Information [Technology] Policies, Rules and Guidelines Roundup 2002

Deliverable A: Existing MIT Policies, Rules & Guidelines

Rule Detail

 

PRG Title	P/R/G	Date	Author
Welcome to Athena (AC-01) Account Policies	Rule	30 August 1997	Accounts Team

 Rule Text [captured on June 11, 2002 from http://mit.edu/olh/Welcome/accounts.html]

Athena Account Policies This section summarizes the policies regarding Athena user accounts, focusing on: who can have an Athena account the privileges that come with an Athena account, especially disk space and printing facilities the guidelines used by IS&T/Athena staff in determining when to deactivate an Athena account If you have questions or comments regarding any of these account-related policies, feel free to contact an Athena User Accounts consultant: Athena User Accounts office N42 1st Floor phone x3-1325 email accounts@mit.edu URL http://web.mit.edu/accounts/www/ Eligibility for an Athena Account The following members of the MIT community are eligible for an Athena account: Students: all MIT students, and all other students enrolled in MIT courses Faculty: all MIT faculty and other members of the teaching staff Staff: all on-campus MIT staff Others ("Guests"): people who are working on Institute projects that make use of Athena or its related services, who have appropriate sponsorship from a regular member of the MIT faculty or senior administrative staff, and whose needs cannot be met well by commercial or public alternatives to Athena (note that Guest accounts are available only in limited numbers, for specific purposes, and for limited periods of time) Activating an Account To activate an account once you have established your eligibility, you need to register for the account. You do this by following the instructions provided in the free document How to Register for an Athena Account -- or just go to an Athena workstation, select the Register for an Account button on the pre-login screen, and follow the instructions. If you are a guest user, you and your Athena sponsor must fill out a "Guest Athena Accounts Request Form" before you will be able to register; these forms are available in the User Accounts/Athena Consultants' office (N42 Lower Level), or electronically (http://web.mit.edu/accounts/Forms/guest-request.ascii). If you have any trouble registering for an account, contact an Athena User Account consultant for assistance. Privileges of an Athena Account Athena exists to provide a computing environment for educational purposes. The Athena hardware and the software licensed for that hardware are intended for educational use, broadly construed, by MIT community members. The account privileges extended to Athena users reflect this orientation. In exchange for these privileges, all users are expected to adhere to the Athena Rules of Use (included later in this document). For example, users must not use Athena for personal gain or in violation of laws or license agreements. Summary of Account Privileges Among other things, an Athena account provides the user with the ability to log into any Athena workstation, and access to: limited file storage space (see below) printing resources (see below) electronic mail facilities Athena-developed, third-party, and course software consulting, training, and documentation about the Athena system Individuals and departments can also provide their own resources to supplement, and interoperate with, the centrally-funded facilities, but computing facilities beyond the basic Athena services (especially as regards research) must be obtained by other means. File Space Privileges Each Athena user is provided with a limited amount of file storage space on Athena, known as the user's "locker". This storage space is limited to a specified size -- the user's "disk quota". Currently, the standard disk quota for users is 50,000 kilobytes (50 Meg). Users are expected to manage this space for the lifetime of their account, using removable media (e.g., floppy diskettes) for storage of material beyond their quota. The standard quota of file storage space is sufficient for most users' needs. However, if you find that you need more space, especially if you are working on an Athena-sponsored project or an undergraduate thesis, you may request more space from Athena User Accounts. Athena will try to accommodate your request, but might not be able to grant as much space as you request, or might grant you the extra space only for a limited period of time. In any space request (you may submit the request by email to accounts@mit.edu), be sure to include the following: your username the reason you need more space an estimate of how much more space you need approximately how long you will need the additional space Printing Privileges All Athena users are allowed to print free of charge on the printers in the Athena clusters. Users are encouraged to use their printing privileges responsibly -- printers are a shared resource easily subject to overuse. In particular, using printers as copying machines puts unnecessary wear and tear on the machines and is therefore explicitly prohibited (see rule #A8 in the Athena Rules of Use). Users are encouraged to consider ways to save paper, both to comserve a shared Athena resource and to help save the environment. For example it is a good practice to preview and revise documents online as much as possible, and print out only the final versions, if feasible. Athena's Printing policy applies only to printers in Athena Clusters. Departments, living Groups, or other groups that own their own printers accessible from Athena may use other charging schemes for those printers. If you plan to send a file to a printer NOT in an Athena cluster, you may want to check with that machine's system administrator first to be sure what