FAQ

From ClubsWiki

Contents 1 Accounts 1.1 Account Information 1.1.1 Why use a CORE account? 1.2 About CIS 1.3 Account Eligibility 1.4 CIS Server Hall of Fame 1.4.1 OTHER CIS CONTRIBUTORS... 2 Mailman 2.1 What's a Mailman mailing list? 2.2 How to unsubscribe from Mailman mailing lists 2.3 How do you delete all subscribers from a Mailman list? 2.4 What's the difference between a CIS email account and a Mailman email list? 2.5 How do you make a Mailman email list "Announce Only"? 2.6 What settings should be used for the Mailman email list? 3 Email 3.1 What Email client should I use? 3.2 Can we have our CIS email forwarded to another email address? 3.3 What is an "@uci.edu" e-mail alias? 3.4 How do I check my CORE e-mail? 3.5 What is POP and what is IMAP? 3.6 What is our club's email address? 3.7 TIP: Quicker email 3.8 How do you avoid junk email and SPAM? 4 Websites 4.1 Can our group be issued a UCI subdomain? 4.2 Can our club register a custom URL or 3rd part domain? 4.3 TIP: Regarding DNS and custom domains 4.4 Can our website display ads or link to external websites? 4.5 What is our club's website address? 4.6 How do you delete stubborn files? 4.7 How do I get my club's website up and running? 4.8 TIP: How websites are built 5 FTP & Server 5.1 Does the CIS server have case-sensitive web addresses and paths? 5.2 Why does our CIS account password no longer work? 5.3 How can we change our CIS account password? 5.4 Is the server always available or are there "down" times? 5.5 Why can't I log on to the server? 5.6 Why won't Frontpage or other FTP applications connect properly? 5.7 What FTP options are available? 5.8 What directory/path should be used for FTP? 5.9 I can download, but not upload via FTP...what's wrong? 5.10 Can our club have Telnet or Shell Access via SSH? 6 PHP & MySql 6.1 What would a sample PHP/MySQL script look like? 6.2 How are MySQL and PHP related? 6.3 Why can't I connect to the MySQL database? 6.4 TIP: MySQL connection example - beware of invisible characters 7 Other 7.1 Contact Info 7.2 Can anyone volunteer to help with the UCI CIS server? 7.3 Why do we have to renew our CIS account every year? 7.4 Why is there a CIS server AND a Sprite server? 7.5 What's good and bad about the UCI CIS server?

[edit] Accounts

[edit] Account Information

C0RE accounts provide website hosting and e-mail services to campus organizations at the University of California, Irvine. Accounts can only be activated by a registered campus organization (a separate process from activation/renewal) in good standing with the Office of the Dean of Students.

[edit] Why use a CORE account?

• CONTINUITY - same e-mail/web addresses each year
• ACCESSIBILITY - 24-hour access from any Internet-capable computer
• NO "APPROVAL" PROCESS - full control of your website content (subject to UCI Computer Use Policy and guidelines)
• NO ADVERTISEMENTS - no pop-ups/ads on pages or e-mail advertisements
• UCI DOMAIN - clubs.uci.edu sites are searchable through the UCI home page and Google.
• EMAIL: clubname@uci.edu e-mail alias upon approval by UCI Postmaster
• NO ADDITIONAL COSTS - at this time, any registered club or organization is eligible for a free CIS Account;
• GENEROUS SPACE - 200MB web space, 50MB e-mail space
• MAILMAN MAIL LISTS - e-mail subscription services so you can more easily make one-way announcements to members or have large group discussions
• Typical web and e-mail addresses on the CIS Server are similar to the following:
  • http://clubs.uci.edu/sample
  • sample @ clubs.uci.edu
• NEW!
  • http://www.clubs.uci.edu/sample OR http://clubs.uci.edu/sample
  • sample @ www.clubs.uci.edu

OPENING ACCOUNTS Accounts are club/organization registering with the Office of the Dean of Students and can be activated by the president/chair, who must complete a CIS Account Activation/Renewal Application accepting responsibility for the account and its subsequent use. E-mail and webmaster duties may be delegated to other officers or members at the president/chair's discretion, but the president/chair must maintain a supervisory role.

AGREEMENT All account users agree to the terms and conditions specified in the UCI Computer and Network Use Policy and will respect the integrity of the system and fellow users. Furthermore, account users agree not to use these accounts for personal use, financial gain, or other non-club purposes and will not "sell" or re-issue part or parts of their accounts to any other users, advertisers, commercial entities, or non-profit agencies.

CIS Account Description

• E-mail: POP3 mail and IMAP4, big attachments permitted (20MB); a combination of webmail and Eudora is recommended
• Web: Web pages and support files can be uploaded through ftp or copied to the server from, zip, jaz, CD-R, CD-RW, or DVD-R media. Under normal circumstances, there is essentially no bandwidth ceiling for websites. (however, abuse will not be tolerated and all traffic is subject to investigation)
• FTP: file upload/download capability; ftp for web pages
• Advanced Web: php, perl, mySQL, .htaccess
• Account Size: web disk space storage not to exceed 1000 MB, e-mail quota 250 MB.
• Responsibility: president/chair supervises but may delegate to other officers or users
• Speed: access varies but the CIS Server has an extremely fast pipe speed around 5000-7000 kbps

[edit] About CIS

Why CIS Accounts?

At UCI, clubs and organizations are a critical element of campus CIS. They sponsor amazing activities and events for the entire campus community, they're the life of campuswide programs, and they are an integral part of daily student life. UCI CIS Accounts were created to help clubs and organizations organize, communicate, and project their identities to other students and/or the world. The prosperity and accomplishments of clubs and organizations augment the entire university and its CIS.

