ECR6
Frequently Asked Questions (and Answers)

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Questions and Answers

Common abbreviations

What are all these abbreviations?
- AXP = no official expansion, a.k.a. Alpha, the central processing unit used in modern VMS-based computers; other operating systems available on the AXP include Windows NT and Digital UNIX
- CE, CBE = Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
- COE = College of Engineering
- COECF = College of Engineering Computing Fee
- DCL = Digital Command Language, the command line driven scripting language used to interact with the OpenVMS operating system
- ECR6, ER6 = the official name of this facility; ER6 is usually used in machine names due to name space size limitations
- FAQ = Frequently Asked Questions (list), what you're reading now
- FTP = File Transfer Protocol, the method used to transfer files over the Internet
- KCGL = Koffolt Computer Graphics Lab, the former name of this facility
- LAT = Local Area Transport, a communications protocol similar in nature and scope to the telnet protocol
- MS, MSE = Materials Science and Engineering
- NNTP = Network News Transfer Protocol
- POP = Post Office Protocol
- SONNET = System of Neighboring Networks, OSU's wide-area network backbone; now known as OSUnet
- Office of Information Technology, formerly known as University Technology Services (UTS), formerly known as Academic Technology Services (ATS), formerly known as Academic Computing Services (ACS), formerly known as Instruction and Research Computing Center (IRCC)
- VAX = Virtual Address eXtension, the central processing unit used in the original VMS-based computers; similar in responsibility to a Pentium or PowerPC CPU chip in a consumer desktop platform (e.g. IBM PC compatible, Macintosh, etc.)
- VMS = Virtual Memory System (?), a.k.a. OpenVMS, the operating system running on ECR6 facility workstations

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Computer accounts and lab access

What are the policies regarding computer accounts?
First and foremost, users are to abide by the University policies regarding the responsible use of computing resources. (As with the law, ignorance of these policies is not a defense for their abuse, whether intentional, or not.) In addition to these policies, local computer management has instituted the following:
- Users should refrain from consuming food/drink in the lab.
- Documentation should not be removed from the lab or the computing management offices. Under certain circumstances, you may "check out" documentation by contacting the computer facility director, in person.
- Never turn equipment off; ask the operator on duty for assistance with equipment problems. Equipment abuse will not be tolerated.
- Computer users have priority to chairs; people using lab chairs while observing others must relinquish their chairs to those users who are actually accessing the system. If you bring chairs into the lab from other rooms, you are to return them when you leave.
- Game players are to relinquish equipment to users who have real work to accomplish. During peak loads, users should completely refrain from game play./
- Accounts are to be used by their assigned users only; under NO circumstances are you to furnish your password to another party. The only exception to this rule is when a faculty member designates an administrative associate and/or spouse to handle the faculty member's E-mail. Such "designees" are not permitted to use the faculty member's account for any other purpose.
- Users are not to use more than one computer seat/system at a time.
- Users are NEVER to install older/newer versions of software which is installed on ECR6 computers. Any and all software installations are to be performed exclusively by ECR6 staff. This extends to software which you might want to bring in on removable media, and run from that media; this also includes software downloaded from the Internet.
- Accounts are only valid while affiliated with CBE/MSE at The Ohio State University. The user should not rely on access to a computer account after leaving the department/University, since the account may be disabled/removed any time thereafter.

What are the policies regarding computer lab access?
The following policies outline restrictions on lab access and user conduct as it applies to lab facilities. (Non-enforcement on the part of site management does not imply waiver of any policy.)
- Keycards (i.e. OSU identification cards) are to be used ONLY by the person to whom the keycard was issued; no one else is to be permitted in the lab without a keycard while the lab is closed (other than computer lab staff).
- Keycard access is only available to College of Engineering computing fee payers (i.e. undergraduate students and graduate students), faculty, and computer support staff. Anyone else who desires keycard lab access must submit an Access Exception request to the computer facility director; the request will be considered at the next meeting of the computer committee.
- Users are FORBIDDEN from bringing FOOD OF ANY KIND into carpeted computer labs. Only beverages in COVERED containers and DRY snacks are permitted in other computer labs. (NO PIZZA, HAMBURGERS, or any other food which might leave deposits on keyboards/mice, or which might rot if left unattended.)
- The lab door is NOT to be opened for others or propped open. Users MUST use their own keycards to gain access to the lab after hours. If a lab door is propped open when the lab is closed, a local alarm may sound and the controlling system will log a security breach.
- Windows are to remain closed at all times, except as mandated by computer lab management. Settings on air conditioners or fans are not to be changed by users.
- Users in the lab after hours are responsible for the state of the lab. Every effort should be made to keep the lab clean and orderly. Mistreatment of equipment and/or facilities will NOT be tolerated.
- Any facility-owned material (furniture, computer equipment, etc.) is NOT to be removed from the lab.
- Personal belongings are not to be left in the lab to "hold your place"; when you leave the lab for the day, your personal effects are to be taken with you. (Screen savers will NOT be honored by computing staff to "hold" a computer seat.)
- Equipment which is (temporarily) out of service (e.g. jammed printers, printers out of paper, etc.) should be left to the computer lab staff. By no means should users attempt to fix equipment, themselves.
- Printer settings are NEVER to be changed by users. If you are having trouble printing a document, please see an operator.
- Users who are having difficulty using their ID cards to access the facility should see Geoff Hulse in room WA197, in person.

How do I get a computer account?
[Account-Application]
Most undergraduate students get an account when they enter their academic department (CBE or MSE). Anyone else affiliated with CBE or MSE (including undergraduates who may have "slipped through the cracks") may submit a New Account Application (available in KL134 and WA197, where said form should also be returned). Applications should be filled out completely to ensure prompt action. You may also download an Adobe Acrobat version of the account application and submit it after printing it out and completing it.
Note that a departmental account is not the same as an OSU (osu.edu) account. To be eligible for a departmental account, you need to have an active osu.edu account. Once you have a departmental account, you should arrange to have all E-mail sent to your osu.edu account redirected to your departmental account, and access all your E-mail via your departmental account. You may arrange for having your osu.edu E-mail forwarded to your ECR6 account with this form:

http://www.ecr6.ohio-state.edu/srdr/capbin/set-osu-email
If you are an undergraduate, you will either be provided your username and password in class or from your respective undergraduate advisor. Graduate students should check with their departmental graduate coordinator for their account information. Everyone else should contact their respective departmental HR officer.

Why did my account suddenly stop working?
If you're a post-doctoral researcher, a visiting scholar or a visiting faculty user, it's possible your account has expired. Contact Geoff Hulse in WA197 in person to extend your account. Be sure to bring documentation indicating the length of your appointment.
If you don't fall into one of the above groups, or your account hasn't expired, there are a number of other reasons why you can't get into your account:
- You recently changed your password, but you're not entering it properly.
- You're attempting to login using a POP (Post Office Protocol) client (e.g. Eudora) to check your E-mail, but your password has expired. Use this link to change your password.
- A system problem occurred.
- Even though it's not permitted, you gave your password to another person, and that person modified your account.
- You forgot to logoff the last time you used the system, and someone else modified your account.
There are probably other reasons why you can't login, but regardless of the reason, the best way to check into and/or correct the problem is to contact system management in person. Be sure to have your OSU ID card with you.

What do I need to do to permit my use of the computing facility's Windows XP systems?
[Facility-PC-Access]
If you can Telnet into the ECR6 server, and have no trouble using the "ECR6 Terminal" item on the computing facility's Macs, you probably need to have your account configured to utilize a Windows XP profile. After connecting to the ECR6 server, issue the following command:

$ RUN SITE$SYSTEM:AUTOADD
Follow the directions displayed, and after successful completion of the program, you should be able to start using the computing facility's Windows XP systems. It's recommended you wait 20-30 minutes after completion of this procedure before you try to login to a Windows XP system, to ensure the necessary resources have been synchronized.

