The College of Computer Science provides UNIX accounts for all alumni of the College. These accounts are made available specifically so that alumni may use Internet resources to locate jobs and keep in touch with the contacts they made while at Northeastern. Because the College has limited resources, both in terms of support personnel and computing equipment, and because the College needs to focus those resources on educating students who are currently enrolled, a few restrictions have been imposed on alumni accounts -- for example, alumni accounts can only use the computer named `alumni.ccs.neu.edu'. It is our hope that alumni will find these accounts to be useful, and will give us feedback as to how we can improve the alumni account service. The document below should answer most of your questions about alumni account. Alumni Accounts - Frequently Asked Questions --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: Who is eligible for an alumni account? A: Anyone who has graduated with a degree from the College of Computer Science since its creation in 1984. This includes undergraduate as well as graduate degrees. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: Do I have to be a member of the Alumni Association in order to get an alumni account? A: Nope. But we think it's a great idea anyway. To find out how to join, read this URL: http://www.ccs.neu.edu/groups/alumni/how_to_join.html --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: How do I get an alumni account? A: If you already have a CCS account, and you have graduated, your account will automatically be converted over to an alumni account. If you've just graduated, it may take a little while. The nice thing about this is that your email address that you used while in school will continue to function as long as you have your alumni account. You'll be sent email before the change, describing the changes that will take place. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: How do I get an alumni account if I don't already have a CCS account? A: You'll need to apply for one. Get an account request form. They are available in the UNIX lab in the College, or they may be ftp'd from: ftp.ccs.neu.edu:/pub/ccs-info/accounts/account.txt Follow the instrutions on the form... as it says, your account will be created within a few days if there are no problems. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: How long does my alumni account last? A: As long as you keep using it. Unused accounts are a large security problem. If someone breaks into an unused account, no one is likely to notice until way too late. Therefore, if an alumni account is inactive for more than six months, we will modify the account so that it will continue to exist but will no longer be accessible to anyone (specifically intruders). Warning mail will be sent to you before this takes place. If you need to access it after it has been restricted, you will need to contact the Systems Group at the College and prove your identity. If the account is unused for over a year, it will be removed from the system. Warning mail will be sent to you before this takes place. We will not expire active alumni accounts. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: What if I forward my mail to another account on the Internet? A: That's fine. If your account is shut off due to inactivity, your mail will continue to be forwarded. If your account is removed from the system entirely, mail forwarding will quit working. If you would like mail forwarding to continue to work indefinitely, you can contact the Systems Group and ask that a permanent alias be installed in the mail system. This alias will continue to forward your CCS mail to you even if your account has been entirely removed. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: How do I contact the Systems Group? A: Mail to `systems@ccs.neu.edu'. Their job is to administer the CCS network, and they will help with technical problems with the CCS computers and accounts. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: Which CCS computers can I access? A: You can login to `alumni.ccs.neu.edu'. It's currently a sparc10. Your account won't work on any other CCS computer. We think that the one sparc10 should be more than adequate for alumni uses, which should include email, network access, but very little cycle usage. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: How can I access alumni.ccs.neu.edu? A: It's available over the Internet, from the CCS modems, and from the general NU modems. It's kept in the machine room in Cullinane Hall, so you won't be able to access it from a lab. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: Can I use the CCS modems? A: Yes. We don't have very many modems, but they're open to currently open to all CCS accounts, including alumni. The number is (617) 373-8850. Read the file: /ccs/docs/systems/faq/modems for more information about the modems. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: Can I use SLIP or PPP? A: Nope. SLIP and PPP users take up more modem time and more network usage, and we limit their use on our modems quite a bit. If you really want IP access to your computer, we suggest you contact an Internet provider in your area. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: What programs can I run on alumni.ccs.neu.edu? A: Basically everything that's installed on the CCS sparcs. We recommend that you not use alumni for heavy computation. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: How much disk space can I use? A: The alumni disk quota is pretty small - 2 megabytes. However, since you won't be doing homework or research with the account, it should be more than sufficient for most purposes. If you need more disk space that that temporarily, say, when downloading something off the Internet, make a directory in /ccs/tmp and store your files there. Those files will be automatically deleted within 7 days. See the README in /ccs/tmp for more information. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: What happens if my account is used to break the computing policy of the College and the University? (I.e. hacking, harrassment, ...) A: Well, if you notice something suspicious, you should contact the Systems Group immediately, and they'll look into the problem. On the other hand, if someone else notices it, your account is likely to be disabled immediately. If the activity is criminal (such as illegaly distributing copyrighted material), it's quite possible that charges will be filed. Hopefully nothing like this will happen, but you should be aware of the policy, just in case. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------