MEnet Computer and Network Usage Policies

Note: You should read and understand these University of Minnesota Policies:
Acceptable Use of Computers, Networks, and Electronic Information Systems Technology

Guidelines for Using Information Technology Resources

and:
Office of Information Technology Security Policy Site

As the above policies apply to your use of all computers and computing facilities (including your own).

You can download Symantec Anti-Virus here: www.umn.edu/adcs/software/security

Warning:
Violation of any of the below policies may result in temporary deactivation of your account.
Repeated violations may warrant permanent deactivation (as well as other consequences).

Connecting Computers

If you need to connect a computer, send an e-mail to menet@me.umn.edu and include the room you wish to connect it in. We will let you know what you need to do from there.

DO NOT CONNECT any device to any network port in the ME buildings without first consulting MEnet (menet@me.umn.edu). Exception: Ports designated as OPEN PORTS by MEnet on which you must authenticate before you receive network access (your machine must be configured to use DHCP and all other rules apply) - there are NO such ports in ME10 nor ME472

Attempting to connect to a port assigned to another machine constitutes a serious breach of security and is grounds for immediate account closure and loss of ANY AND ALL network privileges for the person(s) and machine(s) involved.

Routers and Access Points (network sharing)

Attaching a machine (or device) acting as a router or switch or bridge is forbidden on ANY University Network - This also includes any device which allows network sharing or wireless access to the network. Note that MEnet provides proper wireless access within our buildings (The new and old Mechanical Engineering buildings and Akerman Hall).

Servers

The running of server programs (ICQ Servers, KAZAA, eDONKEY, Gnutella, most Music Sharing Software, Web Servers, FTP Servers, File Servers, Print Servers, and many others; e.g. ANY PROGRAM THAT SUPPLIES a connection for a client) is not allowed on any machine connected to the MEnet network (including your own) without express permission of MEnet (the only exception is SSHD on your own linux/unix machine). Such servers constitute a serious breach of security and are grounds for immediate account closure and loss of ANY AND ALL network privileges for the person and machine involved.

Sharing of Accounts

Sharing of accounts or passwords is strictly forbidden, and is grounds for immediate and permanent deactiviation of your account. This applies to relatives, spouses, coworkers, supervisors, assistants, and anyone else you might think of giving access to (including Enet/MEnet Staff and 1-HELP).

Also note that using someone else's account or asking for their password is also a violation of this rule (and University Policy) and may subject your own account to closure.

If anyone gives you a password (or access) to an account here (including an X500 account) - you should notify us imediately (DO NOT tell us the password - just that you have been give the password to so-and-so's account).

Note that your University X500 account allows access to private information (your social security number, full name, date of birth, and bank account info through human resources) and you risk identity theft if anyone should get hold of it. It is strongly suggested that you DO NOT use your X500 password as a password for anything else (not even for your accounts with us).

Secure Passwords

Home directory permissions

To maintain system security, your home directory and any files/directories in it, must not be world or group writeable. Again, a world-writeable home directory is grounds for immediate account deactivation.

Additionally, users are expected to respect the privacy of other users. Even if another user's directory is set such that you are able to read their files, that does not give you permission to actually read those files unless the owner of the files has given you explicit permission to do so.

Along these lines, if you have any sensitive information of a personal or academic nature (i.e. homework assignments, letters to girlfriends, email, etc.), you should make sure this information is not world-readable. For information on setting permissions, please read the 'chmod' man page on any Unix system (use the command "man chmod").

Reading Your Mail:

You are required to read email sent to your @me.umn.edu or @ie.umn.edu account.
You may do this by forwarding it to your @umn.edu email address.
See: Reading and Sending Email via Enet Servers

Neglected Terminals/Consoles

(This applies to ALL MACHINES on the Network)

For YOUR security, and the security of your account, it is our policy that users logged on to a console should not leave for more than 5 to 10 minutes without locking the console. If you come up to our office for help - please log out or lock the console first.

