Lab Manual

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Using CSLab Resources [expand/collapse]
CSLab resources are primarily intended for research purposes, though we recognize that often research and classwork do overlap. We also maintain some facilities specifically for academic and undergraduate education. While we maintain an open door policy for our facilities, allowing research facilities to be used for classwork and academic facilities to be used for research, it is imperative that the facilities primary purpose not be interfered with or degraded by its secondary purpose. This document will outline each facility in operation at the time it was written and the policies governing them. Your cooperation and common sense are appreciated in following these guidelines.
- Obtaining CSLab Accounts [expand/collapse]
  
  Any faculty, staff, or graduate student of the Department of Computer Science may obtain an account for CSLab machines. These accounts are often granted automatically as you become associated with the department. If you have an association with the department and do not have an account you may request one through an appropriate sponsor. Your sponsor is usually the person who is your association with the department. If you are a graduate student your sponsor will be your faculty advisor. This person also serves as the billing contact for your account, and administrative contact should the need arise. If you do not know who your sponsor is or have exceptional circumstances that don't fall into the normal category of account sponsorship you may contact Labstaff directly at labstaff@cs.rpi.edu.
  
  Undergraduates taking Computer Science courses may also be eligible for CSLab accounts. Your course instructor will need to request an account on your behalf, and they will become your sponsor for the duration of that course.
- Expiration of CSLab Accounts [expand/collapse]
  
  CSLab accounts will remain active for the duration of a person's tenure with the department, and at minimum 6-months after that tenure. Accounts may be retained longer at the discretion of the CSLab and/or with appropriate sponsorship.
- Suspension and Termination of Accounts [expand/collapse]
  
  Accounts may be suspended for violations of CSLab or campus computing policies. Campus policies are outlined in the ComEC, available on the web. The CSLab recognizes the ComEC as the basis for its policy decisions and further adds to it with the information provided in this document.
  
  Before an account is suspended we will often be send a warning to the account and its sponsor giving you the chance to comply with policy or explain how the actions are within current policy. For this and other reasons it is important that you read your Computer Science email, either directly or by forwarding it someplace you do read frequently. In certain circumstances an account may be suspended without a warning being sent first. If an account is suspended a notice will be sent to the account sponsor and the accounts alternate contact address, usually the RCS email address. At this point the account owner and sponsor must work with labstaff to bring the rogue account within the policy guidelines of the CSLab. The successful completion of this process will result in the restoration of the account. Failure to complete this process will result in the termination of the account. The contents of the account will be provided to the owner on CD.
- Restrictions on Accounts [expand/collapse]
  
  Accounts have few resource limitations placed on them. Because of that, one person can easily take so much that other people are unable to work effectively; you are expected to use cpu cycles and disk space prudently. Graduate students are asked to keep their home directories below 250 Meg, undergraduates under 100 Meg, and guests/alumni under 25 Meg. If resources are abused your account may have restrictions placed on it or be suspended.
  
  If you make unusual demands on the department's systems the labstaff will ask you to explain or justify them and will attempt to make accommodations to meet your needs, this represents the warning that is described above. Failure to reply to this will result is account suspension. Keeping the system as a whole available to everyone will usually take precedence over adjusting to a single person's needs. This is true only of the general CSLab facilities; research facilities, even those administered by the CSLab, defer to the authority of the facility owner for determining detrimental behavior within that facility.
  
  For the purposes of this document CSLab facilities include departmental servers, CSLab and campus network backbones (not individual research facility networks), and general-purpose/public access machines.
- 24 Hour Access to CSLab [expand/collapse]
  
  The main public lab of the CS Department is located in room 217 of Amos Eaton. Amos Eaton 215 is a classroom, but the facilities are publicly available when class is not in session. More details on the contents of each lab may be found in the Description of Equipment section. Amos Eaton 217 is open for use by graduate students and staff Mondays through Fridays from 9:00am to 5:00pm, excluding institute holidays. The door to AE 217 is propped open during these hours.
  
