Accounts, Passwords and Logins

1. Introduction

• Everyone at Duke receives a NetID account issued by the Office of Information Technology.

• Core affiliates of Sociology receive departmental accounts.

It is the general and recommended practice for Sociology account ids to match your NetID. However, the password for your NetID should differ from the password used with other accounts. The purposes of NetID and Sociology accounts are summarized in the table below.

2. NetID Management

Basic management of your Duke NetID and related services is done by web browser through Online@Duke.

If you have forgotten your NetID password, contact the OIT Helpdesk (684-2200) for assistance.

3. Obtaining Sociology Accounts

Make account requests in person by coming to Room 140, Soc/Psych and asking for a Network Account Request form from a member of the computing staff. The form requires your signature, which indicates acceptance that the account is for your use only and that the password will not be shared with anyone.

New accounts for incoming graduate students are set up in a batch. Information regarding their use is provided each fall in an orientation session done by the computing staff.

Undergraduates are not provided accounts unless they are employed in some capacity by the department or are working on a research project sponsored by a faculty member. Undergraduate classroom computing should be conducted in OIT or Arts and Sciences computing labs, which are set up to accept NetID logins.

4. Choosing Strong Passwords

Selecting a strong password is important for overall security of our networks and your individual privacy. When setting up new accounts, you will be guided to select a strong initial password.

If someone learns one of your passwords, change it immediately!

Selecting a good password that you like, can easily type and can remember is hard work. Some simple guidelines for password selection include:

• It is 8 or more characters.

• It is not a dictionary word in any language.

• It is easy to remember – a nonsense word or phrase or an abbreviation of some familiar phrase.

• It contains at least one symbolic character, such as: ~!@#$%^&*()+=.

5. Novell Logins

If your method of LAN access involves use of Novell, a login is performed as follows:

1. Type the <Ctrl><Alt><Del> keys simultaneously to begin a login sequence.

2. A Novell login screen appears. Type your userid into the Username field, then type your password into the Password field.

3. If your Novell and machine accounts are password synchronized, login proceeds.

4. If they are not or the machine account userid is a generic account (such as cluster in the Room 135 lab or grad in most graduate student offices), you will be prompted for the password for that generic account.

6. Novell Logouts

Remember to logout from shared machines. Failing to do so opens your account to abuse or theft.

It is bad netiquette to lock a shared machine so that others cannot use it. It is fine to do so if the PC is dedicated for your use, but we strongly recommend that you logout at least once a week.

Leave machines powered on after logging out. The remote application of system updates requires the machine to be on at all times.

To logout:

1. Save your work.
2. Close all applications.

3. Type <Ctrl><Alt><Del>, to bring up the NetWare Security screen, then select the Logout option.

7. How to Change Your Novell Password

If your method of logging into the LAN entails use of Novell, the following steps are used to change a Novell password.

1. After logging onto the network, type <Ctrl><Alt><Del>.

2. In the Novell Security screen that appears, select the Change Password option.

3. In the change password box, select the DUKE_UNIVER... resource by left-clicking it. This element will turn from grey to dark blue.

4. The PC login id is also listed. If it matches the Novell userid, then you should also change its password to keep the two passwords synchronized. Select it by holding down the <Shift> key and clicking that resource. Both elements will now be dark blue.

5. Type your current password in the Old Password field.

6. Type your new password in the New Password field, and retype it in the Confirm New Password field.

7. Click OK to complete the change.

If you have forgotten your Novell password, contact Bob Jackson.

8. Linux Logins

Linux logins to Sociology systems are typically done from PCs in the department, from home PCs over Internet connections that you have established by broadband, or from laptops over wireless connection.

Three principal servers are accessed in Sociology.

• login.soc.duke.edu - is a general login server that may be used for reading mail and transferring files

• verstehen.soc.duke.edu - is a compute server, with ample memory and two dual-core Xeon processors, for statistical processing

• paradigm.soc.duke.edu - is a secondary compute server, with less memory and about half the processor speed

With your Duke NetID, you can access the OIT Unix system.

• godzilla.acpub.duke.edu - is a general purpose Solaris login server used for email and a variety of Unix applications

• login1.oit.duke.edu and login2.oit.duke.edu - are general purpose Linux login servers

All of the above systems are accessed by means of secure shell (SSH) clients, which are the replacement for traditional telnet and ftp access. They use end-to-end encryption of your session to ensure that your activities and password cannot be snooped.

Departmental PCs are configured with an SSH client consisting of a secure terminal component for command line sessions and a secure file transfer portion for file uploads and downloads. Home PCs and personal laptops should be configured with one of the SSH clients distributed through the OIT Software License Office. We recommend F-Secure for Windows systems. Others options include SSH.com Secure Shell or PuTTY for Windows.

Mac clients provide SSH natively through the terminal application. F-Secure is also available for OS X.

9. Linux Logouts

Remember to logout from all Linux secure shell sessions.

A terminal session on any type of Linux system can typically be ended by typing exit at the Linux prompt and pressing <Enter>.

10. How to Change Your Linux and Domain Account Passwords

Your linux and domain passwords should be kept synchronized. This is done with a password script run under your linux account.

Perform an ssh login to login.soc.duke.edu. At the prompt, type passwd and press <Enter>. This launches a password changing script that first changes your linux password followed by a second step to change your domain password. See the figure below.

Enter your old linux password when prompted. Enter your new password when prompted, then a second time to confirm its correctness. If the two new entries match and the password is acceptable, the password is changed.

The script proceeds to change of your domain password. Enter the old domain password (same as your old linux password) and then enter the new domain password twice, using the same new password you entered for linux.

If the new password you apply is determined to be weak or too similar to the previous one, the change will fail and you will need to rerun the script with a better password. We will ask you to change your password if, during a routine security audit, it is determined to be easily cracked.

• bart : ~ > passwd
  
  Step 1: Changing your Unix(NIS) password.
  Your new Unix(NIS) password must differ from your old
  password by at least 3 characters.
  Changing password for user bart.
  Changing password for bart
  (current) UNIX password:
  New UNIX password:
  Retype new UNIX password:
  passwd: all authentication tokens updated successfully.
  
  Step 2: Changing your (SMB) Windows file sharing password.
  When prompted, please use your old UNIX password for the "Old SMB Password".
  If this is mistyped, you will need to reset your password again.
  Old SMB password:
  New SMB password:
  Retype new SMB password:
  Password changed for user bart
  bart : ~ >
   

If you have forgotten your Linux password, contact Bob Jackson for assistance.

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