print, printing

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "proxies":

Pages in FAQ:

Setting proxies

proxies, web

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "software":

Pages in FAQ:

Available Software

software, iso, mirror

Non cse software

software

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "apt":

Pages in FAQ:

Apt proxy

apt, proxy

Debian

apt, debian, linux, distro

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "debian":

Pages in FAQ:

Debian

apt, debian, linux, distro

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "ps":

Pages in FAQ:

Converting files to and from postscript

convert, pdf, ps, postscript, latex

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "matlab":

Pages in FAQ:

Matlab

matlab

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "opencms":

Pages in FAQ:

Offline project

opencms

OpenCms

opencms

Virtual file system

vfs, opencms

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "KDE":

Pages in FAQ:

Stop xfig crashing with KDE

xfig, KDE

Window managers

gnome, KDE, fluxbox, linux, labs

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "pine":

Pages in FAQ:

Pine GPG

GPG, pine, email, encryption

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "scp":

Pages in FAQ:

SCP and SFTP

copy, ftp, scp, secure, sftp, remote, file, access, home

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "swipe":

Pages in FAQ:

Swipe card access

swipe, card, access, labs

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "introduction":

Pages in FAQ:

New to CSE

help, overview, introduction, welcome

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "selfadmin":

Pages in FAQ:

Running your computer

selfadmin, linux, windows, network, printing

Self admin backups

backup, feldman, selfadmin

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "feldman":

Pages in FAQ:

Self admin backups

backup, feldman, selfadmin

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "ipq":

Pages in FAQ:

IP Quota charges

ipq, network, quota

IP quota exceeded

exceeded, internet, ipq, quota, DHCP

IP quota

internet, network, quota, ipq

Purchase quota

network, printing, quota, ipq

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "permissions":

Pages in FAQ:

Secure file permissions

file, permissions, security

File permissions

file, permissions

Unix file permissions

unix, file, permissions

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "buff":

Pages in FAQ:

Account not backed up

account, backups, buff

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "unipass":

Pages in FAQ:

Unipass

unipass, password

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "card":

Pages in FAQ:

Swipe card access

swipe, card, access, labs

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "autoreply":

Pages in FAQ:

Vacation mail

email, vacation, autoreply, outofoffice

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "certificate":

Pages in FAQ:

SSL Certificates

SSL, certificate

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "group":

Pages in FAQ:

User managed groups

group, account, priv, umg

Course groups

course, group

Account Classes and Groups

account, group

Group accounts

account, group

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "paper":

Pages in FAQ:

Out of paper

printing, xerox, paper

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "arpwatch":

Pages in FAQ:

Disabling Multicast Advertising on OSX

OSX, ethernet, address, arpwatch

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "licence":

Pages in FAQ:

Licence Servers

licence, licensing, lm

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "authorized_keys":

Pages in FAQ:

SSH Key Files

SSH, authorized_keys, passphrase

SSH authorized keys for course class accounts

SSH, class_accounts, authorized_keys

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "sim":

Pages in FAQ:

UNSW Mobile Phones

mobile, phone, optus, lost, sim

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "overview":

Pages in FAQ:

New to CSE

help, overview, introduction, welcome

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "backups":

Pages in FAQ:

Restoring files from backup

backups, deleted, restore

Recovering lost mail

backups, deleted, email

Account backups

account, backups

Account not backed up

account, backups, buff

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "SSL":

Pages in FAQ:

SSL Certificates

SSL, certificate

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "DHCP":

Pages in FAQ:

IP quota exceeded

exceeded, internet, ipq, quota, DHCP

DHCP

DHCP

Wired network

network, DHCP, dns

Internet access

network, internet, web, proxy, DHCP, quota

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "scripts":

Pages in FAQ:

CGI scripts

CGI, php, scripts, web, htaccess

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "PuTTY":

Pages in FAQ:

Accessing CSE login servers

GUI, SSH, X, login, remote, server, PuTTY, XMing

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "X":

Pages in FAQ:

Accessing CSE login servers

GUI, SSH, X, login, remote, server, PuTTY, XMing

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "yum":

