2. Getting Access to the UNIX Systems

Connecting to a UNIX System

Before you can use any Hardlink's UNIX systems, you must have a username that is validated for the system you will use. You can apply for and account with us at http://www.hardlink.net/Register/register.html Our list of servers available to users are:

Other computer systems at the Internet Hardlink Co also run under the UNIX operating system, but those specialized computers are not discussed here.

Connecting from Another Computer

If you are already logged in on another computer that is connected to the Internet, you should be able to connect to a Hardlink UNIX system by giving a telnet, or ssh command. For these, include the full hostname if your local machine is not one of Hardlink's own computers. For example, type
     telnet hornet.hardlink.com 
to connect to Hardlink and get its login: prompt.

If you want to connect by using telnet or ssh, read the online help for these commands on your local system.

Logging In the First Time

When telneting to one of Hardlink's UNIX servers, you should see something like this:

Trying 199.103.249.249...
Connected to hornet.
Escape character is '^]'.
 
Welcome from root@viper to: 

                             The Internet
       ___ ___                     .___.___     .__          __ 
      /   |   \ _____  _______   __| _/|   |    |__|  ____  |  | __
     /    ~    \\__  \ \_  __ \ / __ | |   |    |  | /    \ |  |/ /
     \    Y    / / __ \_|  | \// /_/ | |   |___ |  ||   |  \|    <
      \___|_  / (____  /|__|   \____ | |______ \|__||___|  /|__|_ \
            \/       \/             \/        \/         \/      \/

                  Offering Internet access to the world.
                         $15/mnth ppp accounts!
                        $100/yr telnet accounts!
                       $25/mnth virtual domains!

                  To register just call (781) 961-4982
   To register online, please use http://www.hardlink.com/register.html
                                       
                 Information          info@hardlink.com 
                 Support              support@hardlink.com
 
              You are connnecting to hornet.hardlink.com

WARNING: To protect the system and all systems  on  this  network  from
         unauthorized use and to ensure that the system is  functioning
         properly, activities on this system are monitored and recorded
         and subject to audit.  Use of this system is expressed consent
         to such monitoring and recording.  Any unauthorized access  or
         use of this computer system is prohibited and could be subject
         to criminal and civil penalties.




UNIX(r) System V Release 4.0 (hornet)
login: guest
Password:
Last login: Thu Apr  2 09:57:55 from viper

                       PLEASE READ HARDLINK'S MOTD'S

           NEW USERS!!!  Use the tool pine to read your mail.

     Our Acceptable Use Policy is at: http://www.hardlink.com/aup.html
       Our Terms Of Service is at: http://www.hardlink.com/tos.html

     You are responsible for everything that happens with your account.
                   Share it with no one! Guard it well!

     The command to change passwords is not "passwd" but "nispasswd".
            Please log onto bronco to change your password.


                   Hornet's local motd's
 

        This is not a bot machine! That is what bobcat and 
        pinto are for. :)  Dont waste your time compiling eggdrops.  
        It has been done already. Dont reinvent the wheel. Dont
        run any background processes either.  They will be killed off.

You have mail.
guest@hornet: 

UNIX displays any message of the day that may be posted. Such messages usually contain important system announcements.

To start your UNIX session, use your new login name (if you chose one) and password in response to the login: and Password: prompts. After you type these, you will see a line showing the time and date of your most recent login on that computer system.

	Last login: Thu Apr  2 09:57:55 from viper
Pay attention to this line: it could indicate a login by someone who discovered your password and logged in under your user number.

Next, UNIX displays the message of the day, if there is one. Should the message scroll off the screen before you can read it--or if you want to see it again later--redisplay it by typing

	more /etc/motd 
You can get the local MOTD by looking in:
	more /etc/motd.local 
Then you will see a line that looks like this:
	TERM = (vt100)
If the terminal you are using is really a VT100 or is emulating a VT100 (such as a Macintosh or Windows computer running a terminal emulation program), just press Return. If your terminal is some other type, type in the correct value. If you don't know what kind of terminal you are using, just press Return to accept the vt100 value: it is the most common setting and will probably work well. You can call the Support at (781) 961-4982 if you suspect your terminal settings are causing problems.