HISTORY

In 1997, most clubs and organizations did not have websites or e-mail accounts. Some used an officer's personal e-mail account or signed up for free commercial websites and/or e-mail while a very few were able to talk UCI departments into hosting their sites. The problems with with former, however, included annoying pop-ups, slow access, slow service, no relationship to UCI, and long website addresses, and the problems with the latter included little or no direct access to the web host, possible "appoval" periods, and uncertain futures. Various clubs and organizations individually asked for help from various departments of the university. Dean of Students had already investigated the possibility of using 2nd generation hand-me-down computers but dismissed this as unacceptably poor service, but when it was found out that ASUCI and Student Affairs were both contemplating this issue as well, the three units decided to collaborate on a solution.

It was agreed that Student Affairs would fund the majority of the start-up equipment costs, ASUCI would cover the remainder and fund a student employee to manage the accounts and oversee server development and student organization training, and Dean of Students would administer and house the server and cover any miscellaneous day-to-day support costs. After being approved by ASUCI legislation, the server was purchased in spring of 1998 and officially debuted in fall of 1998. Clubs and organizations finally got basic e-mail and web accounts that were fast, generous, easy, and showed a relationship with UCI without the hassles.

The CIS Server was also hosting one of the first web search engines for a university's clubs and organizations. Anyone on the internet could check to see what clubs and organizations were registered at UCI, read their descriptions, get contact info, and search/browse using keywords. This was also initiated that first year. In 1999, however, the CIS Server project was accidentally left out of the ASUCI annual budget so alternative funding for the student position had to be sought. Fortunately, the student employee was eligible for work study from the federal government for having served in the armed forces so was able to continue managing and maintaining the server provided the server also be used for Veteran Services e-mail and the student also assist with Veteran Services duties.

Today, the majority of clubs and organizations have websites and most of them are on the UCI CIS Server. The clubs and organizations search engine has been moved to another server, and the original server, an Apple Macintosh G3/300 Server running AppleShareIP, has been replaced with a dual-processor (1 GHz) Mac OS X Server running Apache. Clubs and organizations now have the opportunity to help develop advanced services such as the enabling of php, java, jsp, perl, and other cgi-related/scripting services.

Any interested undergraduate or graduate student can volunteer to participate in this on-going project and help improve and expand our services. The University Affairs for Credit program can even provide 1.3 units P/NP for those volunteers interested in earning credit for 30 hours of research and work during a quarter. Inquire at the Office of the Dean of Students.

Provided there are no funding shortfalls, it is hoped that the CIS project will only continue to grow and improve with each passing quarter.

[edit] Account Eligibility

Who is eligible for CIS accounts?

The UCI CIS Server project is intended to serve (pun!) as a free e-mail and website server for clubs and organizations. Only registered groups are eligible to sign-up for CIS accounts, but CIS accounts are not automatically created for all groups. The president/chair and the webmanager must APPLY / RENEW each fall quarter and review what services are setup for that account. CIS account are NOT available for general students, departments, or non-University entities.

[edit] CIS Server Hall of Fame

Although there have been many great contributors to the CIS/Spirit server project over the years, here is a list of the folks who helped us achieve some of our Milestone Moments...

• MIKE ALVARINO, 1998 - developer (club search)
• ANGEL ROQUE, 1998-2000 - admin, manager, and developer (accounts, logistics, club search, club calendar, templates, site, user help)
• W. JOHN CALDWELL, 1999-2002 - manager (accounts)
• ARSEN ARABYAN, 2001-2004 - admin, manager (accounts, documentation)
• JASON ACKERMANN, 2001-2002 - manager (accounts, club search)
• CHRIS BELTRAN, 2001-2003 - admin, manager, and developer (accounts, php, tutorial, testing, documentation, user help)
• DARREN ENDO, 2003-2005 - manager (accounts)
• SYLVIA BASS, 2003-2004 - developer (.htaccess, testing)
• CON WIELAND, 2004-present - developer (Mailman), UCI postmaster (e-mail aliases)
• ALEX NEGVESKY, 2004 - developer (MySQL, phpMyAdmin)
• LOUIS NGUYEN, 2004-2007 - admin, account manager/developer (various projects)
• ANDY SUH, 2005 - account manager/developer (SMF, Joomla)
• SAMEER VADERA, 2005 - developer (application renewal system)
• GENE PAMULAKLAKIN, 2006 - admin, account manager/developer (SMF, Joomla)
• JESSE NICKLES, 2006 - board manager (SMF & TinyPortal, documentation, tutorials)
• STEVE TAJIRI, 1998-present - sysop, admin, manager, developer (accounts, club search, logistics, forums, site, templates, user help, documentation, system / project coordination, installs and updates, etc.)
• SHAWN PULLUM, 2008-present - administrator
• TARANA YUSUFI, 2008-09 - accounts manager
• GRANT HOULGATE, 2009-present - administrator

[edit] OTHER CIS CONTRIBUTORS...

Andrew Laurence, Bayan Towfiq, David Lim, Peter Lee (2006-07), Glenn Lopez, Josh Rodstein, Lei Guo, Mel Quintos, Norman Santa Romana, Quan Phan, Sam Nguyen, Tom Wypych

If I forgot to list you or put the wrong years, please change the page (or let me know and I will make any corrections). Later on, I'll try to confirm stuff by looking back at old docs. If you're interested in helping develop the server, please just start volunteering and contribute! Thanxalot! --ST

[edit] Mailman

[edit] What's a Mailman mailing list?

Mailman is a (usually automated) system that allows people to send e-mail to one address, whereupon their message is copied and sent to all of the other subscribers to the mail list. In this way, people who have many different kinds of e-mail access can participate in discussions together.

[edit] How to unsubscribe from Mailman mailing lists

Just visit http://mail.clubs.uci.edu/mailman/listinfo to find the list(s) to which you are subscribed. Click the link to visit the list info page. From there, type your e-mail address in the Subscribers section, and click Unsubscribe or edit options. On the next page, click the Unsubscribe box. You will receive an e-mail message with instructions on how to confirm your removal from the list.

[edit] How do you delete all subscribers from a Mailman list?

Well, I'm not sure what the best method is since there may be Mailman options to for deleting all subscribers all in one command, but if you end up deleting everyone manually, here's what I did...

