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UNIX Computer Operation Rules

Overview

This document outlines the "conditions of use" for the UNIX remote computing facility run by Information Technology Services and the two public computer labs administered by the School of Engineering. Please refer to Stanford University's Administrative Guide chapter 6, section 2 for overall university computing policy. The following rules define additional details, guidelines and restrictions. Most of the rules are derived from best practices or just plain common sense. Some, however, are based on current limitations on resources and may be modified over time with hardware and software upgrades.

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Rules for All Timeshare Computers

• You may not share the password for your SUNet ID with anyone, ever. You are expected to take reasonable steps to prevent anyone else from knowing your password. You may not use the password for someone else's Sunet ID, ever.

• Users may not run any program that debilitates the computer on which it is running or debilitates other systems. Examples of this include, but are not limited to:
  

  1. Running a program that uses up most of the system memory.

  2. Filling up the "/tmp" space on a system. Users should not be using more than a third of the available tmp space on a system.

  3. Doing any activity that saturates the network link for the system.

  4. Running a program that does heavy disk I/O and is writing files into the general AFS space. Use /tmp space for such programs, then copy any files you wish to keep into AFS space periodically, or when the program is done.

• During the regular academic quarter, users are limited to 7 concurrent CPU-intensive, or memory-intensive, programs across all systems.
  

  Examples of this include, but are not limited to, Matlab, SAS, gaussian, and many java programs.

  An Academic quarter is defined as starting on the first day of instruction on the Undergraduate Calendar and running though the last day of finals. Summer quarter (the longest of the Summer terms available) is included. Note that there may be individual machines, or classes of machines, that are excluded from these limits. These exceptions will be noted in each machine's login message, also known as "the message of the day (motd)".

• Users may not use computer resources for commercial purposes.

• Users are not allowed to "hack", that is, try to gain unauthorized access, into any UNIX computer, nor are users allowed to "test" for system vulnerabilities through hacking. Users also may not use a UNIX computer for making such attempts against other systems within, or outside of, Stanford.

• The "/tmp" space on each system is for temporary storage. Around midnight, files that have not been touched for 24 hours get deleted automatically. Users are allowed to run programs that circumvent this automatic process (e.g., "tmptouch" scripts), but not for more than 2 weeks.

• Users may not run "distributed clients" such as distributed.net, SETI@Home, or Folding@home, except by prior arrangement for a class.

• Users may not run public servers, such as chat rooms or database servers, except by prior arrangement for a class.

• If you are a student, the Fundamental Standard applies to your use of these systems. If you are faculty, staff, or a part-time worker (including a student employee), the Employee Code of Conduct applies to your use of these systems.

Additional Rules for Computers in the Engineering Labs

• Never power-cycle, reset, or turn off a computer.

• Never unplug a computer's network cable.

• Don't play loud music unless you are alone; using a headset is the best practice.

• If you need to step away from the computer, run xlock or log out.

• Your computer may have software running that automatically locks the screen after idling for a set period of time. Users are not allowed to circumvent this software.

• When the Engineering lab is crowded, use only one computer console.

• When the Engineering lab is crowded, academic use takes priority: at those times do not use the computer consoles just to run chat clients or play games.