After I login to a Windows XP system, it seems to take forever for my desktop to display.
Barring possible network problems, which are outside of your control, you should check what you have saved on your Windows XP desktop. In general, you should avoid saving anything directly to your Windows XP desktop, and only save temporary items to the C:\TEMP folder, or save items you want to preserve to your directory on the Windows server, accessed through the Z: drive. Items saved to the desktop are maintained within your profile, which is separate and distinct from your Z: drive. The more data saved to your desktop, the larger your profile will be, and therefore, the longer it will take to load at login (and save at logoff). If you want to have direct access to a file from your desktop, you should save the file on your Z: drive, and make a shortcut for it on your Windows XP desktop. (A shortcut is typically smaller than an actual file, so this will minimize the load/save time for your profile.)
Other sources of seemingly invisible files which can eat up the file space of your Windows XP profile is your Internet Explorer (IE) cache and history. If/When IE isn't running, right-click on the IE icon on the desktop and choose "Properties..." If IE is already running, choose "Internet Option..." from the Tools menu.
- Under the General tab, inside of the "Temporary Internet files" section, click on "Delete Files..." Make sure the option to "Delete all offline content" is enabled in the dialog which pops up, then click on OK.
- Back in the main options dialog, click on the "Settings..." button and set the "Amount of disk space to use" to no more than 64MB, then click on OK.
- Back in the main options dialog, within the "History" section, make sure the setting for "Days to keep pages in history" is set to no more than seven (7) days.
- Finally, select the "Advanced" tab in the options dialog. Scroll down in the dialog until you find the "Security" settings. Make sure the option to "Empty Temporary Internet Files when browser is closed" is enabled.

How do I access my account?
If you are using a Windows XP system in one of the ECR6 computing labs, just specify your username and password in the Windows XP logon dialog box. If you are using a system outside the lab (or any other kind of system inside the lab, e.g. a Macintosh), you will need to telnet (or SSH) into our OpenVMS server, er6ta.ecr6.ohio-state.edu. The server will prompt you for your username and password. Regardless of what means you use to access the system, remember that your username is not case sensitive, but your password is. If you are attempting to login using the password you requested on an account application, you should note that any requested password is converted to all lowercase. After accessing the system for the first time, you should change your password. From Windows XP in the computing facility, this is performed after logging on by pressing Ctrl-Alt-Delete, then clicking on the "Change Password" button. From our server (via telnet), issue the SET PASSWORD command. To set both passwords at the same time, use this link.
Your username will typically be your last name if you're not an undergraduate student. Otherwise, your username will be "CE_" (for CBE undergraduates) or "MS_" (for MSE undergraduates) followed by up to the first nine (9) characters of your last name. If you have any problem accessing the system, it's best to come to the computing facility's management offices in 197 Watts. Be sure to bring a picture ID with you. For security reasons, we cannot honor password change requests via E-mail or over the phone.

How do I change my password?
[Password-Change]
Please follow this link, which discusses what to do when your password expires, and includes information on how you can change your password at any time. Note that passwords must be at least five (5) characters long, but no more than 14 characters long. Valid characters to use on ECR6 systems include "A" thru "Z", "a" thru "z", "0" (zero) thru "9" (nine), the underline (a.k.a. underscore) character, "_", and the dollar sign character, "$". All other characters should be avoided.

What happens to my account and E-mail address when I leave the department?
[Severance]
Officially, a departmental account is maintained for one quarter beyond your severance (graduation, retirement, etc.) date. Since it's up to the department to call for an account's removal, though, your account might be available longer than that. Regardless, you should obtain an E-mail account from an outside service provider (if you don't already have one) as soon as your severance plans are finalized. Once you have an outside E-mail account, you should arrange to have your departmental E-mail forwarded to it. Just send a message to from your departmental E-mail address with your new forwarding information. Also let us know if you want to be removed from the departmental mailing lists. Even though your account might be removed as soon as one quarter after you leave, the E-mail forwarding will remain unless/until your account username needs to be re-used. Once you have been notified that your departmental E-mail is being forwarded to your external account, you can arrange to have your osu.edu E-mail forwarded to this outside address using the Lifetime E-mail Forwarding (LEF) service.

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File and disk issues

How do I fix floppy disk read/write errors?
If you find you can no longer access a file on a floppy disk, your disk probably suffered from some form of damage. There is little we can do to fix this. To minimize floppy disk errors, do not work directly with files on your floppy disks; instead, copy your file(s) to the User area on the local hard drive and work with them there. (You'll find file operations much faster with this method, too.) When you're done, copy your file(s) back to your floppy disk. (Be sure to delete the file(s) from the hard drive, before you leave.)

What is the User area?
The User area is a folder named "User" on the Macintosh desktop (with the icon of a hard drive), or a directory named TEMP on the hard drive (C:) of a PC. The User area is where users should (temporarily) keep their files while they are working at a desktop computer system. Files left anywhere on the system that weren't installed by management are subject to deletion after seven (7) days.

What is the computer facility's disk space policy?
An undergraduate, graduate, or anyone else who pays the COECF is entitled to 40000 blocks of disk space. (One block is 512 bytes, so this amounts to a little less than 20 megabytes.) Researchers who do not pay the COECF are given 1000 blocks of disk space, as a courtesy, primarily to support E-mail capabilities. Extensions are not normally granted.
Users who have long-term archival needs can either transfer files to private (e.g. departmental, research, etc.) computers, or can utilize removable media drives to transport files to personal systems (if personal systems lack a suitable means for network-based file transfer).

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Printing

What is the computing facility's printing policy?

NOTE: Printing at ECR6 is provided as a courtesy to students, faculty, and staff through funds provided by the College of Engineering and/or the departments of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering. The provisions of how the COECF may be spent do not allow it to be used for consumables such as paper, laser printer toner, etc. As such, no part of the COECF is used for the cost of these consumables. Thus, paying the COECF does not entitle anyone to printing privileges; printing is handled on a site- by- site basis, as determined by the computing oversight body (committee). If the computing committee deems printing necessary, it is up to this body to determine how funding is to be provided (excluding COECF funds), and how printing controls and policies are to be administered.

Printing Quotas
All users (but particularly students) receive a quarterly print quota of 500 units. A unit of printing quota is equal to one side of printed monochrome (a.k.a. black-and-white) output. If you choose to print to a color printer, you will consume 10 units of quota per image (or side). This quota is renewed quarterly. It cannot be transferred or carried over, and you cannot borrow against the future.

Quota Applicability
Printing resources are provided for (course)work in the local department (CBE and/or MSE); these resources are NOT intended for general printing needs. For example, if you choose to print a 100-page English report using the local printers, that's 100 pages that you won't be able to use for your CBE/MSE classes. It's up to the users to decide how they want to utilize their print quotas, so they should be judicious in this regard. Print quotas will not be extended for users, barring system problems which may generate erroneous usage data. (If you believe your usage records are in error, please bring it to the attention of system management.) System management is not completely blind to the fact that sometimes a user just needs a few more pages to finish work for the quarter, and cases such as these can usually be accommodated.

What printers are available?
There are two models of printer generally available n the computing facility, the Dell 5310 and the Dell 5110cn. The 5310 is a monochrome printer and when you print to the "DELL_5310_RTR" printer in Windows, your job should be directed to the printer closest to you in the computing facility. The 5110cn is a color-capable printer. If you print to the printer named "DELL_5110B_RTR" from a Windows system, your job will be printed in black-and-white and your quota will be charged accordingly. If you print to the "DELL_5110C_RTR" printer, your job will be printed in color and you will be charged 10 quota units per side. (The two "router" queues for the 5100cn printers differ by a single letter immediately following the model number, "B" for "black-and-white" and "C" for "color.") You must also enable the color option in the printer driver when printing to "...5110C_RTR"; otherwise, your job will be printed in monochrome, but be charged as color.
At the time of this writing, a Xerox Phaser 7750 printer is also online in 197 Watts Hall (designated XEROX_7750_A.GW on the Windows systems). Printing to this device is always charged as color.
We also have some large-format printers suitable for poster printing. Contact for details.

