Some Frequently Asked Questions

These are various, unordered questions that we answer quite frequently.

I can login to Solaris but not to NT, why?
Please refer to this page for details.

I I used to be able to use ACLS (Access Control Lists) on my files and directories under Solaris. What happened?
As of summer semester 2000, Solaris ACLS are no longer supported for home directory and 'research' file space. These files are now kept on a Network Appliance filer, which does not understand Solaris ACLs.

How do I change my shell?
You can change your unix shell with the command

ypchsh

The command will prompt you for your password and a new shell. A list of valid shells is in /etc/shells. This command will not work on North.

Does CSE have a POP3 server?
CSE does not support POP3. We do have an IMAP server. The server is mail.cse.msu.edu. Use smtp.msu.edu as the SMTP server.

How do I display programs running on a remote machine?
On the remote machine, enter the following command:

remotemachine> setenv DISPLAY remotemachine:0

localmachine> xhost + remotemachine

Note that if both machines are not in the same domain, you will have to use full machine names (.e.g machine.cse.msu.edu).

How do I use the C++ iostream classes?
Please see the ios.intro man page.

How do I use htaccess on the CSE systems?
There is nothing special about htaccess on the CSE systems. You should be able to find a tutorial with a web search. The basics are the following. In the directory you want protected, create a file named .htaccess that looks something like:

AuthUserFile /path/to/directory/.htpasswd
AuthGroupFile /path/to/directory/.htgroup
AuthName ``Prompt for login''
AuthType Basic
 <Limit GET>
    order deny,allow
    deny from all
    allow from .cse.msu.edu
    require group MYGROUP
 </Limit>

where /path/to/directory/.htgroup looks something like

MYGROUP: bob

and /path/to/directory/.htpasswd is a file created by htpasswd. The program htpasswd can be found in /soft/sparc/web/bin. All files need to be world readable.