  Computer Science graduate students are generally provided a key which opens the labs to allow 24 hour access. Keys are issued and collected by Terry Hayden and MUST be returned BEFORE graduating.
  The door to AE 217 is permanently locked and must be rechecked whenever you are the last to leave the lab. These guidelines are very important due to the value and mobility of the equipment in the labs. The lab doors should be kept closed and locked outside of normal business hours and all day on weekends and holidays. Everyone who needs access to a lab after hours can get a key to the room.
Responsibilities of Users [expand/collapse]
Users are expected to follow some fairly obvious rules of conduct (in addition to those in the document Policy on Electronic Citizenship, which is published in the Rensselaer Handbook and on the web):
- Don't abuse the equipment.
- Leave the labs at least as nice as you found them.
- If you notice a problem with a piece of equipment (e.g. a computer doesn't respond or a printer doesn't print) or the room in general (e.g. cooling, heating, lighting) please report it to labstaff immediately. Do not attempt to fix the problem yourself.
- Do not adjust the heat or air conditioners. If you feel the temperature is not properly set, inform labstaff; we will attempt to maintain a balance that is healthy for people and machines.
- Never turn off a machine unless a member of labstaff has specifically told you it is OK to do so.
- Do not attempt to reboot a computer. Report problems to labstaff@cs.rpi.edu.
- Do not remove printers and machines from the network without being explicitly told to do so by labstaff.
- Don't monopolize equipment. If you're going to be away from your machine for more than 10 or 15 minutes, log out before leaving. This is both for the security of your account, and to ensure that others are able to use the lab resources while you are not. If you need to leave a workstation for a short time, using xlock is a good idea.
- Try to schedule large print jobs for off-hours. Do not print out documentation that is available elsewhere, and never more than one copy. Xeroxing is much cheaper than printing, and copiers handle the extended use better. Class notes should be copied and made available by course instructors rather than having students print them themselves. If you are not going to be able to pick your printout up right away, wait until later to print it so that it does not get messed up or recycled.
- Use disk space responsibly. You share a partition with a lot of other people. Graduate students are expected to keep their usage under 250 megabytes, undergrads are expected to keep their usage under 100 megabytes, and guests and alumni are expected to keep their usage under 25 megabytes. If you have a special project which requires a lot of space, please arrange to have project space set up.
- Make arrangements with labstaff if you need to run processes in the background for periods longer than when you are logged in.This helps ensure that machines do not get overburdened, accumulate runaway processes, and that programs do not cause unnecessary competition for resources.
- There is absolutely no smoking in either Amos Eaton or Lally.
- No food or drink is allowed in any of the CS labs or near any of the equipment. This includes equipment in offices. Aside from the fact that it leaves a mess and attracts pests, spilling anything on a keyboard or other piece of computer equipment could cause permanent, irreparable, and costly damage. (and in fact has) If you need to eat or drink, take a break and do so in the lounges.
- Please be considerate of those around you, especially in terms of noise level. While labs are a natural place for conversations of all types, kindly keep the volume turned down.
CSLab Resources [expand/collapse]
The CSLab maintains a large number of computing and networking equipment in Amos Eaton, Lally, and select other locations on campus. This equipment is used to support the research, academic, and operational needs of the department. Much of this equipment is general purpose and is open to the Computer Science community as a whole. Other equipment is reserved for a specific purpose, or a specific group of people. This document will outline all of the general purpose facilities, and some of the reserved facilities and who the contact person for them is.
- Computing Facilities [expand/collapse]
  - The SPARC Lab (AE217) [expand/collapse]
    
    There are 20 machines in Amos Eaton room 217. The room is often referred to as the "SPARC lab",as it was historically the only all Sun lab in the department. This lab's primary function is for graduate students and research. This lab has:
    