In the Mailman MEMBER MANAGEMENT area, I went letter-by-letter and deleted whole sets at a time. If there were not too many, I used the UNSUBSCRIBE check boxes next to each subscriber's e-mail address and hit the submit button. For letters having a lot of subscribers, I copy/pasted their addresses right from the web page into the mass removal screen and it worked. Mailman seems to only show you 30 at a time, though, so for letters like A, C, and S, I had to delete those letters in stages. If you happen to have a list of e-mail addresses in Excel or a database, copy/paste that into the mass removal instead; that way you get rid of the bulk of addresses you need to remove all at once.

I didn't have a pre-saved list so I went letter by letter and kept the mass removal page in a different tab in my browser so I could just hop back and forth. I could have deleted the list and recreated it, but I had just spent a lot of time configuring it and didn't want to have to do that again and clubs cannot do this themselves, anyway. One of these days, I'm going to have to study up on Mailman and read its documentation for list owners and users. --ST

[edit] What's the difference between a CIS email account and a Mailman email list?

All CIS accounts come with e-mail accounts that can be used the same way you use your own personal e-mail for yourself. Your group can send or receive messages, create address books/nicknames, and login to the account to check for messages and/or attachments.

Mail lists (one "brand" of mail list software is "listserv", but we use GNU Mailman from http://www.list.org instead) look like e-mail addresses (e.g. username-list@clubs.uci.edu) but are not e-mail accounts: they are e-mail subscription services. People with e-mail addresses can SUBSCRIBE to a mail list like a magazine subscription, and any message that is sent to the mail list (e.g. username-list@clubs.uci.edu) will be received by every subscribing e-mail address.

Mailman mail lists can be used this way for announce-only bulletins to subscribers, or they can be configured for group discussions. If the latter, the list can be set to allow anyone (public) to post to the list, or it can be set to allow only subscribers to post. Mailman calls this control feature "moderation" and each member of the list has a "mod" setting, so you can control who is allowed to post and who is not.

Adding e-mail addresses to the subscription can be done from the web interface by a list administrator, and/or the list can be made self-subscribing so anyone in the world can join a mail list without an administrator having to add/remove e-mail addresses all the time.

User-friendly documentation for CIS users is not available at this time, but anyone interested in contributing to the UCI CIS server project can help by putting something together for other users... maybe a guide or quick-setting reference sheet. This FAQ may also grow, change, or have additions over time. --ST

[edit] How do you make a Mailman email list "Announce Only"?

This has not been fully tested yet, but here is a brief description of settings if you want your list to be ANNOUNCE ONLY, i.e. so only specific individuals can send mail to the list and all other attempts are denied...

(1) Log in to the administrative website for your list... it is accessible from the CIS home page by clicking on MAILMAN LISTS and then LIST ADMIN OVERVIEW PAGE and then clicking on your list (if publicly visible). Or you can go directly to it in a browser by using an address like...

http://clubs.edu/mailman/admin/nameofyourlist

(2) PRIVACY OPTIONS > SENDER FILTERS

By default, should new list member postings be moderated?

• YES

(This means when a new address subscribes, should this user's moderation setting immediately set to moderate posts from this address.)

Action to take when a moderated member posts to the list.

• REJECT
• and then type a reject notice to your members

Action to take for postings from non-members for which no explicit action is defined.

• DISCARD
• and then YES if you want to see what someone tried to send

(You can set this to REJECT instead if you want to tell someone they cannot post.)

(3) Now that you've set the list to not allow anyone to post, you have to decide WHO IS ALLOWED to post. If the address you want to post from is a member of the list, you can go to the MEMBERSHIP setting and change that address's setting to NOT be moderated (uncheck mod box). If the address you want to post from is NOT a member of the list, you can put the address in the PRIVACY OPTIONS > SENDER FILTERS setting for...

List of non-member addresses whose postings should be automatically accepted.

• yourpostingaddress@uci.edu

I think that's it. If you already have members in the list when you apply these options, you may have to go to the MEMBERSHIP section and check the MOD box next to each of the existing users. (Actually, I just helped a user with this and there seems to be an option to change all users to be moderated all at once... SET button).

You should adjust these (and other) settings to suit your needs, though. For example, instead of REJECTING member messages, you can HOLD them for approval before letting it go out to everyone on the list. There are many, many other settings you should examine as well.

If these instructions do not work or are incomplete, please post the problem(s) and/or fix(es) here and we will edit these instructions for other users.

[edit] What settings should be used for the Mailman email list?

The Mailman mail list service is a relatively new service on the CIS server. Since the CIS server project relies upon volunteers to develop services and produce documentation, usually the docs follow the implementation of the service.

Some information is available from the Mailman website, http://www.list.org, but we have not put anything together for CIS users yet. There are LOTS and LOTS of settings, and the Mailman interface has help documentation, but we have not made a guide yet or recommended standard configuration. Also a good source for information would be http://www.foretec.com/python/workshops/1998-11/proceedings/papers/manheimer/manheimer.html For now, you'll have to just go through all the pages and pages of settings to get what your want.

If you'd be interested in helping other users, you can document what you've learned about the settings and/or create user guidelines.

[edit] Email

[edit] What Email client should I use?

We recommend Mozilla Thunderbird or Mozilla Seamonkey. Both are free to download, and run on most modern operating systems (Windows, Mac, and Linux).

• Download Thunderbird
• Download SeaMonkey

[edit] Can we have our CIS email forwarded to another email address?

Yes, this is possible, but we prefer that you set up your other email account to download from the CIS mail server.

[edit] What is an "@uci.edu" e-mail alias?

The UCI Postmaster previously permitted CIS to request e-mail aliases on behalf of organizations (e.g. ClubName@uci.edu could be forwarded to ClubName@clubs.uci.edu). As of November 17, 2009, CIS is no longer able to request new aliases or make changes to existing aliases. E-mail aliases may cease to function at any time, so we recommend you use ClubName@clubs.uci.edu.