How do I check the status of a print job or control where my jobs will print?
Use the "Fix printers" link on the main ECR6 web site.

How do I use Apple's LaserWriter Bridge control panel?
[LaserWriter-Bridge]
A copy of the LaserWriter Bridge (LWB) control panel can be found on our shareware volume, within the "OT 1.1.2 Net Install" folder, in the Network folder. Drag this item to your "System Folder", and your system will ask you to confirm placement within the "Control Panels" folder. In order to utilize LWB, you need to have a laser printer attached to your Mac's printer port, utilizing the LocalTalk protocol. (A serial printer will not work.) If you have more than one Mac attached to your LocalTalk network, only one Mac can "serve" the printer via LWB.
LWB has two settings, one to turn it on and off, and another to set access as either private (only the Mac to which the printer is attached can see the printer) or public (anyone on the Ethernet network can see the printer). If you intend to be able to provide access to a laser printer using LWB for more than one person/Mac, LWB needs to be enabled and set for public access.
Should the AppleTalk network go down, chances are the printer will seem to disappear from the network. Here is how to correct this condition:
- Open the LWB control panel and turn it off.
- Open the AppleTalk control panel (or Network control panel if you're using "classic networking") and switch the AppleTalk port to the printer port.
- Restart the Mac.
- After the system has come up, open the Chooser and confirm that the printer is again visible. Do NOT click on the printer, only confirm that it is listed when you choose the appropriate printer driver ("LaserWriter 8", "HP LaserJet", etc.).
- Revert the LWB control panel and AppleTalk (Network) control panel to their previous settings ("on" and "Ethernet", respectively).
- Restart your Mac again, and after it has come up, the laser printer should again be visible.

How do I access the Epson Stylus Pro 9000 plotter?
[Epson-Plotter]
Whether you are printing from a Mac or a PC, you will need to make sure you have the right driver(s) loaded. These are available from Epson's Web site. Contact for help with driver installation.
From a Macintosh, the printer is visible in the Chooser as "Epson Stylus Pro 9000" in the ECR6 zone. From a PC, the printer's path is \\ER6-H12\EPSON, and it should be visible in the ECR6 workgroup.
Before printing anything to the plotter, you need to arrange with site management to have it taken out of pause mode. This is best done over the phone or in person.

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File transfer

How do I transfer a file from/to an ECR6 Macintosh to/from the OpenVMS server?
- From Macintosh to server
  Open the "FTP (Fetch)" item in the Network submenu, under the Apple menu. Supply your username and password in the login dialog box, and you will be connected to your login directory on the server (a.k.a. your "Z: drive"). Click on the "Put..." button, and select the file you want to transfer from the User area. (You remembered to transfer it to the User area, as directed by the item regarding floppy disk read/write errors, above, right?) If the file is a text file, and you just want to open it on the server or any other computer, transfer it as text; otherwise (assuming you want to transfer to another Macintosh), transfer it as a BinHex file. (Name it with a ".hqx" suffix to easily identify it.) Remember that VMS filenames can only have a single period in them, so "file.bin.hqx" is not a valid destination file name, but "file-bin.hqx" is valid.
- From server to Macintosh
  Repeat the previous procedure, but click on "Get..." instead of "Put..." after selecting the file you want to transfer from the server's file list. Make sure the file type is set to Automatic (rather than Text or Binary). The file you transfer will be placed in the User area on the Macintosh.

How do I transfer a file from/to an ECR6 PC-Compatible to/from the OpenVMS server?
You are automatically connected with your VMS login directory (a.k.a. your "Z: drive") when you logon to a Windows PC in the computing facility. Just drag and drop files to/from the "Z: drive" as needed. If you are outside the computing facility, you will need to use an FTP program to transfer your files. ECR6 Management recommends running WS_FTP as your FTP application.

Is there a local archive of freeware or shareware programs?
[Shareware.Macintosh]
From a local Macintosh, you can access the ECR6 Macintosh Shareware volume. Open the Chooser, select AppleShare, the ECR6 zone, and the ECR6 file server. (Double- click on the ECR6 file server to initiate the connection.) Click on the Guest button, then click on OK. In the list of volumes which is then displayed, scroll down until you find the Shareware volume listed. Make sure it's highlighted, then click on the OK button. (Do NOT click in the box to the right of the volume name.) This service is not supported from outside the local site, since the AppleTalk protocol cannot be carried outside of the local area network.
Selection of Macintosh ECR6 file server from Chooser:

[Shareware.PC]
From a PC running Windows, either local, or connected to OSUnet via HomeNet, use an FTP client to connect to ftp.ecr6.ohio-state.edu. Change the working directory to PCSHRWARE.
Connection to ECR6 Windows shareware area from WS_FTP:

The PC shareware repository is also available via the Web:

http://www.ecr6.ohio-state.edu/srdr/pc_shareware/
If you access it from outside the local network, you will be required to authenticate with your ECR6 username and password.

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Mail

Note: In the items that follow which discuss running MAIL, MAIL should be invoked from a Telnet session, a "DCL Command" window, or a DECterm (i.e. a DCL command prompt); DECwindows Mail does not provide the command line interface which is discussed.

What is my E-mail address?
Your E-mail address is your ECR6 username prepended to either "chbmeng.ohio-state.edu" or "matsceng.ohio-state.edu", depending on which department you're in. For example, if your ECR6 username is CE_SMITH (implying a Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering undergraduate), then your E-mail address is

CE_SMITH@chbmeng.ohio-state.edu
If you are sending E-mail to another ECR6 user, you only need specify the recipient's local username. For example, to send a message to MS_BROWN, just enter MS_BROWN in the To: field of your E-mail message. (If you're not using an E-mail client on a system in the computing facility, this assumes you've configured your E-mail client accordingly.)

Which E-mail address do I use?

How do I send an Internet E-mail message from an OpenVMS system?
You need to tell the mailer to use a "mail transport" to send mail to an Internet address. This is accomplished by specifying an address of the form

IN%"user@host"
in the To: field of the mail message.

What are all these files with a .MAI suffix in my directory and why can't I delete them?
Under OpenVMS, the mail system uses a single file, by default named MAIL.MAI and located in a user's login directory, to store the user's mail. Incoming messages which are larger than three (3) blocks (a block is 512 characters) are stored in "external" mail files with names like MAIL$0123456789ABCDEF.MAI, with pointers to these messages stored in the MAIL.MAI file. When these files are created, they are set with a file protection which does not allow the user to delete them, by default. This is for the user's protection, since if you arbitrarily delete a mail file, there's every possibility of corrupting the file pointer(s) associated with your mail files.
To remove the external mail files, you need to delete the associated mail messages from within MAIL. You can determine which message goes with which file by using the DIRECTORY/FULL command in MAIL and comparing the displayed message ID numbers with your external mail file names. After you delete messages in MAIL, you should EXIT from MAIL, rather than QUITting, since if you QUIT, the messages which have been moved to the WASTEBASKET folder will not actually be deleted from the system.

Mail informs me I have one (1) new mail message, but when I try to read it, there's no new messages available. What's wrong?
[Mail.Counter]
Chances are, your new mail message counter has been corrupted. This usually happens when a user modifies the file protection on his/her mail files (the files with a .MAI suffix) so that (s)he can subsequently delete them. (See the previous item for the correct procedure to remove mail files.) The counter can also be set to an invalid value during the restoration of backup files.
To update your new mail message counter, issue the command READ/NEW in MAIL after you have verified you do not have any new mail messages. Exit MAIL, then invoke it again to determine if your new mail message counter has been corrected. If not, send an E-mail message to to request an update of your new mail message counter.

Is there any way to reduce the amount of disk space my MAIL.MAI file uses?
In MAIL, issue the COMPRESS command. This will copy your current MAIL.MAI file to MAIL.OLD, then copy only the active records from it to a new MAIL.MAI file. Exit from MAIL, and delete your MAIL.OLD file.
Since the act of creating a copy of your current MAIL.MAI file will require at least as much space as your MAIL.MAI file consumes, if this operation would exceed your disk quota, you will not be able to perform the compression. In this case, have an operator compress your MAIL.MAI file for you.