    20 Dell Optiplex GX300s running FreeBSD
    A PostScript laser printer (slw) capable of 600 or 1200 DPI duplex (double-sided) printing. Printing here is free (as in you won't be charged), it is however logged; please do not abuse it, abuse of lab resources is grounds for account suspension, repeated offenses is grounds for account termination.
    A Postscript color printer (clw). The same rules apply as slw.
  - The SunRay Lab (AE215) [expand/collapse]
    
    Amos Eaton 215's primary function is as an undergraduate and academic lab, it contains:
    
    33 Sun Microsystems SunRay1 terminals
    A CSLab Printer (srlw)
    A DotCIO Printer (ae215lw - not accessible from the Computer Science network)
  - Offices [expand/collapse]
    
    Each graduate office typically has at least one general purpose CSLab machine. While these machines do not restrict logins locally or remotely, it is expected that you seek the permission of the people whose office the machine is in before using it.
  - Research Labs [expand/collapse]
    
    Many faculty maintain labs for use with their research projects. Machines in these labs are typically to be used only by members of the appropriate faculty member's research group. These labs include:
    
    Amos Eaton 118 is dedicated to parallel, distributed, and networking simulation projects. There are currently 3 clusters in this room.
    
    A cluster of 4 quad processor and 8 dual processor Pentium III/Xeon machines running the Linux Operating System. Please see either Professor Carothers or Professor Zaki regarding these systems.
    A cluster of 18 Sun Ultra 10s running Solaris 10.
    A cluster of 24 Dell Optiplex GX300s running FreeBSD
    
    Amos Eaton 211 is the Lab of Carlos Varela and Franklin Luk for distributed and grid computing applications and middleware; specifically "SALSA"
    Amos Eaton 204 is Professor Adali's Multimedia Information Integration Lab, containing several workstations dedicated to teaching and research in that area.
    MRC 331 is the robotics lab of Srinivas Akella, Volkan Isler, and Jeff Trinkle.
- Servers [expand/collapse]
  Network services provided by the department include email, web, filesystem, backup, DNS, DHCP, wireless, routing, remote-access, and firewall. These services are provided by a wide range of machines including sun enterprise servers, cisco switches, extreme networks switches, and PCs running FreeBSD. Servers that you are likely to need are:
  - www.cs.rpi.edu, the departmental web server. Your webpage will appear as http://www.cs.rpi.edu/~USERID
  - ftp.cs.rpi.edu, the departmental ftp server. This is largely deprecated in favor of other utilities like scp and http, and thus only accepts anonymous logins. But for some things you still cannot beat a good ole fashioned ftp server, and there it is.
  - mail.cs.rpi.edu, the departmental outgoing mail server.
  - pop.cs.rpi.edu, the departmental POP/Incoming mail server.
  - imap.cs.rpi.edu, the departmental IMAP/Incoming mail server.
  - remote.cs.rpi.edu, provides the preferred method of remote access to the CSLab network. It is an alias for a large group of machines that is currently further broken down as:
    
    solaris.remote.cs.rpi.edu, Solaris remote access. All running Solaris 9. The machines in the pool at this time are:
    
    barbara.cs.rpi.edu
    jenna.cs.rpi.edu
    patty.cs.rpi.edu
    
    freebsd.remote.cs.rpi.edu, FreeBSD remote access. All running FreeBSD 4.9-RPICS. The machines in the pool at this time are:
    
    monica.cs.rpi.edu
    mary-kate.cs.rpi.edu
    ashley.cs.rpi.edu
    
    irix.remote.cs.rpi.edu, Irix remote access. All running Irix 6.5.20. The machines in the pool at this time are:
    
    momentum.cs.rpi.edu, Momentum is a special machine as it is a 12 processor Origin 2000 ccNUMA machine with 2.5 Gig of memory. It is only in the remote access pool until we can replace it with a smaller machine; at which point momentum will be for special purpose projects that require large address spaces (64bit) and shared memory across multiple processors.
- Printers [expand/collapse]
  Each of the printers in the CS department has a name, this is how you refer to the printer when you want to configure your software to send to a specific device. How you do that depends on your Operating System. Under unix it is either via the "-P" argument to LPR, as follows:
  
  lpr -P NAME file
  
  or via the environment variable "PRINTER", so at a shell prompt, at which point you may omit the "-P NAME" from any of the lp* commands, and the system will automatically send to that printer. If you do specify the -P command line argument it will supersede the PRINTER environment variable.
  