[edit] How do I check my CORE e-mail?

CORE WebMail

[edit] What is POP and what is IMAP?

In short, POP users store messages on their own computers while IMAP users store messages directly on the server. POP e-mail clients such as Eudora offer more features, functions, filters, and unlimited storage while IMAP clients such as webmail are best for multi-users working in multi-locations.

CIS accounts have both and it is recommended that you use Eudora configured for both POP and IMAP simultaneously and to check for new mail every 30 minutes. Note, however, IMAP burdens the server more so we only allow a limited number of simultaneous IMAP connections.

[edit] What is our club's email address?

Since the server first came online in 1998, additional names/aliases have been added to give users choices in their e-mail/website addresses; however, groups should always know their "true" addresses, with clubs.uci.edu. For a group w/a login or username of "username", for example, any of the following are possible and can work simultaneously...

E-mail... username@clubs.uci.edu (true address, always works) username@uci.edu (@uci.edu alias, *** must be requested) username@clubs.uci.edu (alias added 10/6/04, always works) username@www.clubs.uci.edu (alias added 10/6/04), always works)

[edit] TIP: Quicker email

Whether you're checking to see if you're e-mail account is working correctly or if you're an advanced developer testing web form data mailings, you'll find that mail messages are delivered almost instantly if you do both of the following...

(1) send from CIS webmail or from a web form in your CIS website (2) send to your full e-mail address (e.g. username@clubs.uci.edu) and not use the @uci.edu alias

The reason for this is that the server has its own outgoing mail server, PostFix. Outbound mail originating from the server is instantly delivered to itself whereas mail to username@uci.edu has to go out first to the internet and UCI mail servers before being routed to the CIS server. Plus, the UCI mail servers can be busy and have additional checks and scanning utilities that can delay delivery. When you're testing/developing, waiting for those messages can seem like an eternity and not knowing how long to wait can cause you problems and frustration down the road.

Stay local and your mail should arrive in less than a second, I think. Cheesy --ST

[edit] How do you avoid junk email and SPAM?

Junk email and SPAM are an increasingly annoying problem that has escalated in recent years and CIS accounts are as vulnerable as any. In the United States, the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 was implemented to help address this issue, but a large amount of SPAM comes from outside the United States and many spammers seem NOT to comply with it, anyway. A January 2003 NACS report mentions 45% of mail sent to @uci.edu addresses is spam although I remember another report that it is more like 60% and some individuals get slammed with over 90%.

UCI has anti-spam utilities in place by NACS to help, so check out their information when you get a chance. Personally, I recommend the following...

• do not publish your e-mail address on websites (spambots harvest e-mail addresses)
• do not use your @uci.edu mail address for purchases/orders
• use filters in applications like Eudora but do not delete them, move them to SPAM/JUNK folders so you can catch false alerts and do "REMOVE ME" clicks (see below)
• do all the "REMOVE ME" options; they will not work all the time and some are actually fake or even confirm your address to spammers, but I think it's worth doing since getting off 1 list can sometimes remove you from 10 others AND keep new spammers from getting your address from that source; this is debatable, of course, but I do it and it seems to help a lot; folks who don't do it are just letting their addresses get circulated more and more
• guard your e-mail address as you would your phone number
• do not support spammer products or services; doing so only encourages this practice and further funds their spamming campaigns

If your junk/spam is overwhelming your CIS account, don't just stop checking your mail... you can ask us to shut it down temporarily or permanently so spam gets bounced. If you do not tell us to shut it down, your account will continuously accept junk and eventually fill up. Future club officers may want to use the account later on so don't leave them with a spam-infested account.

There are many good resources on the web that can also help you and educate you on the subject. Some even crusade a war against spam and tell you what you can do to help stop spam, whether you are a regular, everyday user or an internet programmer or admin.

[edit] Websites

[edit] Can our group be issued a UCI subdomain?

http://www.ourgroup.uci.edu http://ourgroup.clubs.uci.edu

Technologically, it can be done, but even UCI departments must make special request for a UCI subdomain so at this time the answer is "NO". There are logistical, political, and legal issues that must be resolved before organizations would be allowed to have UCI subdomains. Some of these include...

• campus organizations are affiliated w/UCI, but their information is not official university information and may imply such by the UCI subdomain

• related to this, campus organizations are independent entities which do not report to University administration, per se, and whose content cannot be controlled or mandated to be kept up to date and accurate (although groups must at least adhere to the Computer Use Policy).

• longevity can be a problem; many campus organizations come and go often, so there is little consistency from year to year.. even if any particular group were to be present for long periods, the sheer number of groups would prove a difficult, time-consuming process to manage and maintain

• ourgroup.clubs.uci.edu is a possibility since the clubs.uci.edu subdomain has been approved for the UCI CIS Server and we have the capability of doing subdomains on our subdomain, but this may require additional administrative upkeep and information management which we cannot reliably support (we have insufficient staffing as it is and our volunteer resources vary from quarter to quarter... have you volunteered to help yet?)

Now, circumstances could change in the future for better or worse, so this is by no means a "final" decision, but right now... non-University campus organizations registering with the Office of the Dean of Students cannot request sub domains. If the University were to somehow decide to provide sub domains for general students and staff, then campus organizations would most certainly be likely to be included, but I do not foresee such a drastic change anywhere in the near future. --ST

[edit] Can our club register a custom URL or 3rd part domain?

Yes. Many clubs with web design experience decide to purchase a 3rd party domain/URL such as WWW.OURCLUB.COM instead of hosting their website on UCI's CIS server such as: http://clubs.uci.edu/sample

There are a few important things you should know in regard to this.

First of all, your club can either purchase a domain such as WWW.OURCLUB.COM and force it to forward to their UCI CIS domain using the tools the domain registrar company provides you.

