Security is a very important issue. If you use the workstation for processing any sensitive information (such as references you have written for people) then you should thoroughly understand the security implications. Some of the more important points are:
The workstation is connected to the campus ethernet, and thence through AARNET to the world. Anyone on over a million computers around the world could attempt to login. The only thing that stands between malicious hackers and your files is your password, so it is vitally important that you choose it carefully and change it often. Passwords should be long (say 8 characters), they should not be something obvious like your name or birthday or telephone number (or those of your wife/husband/girlfriend/etc), they should not be any English word, and they should ideally contain a few odd characters like $, %, &, numbers, spaces, and so on. To set/change your password, use the passwd command and follow the instructions it gives.
When you enter your password when trying to login, ULTRIX takes the first 16 characters and passes them through a one-way encryption algorithm to generate an 18 character string. The encrypted string is then compared with what is stored in a special file, and if it agrees, you are allowed to login. We are operating with ENHANCED C-2 level security, which is much more secure than most UNIX systems. Normal UNIX security is vulnerable to attacks from password guessing programs such as cops and crack.
As part of security, ULTRIX will force you to change your password every six months or so. If you don't login during a certain period (currently set to 70 days) immediately before ULTRIX decides to do this, then you will not see the warning message that asks you to change your password, and will therefore not be able to login. If this happens, see Michael Ashley for a new password.
As a general rule, never let anyone else use your account. A common situation is when an academic has a student collaborator, in this case the student should have a separate account, even if the time period of the collaboration is only a few days.
The Physics workstation is for research and teaching in Physics. Activities such as attempting to overcome the security measures, reading other people's files (even if the files are inadvertently read enabled), manipulating disk space or batch jobs in an attempt to obtain an unfair share of the computer, using terminal locking programs, reading/writing to other people's Xterminals, deliberately disabling terminals (by fiddling with colour alignment, or setting the keyboard type to Norwegian), playing games of any sort, storing password files for other computers, collecting pornographic GIF images, using the laserprinters for non-Physics purposes, using the Internet for non-Physics purposes (e.g., IRC or MUD at any time of the day or night, swapping PC programs), and so on, will be most unwelcome and will result in the permanent loss of your account with no warning. This has happened to about 25 undergraduates in the last two years. These rules are not arbitrary restrictions, but have resulted from experience with people abusing the system in ways that has seriously impacted the ability of our researchers to get work done.
Particularly serious infringements will result in a misconduct report being sent to the Academic Board.