  $ PRINTER=NAME; export PRINTER #sh, bash
  
  $ setenv PRINTER NAME #csh, tcsh
  
  To see a list of jobs currently in the print queue for a printer the command is lpq -P NAME.
  
  To delete a job in the queue, the command is lprm -P NAME job#. Where you get the job# from the output of LPQ. You may put multiple job#s on the command line and it will dequeue all of them. If you omit the job# entirely it will dequeue all of your jobs. You may not dequeue other people's jobs.
  
  In windows you connect to the printer via the network path \\printsrv\NAME. After you install the driver for the printer (the print server will make a recommendation to your machine for the driver to install), you can manage your jobs just like it was any other directly attached printer to your computer; with the exception that you cannot delete other people's jobs.
  
  To setup printing in Mac OS X 10.3 or 10.4, you can install the klprPDE package, which enables printing over the kerberos lpr backend. Alternately, you can configure OS X to print using the Windows printers.
  
  To configure printing from a UNIX computer, you can use LPRng. Your version of LPRng must support kerberos authentication. You can use the sample printcap provided here or configure the printers manually to print through the server gutenberg.cs.rpi.edu. If you are unable to install LPRng, you may also be able to configure your existing print system to print through the Windows network path or via an SSH filter through remote.cs.rpi.edu.
  
  Make sure you select a printer you have permission to use. Printers which can be used by anyone with a CS account are:
  - olw : Amos Eaton 119 (lounge)
  - slw : Amos Eaton 217 (Sun lab)
  - clw : Color printer in AE 217
  - ctlw : Color printer in AE copy room
  - lclw : Color printer in Lally 318 (kitchenette)
  - zlw : Lally 318 (kitchenette)
  - lblw : Lally basement
  - srlw : Amos Eaton 215 (Sunray Lab)
  Other printers on the CS network should only be used if you have the permission of the person whose office the printer is in.
- Additional Computing Resources [expand/collapse]
  
  In addition to the above, Rensselaer's campus-wide computer resources (which are managed separately from the the CS department's facilities) are also available to all students.
Maintaining Equipment [expand/collapse]

The CSLab staff is responsible for maintaining and repairing equipment, services, and software within much of the department. If you find a problem with any of the equipment, services, or software, including outdated software, servers that are not working for you, or a printer that won't print (in general, or a specific job), or a printer that is out of toner, please notify labstaff by sending an email message to labstaff@cs.rpi.edu. Let labstaff fix things rather than doing it yourself.
Using your CS Account [expand/collapse]
- Logging In [expand/collapse]
  
  The first time you log in, it will most likely be through the use of one of the public workstations. The following text will show you what should happen, and what to do if it doesn't.
  