The other option is forward your club's UCI CIS domain to the 3rd party domain. To accomplish this, you must include a tiny bit of "autorefresh" code in the index.html file that is in your UCI CIS server directory, which you may access via FTP. To learn how to do this, visit the autorefresh post. To see a live example of how this would work, visit the Example Club's website at: http://clubs.uci.edu/sample

In addition, your club doesn't necessarily need to purchase a 3rd party domain; there are many free options out there including:

Google Pages

Google Blogger

These are two of the best free options we recommend.

Please keep in mind that your club's webmaster might graduate or otherwise not be available at some point. Because of this, we highly recommend that your club at least sets up some sort of UCI CIS website account, even if you are forwarding to a 3rd party domain. We also highly recommend requesting a sub-board for your club on the UCI CIS Forum, so that if your club's website(s) are ever down, your board will act as a reliable meeting place, especially for guests.

Please post any questions in the Questions board, thanks!

Good luck!

[edit] TIP: Regarding DNS and custom domains

Although I am not an expert in this area, here is my understanding of domains and hosting. The short answer is,"We can't do it for real but there are workarounds." In this post, I will try to keep it as non-technical as possible and avoid too much detail to make it easier to follow, but please correct any errors I may state if you are knowledgeable about DNS and web hosting and think clarification is necessary.

Now, when you register a domain name like WWW.OURCLUB.COM with a domain registering company, they file it for you with the international agency that tracks most of the world's domains and ensure that only you get that domain for as long as you continue to annually renew it. The cost of this registering service ranges greatly, and various domain registering companies offer different amounts of support and services to go along with the domain registration.

Registering the domain WWW.OURLCUB.COM, however, does not necessarily mean that you get any websites or e-mail addresses to go with it. All you are doing is reserving the right to use that domain. In order to put that domain to use, you must find a web hosting company to provide you with web space and e-mail accounts, AND you must find a company to host your domain name and translate WWW.OURCLUB.COM into a unique internet identification number called an IP address.

For example, the IP address of the UCI CIS Server is 128.200.87.24 and no other computer in the world should be using this number on the internet. Remembering this number every time you want to visit the CIS website would be ridiculous, however, so the internet has a Domain Name System (DNS) to let us humans use meaningful words and letter combination to use instead. The domain name of the CIS server is CIS.dos.uci.edu, and it has been registered with the UCI DNS servers to let the world know that

clubs.uci.edu = 128.200.87.24

So let's say you are at your parents' home and they have Earthlink as their Internet Service Provider. When you type http://clubs.uci.edu into the URL line of your web browser, here is a simplified chain of processes that happens to get you to the CIS server website...

1. your computer contacts the DNS servers for Earthlink 2. if Earthlink's DNS servers know the domain name CIS.dos.uci.edu, they will give your computer the CIS.dos.uci.edu IP address 3. if Earthilink's DNS servers do not know CIS.dos.uci.edu, they ask the international domain agency what DNS servers are in charge of the domain CIS.dos.uci.edu, and in this case, Earthlink's DNS servers would find out that CIS.dos.uci.edu belongs to UCI's DNS servers 4. your computer contacts the UCI DNS servers and asks for the IP address of CIS.dos.uci.edu, and they respond with 128.200.87.24 5. your computer goes to 128.200.87.24 and asks for web pages, and you're finally there, http://clubs.uci.edu

So, when you register WWW.OURCLUB.COM, the domain registering company may ask for IP addresses... not for the website, but for the IP addresses of the domain name servers that will translate WWW.OURCLUB.COM into an IP address for the internet world. This is where we have a problem. UCI does not host DNS for non-UCI domains, so if you register WWW.OURCLUB.COM, we can only provide you with webspace... not DNS service.

What are the alternatives?

(1) In theory, we could turn the CIS Server into a DNS server as well as an e-mail and web server, but there are a number of reasons why this may not work and a number of philosphical, ethical, practical, and liability issues as well. I do not expect this to happen soon, if ever, or even if it should.

(2) There are DNS hosting companies out there who will host your domain; there used to even be 1 or 2 that would do it for free, but this means you would have 1 company for your domain registration, 1 company for your DNS, and then the UCI CIS server for your web/e-mail server, and this can be inherently problematic to be so piecemeal, even though it could probably work.

(3) Some domain registering companies offer re-direct and masking services even though they will not host your DNS, per se. I know of at least 1 company, for example, in which after registering your domain, they let you type in a web address to redirect people to (e.g. http://clubs.uci.edu/ourclub) and also type in a URL mask (http://www.ourclub.com) to show in the URL line of web browsers when people type www.ourclub.com. Masking remains constant and continuous, though, so www.ourclub.com will show as the url/web address for every page in your site. If a visitor clicks on a button to take them to your scrapbook, for example, they would just see www.ourclub.com and NOT the expected www.ourclub.com/scrapbook/index.html it might normally be. Furthermore, the mask is only a facade, so if someone were to use the OPEN PAGE IN NEW WINDOW option, the true address CIS.dos.uci.edu/scrapbook/index.html would be be seen. For most clubs, this is probably not a big deal, though. If your domain registrar has forwarding/redirecting, then www.ourclub.com can be auto-transferred to http://CIS.dos.uci.edu/ourclub while www.ourclub.com is what is seen in the URL.

(4) Some commercial companies will do 1, 2, or even all 3 of these services (register, host web/email, host DNS), but I do not know of any that will do so for free. The best one I saw is about $7-8/month and has limitations on both space and bandwidth, but most cost much more. I think the UCI CIS Server project is extremely generous and offers great services and opportunities for students to work directly on sever development and management. IMO, it is probably amongst the best services of its kind for clubs and organizations at any other college/university, but if you opt for commercial services, there's certainly nothing wrong with that... just keep in mind costs, upkeep, and future officers who will be following in your footsteps after you have moved on (will they know what you know? can they take over what you start?).

There may be more options and solutions out there, too, but these are the ones that come to my mind as of the writing of this FAQ answer. If you know of another option, please post it here for us to check out. If you have successfully worked out a solution that lets your group have a custom domain that points to your UCI CIS account, please share it here with other users. I know it's really cool to have your own domain; I just want to make sure folks know what's involved.