Pages in FAQ:

Installing fedora

fedora, linux, distro, yum

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "automatic":

Pages in FAQ:

Automatic Updates

automatic, OSX, updates, windows

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "resources":

Pages in Policies:

Resource quotas policy

quotas, resources

Pages in FAQ:

Resources at CSE

common, resources

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "quota":

Pages in FAQ:

Disk quota

disk, quota

IP Quota charges

ipq, network, quota

IP quota exceeded

exceeded, internet, ipq, quota, DHCP

IP quota

internet, network, quota, ipq

Extra disk space

disk, extra, quota

Cleaning up files

cleanup, delete, disk, file, quota, space, compress

Print quota

printing, quota

Purchase quota

network, printing, quota, ipq

Internet access

network, internet, web, proxy, DHCP, quota

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "alumni":

Pages in FAQ:

Alumni mail

alumni, email

Alumni Accounts

account, alumni

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "loan":

Pages in Policies:

Loan procedure

loan

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "extra":

Pages in FAQ:

Extra disk space

disk, extra, quota

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "deleted":

Pages in FAQ:

Restoring files from backup

backups, deleted, restore

Recovering lost mail

backups, deleted, email

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "network,":

Pages in FAQ:

User Firewall

firewall,, network,, port,

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "cryptolab":

Pages in FAQ:

Cryptolab

cryptolab, crypto, COMP3441

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "afp":

Pages in FAQ:

Remote home directory

VPN, afp, file, home, remote, smbfs

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "restricting":

Pages in FAQ:

Restricting web access

authorised, https, restricting, security, web, htaccess

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "queue":

Pages in FAQ:

Print queues

printing, queue

Cancelling print jobs

printing, cancel, queue, remove

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "cleanup":

Pages in FAQ:

Cleaning up files

cleanup, delete, disk, file, quota, space, compress

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "MSDNAA":

Pages in FAQ:

ELMS

MSDNAA, elms, Microsoft

MSDNAA

MSDNAA, microsoft, windows

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "database":

Pages in FAQ:

Setting up mysql

mysql, server, database

Running your own server

database, server, grieg, mysql, postgresql, apache

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "wireless":

Pages in FAQ:

VPN

VPN, wireless

OpenVPN

VPN, openvpn, network, wireless

Wireless Network

wireless, network

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "phone":

Pages in FAQ:

UNSW Mobile Phones

mobile, phone, optus, lost, sim

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "enrolment":

Pages in FAQ:

The Enrol Pageboy

email, enrolment

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "updates":

Pages in FAQ:

Automatic Updates

automatic, OSX, updates, windows

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "save":

Pages in FAQ:

Cant save files

file, save, write

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "internet":

Pages in FAQ:

IP quota exceeded

exceeded, internet, ipq, quota, DHCP

IP quota

internet, network, quota, ipq

Internet access

network, internet, web, proxy, DHCP, quota

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "GUI":

Pages in FAQ:

Accessing CSE login servers

GUI, SSH, X, login, remote, server, PuTTY, XMing

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "special":

Pages in FAQ:

Special accounts

account, special

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "procmail":

Pages in FAQ:

Filtering email

email, filtering, procmail

Filtering out spam

email, filtering, spam, procmail

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "email":

Pages in FAQ:

Redirecting root email

redirecting, root, email

Pine GPG

GPG, pine, email, encryption

Mailman

mailman, email, lists

Mailing lists

lists, email

Reading mail

email

The Enrol Pageboy

email, enrolment

Alumni mail

alumni, email

Using IMAP

IMAP, email

Mlalias

alias, email, forwarding, lists, mlalias, redirecting

Webmail

email, web

GPG and Apple Mail

GPG, OSX, email, encryption

Filtering email

email, filtering, procmail

Unimail

email, unimail

Recovering lost mail

backups, deleted, email

Mlalias moderation

mlalias, moderation, email, lists

Spam assassin

email, spam, filtering

Mlalias authorised posters

mlalias, email, lists, moderation

Mail aliases

alias, email

Our spam filter

filtering, email, spam

Not receiving email

email

Filtering out spam

email, filtering, spam, procmail

Redirecting mail

email, redirecting

Using POP

POP, email

Using maildir

maildir, email, IMAP

Email encryption

email, encryption

Virtual aliases

alias, email, lists, mlalias, virtual

Vacation mail

email, vacation, autoreply, outofoffice

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "flash":

