Student Server

Introduction

The purpose of this document is to explain, instruct, and advise you in the use of the Students server. This document will evolve and change over time. It may never be an all-inclusive document. However, as the need arises, additions and alterations will be made.

As a reminder, all the rules of the Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) are in effect. If you have not read the AUP recently, you are encouraged to refresh your knowledge of the contents of the ">Student Acceptable Use Policy

To summarize, please be polite in any communication or document, be responsible with your use of technology and your actions, and protect your privacy at all times. Always bear in mind, violations of school policy may result in penalties up to and including expulsion and financial cost. And may invoke local, state and/or federal laws. Be safe.

Thoughts on passwords & security

Security of your account is your responsibility. Please be respectful of the person who did not follow these guidelines and be mindful of these guidelines when you are finished using a computer. The risk is yours to take or yours to protect against!

Safe guarding your password:

* Do not share you password with anyone. There is no reason for anyone else to have access to your account. Even your best friend could make a mistake. Just imagine what someone who is not your friend could do with your account.

* Do not write down your password. Someone may stumble upon it, or you may lose the item on which you wrote it.

* Make your password easy to remember but difficult to guess. Be creative.

How not to choose a password:

* Do not use any word found in any dictionary. Words found in common English, French, Spanish, Japanese, Klingon, or other dictionaries assist password cracking applications to make an attempt against your user name.
* Do not use your name or any combination of your name.
* Do not use your friend's name. In fact, do not use the name of anyone you've every heard of, famous or not, living or dead, fictional or real.
* Do not use any combination of your birthdate, or any other personal information that others may be able to discover, such as street address, home town, social security number, favorite color, shoe size, etc...
* Avoid slang or acronyms or any word that would result in a positive result in any search engine on the Internet.
* Do not use any suggested password found in this document. Someday it might show up in a search engine on the Internet.

How to choose a good password:

* Choose a password that is at least six characters long. Some systems offer a limit of eight characters. However you can use a longer password. Just keep in mind the first eight characters are all that is needed. For instance, you could use "reallylongpassword" as your password. Only "reallylo", the first eight characters, are needed to log in.
* Use a mixture of UPPER-case & lower-case characters and a combination of letters & numbers. This may be more difficult to remember but you should not write it down.
* Use the "Vanity Plate" method. Take an expression you can remember and squeeze it down to eight characters, just as you would if you were to pick a vanity license plate for a car. For example, "GR8passW" But remember, no matter how impressed you are with it, do not tell anyone.
* Deliberately misspell a word or phrase.
* Drop a specific vowel and/or consonant from a word or phrase, or make a rule about dropping a specific character placement, such as the first and fifth letter from a word.
* Use a combination of the above suggestions. Be imaginative. Be random. But make that password tough to guess and be safe.

Logging in & logging out correctly

From a Microsoft Windows computer

1. During the start-up of a computer, it should prompt you with a Microsoft Network Login screen.
2. Enter the User Name assigned to you.
3. Enter your Password.
4. The domain should read "gardiner-hs" with no quotation marks.
5. Click OK.
6. If a second window appears asking to "set Windows password" then click cancel. This is for local security and should not be saved.

To see your home folder, open "My Computer". You should find a driver letter H: This driver letter is mapped to your personal folder on the server. You may save documents or other items to this folder.

It is important to log out when finsihed. To log out:

1. Go to the Start Menu and select Shutdown.
2. Select Restart.
3. Click OK.

There are other ways to log out. However, if GoBack is installed, as in room 205, room 204 or the library then a restart is the only way.

From a Macintosh OS X computer

1. After the computer has started, from "Finder", go to the "Go" menu and select "Connect to Server".
2. Click on Appletalk.
3. Click on Students.
4. Click Connect.
5. Enter you User name in the Name field.
6. Enter your Password in the Password field.
7. Click Connect.
8. Select Home Directory and any other volumes you may need to access.
9. Click OK.

The volumes you selected in Step 8 above will appear on your desktop.

To log out, simply drag all the volumes you added in Step 8 to the Trash, which should say Eject when selecting Disks or Volumes. Be sure to select all the volumes you added. If you are in doubt, then restart the computer.

From a Macintosh OS 9 computer

1. After the computer has started, go to the "Apple" menu and select "Chooser."
2. Select "Apple Share" from the left panel.
3. Double click the server "Students" from the right panel.
4. Enter the username assigned to you.
5. Enter your password.
6. Click OK.
7. Select Home Directory and any other volumes you may need to access.
8. Click OK.

The volumes you selected in Step 7 above will appear on your desktop.

To log out, simply drag all the volumes you added in Step 7 to the Trash. Be sure to select all the volumes you added. If you are in doubt, then restart the computer.

Changing your Password

To change your password:

1. Logon to a computer.
2. Open a web browser.
3. Point your browser to the address http://students/user-password
4. Enter the requested information.

Forgotting your Password Or facing other Login trouble

* Your responsibility is to have a password you will remember. However, if you do forget your password, then it can be reset. If you lose your password, please ask your teacher, or one of the secretaries to email your name and your account name to the High School Tech Team. We will reset your password as soon as it is convenient, and will email the staff member who informed us and your advisor of the new password. This may create a delay of a day or two. Please do not forget your password if you wish to avoid this delay.

If you are having difficulty logging in, inform your teacher. At the teacher's discretion, the teacher or a fellow student may be able to assist you. If there is an error message appearing, then please write it down, forward all information to the high school tech team and we will resolve the problem as soon as we can.
* No backups will be done on this server. It is important for you to note this. If you accidentally delete a file there will be no attempt to recover it.