The School of Physics and Astronomy has many centrally managed computer systems and websites which are authenticated by a single Physics & Astronomy Computing account. Your physics username and password are the same for Unix/Linux, Email and the website. Most Physics Windows computers use your UMN Active Directory account, which uses the same password as your UMN internet account.

New faculty, staff and graduate students should find they have accounts set up before they arrive. Physics majors should have accounts created within the first few weeks of the year, though they can also be requested via the front office or through SPS.

Visitors will also need arrangements made by the front office to have many of the facilities they need. Please don't just send them down to the computing office for an account, please check our guide on visitor accounts.

If you have not done so yet, please follow this new account checklist:

• Visit My Phys
• Change your initial Physics password. (Under the Account Settings link)
• Ensure you will receive email: Setup mail forwarding to an account you check regularly, or begin checking your physics mail account regularly.
• (Optional) Fill in Directory and Profile information for the website.
• Bookmark us: http://zzz.physics.umn.edu/computing/

The best way to access your Physics Email account is to use a mail program such as Mozilla Thunderbird, or you can access your account via the Physics webmail system, at http://mail.physics.umn.edu. On the Unix or Linux systems, you can also use mutt. Our Physics Email page has more detailed information on accessing your email account.

Important: Updates regarding your account will be sent to your Physics email address, so if you read your email elsewhere, make sure you set email forwarding from your Physics account. Instructions can be found on the Physics support website address above. If we are unable to contact you via email, your account may be deactivated.

Our main Unix server for shell access is physics.umn.edu; individual Linux workstations are available in several other locations. Windows and Linux workstations are available in the room 80 (physics) and 469 (astronomy) computer labs.

To log in at one of our Windows workstations:

• Press CTRL-ALT-DELETE on the workstation keyboard (all three keys together). This brings up the login screen.
• Ensure that “Log on to” is set to SPA, or you will not be able to log in.
• Enter your username and password (you may use TAB to move between the fields on this screen).
• Press RETURN or click OK.

To log in at one of our Linux workstations, enter your username and password in the boxes.

You can remotely access your physics.umn.edu Unix account using SSH (Secure Shell). For those who are unfamiliar with ssh, see: ssh.

All users are normally subscribed to some electronic mailing lists. By default, we subscribe your Physics account to receive list messages of departmental announcements.

If you would like departmental computing-related announcements (such as scheduled outages) sign up on our list server.

By using our computing facilities, you agree to follow our Acceptable Use Policy. In brief:

• Do not share your account or password with anyone.
• Do not use your account for illegal or unethical purposes.
• Protect your own data using appropriate file permissions
• Protect your account and our system resources by using strong passwords.
• Respect the privacy of others.
• Do not attempt to circumvent security or other administrative measures on the systems.
• Contact the system administrators (net@physics.umn.edu) with any questions.

The full policy is available here.

Your Physics account is automatically kept active while you have a current appointment in Peoplesoft and in the Physics Directory. Once you leave the School, an account expiry system starts operation. The system will send you some automated emails warning you of the expiry. You can reply to this email to let us know your needs.

• If you have an ongoing research relation ship with faculty in the School, we can extend your account indefinitely.
• We can also extend the expiry time by 30 days or so if you need additional time to retrieve your files, etc.
• We can set up email forwarding to another address for you.