Also, before using some programs, such as the pine mail program, the trn news reader, or the vi text editor, your terminal type must be defined. Under the C shell, you can do this by giving the command

	setenv TERM type
where type identifies your terminal type, such as vt100 or xterm.

Finally, you will see a prompt indicating that UNIX is ready for your commands. On Hardlink's UNIX machines, the prompt includes the hostname (the machine's network name, such as hornet).

Login Initialization Files

Whenever you log in, the UNIX shell searches your directory for certain initialization files and executes them. Assuming you chose the C shell (/bin/csh) as your login shell, you can put commands into your initialization file, named .login (``dot-login''), to set up your terminal or do other routine tasks. To insert command lines into .login, you must use an editing program, as described in chapter 6. Here are sample lines from the default .login file given to new users:
# Sample .login for new csh users
#
# The following line is used to set your terminal type
# when you login.
setenv TERM `tset - -Q -m 'unknown:?vt100' -m 'su:?vt100' -m 'dumb:?vt100' -m 'network:?vt100'`
setenv EDITOR pico
set mail= (0 /var/mail/$USER)
# Current directory put at end of path for security reasons
setenv PATH /usr/local/bin:${PATH}:
# Delete '# ' at beginning of next line if you do NOT want ^D to log you out.
# set ignoreeof
The lines beginning with the pound sign (#) are explanatory comments. All the other lines are commands that are executed each time you log in. The line that begins ``setenv TERM'' is the one that causes the prompt:
     TERM = (vt100)
each time you log in. If you always use a different type of terminal, you could edit this line to put that type everywhere it now has ``vt100''. Be sure to use the accent grave (`) and the apostrophe (') exactly as they are shown in the original line.

The line that begins ``setenv EDITOR'' identifies your default editor. Any value set by the setenv command is called an ``environment variable''. Many programs use the values of environment variables by default.

The line that begins ``set mail'' tells where to look for your incoming mail. In this line, $USER means your own login name, whatever that may be.

If for some reason you do not have a .login file, or if you ruin yours with an editing mistake, you can copy the default file from /usr/local/lib/LOGIN to your own directory. (See chapter 5 to learn how to do this.)

Changing Your Password

Your password is the only thing that keeps others from impersonating you on the system and getting full access to your files and computing resources. To protect your files and your user number, it is a good idea to change your password occasionally. To do this, you will need to be logged onto the UNIX server bronco.hardlink.com. Type the command
     nispasswd 
For example
guest@bronco: nispasswd
nispasswd:  Changing password for guest
Enter login(NIS+) password: 
New password:
Re-enter new password:
        NIS+ password information changed for guest
        NIS+ credential information changed for guest
guest@bronco: 
You will be prompted first for your current password, then twice for a new one (the second time for verification). Neither your old password nor your new one will appear on the screen when you type it. Remember that the password should be something you can remember but others can't easily guess. It can be 6 to 8 characters long the program rejects passwords that match anything you put into the personal database (for example, your nickname), words from a dictionary, or words and names that people have used in the past to try to break into computer accounts.

Logging Out

At the end of the UNIX session, don't just hang up the phone or turn off your terminal or workstation. And don't ignore a ``frozen'' terminal, assuming that your computer job will terminate on its own. Always log out before you leave. To do so, type the command
     logout   or   exit 
Some UNIX systems give no job summary or logout message. You simply see another prompt, depending on how you connected. When you see this prompt, type
     exit
An alternative to typing logout is to type ^d, which signals the end of input you are typing into a file. If you are at command level instead of typing text into a file, then ^d ends your UNIX session. To make the command interpreter ignore this ``end-of-file'' signal so that you won't log out by accident--say if you inadvertently type ^d twice instead of once when you finish typing input to a file--give the command
     set ignoreeof 
at the beginning of each UNIX session. Or you can put the command in your .login file. NOTE: The set ignoreeof command works only if the C shell (or some variant of it, such as tcsh) is your command interpreter.

Should you get another login prompt when you type logout, type ^d or exit to log out.

When you try to log out, you might see the message, ``There are suspended jobs.'' This means you have suspended some process that you should finish or kill before you log out. See chapter 4 to learn how to do this.

If your terminal seems to lock up and you cannot log out, you might have a runaway or disconnected job. Chapter 9 describes how to fix this problem.

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