--ST

P.S. Don't forget that we have been granted an alternate domain for the UCI CIS server as www.clubs.uci.edu, so

CIS.dos.uci.edu = 128.200.87.24 = www.clubs.uci.edu

and these should be able to be used interchangeably for typical uses.

[edit] Can our website display ads or link to external websites?

Q: Can we sell ads or have commercial "affiliate" banners? A: No. You may NOT have commercial ads or banners in which your organization receives any kind of monetary or financially valuable compensation. Your site is being served on a University server and although your organization is not technically part of the University or its administration, you are bound by the conditions and terms governing the use of University property. You cannot use your web site as a fundraiser for your group.

Q: Can we link to external websites, commercial or otherwise? A: Yes, under appropriate circumstances such that the links would not be construed as advertising. This is subjective interpretation, of course, so you will have to struggle as best you can but if you have any uncertainty, you should ask the Office of the Dean of Students for guidance since you and your organization will be held accountable regardless of poor or questionable judgment. Also, a waiver statement similar to what's on http://CIS.dos.uci.edu might be a good idea. If your organization receives financial value or similar compensation for the link, then it might be considered advertising or commercial use unless directly affiliated with a short term special event or program (see below); however, such affiliation does not automatically mean it is OK, either. Again, consult the Office of the Dean of Students if there is any doubt.

Now, unless I have exercised poor judgment in my scenarios and could consequently hear about it from any one of a number of supervising administrators, please use the following examples to help you determine whether it would be appropriate to link to an external site...

OK = a Lakers fan club posting a member-owned photo of Kobe Bryant that links to http://www.lakers.com

OK = a service organization listing community agencies with whom they regularly volunteer with links in the names of those agencies

OK = a cultural organization publishing links to culturally-related organizations, services, language sites, or country/government sites

OK = a fraternity, sorority, or other large organization linking to a national/international headquarters or regional office

OK = a link to an external site when used as a reference in a story, article, study, or other literary or journalistic work

OK** = a profession-oriented club having links and information of direct interest to their members: higher education institutions, grad school applicant tips, study/interview tactics, or commercial test prep companies (no advertisements)

OK** = an organization's special event web page listing corporate sponsors of the activity/event (no advertisements) or corporate or otherwise off-campus participant (no advertisements)

**the latter two examples require caution; there can be circumstances or conditions that violate policies and/or terms of use; clarification should be sought from the Office of the Dean of Students

NO WAY = links to sites which give cash, credit, or other compensation for referrals and the organization or someone affiliated with the group benefits; this is not an appropriate use of a CIS Account under any circumstances, especially when there is no logical connection between the group and the external link entity

NO WAY = a computer club posting prices and specials of various internet vendors as a service so club members always know where to find the best deals; this is not an appropriate use of a CIS Account

NO WAY = a club hosts the website for another organization or external activity inside the club's own site; this is not an appropiate use of a CIS Account whether or not the group receives compensation; clubs may not "do favors" for other organizations by hosting any off-campus information not directly related to the club

Q: What if we sell ads in our group's special event program booklet and then post that in PDF format on the web as part of the special event website... is that OK?

A: Uh-oh, this one's a tuffy and would probably have to be considered case-by-case by the powers that be. Although I am not the ultimate authority here, I don't think you would get in trouble for this provided the program booklet was obviously formatted for the intended short term purpose of conveying information about the event to your audience in attendance, the ads are clearly subordinate and not of the "coupon book" variety, and the program booklet was printed and distributed in limited numbers for a limited duration directly related to the event itself. (Whew!) This assumes, of course, that the program booklet was laid out for printing; if the program were published as standard HTML web pages, the ads would probably have to be omitted since this is a different media and would require re-formatting from the printed version, anyway. Definitely consult the Office of the Dean of Students if you find yourself in this or a similar situation, however.

[edit] What is our club's website address?

Since the server first came online in 1998, additional names/aliases have been added to give users choices in their e-mail/website addresses; however, groups should always know their "true" addresses, with clubs.uci.edu. For a group w/a login or username of "username", for example, any of the following are possible and can work simultaneously...

Website... http://CIS.dos.uci.edu/username (true address, always works) http://www.clubs.uci.edu/username (alias domain, always works) http://clubs.uci.edu/username (alias domain, always works)

[edit] How do you delete stubborn files?

Although rare, there have been occasions when a web manager has downloaded something and uploaded it to the CIS server and then can no longer delete it. Usually this has to do with file permissions... kinda like as the owner, you switch the owner to someone else, and then you are no longer the owner so cannot switch it back.

Anyway, if this happens to you, let us know (or better yet, come to the office and show us the file) and we can probably delete it for you with Administrative privileges. --ST

[edit] How do I get my club's website up and running?

Howdy! Here's a little overview to help you gets situated. I will also post this in the CIS forums website in case other users find it helpful.

(1) your group's website is a folder/directory on the server (2) typically, you create web pages locally on your own computer first (3) when complete, you copy/transfer those web pages to the server

Now, how you create the web pages is up to you (html coding, Dreamweaver, PageMill, FrontPage, GoLive, etc.), just be sure to have all your pages and graphics inside a single folder on your computer and that all links to graphics or other pages are correct and working. Sometimes, people inadvertently insert a graphic in a web page from their desktop or other folder on their computer. This is usually incorrect, however, because the web page must have its own copy of the graphic already inside the website folder, and you cannot move it there after wards... the PATH to the image must remain constant and unchanging.

images/mylogo.jpg (and not ../desktop/mylogo.jpg)

You can look at your web pages locally by running your browser and selecting FILE > OPEN (or OPEN FILE) to make sure everything is working properly.