Can I move mail files to a subdirectory?
To move your mail files to a subdirectory of your login directory, typically referred to as [.MAIL], issue the following command in MAIL:

MAIL> SET MAIL_DIRECTORY [.MAIL]

Is there a way to define "mail aliases" for E-mail addresses I commonly use?
Follow the instructions presented here: Mail Aliases

How do I access my "postbox" mail, as well as my mail from ECR6?
Can I have my WHOIS directory entry point to my ECR6 account?
[Mail.Forwarding]
[Mail-Forwarding.To-ECR6]
We recommend having all your E-mail directed to your ECR6 account, and accessing it here. If you have a "postbox" account, you can arrange to have that mail forwarded to your local ECR6 account, so that all your mail is delivered to a single place: E-mail forwading request.
[Mail-Forwarding.To-OIT]
NOTE: We do NOT recommend forwarding E-mail sent to your ECR6 account to some other location. If you do so, and there's an extended period of time during which you do not directly access the ECR6 server, your account could be marked inactive by the system.
Keeping in mind the above recommendation, if your osu.edu account is not already forwarding your E-mail to the ECR6 system, and you would like your ECR6 E-mail forwarded to OIT's E-mail system, you need to set your forwarding address at ECR6 to point to your OIT E-mail account. Issue the following from VMS Mail:

MAIL> SET FORWARD "IN%""name.N@osu.edu"""
("MAIL>" is the VMS Mail prompt.) "name.N" is your OSUnet username, e.g. smith.12. The three sets of quotes are necessary. If there's any mail pending in your ECR6 account, before you set this forwarding, you will need to read it from ECR6--it cannot be accessed from OIT E-mail system, since it has already been "delivered".
If your osu.edu account is already forwarding E-mail to your ECR6 account, you MUST contact ECR6 Management to have your ECR6 account forwarding changed to point to your osu.edu account. The ECR6 mail server has an automatic optimization routine in place for accounts forwarding from osu.edu and if you change your ECR6 forwarding to point to your osu.edu account yourself, the ECR6 mail server will end up in a "mail loop" attempting to send any messages to you. (Your E-mail will end up "in limbo" on the server, and you won't receive anything sent via the ECR6 mail server.) ECR6 Management has the ability to override the optimization routine in place on the mail server, but since this is a semi-manual process, users should not request this action multiple times.
If you are using some other system as your primary E-mail "repository", you may similarly set your local forwarding address to point to your account on that system. Substitute name.N@osu.edu from the above syntax with your E-mail address on the remote system. (IN% and the three sets of quotes are still necessary.) For example:

MAIL> SET FORWARD "IN%""your-username@some.remote.site"""
To remove any forwarding from your ECR6 account, so that E-mail is once again delivered to it, use the following VMS Mail command:

MAIL> SET NOFORWARD
NOTE: If the OIT E-mail system (or other remote system you use as your primary "mail drop") is already forwarding your E-mail to ECR6, you must NOT set a local (ECR6) forwarding address to OIT's E-mail system (or your primary mail drop). This will cause what's known as a "mail loop", and your E-mail will never be delivered; instead, it will tie up both systems as it's bounced back and forth between them.

I used to receive almost regular postings from my department, but these recently stopped. What's wrong?
[Inactive-Accounts]
If you are using a POP-based E-mail client (like Eudora) to read your E-mail, but you rarely login to ECR6 interactively (e.g. via TELNET, or from an ECR6 desktop system), the system will mark your account as inactive, and it will remove your ECR6 username from any of the locally maintained mailing lists. If you login interactively at least once per month, this should be enough activity to avoid this. Note that if your account is marked inactive, you will be sent an E-mail message stating as much; the next time you login interactively, the system will remove the inactive state from your account.

I would like to migrate from Pathworks Mail (or Mail for Macintosh) to Eudora. How should I procede?
Eudora uses a different paradigm for accessing mail, than Pathworks Mail (DOS) or Mail for Macintosh. Rather than looking at the user's mail on a server, Eudora only looks for new mail on a server. Under OpenVMS, this is interpreted as any mail messages within the NEWMAIL folder.
Before you can transfer your old mail to Eudora, you need to make sure you don't have any new mail waiting for you on the server. Use Pathworks Mail (or Mail for Macintosh) to check for new mail before proceding. This will ensure that the next step will transfer all the mail from your MAIL folder to Eudora. You should also make sure that Eudora is configured NOT to leave your mail messages on the server.
Under the Mailbox menu in Eudora, select the New... item to create a new mailbox. Name this new mailbox "MAIL" (without the quotes). In VMS Mail, issue the command SELECT MAIL to select all the messages in your MAIL folder. Now issue the command MOVE NEWMAIL, to move all the messages from your MAIL folder to the NEWMAIL folder. You will probably be told that the NEWMAIL folder doesn't exist, and asked if you want to create it. Be sure to answer "YES" to this query. Now in Eudora, choose "Check Mail" from the File menu. The server will transfer up to the first 20 messages from your NEWMAIL folder. Continue to check your mail via Eudora, until Eudora can't find any more messages. All of the mail which was originally in the MAIL folder on the server is now in the In mailbox in Eudora. Select all the messages, then choose "->MAIL" from the Transfer menu.
This will usually be all you need to do to complete the transition to Eudora. If you have any other folders on the VMS server, though, you should use the same method used to transfer the contents of your MAIL folder to transfer these other folders.

I received a message with an attachment which Pathworks Mail for DOS (or Mail for Macintosh) can't decode. Is there any way to decode the attachment?
[Email-Translation]
Note: Users should keep in mind that E-mail should really only be used to transfer text. While recent innovations have allowed E-mail to carry much more than simple text messages, there's no guarantee that a file which is encoded as text and send via E-mail to another person can, in fact, be read by that person in its native format. For example, if you encode a Microsoft Word document and send it to someone via E-mail without checking with the recipient that (s)he has a version of Microsoft Word which can read the file (or an application which can import a MS Word document), you really have no idea as to whether or not the recipient will be able to read the attachment. On the other hand, if you save the MS Word document as text and send this within the body of the message, anyone should be able to read it without any further decoding. If you are requesting that someone send you a file via E-mail, be sure to specify what application(s) you have to read it, and how you prefer it to be encoded.
If you receive such a message, the attachment was probably encoded using the MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail [or Multimedia] Extensions) format. A small subset of the encodings that MIME can handle include UUencode, BinHex, and Base64. Neither Pathworks Mail for DOS nor Mail for Macintosh can handle MIME encoded messages. If you have either a current version of Netscape Navigator or Eudora Pro installed, both of these applications can be used to decode such a message. (In the discussion which follows, use of Eudora Pro will be used.)
First, it's a good idea to make sure you don't have any new mail, since you will need to utilize your new mail folder to transfer the message. If you have new mail other than the message you want to decode in your new mail folder, it's very easy to get confused. Regardless of what program you intend to use to transfer and decode the message, make sure it is configured to leave your mail on the server when it's read. Otherwise, when the program you use reads the message, it will be deleted from the server. (Chances are, you really don't need a copy of the message retained on the server, but you should keep this point in mind, just in case you do.)
While reading the message you wish to decode within Pathworks Mail (or Mail for Macintosh), move it to your NEWMAIL folder. Next, fire up Eudora Pro and choose "Check Mail" from the File menu (if you don't already have Eudora Pro configured to check your E-mail periodically). Eudora Pro will transfer the message and decode any attachments. The message within Eudora Pro will include lines at the end indicating where on your system any attachment(s) was (were) saved. Attachments will be saved in the directory/folder you have configured Eudora Pro to use as your "Attachment Folder". (Under Netscape Navigator, attachments appear as icons within the message itself, which can be dragged out of the browser window and saved on the user's desktop.)
After you have decoded the message with Eudora Pro, the "source" message on the server will either be moved back to your main MAIL folder, or to the WASTEBASKET folder if you do not have Eudora Pro configured to leave mail on the server.

