Miscellaneous Frequently Asked Questions

• How do I change my password?

Log onto shell.cs.utah.edu, and type "yppasswd", this will change your password across all the unix machines in the department. To change your password on the Windows machines, log onto a department Windows machine authenticating against the CS domain and hit ctrl-alt-delete and choose "Change Password".  There is a Windows workstation in the Grad Lab (MEB 3161) which you can use if you don't have access to a personal Windows workstation.

We regularly run our password database against various password crackers.  If your password is vulnerable, your account will be locked without warning.

• How do I pick a secure password?

A good stragegy it to pick a phrase that you can remember and then use the first letter of each word in the phrase.  Modify it with uppercase, numbers, and symbols. e.g.

all good dogs go to heaven

Could become:

Agdg2h!*

Make sure your password (for NIS) is 8 chars in length.  Anything longer gets truncated. Do not pick a proper noun or a word from any language.  Even permutations of words will most likely be caught by the password cracker.

You may also test your password at the PasswordMeter or YetAnotherPasswordMeter. These are just two of many.  Google for others.

• How do I to test my own password to see if it is crackable?

John the Ripper is Open Source software.  You can run it against this word list: /uusoc/facility/contrib/tag/john/8chr.lst.  You may get your passwd via the getent command on shell.cs.utah.edu.

• What if I've forgotten my password?

There are two web front ends, one for ActiveDirectory/Windows and another for NIS/*nix, that let you sync your local passwords to your uNID's password.

Do not email support to ask for your current password.  It is encrypted and we cannot decipher it for you.

• I sent email to support@cs for help with the Visual Supercomputing Center, but no one helped me.

The VSC is not managed by the CS department facility staff. Please email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , and they'll be more than happy to take care of your needs.

• I tried to FTP with my facility username to ftp.cs.utah.edu, but it doesn't work. What gives?!?

ftp.cs.utah.edu is for anonymous FTP only. To use authenticated FTP, please use authftp.cs.utah.edu. The system is set up this way for security reasons. Note that this is only available from internal networks. Please see the SCP/SFTP FAQ for details on how to transfer files through the firewall.

• After I log in to a Unix box, I can't run programs like pine, emacs or anything else I need. What is going on?

You probably don't have the directories containing common programs. In addition to standard system directories, like /bin, and /usr/bin, you probably want /uusoc/opt/bin in your $PATH variable.

If you are using csh or tcsh, you can set the path as follows:

set path = ( $path )

Bourne or ksh users can set the path via:

PATH=$path: ; export PATH

If you want to make the changes permanent, modify your .cshrc for csh or tcsh or your .profile for Bourne or ksh.

• I have a question regarding a class I'm taking, whom should I mail?

You should email your professor or your TA(s). You should not email support. We are not necessarily familiar with the software and/or lessons being used in the class.

• Why do I get a permission denied error when trying to delete a file via Unix when all the permissions are set correctly?

The reason that this happens is due to our netapp boxes supporting both the Windows and Unix worlds. If a you have a file 'FOO' open under Windows and you try to delete 'FOO' under Unix you will get a permission denied message. This is because the Netapp box sees that another program under Windows is using the file 'FOO' and will stop you from deleting it. If you really want to delete the file shut down any Windows apps that are using the file 'FOO' and then delete 'FOO'.

• My question isn't covered here, is there anywhere else I can go?

Yes, we have more detailed FAQs covering each service we offer (some are still being written and/or updated.) Please go to the main support page and look under the FAQ heading. If your question isn't answered there, feel free to email us.