Help for the Unix Impaired

The vast majority of Bama users simply use this computer to read their e-mail. Another category of users is only interested in accessing the campus dial-up network. These users will never, and have no interested in ever, connecting to the Unix operating system directly. However, there are tasks that these users may need to do which normally would require them to login. To assist them in staying Unix-free we have developed a set of tools on the web that can perform Unix tasks for them. We call these the "Unix Helpers" and they are available at http://bama.ua.edu/~unixinfo/helpers. Since these forms require a password, they are only accessible from an on-campus network address.

(Editor's note: Since these helpers are now running under SSL--secure socket layer--they are almost all now available off-campus.)

There are now three categories of helpers. These are account assistance, e-mail assistance, and web page assistance. The helpers are web-based forms that you fill out. When submitted, the action is carried out right away.

Account Assistance

The account assistance pages have helpers for changing your Bama password, changing your Unix shell, and checking your quota. The quota check is quite straightforward, you simply provide your userid and password and press submit. You will receive on-screen a report showing the size of your quota and how much space you are using.

The password change form requires your Bama userid and current password and asks you to type in a new password, repeated in two separate fields. Before the change actually takes place the new password is checked to see that it conforms to the password rules and is not too easily guessed. If it fails either test you will be asked to choose a different new password.

Your Unix shell determines how you interact with the system. All new accounts are being given a "remote" shell, which will work for dial-up authentication and remote email retrieval only. If you want to work directly on the Unix system, you will have to turn on an interactive shell. The web shell-change helper has more information on this.

E-mail Assistance

The e-mail assistance pages will let you set up e-mail forwarding, set up a vacation message, or block unwanted e-mail messages. E-mail forwarding, once set, will route all messages sent to you Bama on to the address which you specify. There is also an option to keep a copy of the message on Bama. When you submit the form, a confirmation email will be sent to your Bama account to check the forwarding. You should get an e-mail message at the intended end-machine from the helper program. If you do not, you can assume that you typed in the email address incorrectly. Simply rerun the forward helper, taking care to put in the correct email forwarding address. Note that setting e-mail forwarding will not affect messages already on Bama. If you want these moved you will have to forward them yourself. This helper can also be used to turn off e-mail forwarding.

The vacation e-mail response can be used to send an automatic reply to advise your e-mail correspondents that you are away from your computer for a time and can't respond. It is designed to send only one message per sender so that they don't get repeated responses with the same "I'm away" message. It is also designed to be mailing-list friendly. It should not respond to any message you receive from mailing lists to which you are subscribed. Doing so is considered to be very rude. It also will work for e-mail coming to either your "@bama.ua.edu" address or your "@ua.edu" alias. This same helper can be used to turn off the vacation response.

E-mail blocking can be used to prevent delivery of messages from a named individual. You can use this if you are receiving email from someone that you do not wish to receive.

Web Page Protection Assistance

The web assistance page will take you step by step through the process of password or network protecting your web pages. With the password protection you can set up a web userid and password for yourself and, optionally, one for students. With network protection users are not required to supply a password to view the web page, they must just have to be on the right computer network. Network protection has three levels of security. You can limit access to the specific machine you are using when you run the helper (such as your office computer), you can limit access to the same subnet you are using when you run the helper, or you can limit access to the campus. An example of the subnet option is that if you are sitting at a computer in the Math department, then all other computers connected through the math department would be able to view the page. Note that you can specify both network and password protection. The network protection takes precedence. With both specified, if you are on your own office machine and protect-by-network to that machine, you won't need to input a password to view your own work. All others wishing to see your page would need to give a password. This same helper can be used to clear the web page protection. There is a FAQ that you can get to from the "helpers" page for more information on protecting web pages.

© 1999, The University of Alabama. The information included here is for the University of Alabama central computing facility as it was configured on the document date. It may or may not apply to other Unix systems.