Is there a way for me to send an E-mail message to a group within my department (e.g. graduate students, faculty, etc.)?

[Local-Mailing-Lists]

Below are the mailing lists currently defined for departmental groups. These mailing lists are for administrative purposes only. (They are not to be used for trivial subjects, such as requesting help for items lost in the computer labs, looking for housemates, announcing items for sale, etc.). These mailing lists are not to be used without the permission of a faculty or staff member, whose identity should be included in the body of the message, e.g.:

Mailing list access authorized by John Smith
 (smith@chbmeng.ohio-state.edu)

Make sure both the name and E-mail address of the person authorizing access is included. Also be sure to include the E-mail address of the person who authorized use of the mailing list(s) on the message's CC line. Furthermore, these mailing lists should not be "advertised" outside of the department -- they are for use by departmental personnel ONLY.

Mailing List	Description	Exclusions
Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering (...@chbmeng.ohio-state.edu)
cbe-admin	Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering faculty and staff
cbe-faculty	Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering faculty (only)	X
cbe-graduates	Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering graduate students, post-doctoral researchers, visiting scholars/faculty, etc.
cbe-masters	All students with or working towards a masters degree in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering	X
cbe-pd	Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering post-doctoral researchers	X
cbe-staff	Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering staff (only)	X
cbe-students	All Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering students
cbe-ug	Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering undergraduates	X
cbe-users	All Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering users
cbe-vf	Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering visiting faculty	X
cbe-vs	Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering visiting scholars	X
Materials Science and Engineering (...@matsceng.ohio-state.edu)
mse-admin	Materials Science & Engineering faculty and staff
mse-faculty	Materials Science & Engineering faculty (only)	X
mse-graduates	Materials Science & Engineering graduate students, post-doctoral researchers, visiting scholars/faculty, etc.
mse-local	All Materials Science & Engineering "local" users (i.e. those with ECR6 accounts)
mse-majors	Materials Science & Engineering undergraduate majors	X
mse-masters	All students with or working towards a masters degree in Materials Science & Engineering	X
mse-pd	Materials Science & Engineering post-doctoral researchers	X
mse-premajors	Materials Science & Engineering pre-majors
mse-seniors	Materials Science & Engineering undergraduate seniors
mse-staff	Materials Science & Engineering staff (only)	X
mse-students	All Materials Science & Engineering students
mse-ug	All Materials Science & Engineering undergraduates	X
mse-users	All Materials Science & Engineering users
mse-vf	All Materials Science & Engineering visiting faculty	X
mse-vs	All Materials Science & Engineering visiting scholars	X
Other (...@ecr6.ohio-state.edu unless noted otherwise)
cism	Center for Industrial Sensors and Measurements staff and faculty (...@cism.ohio-state.edu)
dept-admin	All faculty and staff in CBE and MSE
dept-faculty	All faculty in CBE and MSE
dept-graduates	All graduate students, post-doctoral researchers, visiting scholars/faculty, etc. in CBE and MSE
dept-masters	All students with or working toward masters degree in CBE and MSE, including visiting faculty/scholars
dept-pd	All post-doctoral researchers in CBE and MSE
dept-staff	All staff in CBE and MSE
dept-students	All students in CBE and MSE
dept-ug	All undergraduates in CBE and MSE
dept-users	All users in CBE and MSE
dept-vf	All visiting faculty in CBE and MSE
dept-vs	All visiting scholars in CBE and MSE
fib_users	CEOF FIB users (...@ceof.ohio-state.edu)
local-students	All students in CBE and MSE with local computer accounts
local-ug	All undergraduates in CBE and MSE with local computer accounts
local-users	All users in CBE and MSE with local computer accounts
sem_users	CEOF SEM users (...@ceof.ohio-state.edu)
tem_users	CEOF TEM users (...@ceof.ohio-state.edu)
xrd_users	CEOF XRD users (...@ceof.ohio-state.edu)

If you want to send E-mail to one of these groups from VMS Mail, Pathworks Mail (for DOS/Windows), or Mail for Macintosh, and you have not defined a private mail alias for the group, you would address your E-mail to IN%"<mailing-list>", where <mailing-list> is one of the mailing lists from the above table. For example, if you wanted to send a message to all the umdergraduate students in MSE, here's how you would format the To: address of your E-mail message:

To: IN%"mse-ug"

If you wanted to send a message to the staff and faculty in CBE, here's what the To: line of your E-mail message would look like:

To: IN%"cbe-faculty",IN%"cbe-staff"

If you are using a POP E-mail client, like Eudora, and you have configured your client to utilize ECR6 as your E-mail server, you only need specify the mailing list name on the To: line of your E-mail message, e.g.

To: mse-ug

- or -

To: cbe-faculty,cbe-staff

If you are using another system for your E-mail serving with your POP E-mail client, you will need to specify the full E-mail address of the appropriate mailing list, e.g.

To: mse-ug@matsceng.ohio-state.edu

- or -

To: cbe-faculty@chbmeng.ohio-state.edu,cbe-staff@chbmeng.ohio-state.edu

[Mailing-List-Exclusions]

NOTE: This feature is currently unavailable. We are working to reinstate it.

In items in the table, above, marked with an "X" under the "Exclusions" column, you may specify exclusions to the list. This is useful when you want to send a message to everyone on the list, except for a few members. This is especially handy, since it means you don't have to make a private copy of a mailing list just so you can exclude someone from the list. The syntax of the To line when specifying an exclusion (list) is as follows:

To: <mailing-list>+EXCLUDE=user1[&user2[...&userN]]

(This is the "short form" of the To address, assuming an E-mail client like Eudora, configured to use the local system as the SMTP server.) For example,

To: mse-faculty+exclude=smith&brown

NOTE: If you misspell an exclusion list entry, you will not have a chance to abort the sending of the message, nor will you be notified.

What should I do if I receive spam, a fraudulent solicitation (e.g. "Nigerian scam"), a request to verify my account ("phishing"), etc. sent to my departmental account?
[Email-Abuse]
Any such reports should be sent to The report should have a Subject header describing the kind of message you're reporting, or -- if you're not sure -- a Subject header of "Questionable content." The report's body must be only the full message in its orginal form. Note that a full message has more headers than what most people typically view.

How to View a Message's Full Headers
If you are using PreciseMail Web Access (PMWA), with the offending message open, confirm you can see at least one "Received:" header listed along with the more common message headers (e.g. From, To, Date, etc.). If you don't see a Received header, click on the button above the message entitled "Full Headers." Once you have all the headers showing, click on the Export button and then the Save button on the dialog that pops up. (Note that the clicking on the Export button may trigger an automatic download depending on your operating system and Web browser.) This will default to saving the message in a file named after the message's Subject header and an extension of ".eml". (For example, if a spam message had a Subject header of "Click here for free money", the name of the file to be saved to your computer will default to "Click here for free money.eml".) Once the file is saved to your computer, open it with a text editor (e.g. Notepad or WordPad under Windows, TextPad under Mac OS X, etc.), select all the content, then copy it to the clipboard. Back in PMWA, start a new message and send it to the reporting address mentioned above, with the prescribed Subject header. In the body of the message, paste the offending message's content, and then send the report.
If you're using a conventional E-mail client (Eudora, Outlook Express, etc.), please locate instructions for accessing a message with all its headers in this list.

What is a "remote instance" of Eudora?
[OWNER.LOK]
Eudora doesn't like to access the same "mail drop" from more than one computer at one time. To prevent this, when you start Eudora, it creates a file named OWNER.LOK within your Eudora folder (where the EUDORA.INI file and mailbox files reside, among other files and folders). Under normal circumstances, this file is deleted when you exit from Eudora. If you try to start Eudora when this file exists, Eudora detects this, and presents you with a dialog asking if you should terminate this instance, terminate the "remote instance", or continue. If at some time in the past, you were running Eudora and it was abnormally terminated (due to an auto-logout, for example), the OWNER.LOK file will not be deleted, and typically whatever you choose to do from the aforementioned dialog will not work correctly. In such cases, the only choice is to delete the OWNER.LOK file "manually". Before you delete this file, make sure you're really only accessing the system from a single computer. When using the Windows XP computers in the ECR6 computer facility, this file will be found in the EUDORA folder on your Z: drive (the drive letter mapped to your account on the server, i.e. Z:\EUDORA\OWNER.LOK).