Pages in FAQ:

USB storage on CSE Lab Computers

USB, flash, labs, removable, storage

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "map":

Pages in FAQ:

CSE lab map

labs, map

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "virtual":

Pages in FAQ:

Virtual aliases

alias, email, lists, mlalias, virtual

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "student":

Pages in Policies:

Computers Provided by CSE

computer, phd, purchasing, staff, student

Pages in FAQ:

Student accounts

account, student

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "a2":

Pages in FAQ:

Poster Printing

a0, a1, a2, poster, printing, lamination

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "grieg":

Pages in FAQ:

Running your own server

database, server, grieg, mysql, postgresql, apache

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "administration":

Pages in Policies:

Self Administered Computers

installation, administration, security

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "apache":

Pages in FAQ:

Running your own server

database, server, grieg, mysql, postgresql, apache

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "colour":

Pages in FAQ:

Colour printing

colour, printing

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "moderation":

Pages in FAQ:

Mlalias moderation

mlalias, moderation, email, lists

Mlalias authorised posters

mlalias, email, lists, moderation

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "root":

Pages in FAQ:

Redirecting root email

redirecting, root, email

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "multiple":

Pages in FAQ:

Printing multiple pages

multiple, printing, mlpr

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "postscript":

Pages in FAQ:

Converting files to and from postscript

convert, pdf, ps, postscript, latex

Displaying Postscript and PDF files

postscript, pdf

Saving files to postscript

printing, postscript

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "installation":

Pages in Policies:

Self Administered Computers

installation, administration, security

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "restore":

Pages in FAQ:

Restoring files from backup

backups, deleted, restore

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "spam":

Pages in FAQ:

Spam assassin

email, spam, filtering

Our spam filter

filtering, email, spam

Filtering out spam

email, filtering, spam, procmail

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "stulocal":

Pages in FAQ:

Stulocal

stulocal

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "VPN":

Pages in FAQ:

VPN

VPN, wireless

Remote home directory

VPN, afp, file, home, remote, smbfs

PPTP VPN

VPN

OpenVPN

VPN, openvpn, network, wireless

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "postgresql":

Pages in FAQ:

Running your own server

database, server, grieg, mysql, postgresql, apache

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "floppy":

Pages in FAQ:

Using various devices in the labs

cdrom, labs, floppy, USB

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "leo":

Pages in FAQ:

Leo cluster

leo, cluster

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "SSH":

Pages in FAQ:

SSH Key Files

SSH, authorized_keys, passphrase

SSH authorized keys for course class accounts

SSH, class_accounts, authorized_keys

Accessing CSE login servers

GUI, SSH, X, login, remote, server, PuTTY, XMing

SSH

SSH

Remote machine access

remote, SSH, labs

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "lists":

Pages in FAQ:

Mailman

mailman, email, lists

Mailing lists

lists, email

Mlalias

alias, email, forwarding, lists, mlalias, redirecting

Mlalias moderation

mlalias, moderation, email, lists

Mlalias authorised posters

mlalias, email, lists, moderation

Virtual aliases

alias, email, lists, mlalias, virtual

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "printers":

Pages in FAQ:

Printing from selfadmin computers

printers, print, printing

cse taggi

Pages tagged with "convert":

Pages in FAQ:

Converting files to and from postscript

convert, pdf, ps, postscript, latex

See http://www.robotstxt.org/wc/norobots.html for documentation on how to use the robots.txt file

To ban all spiders from the entire site uncomment the next two lines:

User-Agent: *

Disallow: /

Table Of Contents

# See http://www.robotstxt.org/wc/norobots.html for documentation on how to use the robots.txt file

#

# To ban all spiders from the entire site uncomment the next two lines:

# User-Agent: *

# Disallow: /