  When you first come up to a workstation (this document assumes a Unix workstation), the screen may be blank. This is from a screensaver program. Just move the mouse a bit until the monitor turns on (it may take several seconds to warm up). At this point you should see one of 3 things: A login prompt, someone else's logged in session, or a screensaver login prompt asking a specific user to authenticate themselves. If you see something other than this you should notify labstaff… once you login. If you don't see an empty login prompt you should move to a different computer. If the lab is full, or all the machines are otherwise in use and the screensaver has the ``Force Logout'' button, please feel free to use it. If the person abandoned their machine without locking it (BAD, NEVER, EVER DO THIS) you may also log them out after checking that they aren't in the room simply talking to some, or on the phone. Common sense and courtesy apply.
  Once you find a machine to log into verify that it is asking you for your username. Occasionally the machines can get out of sync... a person may start to log in and then leave, or someone may bump the keyboard entering invalid data. If it is not asking for your username (instead it will be asking for a password), just hit return and wait a second for the prompt to change; do this until it asks for your username (you should only need to do it once, and in no circumstances more than 3 times. If you do then that machine needs to be reported to labstaff). Also verify that the CapsLock key is not on, and then enter your password and press enter. At this point the machine should be prompting for your password. Enter your password and press enter. At this point the screen should go mauve and a splash screen should be displayed as it starts processes for your login session. Once you are logged in (and the splash screen goes away) go to the menu bar at the top of the screen and select ``Applications -> System Tools -> Terminal''. This will open a Unix command terminal. From terminals such as this you can issue many commands, and run most software. Most importantly you can use this to change your password.
- Changing Your Password [expand/collapse]
  When assigned an account, you are given a login name. This login name is usually the same as your RCS ID, and is typically the first 5 letters of your last name and your first initial, optionally followed by a digit, up to a maximum of 8 letters total. Your account is your responsibility. Do not let others use it. Do not give your password to anyone, ever. Labstaff will never ask you for your password, though we may request that you type it for us. (We don't need to know your password, we can change it. If we really need to know it we will change it to a value we know, and then have you change it to a password that only you know. We do not have any way to know your current password). It is important that you change the password that was assigned to you. Changing it is important because the one assigned to you may have been seen by other people, and because a password that you come up with can be easier to remember for you. You can change your password by using the Unix command ``passwd'' at a prompt. At this time changing your password within Windows does not work. A typical password changing session looks like:
  
  monica crossd $ passwd
  Password for crossd@LAB.CS.RPI.EDU: current password entered here
  Enter new password: New password entered here
  Enter it again: Re-enter password for verification
  Password changed.
  monica crossd $
  
  When picking your password there are a few considerations that you need to make. Specifically it should be something easy for you to remember and difficult for others to guess. It should be at least 9 characters. It does not need to be a "word", it can be multiple words or even a short phrase. Good passwords will also mix multiple classes of characters (a character class being uppercase, lowercase, numeric, and special characters). An example of the process to create a good pass-phrase could be as follows (never use this example, or any example in any documentation):
  1. Tea time at noon
  2. Ttime@noon
  3. Ttime@n00n
  4. Tt1me@n00n
  That is an example of taking a short phrase and distilling it down to a reasonable password that mixes all 4 classes of letters.
  
  There are certain things that should never be used as a password or even the base of a password. Some of these are:
  - Anything printed in documentation
  - A word (a single word) in a dictionary, or a slang word (even non-English words are poor choices - the bad guys aren't always English, and they always have a lot of dictionaries)
  - Your login name
  - A proper name, or any part of your own name
  - A word in the system dictionary (type ``man look'' to find out about checking the system dictionary)
  - Your phone number, your office number, your address, or any part of your DNA sequence.
  In the future the system will be much more restrictive about the passwords that it will consider valid for changes.
  
  Many parts of the password change function instantaneously. Your old password will stop working and your new one will start within seconds of changing it. Exceptions to this include your Windows password and Mail password (if using NTLM for your authentication type); these systems are currently updated once an hour at roughly 45 past the hour. On these systems your old password will continue working until the update goes through.
- Reading Email [expand/collapse]
  As has been mentioned earlier, reading your CSLab email is of prime importance; it is the primary method of contact for many things within the department. On the Unix machines we support 4 primary mail programs, though many more are available.
  - pine, this is a command-line/text oriented mail program. It is ideal for use on the remote access machines, or if you just prefer reading your mail the old fashioned way. It comes preconfigured. Simply type ``pine'' at a Unix prompt, it's relatively easy and straightforward, and there is embedded help if you need it. This is a good secondary mail program.
  - mutt, this is an alternate command-line/text orientated mail program. It is a bit more powerful than pine, and has cleaner support for message threading and multiple mailboxes. It is also a bit more complicated, but is still preconfigured. It is powerful enough to be used as a primary mail application. Just type ``mutt'' at a unix command prompt.
  - evolution, this is the unix graphical mail client, and requires that you be logged in directly to a unix machine, or have X-Windows setup and configured on your local machine. To start the program either open a Terminal Window, or go to ``Applications -> Office -> Ximian Evolution''. This is a very powerful (and a bit slow) graphical mail client that looks and functions a lot like Microsoft Outlook (without the viruses). It is also the newest on our system, and not yet preconfigured. It will step you through a GUI account wizard the first time you use it. Here is some information to help you configure your instance:
    