Why can't I send E-mail when I'm connected to the Internet from outside of OSU (e.g. using AOL, CompuServe, etc.)?
[Outside-Mail]
Our E-mail server is configured to treat any connection from outside of OSU and/or Columbus Road Runner (including Insight Communications Road Runner service in Columbus) as an "external" E-mail source. If you are considered an external E-mail source, our server will deny you the ability to send E-mail to anyone outside of our server and perhaps even prevent you from sending messages to local recipients. In particular, our server will block your attempts to send E-mail under any/all of the following conditions:
- Using external SMTP server (NOT smtp.ecr6.ohio-state.edu), E-mail return address set to local departmental E-mail address (e.g. ce_jones@chbmeng.ohio-state.edu, ms_smith@matsceng.ohio-state.edu, brown@ecr6.ohio-state.edu, etc.) - you either need to change your return E-mail address to correspond to the network associated with the SMTP server you are using, or change the SMTP server you are using to our local server (smtp.ecr6.ohio-state.edu)
- Using local SMTP server (smtp.ecr6.ohio-state.edu), connected via external Internet connection (e.g. dial-up from AmeriTech, EarthLink, etc., or other external network) - this is perfectly legal, but you need to make sure your E-mail client has SMTP authentication enabled
[SMTP-Authentication]
The means to providing for SMTP authentication is specific to your E-mail client. Check here for more information.

Why are people who are trying to send me E-mail calling me to complain that our server is blocking their messages?
[Mail-Blocking]
Your friends' E-mail may be being blocked by our server because it's being identified as Unsolicited Commercial E-mail (UCE) or Unsolicited Bulk E-mail (UBE), or both, all of which is generally known as spam. A (somewhat terse) explanation of how outside E-mail is processed is available here.
If you feel your E-mail is being improperly classified as spam and is being blocked or bounced (or seemingly "disappearing"), rather than being delivered to one or more of our users, you can contact Please include the full text of any bounce message you might have received. (You can tell if you are including the full text of an E-mail message when, besides the standard headers (From, To, CC, Subject, etc.), you should also see a number of Received headers.

Can I acsess my ECR6 E-mail account from the Web?
[Webmail]
To access the Web-based interface (known as SquirrelMail) to your ECR6 E-mail account, use the following URL:

http://www.ecr6.ohio-state.edu/srdr/squirrel/src/

Can I set up an auto-responding mail message to let people know I'm out of the office?
[OOO-Notice]
[OOO-Notify]
There is an out-of-office auto-responder (a.k.a. vacation system) that's provided with the software we use to manage the local mail server. It is accessed via the Web and not only provides vacation message handling, but generalized filtering, too. (This latter feature can be used to combat unsolicited bulk/commercial E-mail, a.k.a. spam.)
The following are issues you need to keep in mind as you configure your out-of-office message. Click here to access the system (which opens in a new window, so that you can "follow along" with the points below).
- Authentication
  The local mail server uses a facility known as "MessageStore" to maintain users' E-mail. This is a system outside of the native operating system running on the server. Because of this, you need to identify yourself as a MessageStore user when you sign into the system. Login as "<user>@msgstore", rather than just "<user>". (Substitute your E-mail username for "<user>".)
- Vacation Notice "Modify" page
  The "Days between sending notice to same address" field defaults to seven (7) days, but can be set to between one (1) day and 30 days. For any particular sender, (s)he will receive one auto-response during this time. After this many days elapse, if the same sender transmits another message to you and your vacation message hasn't been disabled or modified, (s)he will receive another notice. If the vacation message is modified in any way (including disabling and then re-enabling), this essentially makes it new for everyone and any of the previous senders' "timers" are reset.
  It's a good idea to set the "Vacation notice subject" field to something appropriate, like "Out-of-office notice." If you leave this blank, the subject of the response will be set to "RE:" followed by the text of the subject header of the original message (less any leading "RE:"), if any. The form of the auto-response message body might resemble that of a bounce message (the kind of message one might receive to indicate a delivery problem) to some people. By setting the Subject header in the responses you send to indicate it's not an indication of a problem allows recpients to see at a glance that their messages have been received and that they will probably not get an immediate response.
  In the "Vacation text notice" field (where the body of the auto-response is composed), you should cite the following Web address to handle any problems:
  
  http://www.ecr6.ohio-state.edu/out-of-office.html
  Here is an example of the message body:
- Vacation Notice "Additional Local Addresses" page
  Most local users have E-mail addresses at osu.edu which forward to their accounts here. If you have such an account at osu.edu, you need to add the address on this page. If you fail to do so, messages received via the osu.edu mail servers will not trigger an auto-response.

How do I forward my E-mail to a different account?
[Offsite-Forwarding]
If you want to forward your mail from your ECR6 account to another system, access this page. For active departmental affiliates (students, faculty or staff), this is not recommended.
For long-term forwarding (i.e. upon graduation, retirement, etc.), please see this information.

Back to ECR6 FAQ Topics

Back to ECR6 Home Page

Usenet newsgroups

Can I access Usenet newsgroups from here?
Yes, ECR6 has access to OSU's NNTP server, nntp.service.ohio-state.edu.

Back to ECR6 FAQ Topics

Back to ECR6 Home Page

Networking

What are the policies regarding computer networking?
See this page.

How do I set up network clients (E-mail, FTP, Web browser, etc.) to operate with ECR6 networking resources?
Follow this link.

What is an AppleTalk zone, and which AppleTalk zone should my office Macintosh be in?

An AppleTalk zone is an entity on the network defined and managed by one or more AppleTalk routers. Its purpose is to allow computers, printers, etc. to work within a logical group, making resources easier to locate. (Windows users will note the direct analog of a Windows network workgroup.) Using the AppleTalk control panel (under Open Transport), or the Network control panel (under "classic networking"), you should define your AppleTalk connection via EtherTalk within one of the following zones:

Zone Name	Description
CEOF	Campus Electron Optics Facility
CBE	Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering research (e.g. graduate students)
CBE Admin	Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering administration (e.g. staff)
CBE Faculty	Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering faculty (e.g. professors)
CISM	Center for Industrial Sensors and Measurements
EtherTalk	default zone *
FCC	Fontana Corrosion Center
MSE	Materials Science and Engineering research (e.g. graduate students)
MSE Admin	Materials Science and Engineering administration (e.g. staff)
MSE Faculty	Materials Science and Engineering faculty (e.g. professors)
* This is the zone that your Mac will be in by default, until you define it properly. Your Mac may also appear in this zone, should the AppleTalk repeater(s) which manage the zone list go offline.

Any other zones are designated for use by the computing facility, or for other purposes -- they should not be configured for use.

How do I uniquely identify a Macintosh on the network?
[Mac-Identification]
Within the Sharing Setup control panel (File Sharing control panel under newer versions of the Mac OS), there are two fields, "Owner Name" and "Macintosh Name" ("Computer Name" under newer versions of the Mac OS). The owner field should be set to your ECR6 username if you are a faculty or staff member, or to the host name of the computer if you are a graduate student, or other form of researcher. (Contact if you need to know your machine's host name.) The machine name should also be set according to who is using the Mac:
- Faculty/staff - set the machine name to your first initial and your last name, followed by your room number in parentheses, e.g.
  
  B. Smith (KL231)
- Students/researchers - set the machine name to the system's host name, followed by the room number in parentheses, e.g.
  
  mse-m005 (FL340)
  If you want to add something more to uniquely identify the system, add the desired text followed by a space BEFORE the room number in parentheses, e.g.
  
  cbe-m030 (iMac KL321)
Do NOT use commas in the machine name field. If you plan on running file sharing on your Mac, it's a good idea to also define a password in the Password field.

