Account Setup
1 Do you have an active CS Network account?
Important: The CS Dept maintains its own network of Windows PCs and Unix machines. These are separate from the general University PCs maintained by the ITS (the general university computing services).
In this course, you need a CS network account, which is entirely separate from the general University account you get from ITS.
If you had a CS account in the past (if you took other CS courses, you probably did), it should be reactivated. Follow the steps [Confirming Your Account][#confirming-your-account] to be sure.
2 If You Have Never Had A CS Account
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Browse to http://www.cs.odu.edu and click on “Account Creation”.
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After following the account creation procedure, use the browser to view your ODU email and wait for the authentication message.
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After authenticating, you will probably need to finish the steps below on another day.
3 Confirming Your Account
If/when You Have A CS account…
3.1 The CS Windows Network
- Log in on one of the Windows PCs.
If you are on-campus, the CS Dept has labs in Dragas and E&CS.
If you are off-campus, you can do this via the Virtual PC Lab. Open a browser and go to the CS Dept home page. Look for the link to the “Virtual Computing Lab”. Follow the instructions given there under “Connecting” to open a Remote Desktop Connection to a virtual lab machine.
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If you have a CS account login, but have forgotten your password, go to the CS Dept home page and click on “Password Reset”.
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If your account is not working for some other reason, contact the system staff.
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3.2 The CS Unix Network
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Read the Section 1 lecture notes for CS252 and, if you are enrolled in CS252, do the first assignment (“Logging In”).
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If you had taken CS252 in a previous semester, try logging in anyway because things may have changed. But do not actually submit the Logging In assignment.
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Follow the instructions here to log in to one of the CS Dept.’s Linux machines.
If you are able to log in, give the command “pwd”. It should respond “/home/yourLoginName”
- If you see anything else (most likely, just “/”), then there was a problem with your account setup. Contact the system staff.
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If you were not able to log in a Linux machine, were are able to log in to one of the CS Dept Windows machines, then you have probably, at some point in the past, changed your password on the CS Windows network but not on the Unix network. (This is very common among former CS 150 students, as they use only the Windows network in that course.)
Your Unix password will still be whatever it used to be. If you have never used the CS Unix network before, your password will be the same as it was when you first created your CS account.
If you don’t remember what your Unix password used to be, go to the CS Dept home page and click on “Password Reset”.
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If all looks OK, then give the command “exit” to log out.
4 If You Have Problems
4.1 Account Problems: Contacting the CS Systems Staff
Important: the CS Dept.’s computing facilities are separate from the general University facilities run by the ITS. ITS staff at the Technical Support Center in Webb Center cannot, in most cases, help you with account problems on the CS Dept. network.
To contact the CS Dept systems staff, send email to root@cs.odu.edu
4.2 Problems with Website Registration
If you encounter problems when trying to register with either the CS333 or CS252 websites, it’s probably not something the CS systems staff can help with, because if you have done the prior steps, we already know you have a working account.
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Make sure you have read the instructions and responses on the “Course Log In Failed” page carefully.
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Note in particular that you must be registered for the CS course before you can register with its website, and you must have an active CS account before you can register with the course website.
Furthermore, there can be a delay of up to 24 hours from when you first register for the course or create your CS account and when that information is available to the website. Until then, you will not be able to register with the website.
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Contact the course instructor (
szeil@odu.edu
) if that does not resolve the problem.