accounting plan that printer is subject to. If there are problems with your printed output on and Athena printer (smudges, crooked printing, extra marks on the page, etc.) please report the problem to and Athena Consultant so that the problem can be addressed. Deactivation of an Athena Account Definition of Deactivation When an account is deactivated, the user loses all of the account privileges listed earlier (the user will be unable to log into Athena, receive electronic mail on Athena, forward electronic mail to another address, access Athena files, use Athena printers, etc.) The user file directory and contents associated with a deactivated account will remain on-line for at least 3 months to avoid mistaken deletion, but a user cannot gain access to these files except by special permission of Athena User Accounts. The existence of any data or files in the user directory beyond the 3-month period cannot be guaranteed by Athena. If you need to make special arrangements to back up or transfer your data prior to deactivation, please contact Athena User Accounts. Deactivation Criteria Athena accounts will be deactivated according to the following guidelines (in many cases, the Athena User Accounts staff will attempt to inform affected users of forthcoming deactivations, but successful notification is not a precondition for deactivation): Students: The account of any student who is not registered for classes in a given semester (Fall or Spring) will be deactivated no sooner than five weeks into the term, based on the Registrar's list of valid students at this time. (The accounts of students who are asked to leave MIT may be deactivated earlier.) Accounts created for special students at MIT will be deactivated at the start of the next semester. Faculty: The account of any Faculty member who is not listed in MIT Personnel records at the start of a given semester (Fall or Spring) will be deactivated no sooner than five weeks into the term. Staff: The account of any on-campus staff member who is not listed in MIT Personnel records at the start of a given semester (Fall or Spring) will be deactivated no sooner than five weeks into the term. Staff accounts may also be deactivated when the staff member's involvement with the project using Athena ends or when Athena User Accounts is notified that the staff member has left MIT. Other: The guest account of a non-MIT staff member will be deactivated when the staff member's involvement with the project using Athena ends. Any other specially-granted guest account will be deactivated when the IS&T/Athena staff inform Athena User Accounts that the account is no longer necessary. If you have any questions or comments, or need an account to be active for longer than the specified time, please contact Athena User Accounts. Reactivation of an Athena Account To have an account reactivated, you need to meet eligibility guidelines (see Eligibility for an Athena Account earlier) and present one of the following to an Athena Accounts consultant: a student ID with registration sticker for the current term, or an indication that you are listed with the MIT Personnel Office as currently employed by MIT, or a signed "Guest Athena Accounts Request Form", available in the Athena User Accounts Office (4-070), the Athena Consultants' Office (4-070), or electronically (http://web.mit.edu/accounts/Forms/guest-request.ascii). Deactivation Due to Improper Use In addition to being subject to deactivation without notice after eligibility has expired, an Athena account may also be immediately frozen or otherwise deactivated if the account appears to be misused in any of the following ways: violation of the Athena Rules of Use or other relevant MIT policies violation of applicable laws violation of the specific purpose for which the account was granted (e.g., for guest Athena accounts) use of Athena resources for non-educational purposes that interferes with their use for educational purposes (especially when demand for Athena workstations and services exceeds supply at peak times in the year) use in ways that threaten system integrity, security, or availability An account deactivated for misuse may remain deactivated pending disciplinary or other administrative review, and will in no case be reactivated until Athena administrators are satisfied that the improper use will not recur. Last modified: 30 August 1997

Related URLs

Rationale

Findings

The above document is very Athena/student/academic computing specific. There is no other account eligibility document that we are aware of.

On adopting the one-page account eligibility statement, mvan writes:

Eligibility for account is access to most services. There is no variation in type of account. Students are "authenticated" upon registration. All others are not, aside from having to know their MIT id number. (freely available from HR). Voucher/temp/guests have even less proof of ownership other than the faculty or staff member who sponsors the account.

We'd probably want to make a statement about accounts not being transferable etc....

We could use much of the "Authentication" section that mentions Kerberos.

Our statement about reuse would be different. Students do not automatically keep their username for alumni forwarding. Accounts are deactivated in January following graduation. It's unclear how long after which the account may be reactivated. We normally say six months, however it's usually closer to 10 before the info is purged from moira and afs. The kerberos principle hangs around longer than that. I'm not sure what criteria Jeff uses in purging these (or if it's even done anymore). There are underlying certificate issues.

Next Steps (recommendations)

Results

Ask a question or send a comment about this web page Last modified: 6/11/2002