USING THE PC SYSTEMS

This chapter provides general infomation about PCs and the PC environment within the department.  At this time, there are over 800 PCs supported by the Computer Services group. Almost all of our PCs are running Windows XP. Our network is structured so that all XP machines login to a Windows domain named cs.unc.edu.

What you'll find in this section:

Changing Passwords

All Computer Science passwords are changed using http://www.cs.unc.edu/webpass. The standard Ctrl-Alt-Delete method of changing passwords is disabled on Computer Science systems. For more information, see http://www.cs.unc.edu/cgi-bin/howto?howto=webpass.

Network File Sharing

Sharing a Folder/File:  When you use My Network Places, you can access shared resources on a server or other PCs without having to map a network drive. Browsing and connecting to the resource consists of a single step: clicking an icon. PCs allow personal file sharing - no server is needed. Permissions are given on the folder or file level. You can grant read, write, or read/write permission to folders or files to specific person, group or Guest. To share a folder (or file):

  1. Be sure that you are set up as an Administrator on the PC (you can check this by going to the Start bar, click "Control Panel", double-click "Administrative Tools", double-click "Computer Management".  double-click "Local Users and Groups" , and then double-click "Groups". Then double-click on the "Administrators" group and see if you are listed as a member of this group.)
  2. Using Explorer (on the Start bar) or My Computer, find the folder/file that you wish to share.
  3. Right click on the folder/file and go to "Properties".
  4. Click on the "Sharing" tab
    5. To set Permissions, click on the "Permissions..." button. Click Add to add users, or click a user name and then Remove to remove their permissionts. Users must have an account on the UNC-COMPSCI domain for you to be able to give them access to the shared file. Click OK accept the changes on each menu opened during this procedure.

Computer Services suggests that you remove "Everyone" from having permission to access your share.  We recommend that you use "Domain Users" if you want a wide audience to access your information.  Always give the most restrictive permissions possible to ensure your information remains safe.

Accessing a Shared Folder/File:  To access a shared folder or file, double click on "My Network Places". You can "Add a Network Place" and browse to the desired share.

BACK TO TOP

PC to AFS File Sharing

Information about AFS is provided in our AFS documentation.

BACK TO TOP

Backups

Backups are available to all Windows, Linux, and Mac users in the Department. Each student and staff has 10 GB of space allocated to back up their data while each faculty member has 20 GB.

Files will be synced nightly. Windows users who want backups will create a directory on the d:\ partition of their PCs named <login>_backup. Send mail to help@cs.unc.edu once you have created this directory and let them know you are ready to be backed up. The PC backup administrator will create a folder on the backup server for your data and set up automatic copying of your backup folder to the server. The server is then backed up to tape.

Please note we will only be backing up a single directory tree. You will be notified when you have reached your limit. However, should you ignore that notification, please note any data over your quota will not be backed up. Also, be aware that any open files are not backed up.

If you don't want to move your data into this structure, you can use a scheduler program to copy those files to the <login>_backup directory. We will provide the program and instructions. This assumes that you have an extra space on your local hard drive. Hopefully, this will give you added flexibility. The <login>_backup folder structure provides a unique naming convention that will help ensure that we know what data belongs where as machines get moved around.
 
 

BACK TO TOP