    reply-to address: USERID@cs.rpi.edu
    Incoming email-server type: IMAP
    Incoming email-server name: imap.cs.rpi.edu
    Use ssl: always
    Authentication type: GSSAPI
    Outgoing mail server: mail.cs.rpi.edu
    Use ssl: always
    Server requires authentication: No (choose Yes if connecting from off campus)
  - Webmail:
    
    http://webmail.cs.rpi.edu/
    
    You will need to accept the SSL certificate for the site if you have not installed the RPICS ``CA'' mentioned in below
    
    Enter your CSLAB user name and password:
    
    This is a ``view'' to the IMAP server, any mail you read/filter/delete will be updated on the IMAP server and visible with any other mail reader you use.
  Mail under Windows can be configured with almost the same options as the Unix client Evolution. The difference is that the authentication type will need to be set to NTLM, and you will need authentication for outgoing email (also NTLM). You may not be given a choice for authentication type. This is ok so long as you use ``SSL/TLS'' to encrypt your sessions.
- Setting up Outlook [expand/collapse]
- Forwarding Email [expand/collapse]
  
  You may chose now, or in the future (after you graduate for example) to forward your CSLab email to a different account. It is important that wherever you forward your email to that you read it at least a couple of times a week on average. To forward your email you can use the websieve interface, or you can edit the file /servers/mail/forward/USERID to specify an alternate address like userid@rpi.edu to send your email to. Here is how websieve works:
- Computer Science Accounts [expand/collapse]
  
  Computer Science facilities are provided to support faculty and graduate student research. They are extended as a courtesy to others which can be revoked. Graduate students should receive their accounts at orientation. Undergraduate students that need accounts for their classwork or special research should have their instructor or faculty sponsor request an account from labstaff.
  
  Individual account requests should be made 1 week ahead of time, and bulk account requests should be made 2 weeks ahead of time. If the exact lists are not available (such as for a class) the approximate number of accounts that will be needed should still be submitted to allow time for load balancing between partitions to be worked out. Requests should include an expiration date and sponsor for the account.
  
  Software requests should be made at least 2 weeks ahead of time. If you know you are going to need a package for class use, more advance notice may be necessary to be able to resolve any licensing issues.
Remote Access [expand/collapse]
Certificate Authority [expand/collapse]

The CSLab maintains its own certificate authority because of the large numbers of services that we offer that use SSL related services. To ensure that you securely use the Lab's resources and avoid annoying warnings about untrusted CAs we strongly recommend you install our CA as one of your root/trusted CAs. All CSLab managed machines are already configured for this. You can obtain our current CA from here.
Sources of Information for the CSLab [expand/collapse]
- Hardcopy Manuals [expand/collapse]
  
  In AE 217 there are bookcases containing selected documentation for SunOS, the X Window System, LaTeX, and other software packages that the lab supports. Documentation is also available for the specialized systems in the department (Origin, etc.). These manuals should not be removed from the lab. If there is documentation that you would like to be made available that is not already there, please contact labstaff@cs.rpi.edu. UNIX also has an on-line document facility called man.
- The man(1) Command [expand/collapse]
  
  The UNIX man command may be used to read entries in the on-line system manuals. These are often referred to as the ``man pages''. Typing man command-name will display the manual entry for the named command on your screen.
  
