The Student Email Server Frequently Asked Questions List
(from the Unix Systems Group)

This document is out of date; expect corrections to appear over the coming months.

Last updated Tue Apr 25 09:58:55 PDT 2000

  1. Electronic Mail
    1. What mail clients are supported?
    2. I can't route my outgoing POP/IMAP mail through student. Why not?
    3. I don't receive mail anymore.
    4. I want to be sure that my e-mail can't be read by others, what do I do?
    5. How do I forward my e-mail to another place?
    6. Someone sent me offensive e-mail, what do I do?
  2. WWW
    1. Do I get my own www page?
    2. How do I get my name off the list of student web pages?
    3. What www browsers are supported?
  3. Printing
    1. What printers can I use?
  4. Access
    1. From where can I access student?
    2. Are there any access restrictions?
  5. Software
    1. My favorite software package isn't installed, what should I do?
    2. What software is supported for...
    3. Can I install my own software?
    4. What is slirp, and how do I set it up?
    5. How do I download stuff using zmodem?
  6. General
    1. How much disk space do I get?
    2. Who gets an account on student?
    3. How long does my account last?
    4. How do I change my password?
  7. Acceptable Use
    1. Things that you should not do:

Mail

  1. What mail clients are supported?

    Mail is only available via POP and IMAP, hence only mail clients which support these protocols are supported.

  2. I can't route my outgoing POP/IMAP mail through student. Why not?
    Because of spamming, student does not relay mail for hosts outside of ucr.edu. Unfortunately, pop and imap mail are treated as relayed mail, so student refuses to deliver it. Short of doing weird things like tunneling with ssh, there is nothing to be done about this. Relay your mail through your ISP, or don't use pop/imap.

  3. I don't receive mail anymore; what's the problem?
    You're probably over quota on the mail spool. Type quota -v, and look for the line that starts /var/mail, The current limit is 1MB, if you go over this limit you will stop receiving mail. You need to either move mail to your home directory (save the messages to a different folder), or delete some messages from your system mail box.

    Please note that if you aren't receiving mail, it probably won't do much good to send mail to the Systems Group complaining about this fact. We won't be able to send mail back to you to explain how to fix this problem. Instead, go by the Watkins Computer lab and talk to one of the student computing folks.

    Finally, if you use a pop client to pick up your mail, be aware that your quota is effectively halved. The pop server copies your mail file before it is downloaded, hence you need to have enough space for two copies of your mail file.

  4. I want to be sure that my e-mail can't be read by others, what do I do?
    Use PGP. elm has a good PGP interface.

  5. How do I forward my e-mail to another place?
    You have to create a forwarding file in your home directory: type,
    echo address > ~/.forward
    (where you replace "address" with the address that you want to send your mail to). If you want to stop forwarding mail to this address, simply remove your .forward file, type,
    rm ~/.forward.
    See the aliases manual page for more details (man aliases).

  6. Someone sent me offensive e-mail, what do I do?
    First, do not delete it. Next, either contact Barbara Leary at x6496, or Lance Gilmer at x2428.

WWW

  1. Do I get my own www page?
    Yes, students can create their own web page. More information is     available.

  2. How do I get my name off the list of student web pages?

    If you do not want your web page indexed on http://student.ucr.edu/, create a file in your public_html directory named .noindex. At the shell prompt, simply type touch $HOME/public_html/.noindex.

  3. What www browsers are supported?
    lynx and netscape

    lynx is a text-mode www browser, so you can use it anywhere. Also, lynx can be used to access the Paws registration system. netscape (running on student) can be used from any X capable terminal on campus.

Printing

  1. What printers can I use?
    Each of the computing facility printers are available from student. Ask a helpful lab consultants for assistance.

Access

  1. From where can I access student?
    From any computer on the Internet. Check with the Watkins, GSM, or Sproul labs for campus access. Dial-in lines are at 787-6400.

  2. Are there any access restrictions?
    There are no time restraints on your use of the system, if the system is up, you may use it in a reasonable fashion. Idle time is limited to one hour, after that, you will be automatically logged out. When the machine is busy, you can only log in once (you only get one tty).

    Check the Acceptable Use section for other usage policies.

Software

  1. My favorite software package isn't installed, what should I do?
    Send some mail to systems@student.ucr.edu and ask nicely for it.

  2. What software is supported for ...
    1. usenet?
      emacs, pine, tin, and trn

    2. e-mail?
      emacs, mail, mailx, mailtool, elm, mush, and pine

    3. www browsing?
      emacs, lynx, and netscape

    4. ftp?
      emacs, ftp, and ncftp

  3. Can I install my own software?
    We'd rather that you didn't; but if you must, it comes out of your disk quota. Plus, there are no compilers installed on the machine.

  4. What is slirp, and how do I set it up?
    slirp is a user-level TCP/IP emulator; it gives you SLIP/PPP functionality from your shell account. Some     instructions are available.

  5. How do I download stuff using zmodem?
    In order to download something using zmodem, you need to do several things. The problem is that the terminal servers have XON/XOFF flow control turned on by default; so, you have turn it off first. Before you connect to student (when you're at the ucrmdm-?> prompt), type "term down", then log in to student in the usual way. Alternatively, when you start up zmodem (with "sz") use the b and e options: "sz -be myfile.zip". I usually do both (turn off flow control on the terminal server, and use the b and e options), but then maybe I'm paranoid.

General

  1. How much disk space do I get?
    Current limits: 
    	home directory (/export/home): 5Mb
	mail spool (/var/mail): 1MB
	temp space (/tmp): 100K
    Use quota -v to find out how much disk space you are using in each of these areas.

  2. Who gets an account on student?
    Every student on campus gets an account on student. If you pay fees, you have an account.

  3. How long does my account last?
    Your account will be active until you either graduate, transfer, or drop out. It will not be erased between quarters or over the summer.

  4. How do I change my password?
    Simply type passwd, and follow the prompts: first, it will ask you for your old password, and then it will ask for your new password (the system will ask for your new password twice). Your password must be at least six characters long, and must contain at least two alphabetic characters, and at least one digit or piece of punctuation. Keep in mind that passwords are case significant. Do not choose anything that appears in the dictionary. Change your password early, and change it often.

Acceptable Use

  1. An incomplete list of things that you should not do:
    1. share your account with others,
    2. use the machine in such a way that you have a negative impact on others' use of the machine,
    3. forge e-mail messages or usenet articles,
    4. send mass e-mail,
    5. run processes while you are not logged in.
  2. Also, one's use of the student server implies that you have read and agree to abide by UCR's email policies, and UCOP's email policies.
  3. For other policies relating to your use of campus computing resources, please see Student Computing Services' policies.