What is a Windows workgroup, and which Windows network workgroup should my office PC be in?

[Workgroups]

A Windows workgroup is an entity on the network cooperatively defined and managed by two or more Windows PCs running Windows for Workgroups, Windows 95, etc. Its purpose is to allow computers, printers, etc. to appear and work within a logical group, making resources easier to locate. (Macintosh users will note the direct analog of an AppleTalk zone.)

Since there is no central management of workgroups possible, users must agree to the names and number of Windows workgroups on the network. The following are the only Windows workgroups which should be used on the local network (outside of the computing facility):

Center

Workgroup Name	Description
CEOF	Campus Electron Optics Facility
CBE	Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering research (e.g. graduate students)
CHEADM	Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering administration (e.g. staff)
CBE Faculty	Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering faculty (e.g. professors)
CISM	Center for Industrial Sensors and Measurements
FCC	Fontana Corrosion Center
LASM	Laboratory for Applied Superconductivity and Magnetism
MSE	Materials Science and Engineering research (e.g. graduate students)
MSE Admin	Materials Science and Engineering administration (e.g. staff)
MSE Faculty	Materials Science and Engineering faculty (e.g. professors)

How do I uniquely identify a Windows PC on the network?
[PC-Identification]
Within the Network control panel under Windows 9x/NT/ME in the Identity (or Identification) tab, the "Computer name" should be the system's host name, the Workgroup should be one of the workgroups listed in the previous item, and the "Computer Description" field should be set to either the owner's first initial, last name, and room number, if the system is located in the office of a faculty or staff member, or the name of the research group and room number in any other case. If the computer resides in a workgroup which already identifies the research group, this information may be omitted. (The room number is still mandatory.) If you wish to add a word to help identify the computer on the network, insert the text within the parentheses, before the room number. Do NOT use commas in the computer comment/description field.

Examples
- Comment field for the Windows PC owned by faculty member named John Smith located in 477 Watts:
  J. Smith (WA477)
- Comment field for the Windows PC used by the "Fracture Group" as a server in 373 MacQuigg:
  Fracture Group (Server MQ373)
- Comment field for the Windows PC used by the "Polymer Group" in 436 Koffolt:
  Polymer Group (KL436)
If you have any trouble configuring this information, or you need to know your machine's host name, please contact

I have a computer in my office/lab which I'd like to have connected to the network. What do I need to do?
Note that this only covers OSU-owned computers. For our policy regarding personally-owned computers, please see this link.
The first thing you will need is a network interface card (NIC) for your computer. Many modern computers either have this feature built-in (e.g. any Power Macintosh), or come equipped with the necessary hardware. On PCs, this is typically an option, rather than a standard feature. If you are unsure of whether or not your system includes the necessary hardware, or if you would like recommendations as to what kind of network hardware to purchase, please contact Once your computer is equipped with the necessary network hardware, you need to find out whether or not the room which houses the computer already has an open Ethernet connection. (Most every room in the building complex has at least one Ethernet connection. The network jack is most easily identified by an ivory wall plate with a single black port.) If you are unsure if you have the necessary network connection, please contact as above. If you need to have a network connection installed, Mike should also be able to guide you in arranging installation.

NOTE: Under no circumstances are end-users to attempt to connect devices to the network on their own. Doing so without the proper preparation (hardware and/or software) can lead to problems across the entire network, through the entire Koffolt- Fontana- MacQuigg- Watts building complex.

What is a "network username"?
[Network-Username]
Your network username is the username you use to access OSU's network. This is not the same as your ECR6 username. You typically utilize your network username when calling into OIT's HomeNet system. To obtain your OSU Network Username, click here.

Where can I get the newest version of HomeNet/OfficeNet/ResNet software?
[Network-Client-Updates]
If the software you're looking for is not available on OIT's software download page, it means that either OIT cannot redistribute it, or the software is available freely elsewhere on the Internet. You may check the local shareware archives, or one of the following web sites:

Windows software

Macintosh software

Are there any alternatives to using HomeNet to connect to OSU's network?
See this page for more information.

How do I view X Window graphics locally that are generated by a program running on a remote system?
The X Window System protocol is not encrypted, and mechanisms have been developed over time to actually "hijack" them. To prevent this activity, X Window sessions need to be encrypted. The easiest way to handle this is to use SSH to connect to remote systems. The Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC) has this information to offer. OSU provides SSH client software for Windows systems here, and this page documents how to configure it to "tunnel" the X Window System protocol.

Is there a way for a guest (someone not officially affiliated with OSU) to acquire network access?
[osuguest]
OSU has a guest wireless network, named (appropriately enough) "osuguest." It is specifically for persons who need network access, who are only here for a finite time (currently limited to one month, maximum), and who are not officially employed/enrolled with OSU. Accounts are configured to last one day, three days, one week or one month. When the account expires, it is deleted automatically.
The osuguest network is served by the same wireless access points that provide connectivity to the osuwireless network (generally restricted to persons officially affiliated with OSU [i.e. students, faculty, and staff]). These access points are not deployed universally across campus, so access to osuguest (and/or osuwireless) may not be available, depending on your physical location. At the time of this writing, osuwireless/osuguest access points are only deployed within the Koffolt- Fontana- MacQuigg- Watts building complex to provide coverage for classrooms.
The following are the only protocols available on the osuguest wireless network:
- Web access (i.e. HTTP [connections to TCP port 80] and HTTPS [connections to TCP port 443])
- VPN (i.e. ESP, GRE, IKE, L2TP, and PPTP)
- Instant Messenger (i.e. Jabber, AIM/ICQ [including iChat], MSN, Novell [Groupwise])
No other protocols are supported. Unless the user is employing a secure protocol (HTTPS and/or VPN), data is transmitted "in the clear" without any form of encryption. The security of data transmitted on the osuguest wireless network is the sole responsibility of the user.
Access to the osuguest network requires authentication (an account). Account setup is based on information obtained from an official identification. This includes a driver's license, a government ID card, an institutional/industry ID card, passport, etc. Presentation of this identification to verify a guest's identity is required. Copies of identificaton are not acceptable. The guest (along with someone to provide access) needs to present his/her identification and request an osuguest account in person at the offices of the computing facility in 197 Watts Hall. Anyone on staff there can create an osuguest account.

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Installing Software

Where should I install this software package I just received?
Users should be aware that the operating systems (OS) for PCs and Macs are based largely on the single-user paradigm. That is, the software is designed assuming that only a single person will ever be using the computer. This approach obviously doesn't work too well in a computer laboratory scheme. As such, when a software package is installed on a lab computer, there's every possibility that it could incapacitate the computer for other users, either partially or completely. Because of this, ECR6 Management does NOT support, encourage or condone user- initiated software installations; any software and/or file found on our Mac/PC systems which was not installed by ECR6 Management is subject to arbitrary deletion.

Under NO circumstances are users to install older/newer versions of software packages which are already installed on facility computers. This has every possibility of corrupting application preferences for the officially installed application(s). Any and all software installations on ECR6 computers are to be performed exclusively by ECR6 Management.

Given ECR6 Management's software installation policy, can I arrange to have a software package installed on the facility's computers by ECR6 Management?
To have a software package evaluated for installation by ECR6 Management, contact the Computer Facility Director. In general, we tend to be pretty open-minded about software installations, provided the software won't impose any limitations on the computer on which it's to be installed. For example, most DOS-based applications have their own way of supporting printing, most of which are incompatible with our printing mechanisms. On the other hand, Windows-based applications all use the same printing paradigm, so given a software package available for both DOS and Windows, we would prefer installing the Windows-based version.

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Programming

Note: Unless otherwise specified, the programming topics which follow relate to FORTRAN programming under OpenVMS.