When you are ready to transfer/copy your site to the server, you can run your FTP program. The FTP program will ask you for your host/server, username, and password. host/server: CIS.dos.uci.edu username/login: yourusername password: yourpassword directory: (leave blank)

If you need more exact settings, some step-by-step instructions are available: http://CIS.dos.uci.edu/CIS/helpsupport/index.html but leave the directory/folder blank even if it shows to put something there in the web instructions (we changed that last year and have not updated the examples).

Once you have an FTP connection, you just copy/transfer the CONTENTS of your local website folder to the server (don't just copy the folder itself or you'll be creating another unwanted layer. The top layer of your local website must also be the top layer of your server website. See below.).

EXAMPLE :

..... mylocalwebsitefolder

..... ..... about.html

..... ..... images

..... ..... index.html

..... ..... officers.html

..... usernamefolderonserver

..... ..... about.html

..... ..... images

..... ..... index.html

..... ..... officers.html

What you DO NOT want is...

..... usernamefolderonserver

..... ..... mylocalwebsitefolder

..... ..... ..... about.html

..... ..... ..... images

..... ..... ..... index.html

..... ..... ..... officers.html

FTP programs all work a little differently, though, so it's hard to be too specific but basically all you're doing is copying/transferring (uploading) your pages to the server. Once they're on the server, they're published on the internet.

Hope this helps! --ST

[edit] TIP: How websites are built

While working on a project recently, it occurred to me that most people today have had at least some kind of experience with the internet and websites, but many folks have no idea who makes them and what's involved with their creation. I thought an analogy would help...

Websites are like buildings. They come in all sorts of shapes and sizes and serve a variety of purposes. There are houses (home page!), office buildings, superstores, museums, galleries, libraries, etc. and usually, they serve specific purposes. But how are they made and who builds them?

Most all of us are at least visitors who visit a variety of websites for a variety of purposes. We're the patrons, the base units that drive the internet as we go from place to place from purpose to purpose.

Now, webmasters and web designers, on the other hand, are kind of like combination construction workers and decorators. They can use fundamental building skills and elaborate design concepts to make sites (both large and small) look really, really good. They can start from scratch, or completely makeover an old site and give it new life.

Finally, a web developer, however, is more like an architect, contractor, and civil engineer, all roled-into-one who can add new levels of functionality to a website. These are the folks who have to to do more than put up some walls and a roof: they have to plan and develop functionally well-designed structures to suit a given purpose and incorporate technologies a typical web designer does not.

So what does this mean in the real world? Well, web developers are the ones who build things like search engines and other (usually) database-driven web applications. They make dynamic systems that can serve, collect, and track thousands of pictures, text descriptions, or downloadable files using scripting languages and programming techniques that DO things on a website in addition to just SHOWING something.

Often, a dynamic website is split into "backend" work, which is the mechanisms behind the functionality of a site, and "front end" work, which is the user interface (the look and feel of the site). Web developers will often do the back end and a web designer or webmaster will often do front end. Of course, everyone is different, though... some people are great back end folks but have terrible looking interfaces... some folks make beautiful and functionally efficient front ends, but don't have a clue as to how the other stuff works... and then there are those others who can do it all, but rarely get a chance to do so because there's so much work involved.

So, next time you visit a really great website, smile and give a nod of appreciation to the builders! --ST

web designers & developers: 21st century architects -- Steve Tajiri, 6/15/04

[edit] FTP & Server

[edit] Does the CIS server have case-sensitive web addresses and paths?

• Yes. If your site is located at http://www.clubs.uci.edu/example and your index page is called test.php, a link to the page will be http://www.clubs.uci.edu/example/test.php.
• You cannot use http://www.clubs.uci.edu/EXAMPLE/test.php or http://www.clubs.uci.edu/example/TEST.PHP.
• The only exception to this is if you type in a server domain name with no subfolder/subpage: i.e. CLUBS.UCI.EDU. Most browsers will use the correct case.

[edit] Why does our CIS account password no longer work?

CIS accounts may be shut down if we suspect someone is trying to break into your account. We do this to protect all users because a malicious hacker can potentially wreak havoc on the system and damage other users' files if given access and opportunity. If your password no longer works, just visit or call us and it can be reset after we notify you of the possible attempted attack.

Your account may also be shut down due to abuse. This includes (but is not limited to) the inappropriate storage of copyrighted materials like mp3's, movies, games, software, w-a-r-e-z, etc. or if you are storing malicious scripts, hacks, sniffers, etc.

[edit] How can we change our CIS account password?

Passwords can be changed in person at the Office of the Dean of Students by the group's president/chair or account manager/administrator or fill out an online application form from CIS homepage under apply/renew. Advanced shell users may change their passwords from the command line.

[edit] Is the server always available or are there "down" times?

Usually, the server is running 24 hours/day, 7 days/week without significant interruption. From time to time we re-boot the server to re-set memory and install minor system updates. At this time we do not have regularly-scheduled down times but we will try to post a warning on the website and notify users if a significant problem or event occurs and we have to be off-line for more than a few minutes.

[edit] Why can't I log on to the server?

There are many possible reasons why a login attempt may fail. If your account is new, we may even have made an error during set-up, but here are some things to try...

• password is case-sensitive, check CAPS LOCK key
• if you are having trouble with e-mail, try logging in to ftp/web
• if you are having trouble with ftp, try logging in to CIS webmail
• maybe someone tried to break into your account; the server completely shuts down accounts after a certain number of failed attempts; contact us and we will re-activate it
• check to make sure your other internet services are working
• your session may be cached or corrupted; re-start your computer and try again
• check http://CIS.dos.uci.edu for notices as we may be working on something

Contact or visit us if you cannot access your account.

[edit] Why won't Frontpage or other FTP applications connect properly?

Some auto-ftp features of web designing software may not work and we're not sure why. Microsoft's Frontpage had a problem with filenames and paths on our previous server but we don't know how different products will work with this new server. Report the problem to us if you cannot figure it out so we can warn other users. We only officially support the dedicated ftp programs in our mentioned in our downloads section.