Idle Terminals/Consoles

(This applies to machines in MechE 155, MechE 10 and MechE 472)

Due to the high demand for MEnet machines, If you leave a machine logged in for ANY reason, you MUST leave a note indicating the time you left (Note: on Unix Machines the command "soon" will put the appropriate message in the terminal window).

If you have to leave for a long period of time (10 minutes or more), you MUST log out (NO EXCEPTIONS) so that other users can have access to the consoles.
You MUST also remove your belongings from the areas adjacent to the machines. We stongly suggest ALL of your belongings have your name on them - including zip drives, CDs, Flash drives, etc (so if you leave them behind by accident, we can return them to you).

Note: If you have been away for more than 15 minutes, or there is no indication of when you left, the MEnet Staff reserve the right to log you out and move your belongings.

Multiple Console Logins

(This applies to machines in MechE 155, MechE 10 and MechE 472)

Due to the limited number of consoles/terminals in each lab, each user should never be logged into more than one console in a computer labs (MechE 10 and MechE 472). If you need to access another machine, simply ssh to it from the machine you are on.

.rhosts/.shosts files (and the like):

MEnet no longer supports .rhosts files.
Creating a .rhosts file in your home directory is grounds for immediate account deactivation. Users are encouraged to look at the Secure Shell, ssh, for similar functionality.

'Nice'ing background and/or long running jobs

(This applies to machines in MechE 155, MechE 10 and MechE 472 - no jobs on other machines)

All background jobs submitted on ME managed computers must be niced by at least the default nice level of '4' (including any controlling scripts). Nicing a job reduces its priority level and preferrentially allocates the CPU to interactive processes. Please note that in the absence of any other interactive or un-niced jobs, maximum CPU is allocated to the niced job. All un-niced background jobs may be killed.

Only one background job per MACHINE per USER (even if the machine has 8 processors). You may only run jobs on machines in MechE 155, 10 and 472 (for other machines you must have the permission of the primary user / owner). We will allow up to 4 processes per user on our 64 bit Linux machines in MechE 10A (Mothra, Rodan, etc).

Note that this policy also applies to CPU-intensive long-running interactive jobs, even if they aren't "background jobs" per se. For example, if you are remotely logging into "crunch" from your office and start a long matlab job running, that job should be niced as well.

For more information see the Nicing and Submitting Background Jobs page.

Good Housekeeping

(This applies to MechE 155, MechE 10 and MechE 472)

In order to keep the MEnet labs and machines in the best possible shape, users are reminded that having food and beverages in the lab is a privelege. If the lab cleaniness becomes a problem, we will have to ban food and drink from the lab.

So... to help things along we've got some cleanliness rules and guidelines for the lab:

1. You take responsibility for all trash around a computer the minute you log in on the console. It doesn't matter if someone else left it there. You are expected to keep the area around a computer you use clean as a condition of your use of that machine. Contact MEnet if you see trash left in the computer labs.
2. Please DO NOT eat or drink over the computer keyboard, the crumbs from your food will turn the keyboards black and any liquid can damage the keyboard.
3. Please do not use the keyboards with oily hands or while eating chips (same problem as above).
4. Keep your workstation area clean. When you are done, clean up any scrap paper, newspapers, food wrappers, etc.
5. If you spill something, clean it up right away. If anyone spills something on a computer, let the MEnet staff know immediately so we can make sure it is safe to use.
6. Please don't touch the screen (it leaves smears). And if you do, please clean the screen (you can borrow cleaning solution from MEnet in MechE 152).
7. Please dispose of scrap paper around the printer. We've got recycling bins for that purpose.
8. Please NO TRASH in the recycling bins. Paper goes in the paper recycling, cans and bottles go in the bottle recycling, other trash in the trash (the custodial staff have complained about this).

Please, try to keep the lab somewhat clean. We have quality computer facilities, please see if we can keep them looking that way.