  Try man man to see documentation for the man command itself.
  
  Of course, the above use of the man command requires that you already know the name of the manual entry you want to see. However, it is often difficult (especially with UNIX) to guess what command name will do what you happen to want done. Thus, there is a variation on the man command which will tell you what manual entries are relevant to some subject:
  
  man -k keyword
  
  prints the header lines for all manual entries whose headers contain the keyword. For example, if you're interested in what languages are available under UNIX, try:
  
  man -k language compile interpret
  
  The entries in the left column of the output may be used with the original example of the man command to get more detailed information. Of course this output depends on the wording of the header lines in each manual entry and may not be complete.
- The Laboratory Staff [expand/collapse]
  
  If you have a system question or problem, you may send a mail message to labstaff@cs.rpi.edu. This is a system-wide mail alias. Please send mail to the labstaff alias instead of to individual labstaff members; this way it is entered into the ticket system and tracked accordingly. Please use a brief but meaningful subject line to make the ticket easier to keep track of.
  
  Retain the automated message to reply to later. It will keep all of the information about the problem together in one ticket. If you find that you no longer need help with the problem, you may close the ticket yourself by making CLOSE the first line in the body of your reply to the message.
File System Backups [expand/collapse]

Roughly once a day the department makes a backup copy of the data stored on our servers. The backup tapes are used in a cycle which results in any given day's backups being overwritten about once a month. Also, on occasion a full copy is written to tape and stored for archival purposes. If you would like to make sure that some particular data gets backed up long term, send a request to labstaff@cs.rpi.edu. The department also has facilities for creating CD's and a few other types of long-term storage.
Recovery of Lost Files [expand/collapse]

Occasionally you may find that you have deleted an important file or have otherwise misplaced some data. In order for the laboratory staff to recover your lost information, send a mail message to labstaff@cs.rpi.edu stating the pathname(s) of the lost file(s) and which day's backup you would like the file restored from.

Since backups are done once a day, it is conceivable that you might create then delete a file before it is backed up. In this case we would not be able to restore the file.

In UNIX ``rm is forever''. UNIX does not mark the file for later deletion, (i.e. putting it in a temporary storage area). Once you rm a file, it is practically impossible to recover it from disk. It might be a good idea to alias the rm command to rm -i, which will request verification before deleting each file. See the man page for more information.

A staff member will let you know (via return email) when you data has been restored, or if more information regarding the loss is needed.
Beyond the Computer Science Department [expand/collapse]
- RCS Accounts [expand/collapse]
  
  Each graduate student is issued an RCS (RCS stands for ``Rensselaer Computing System'') account. RCS is the campus-wide network of UNIX workstations. If you do not already have your RCS password, bring your Rensselaer I.D. to the Voorhees Computing Center (VCC) Help Desk. The VCC is the building with stained-glass windows that is to the right as one exits the lobby of Amos Eaton. Additional information about your RCS account is available from Academic & Research Computing.
- SIS [expand/collapse]
  
  The Rensselear Student Information System (SIS) allows users access to bursar billing information and class registration information among other things. It can be accessed online.
- RensSearch [expand/collapse]
  
  RensSearch allows a user to access library information (including the card catalog, information on materials reserved for classes, and library hours), and various research databases.
- Directories [expand/collapse]
  
  Links to directories of Rensselaer departments, faculty, and staff are available online. You can search through the faculty, student, and staff directory by name.
Frequently Asked Questions [expand/collapse]
- Where can I get virus protection software? [expand/collapse]
  
  Go to here and authenticate using your RCS userid and password.
- What do I do if I already have a virus or worm? [expand/collapse]
  
  If you know which virus or worm you have, you can typically find the proper removal tool at Symantec
- How do I transfer files to and from my account? [expand/collapse]
  