August 29, 1999 Vol. 4 Index Back to Vol. 3, No. 10 Ahead to Vol. 4, No. 2		Search:

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	Help for the Unix Impaired The vast majority of Bama users simply use this computer to read their e-mail. Another category of users is only interested in accessing the campus dial-up network. These users will never, and have no interested in ever, connecting to the Unix operating system directly. However, there are tasks that these users may need to do which normally would require them to login. To assist them in staying Unix-free we have developed a set of tools on the web that can perform Unix tasks for them. We call these the "Unix Helpers" and they are available at http://bama.ua.edu/~unixinfo/helpers. Since these forms require a password, they are only accessible from an on-campus network address. (Editor's note: Since these helpers are now running under SSL--secure socket layer--they are almost all now available off-campus.) There are now three categories of helpers. These are account assistance, e-mail assistance, and web page assistance. The helpers are web-based forms that you fill out. When submitted, the action is carried out right away. Account Assistance The account assistance pages have helpers for changing your Bama password, changing your Unix shell, and checking your quota. The quota check is quite straightforward, you simply provide your userid and password and press submit. You will receive on-screen a report showing the size of your quota and how much space you are using. The password change form requires your Bama userid and current password and asks you to type in a new password, repeated in two separate fields. Before the change actually takes place the new password is checked to see that it conforms to the password rules and is not too easily guessed. If it fails either test you will be asked to choose a different new password. Your Unix shell determines how you interact with the system. All new accounts are being given a "remote" shell, which will work for dial-up authentication and remote email retrieval only. If you want to work directly on the Unix system, you will have to turn on an interactive shell. The web shell-change helper has more information on this. E-mail Assistance The e-mail assistance pages will let you set up e-mail forwarding, set up a vacation message, or block unwanted e-mail messages. E-mail forwarding, once set, will route all messages sent to you Bama on to the address which you specify. There is also an option to keep a copy of the message on Bama. When you submit the form, a confirmation email will be sent to your Bama account to check the forwarding. You should get an e-mail message at the intended end-machine from the helper program. If you do not, you can assume that you typed in the email address incorrectly. Simply rerun the forward helper, taking care to put in the correct email forwarding address. Note that setting e-mail forwarding will not affect messages already on Bama. If you want these moved you will have to forward them yourself. This helper can also be used to turn off e-mail forwarding. The vacation e-mail response can be used to send an automatic reply to advise your e-mail correspondents that you are away from your computer for a time and can't respond. It is designed to send only one message per sender so that they don't get repeated responses with the same "I'm away" message. It is also designed to be mailing-list friendly. It should not respond to any message you receive from mailing lists to which you are subscribed. Doing so is considered to be very rude. It also will work for e-mail coming to either your "@bama.ua.edu" address or your "@ua.edu" alias. This same helper can be used to turn off the vacation response. E-mail blocking can be used to prevent delivery of messages from a named individual. You can use this if you are receiving email from someone that you do not wish to receive. Web Page Protection Assistance The web assistance page will take you step by step through the process of password or network protecting your web pages. With the password protection you can set up a web userid and password for yourself and, optionally, one for students. With network protection users are not required to supply a password to view the web page, they must just have to be on the right computer network. Network protection has three levels of security. You can limit access to the specific machine you are using when you run the helper (such as your office computer), you can limit access to the same subnet you are using when you run the helper, or you can limit access to the campus. An example of the subnet option is that if you are sitting at a computer in the Math department, then all other computers connected through the math department would be able to view the page. Note that you can specify both network and password protection. The network protection takes precedence. With both specified, if you are on your own office machine and protect-by-network to that machine, you won't need to input a password to view your own work. All others wishing to see your page would need to give a password. This same helper can be used to clear the web page protection. There is a FAQ that you can get to from the "helpers" page for more information on protecting web pages. © 1999, The University of Alabama. The information included here is for the University of Alabama central computing facility as it was configured on the document date. It may or may not apply to other Unix systems.
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