How do I direct input/output to/from a FORTRAN program?
Under OpenVMS FORTRAN, unit number 5 is used for (keyboard) input and unit number 6 is used for (screen) output. If you specify any other unit number in a READ/WRITE statement, and you have not used the OPEN statement to associate that unit number with a filename, the program will assume the input/output stream is to be read/written from/to a file with a name of the form

FOR<nnn>.DAT
where <nnn> is the unit number used, padded to the left with zeros. For example, if you used a WRITE statement which looked like this:

WRITE ( UNIT=10, ... ) ...
the output would be directed to a file named FOR010.DAT.

How do I direct output both to the screen, and to a file?
The easiest method of directing output to two destinations at once from a single program is to simply "double-up" your FORTRAN WRITE statements. For example, anywhere in your program you have a WRITE statement to unit number 6, add another WRITE statement immediately afterwards, using some other arbitrary unit number (other than 5 or 6, for the reason mentioned in the previous topic). In such a case, it's usually desirable to echo a user's input to the running program to the data file. In that case, you'll also need an appropriately specified WRITE statement after any READ statements from unit number 5.

When I run a program on an OpenVMS server, after it runs for a while, I see a message indicating that my process priority has been reduced. Sometime thereafter, my process is killed. How can I avoid this?
Running CPU-intensive programs interactively on an OpenVMS server requires more system resources than our server(s) can provide. This process priority reduction will occur whenever a user attempts to run such a program interactively on our OpenVMS server(s). To avoid this, users should use the batch queue system for running CPU-intensive programs. Likewise, we also do not encourage users to utilize our OpenVMS workstations in the computer labs to run such programs from the system console. If an operator should come across a workstation which is clearly being used to do nothing more than execute a long-running program, the operator may terminate the user's session without notice. This is especially true during times of heavy workstation user load.
For help with the batch queue system, execute the command

$ HELP SUBMIT
from a DCL command line. This will describe the VMS command to send batch jobs to the batch queue system. For details on the local batch queue environment, issue the following DCL command:

$ HELP BATCH

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OpenVMS

What is an "interactive login"?
[Interactive-login]
An "interactive login" provides for access to the OpenVMS DCL command line prompt. An interactive login is established when you use a terminal emulator (e.g. MacTerminal, NCSA Telnet, etc.) to establish a connection with our OpenVMS server. Users in our labs who are accessing our OpenVMS workstations are also considered interactive logins, since they can open a DECterm window or a DCL Command window to access the DCL environment.

Is VMS a variant of UNIX?
OpenVMS is a completely different operating system than UNIX. Its system-level environment is probably closest to Windows NT (since the folks who originally wrote Windows NT came from an OpenVMS background). The user environment, and the command line interpreter in particular (DCL), is probably most like the MS-DOS command line interpreter. Other than these similarities, though, OpenVMS stands in a field by itself. For more information about OpenVMS, you can reference the OpenVMS Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document.

How do I delete a directory under OpenVMS?
[Delete-directory]
First, make sure the directory is empty. Then, you need to change the file protection on the directory file so that you can delete it. Finally, you delete the directory file.
Example: Let's say your current default directory is DISK:[DIR1.DIR2], and you want to delete the DIR2 directory. First, issue a DIRECTORY command within the DIR2 directory to make sure it's empty; delete any files found, if not. Next, move up one level in your directory tree, so that your current default directory is DISK:[DIR1]. (You can use the command

$ SET DEFAULT [-]
to move up one level in a directory tree.) The DIR2 directory is now visible as the file DIR2.DIR. Use the command

$ SET FILE/PROTECTION=O:D DIR2.DIR
to set the file protection on the directory file so that you can delete it. You can now delete the directory with the command

$ DELETE DIR2.DIR;

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Mike Davis

ECR6Frequently Asked Questions (and Answers)

Questions and Answers

Common abbreviations

What are all these abbreviations?

Computer accounts and lab access

What are the policies regarding computer accounts?

What are the policies regarding computer lab access?

How do I get a computer account?

Why did my account suddenly stop working?

What do I need to do to permit my use of the computing facility's Windows XP systems?

After I login to a Windows XP system, it seems to take forever for my desktop to display.

How do I access my account?

How do I change my password?

What happens to my account and E-mail address when I leave the department?

File and disk issues

How do I fix floppy disk read/write errors?

What is the User area?

What is the computer facility's disk space policy?

Printing

What is the computing facility's printing policy?

Printing Quotas

Quota Applicability

What printers are available?

How do I check the status of a print job or control where my jobs will print?

How do I use Apple's LaserWriter Bridge control panel?

How do I access the Epson Stylus Pro 9000 plotter?

File transfer

How do I transfer a file from/to an ECR6 Macintosh to/from the OpenVMS server?

From Macintosh to server

From server to Macintosh

How do I transfer a file from/to an ECR6 PC-Compatible to/from the OpenVMS server?

Is there a local archive of freeware or shareware programs?

Mail

What is my E-mail address?

Which E-mail address do I use?

How do I send an Internet E-mail message from an OpenVMS system?

What are all these files with a .MAI suffix in my directory and why can't I delete them?

Mail informs me I have one (1) new mail message, but when I try to read it, there's no new messages available. What's wrong?

Is there any way to reduce the amount of disk space my MAIL.MAI file uses?

Can I move mail files to a subdirectory?

Is there a way to define "mail aliases" for E-mail addresses I commonly use?

How do I access my "postbox" mail, as well as my mail from ECR6? Can I have my WHOIS directory entry point to my ECR6 account?

I used to receive almost regular postings from my department, but these recently stopped. What's wrong?

I would like to migrate from Pathworks Mail (or Mail for Macintosh) to Eudora. How should I procede?

I received a message with an attachment which Pathworks Mail for DOS (or Mail for Macintosh) can't decode. Is there any way to decode the attachment?

Is there a way for me to send an E-mail message to a group within my department (e.g. graduate students, faculty, etc.)?

What should I do if I receive spam, a fraudulent solicitation (e.g. "Nigerian scam"), a request to verify my account ("phishing"), etc. sent to my departmental account?

How to View a Message's Full Headers

What is a "remote instance" of Eudora?

Why can't I send E-mail when I'm connected to the Internet from outside of OSU (e.g. using AOL, CompuServe, etc.)?

Why are people who are trying to send me E-mail calling me to complain that our server is blocking their messages?

Can I acsess my ECR6 E-mail account from the Web?

Can I set up an auto-responding mail message to let people know I'm out of the office?

Authentication

Vacation Notice "Modify" page

Vacation Notice "Additional Local Addresses" page

How do I forward my E-mail to a different account?

Usenet newsgroups

Can I access Usenet newsgroups from here?

Networking

What are the policies regarding computer networking?

How do I set up network clients (E-mail, FTP, Web browser, etc.) to operate with ECR6 networking resources?

What is an AppleTalk zone, and which AppleTalk zone should my office Macintosh be in?

How do I uniquely identify a Macintosh on the network?

What is a Windows workgroup, and which Windows network workgroup should my office PC be in?

How do I uniquely identify a Windows PC on the network?

Examples

I have a computer in my office/lab which I'd like to have connected to the network. What do I need to do?

What is a "network username"?

Where can I get the newest version of HomeNet/OfficeNet/ResNet software?

Are there any alternatives to using HomeNet to connect to OSU's network?

How do I view X Window graphics locally that are generated by a program running on a remote system?

Is there a way for a guest (someone not officially affiliated with OSU) to acquire network access?

Installing Software

Where should I install this software package I just received?

Given ECR6 Management's software installation policy, can I arrange to have a software package installed on the facility's computers by ECR6 Management?

Programming

How do I direct input/output to/from a FORTRAN program?

How do I direct output both to the screen, and to a file?

When I run a program on an OpenVMS server, after it runs for a while, I see a message indicating that my process priority has been reduced. Sometime thereafter, my process is killed. How can I avoid this?

ECR6
Frequently Asked Questions (and Answers)

How do I access my "postbox" mail, as well as my mail from ECR6?
Can I have my WHOIS directory entry point to my ECR6 account?