  We recommend using scp (secure copy). Transfers that involve a windows machine need to be initiated from the windows side, though transfers between Unix machines will work from either host. If the system you are using for the transfer does not already have a version of scp installed, you can download one for free from one of the links off of this site.
- How do I set a vacation message? [expand/collapse]
  - Go to here
  - Click on Set Vacation
  - Fill in the desired options, then click on Advanced Options
  - Select yes for Activate Script?
  - Click on Save Changes to make them take affect.
- How do I change my default printer? [expand/collapse]
  - For sh
    PRINTER=name; export PRINTER
  - For csh
    setenv PRINTER name
- My Internet Explorer favorites disappeared. How do I restore them? [expand/collapse]
  The problem is typically due to a problem with the registry. As long as you are careful, you can edit it.
  - Select start -> run
  - Enter regedit
  - Next, browse through to:
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders\
  - Double click on Favorites and update the data field. If your machine is running the CS image, you'll want it to be something like:
    z:\profile_\Favorites
    assuming that z: is the drive mapped to your home directory.
    If it is a standalone install, it's likely to be something like:
    c:\PROFILES\USERID\Favorites
  - Next, you'll also need to update:
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders\
    If your machine is running the CS image, you'll want the data field for Favorites to be something like:
    z:\profile_\Favorites
    For a standalone machine, it'll be something like:
    %userprofile%\Favorites
- How do I manage my mailing list membership? [expand/collapse]
  
  Go to here and log in. Be sure to use your fully qualified email address of the format
  userid@cs.rpi.edu
  
  If it is your first time logging in to the interface, leave the password blank and a temporary one will be assigned to you later.
  
  After logging in, highlight the list you wish to be added to or removed from and then click on Select List.
- How do I enable Spam Assassin to filter my email? [expand/collapse]
  - Go to Websieve
  - Select Add Rule
  - Set the Spam Score at least to a reasonable value. (We suggest starting with it at 10).
  - Select the desired action
  - Click on Save Rule
  - Go to Advanced Options
  - Set activate script to Yes when you are done editing rules.
  - Click on Save Changes
  If you need to change a rule after saving it, change the place it says enabled to modify, then click on Save Changes.
- How do I set up space for a web page? [expand/collapse]
  
  From your home directory, type:
  mkdir public.html
  chmod 755 public.html
  and then put your index.html and other files inside the directory.
- How do I set my web proxy settings? [expand/collapse]
  - If you are using Netscape, look under:
    preferences -> advanced -> proxies
  - If you are using Internet Explorer, look under:
    tools -> internet options -> connections -> lan settings -> proxies
  If you are on the CS network, you can use proxy.cs.rpi.edu.
- How do I print to CS printers from my laptop/windows machine? [expand/collapse]
  - Go to the Start menu and select Run.
  - Type in:
    \\printsrv.cs.rpi.edu\
    You should see a list of printers.
    
    Double click on the printer you wish to set up.
    
    If it's your first time installing that printer on this PC, it will ask you if you want to install the printer drivers. Just click on Yes.
- How do I access my unix account directly from windows? [expand/collapse]
  - To map a network drive, right click on My Computer,
  - Select Map Network Drive from the popup menu. You'll get a dialog box which asks for the path. Type in:
    \\homesrv.cs.rpi.edu\USERID
- How do I configure my laptop to use the modem pool when I travel? [expand/collapse]
  
  There is a charge of $0.05 per minute, and the complete directions are here.
- How do I fix Windows Personal Firewall so that I can print? [expand/collapse]
  - Right click on the affected ethernet/wireless connection, then select properties.
  - Click on advanced
  - Click on settings
  - Click on exceptions
  - Click on File and Printer Sharing
  - Click on Edit
  - Select each of the port in turn and click on change scope for each.
  - Type in 128.213.4.4,128.213.6.10 for each.
- How do I configure Windows Vista to work with samba? [expand/collapse]
- What do I do if Windows Vista print spooler keeps dying? [expand/collapse]

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