These are common terms and ideas used in reference to the entire CyberBuzz
and student organizations systems now in place.
- What is all the FINE PRINT?
- What is this passcode for activating an account?
- Why is CyberBuzz NOT a General Purpose
machine?
- What are the differences between CyberBuzz,
MAGIC, and the organization database?
- What are the MANDATORY links and information
required ON ALL PAGES?
- How does the email forwarding work and how
do I change the address it is forwarded to?
- How do I update my account contact information
IMMEDIATELY when it changes?
- How do I update my organization's information in the
database AT LEAST annually?
- I don't like {ksh|csh|bash|sh}. How can I change my
shell?
- What editors are available on CyberBuzz?
- What software is available on CyberBuzz?
- I can't seem to find pine / tin / elm / mutt / rn
/ slrn.
- Why can't we advertise on CyberBuzz, and then how do
we thank sponsors?
- How do I setup an email list?
- What about CGIs?
- What about a counter for web pages?
- How do I submit cgi scripts for use?
- How can I enhance the ability for search
engines to find important information in our pages?
- How do I get support/give feedback about this
system and services?
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What is all the Fine Print??
By applying for an user account on this machine, you and the organization you
represent agree to:
- USE COMMON SENSE!!
- NOT request an account with ADMIN in it or beginning with GT
- Request logins and directories which relate to your group
- Not use this machine for interactive uses for the users, including, but
not limited to,
- News
- slirp
- irc clients
- email clients (MUAs--pine, elm, etc.)
- CS homework (ESPECIALLY 2430 :)
- Not distribute passwords for your account(s)
- Not to attempt to destroy the quality of service of this machine or of
other machines through the use of this machine
- Use SSH whenever possible (it's on the acme triumvirate)
- Not abuse CGI privileges
- Update any changed contact information immediately
- Not attempt to gain access to this machine from off-site (outside .gatech.edu)
without prior appoval
- The active logging of all processes and connections
- NOT attempt to gain root through any means or exploits
- NOT attempt to gain access to system files through any means or exploits
- ONLY include pages that are directly related to the purpose and
aims of the organizations, and which do not duplicate resources provided
elsewhere (e.g. groups do NOT need to place individual homepages for all the
members on CyberBuzz, when all Georgia Tech students have the ability to do
create their own pages on their gt accounts)
- Include standard information regarding updating of pages, links to
other parts of CyberBuzz projects, and legal disclaimers
- The reviewing of content on pages if it is deemed inappropriate by
federal, state, or local law or Georgia Tech and OIT's guidelines
- Understand that if your account is not updated for 3 months, its access
will be FROZEN. Six months of inactivity will have your account DELETED.
This is to enforce the fact that current information and at least some due
diligience is necessary for web-based information dispersal.
Use common sense. If you are in doubt about doing something, DON'T do it!
These are not all inclusive and can change without notice. Please refer to
them regularly to make sure you are current with all minimum requirements.
Not following these guidelines can result in freezing access, temporarily
disabling pages, or removal of the account altogether.
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What is this passcode for activating an account?
When you request an account, you will be asked to enter a 2-digit/letter
passcode. YOU WILL REQUIRE THIS PASSCODE IN ORDER TO LOGIN YOUR FIRST TIME.
Along with your confirmation email that your account was created (which may take
a while as an admin must approve it) you will receive an additional passcode to
add to the one you entered in order to login, SO KEEP THE PASSCODE IN MIND.
When your account is approved you receive an email with a KeyID and UID
along with the Passcode Key you supplied when requesting the account.
These three things are needed to initially access your account on CyberBuzz.
To get your password you need to combine in this order:
(Passcode Key)(KEYID)
Example:
Say your Passcode Key is: AB and your KeyID is: 12345
Your Password would be: ab12345
NOTICE! Please change your password using the command passwd
during one of your first two logins! Your account will be locked if you do not
change your password!
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Why is CyberBuzz NOT a General Purpose machine?
This machine is NOT a general use machine, but strictly for groups and
organizations to use for web, list,ftp and other specialized services. There is
no need to duplicate services already easily provided via OIT and other
departments.
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What are the differences between CyberBuzz, MAGIC, and the
organizations database?
All student organizations will have _2_ accounts; one on CyberBuzz, and one
on the MAGIC system on Prism aka Acme. Most of these accounts are in the form of
dsadmxxx. This is to provide email and PRISM services without duplication
of those administrative functions associated with them. A break down of services
to clarify this follows:
- CyberBuzz: Web, list, ftp, etc & email FORWARDING for
any organization
- MAGIC (on PRISM): Email reading, printing (to clusters or central-ps),
Mac usage and file storage, news, and any other functions associated with
normal PRISM accounts which are not found on CyberBuzz
- Organizations Database: This is the record of entire information on
an organization which Student Affairs uses daily, and from which all
authorization for use of campus resources comes from for an organization.
This is why accurate and current information is necessary in this database.
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What are the mandatory links and information required on
ALL PAGES?
The following links are mandatory on your page, and recommended as a footer:
- Last Modified Date
- Contact Email
- Legal Disclaimer Reference
- URL
- Link to umbrella area or project
We, the admins, provide a link to a legal
disclaimer page as mandated by OIT's Network Usage Policies. All
organizations need to link this to EVERY PAGE before it is even put up
for testing purposes.
Further, we STRONGLY recommend the use of Server Side Includes for things
such as these Last Modified dates and legal includes. This will help
greatly simplify web design and keep updates easy to maintain.
The link to the umbrella area or project would, for example, be a student
organization linking to the top pages of the Student Organizations area.
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How does the email forwarding work and how do I change the
address it is forwarded to?
When you request your account, you will also specify the login and directory
name you wish to have for it. For instance, FOO (A Georgia Tech Student
Organization :) has the login foo and it's URL is http://cyberbuzz.gatech.edu/foo/.
Now this creates an email address on the machine as foo@cyberbuzz.gatech.edu.
This allows each organization to redirect their email to any officer or their
MAGIC account, even though it adds a few hops to a message, but all on very fast
connections within Georgia Tech itself.
Here's a visual schematic for those who that helps.
foo@cyberbuzz.gatech.edu --> address in account
update for foo
So you want to know when you can start using this alias? Well, when your
account was approved the alias request is automaticly sent to OIT. Please give
5-6 working days for the alias to be added into the system. However, it is
generally in place seconds after the account is approved.
So now that it is all forwarded, how do you CHANGE the forwarding
address? Simple, go to Manage Your Account on the support page and enter and submit the changed email address.
Hopefully Horton's egg doesn't hatch while you figured that one out.
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How do I update the contact information for our account?
Go to the CyberBuzz
Account Update and submit your information.
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How do I update my organization's information in the
database AT LEAST annually?
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I don't like {ksh|csh|bash|sh}. How can I change my shell?
chsh is installed in /usr/local/bin. Available shells include /bin/sh,
/bin/csh, /bin/ksh, and /usr/local/bin/bash.
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What editors are available on CyberBuzz?
Among others, CyberBuzz has ed, vi, vim, pico,
and jed installed.
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What software is available on CyberBuzz?
Among other things, the complete GNU
suite of software is installed in /usr/local/bin. PERL and pgp
are installed, as is mSQL and the latest JDK. If you know what
you're looking for, an easy way to find it is with the GNU locate
command.
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I can't seem to find pine / tin / elm / mutt / rn / slrn.
As has been pointed out numerous times already, CyberBuzz is not a
general-purpose machine. It exists to serve information for student groups, not
to provide users with an alternate Unix box to read mail / news, do their
homework, compile their personal code, etc. Among other places, the acme
triumvirate provides ample resources for these sorts of activities. Please use
another machine for such activities. Attempting to circumvent this by installing
such software yourself is a good way to lose your account.
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Why can't we advertise on CyberBuzz, and then how do we
thank sponsors?
CyberBuzz operates over a state-funded network. Therefore, no organization
may advertise for another non-Georgia Tech affiliated group (look at where the
Athletic Association's pages are now to see one way to get around this, ie they
AREN'T on campus any longer).
An organization may have a sponsorship page which contains a graphic logo of
the sponsors and even the specific name and a listing of their homepage,
however, THE LOGO OR NAME OF THE SPONSOR CAN NOT BE LINKED IN TO THEIR
HOMEPAGES DIRECTLY!! Doing so and not correcting this problem when noticed
by the admins WILL FREEZE YOUR ACCOUNT as this is illegal and puts the
entire server's operations in jeopardy.
Note, this does NOT prevent you from having a general page of links to
organizations connected to you. But, you must include the standard
disclaimer from OIT (the boldface on this link) and you can not say they are
a sponsor on the links page.
We know, this policy stinks for orgs trying to fund themselves outside of
campus/member dues, but it doesnt completely prohibit all function of it, but we
have to do so within the legal rules laid down for us. Cause hey, we would like
to be able to get other funding for keeping up the server besides hitting up
groups on campus too.
If anyone, like oh someone at MindSpring would like to donate a connection
space for us to uhh, get around this legal problem, say with space to place
linked pages for sponsor pages, drop us
admins a line.
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How do I setup an email lists?
Setting up an email list on listproc now has its own FAQ.
Please read it thoroughly before asking questions of the admins.
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What about CGIs?
Please read the CGI
Policy. Learn it, love it, live it.
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What about a counter for web pages?
It has its own FAQ!
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How do I submit cgi scripts for use?
Cgi-bin access WILL be provided. HOWEVER, this is on an approval
basis. Common scripts will be provided as drop-in forms (similar as to www.prism
provides). This prevents each of the 280+ student organizations from all
creating individual email reply cgi's and the associated overhead and time
wasted. Further, wrappers for system calls are on the cgi directories.
For more information about CGI's, please consult the CGI
policy. Basically, custom CGIs are allowed, but must be submitted to
CyberBuzz admins for clearance. A wrapper system has also been set up to allow
for safe testing by users of potentially unsecure CGIs.
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How can I enhance the ability for search engines to find
important information in our pages?
There is a search feature
on CyberBuzz. It will load in all pages based on what is contained in the html.
However you can give better descriptions by including a tag in your html. This
will allow users to find the pages they are looking for a lot easier!
Tag Format : <META NAME="descriptive name"
CONTENT="summary of page">
Place this tag between the tag <HEAD> and the tag </HEAD>
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How do I get support/give feedback about this system and
services?
Well, with a server, support is needed. If you have problems accessing
something, running a program, or just anything else CyberBuzz-related, we will
try to help. You can request help by email to support@cyberbuzz.gatech.edu.
We will try to respond to your email as soon as we can. Please include the
following in your email to help us solve the problem as fast as possible.
Your Email Address A phone number where we can reach you
Your user account name A brief description of the problem you are having.
Notice: Server support methods may change and users will be
notified via the main web page!