One user's 3rd party ftp program would not directly replace files but could still delete old files and then upload new files. Another user was behind a firewall that was inhibiting access.

[edit] What FTP options are available?

Dedicated ftp applications such as AbsoluteFTP, WS-ftp, and Fetch are recommended, but there shouldn't be a problem with most other standard ftp methods. Shell users should be able to ftp from the command line or even tunnel an ftp session through ssh. If you do experience trouble, though, try one of the more traditional ftp applications mentioned above first to make sure the problem is not something else.

[edit] What directory/path should be used for FTP?

Since the January 2004 upgrade, users now connect directly to their home directories by default. Everything in the home directory is published on the web and should be considered public. Users can use .htaccess for creating restricted access websites if they like.

[edit] I can download, but not upload via FTP...what's wrong?

This usually means we did not correctly set up your account and forgot to allow you to read/write to your own home directory. Please let us know and we'll fix it for you ASAP. In-person visits are usually quickest.

[edit] Can our club have Telnet or Shell Access via SSH?

There are no telnet connections but ssh can be enabled by request for advanced users, administrators, and server volunteers/developers. Please come to the office in person to request SSH access unless you are faculty/staff, in which case you can call or e-mail if you are unable to visit the Office of the Dean of Students in person. You can even choose the type of shell desired.

[edit] PHP & MySql

[edit] What would a sample PHP/MySQL script look like?

On the UCI CIS server for a club named "sample", a typical connect script would look something like this...

<? // CONNECT TO DATABASE SCRIPT
$host = "localhost";
$db = "sample";
$user = "sample";
$pass = "password";

$connection = mysql_connect ($host, $user, $pass) or die ("** Could not connect. " . mysql_error() );

echo ("Connected. ");
mysql_select_db ($db) or die ("** Could not select database. ");
mysql_close ($connection);
?>

[edit] How are MySQL and PHP related?

MySQL is a database system that can be used for information storage. On the CIS server, a MySQL database is primarily used by advanced web developers to store information from web forms, like sign-ups, rosters, and bulletin boards / forums boards such as this one. PHP, on the other hand, is a scripting language. On the CIS server, it is typically used to process web form information. PHP can be used to take web form data and insert it into a MySQL database, or it can be used to e-mail the information to a specified e-mail address. PHP and MySQL work well together, but they are not dependent upon each other and other technologies can be used for web forms and scripting, too.

[edit] Why can't I connect to the MySQL database?

Well, first check to see if you can log in to the MySQL db using PHPMYADMIN from the link on the UCI CIS Server home page. If you cannot log in from PHPMYADMIN, then the login and password you are trying to use is not what we used when we set up the MySQL db for you... please notify us and we will try to correct that for you (in person visit is best, but e-mail from your personal UCI e-mail account is okay).

If you can log in, then your login/password is fine and there is probably an error in your code. I had a problem with invisible characters that was easy enough to fix but took me a long time to figure out that there was nothing wrong with the code, per se, but there were some invisible characters in it that were causing a PARSE ERROR. Look for things like that, too.

[edit] TIP: MySQL connection example - beware of invisible characters

Hi, folks! I just wanted to warn folks about using COPY/PASTE from websites to use in your web code as there may be invisible characters that can cause errors.

For example, I just used COPY/PASTE from php.net to test a connection to a MySQL db using PHP and got a funky parse error that I could not figure out.

code:

<?php
/* Connecting, selecting database */
$link = mysql_connect("mysql_host", "mysql_user", "mysql_password") 
or die("Could not connect : " . mysql_error());
echo "Connected successfully";
mysql_select_db("my_database") or die("Could not select database");

?>

There were invisible characters before the

or die("Could not connect : " . mysql_error());

line that were acceptable to my text editor but caused a parse error with the server. At first, I thought it was a Mac-thing since Mac, Unix, and Windows all use different end of line characters (I think \r, \n, and both) but when I copied code from a downloaded file instead of from a website and had it work fine, I got suspicious and had my text editor show invisible, and there they were. Deleting them made the server happy and the MySQL connection was established with no problem.

If you find yourself saying like me, "but I KNOW the code is right... I KNOW it's right..." maybe take a peek for invisible characters!!! --ST

[edit] Other

[edit] Contact Info

• Contact information for CORE account Technical Support

[edit] Can anyone volunteer to help with the UCI CIS server?

Yes. Any member of the UCI community can contribute, especially members of clubs and organizations. We need help with correspondence and running this forum, administration (creation/management of accounts, documentation, etc.), and development (new services, updates, cool scripts/web solutions, resource building, etc.). Volunteer web designers can help clubs and organziations with little or no web experience develop their sites. Volunteer commitments are approximately 3-5 hours per week for 1 quarter. Units (1.3 P/NP) are available for those interested.

Active volunteers and independent UCI contributors are always welcome. Projects can be anything of value to clubs and organizations. Below is a list of some ideas on how you can contriubte if you do not already have something in mind...

• active volunteer - assist with the daily operation of the server and accounts

• developer - help develop new or existing services, e.g. php, MySQL, JavaScript, java, perl, etc.

• forums moderator - assist with the reading/monitoring/answering of posts

• resource builder - help build a library of resources for users, e.g. graphics library, scripts library, tips library, helpful site-building links, etc.

• forums staff writer - write articles, suggestions, and tips for users

• CIS Website Manager - help with administration of the forums, and maintenance/production of documentation pages, helpful downloads, site organization and maintenance, articles and news, etc.

[edit] Why do we have to renew our CIS account every year?

CIS accounts are provided as a service to registered clubs and organizations. Consequently, your account is dependent upon your group's annual re-registration with the Office of the Dean of Students. Although we rely upon a lot of contribution from volunteers, some of the registration fees paid by clubs goes toward the cost of managing and maintaining this service. Furthermore, we have to verify that the accountis still active and being used and those people responsible for maintaining it are legitimate members of the UCI community.

[edit] Why is there a CIS server AND a Sprite server?

MAIN REASONS:

(1) News/Info/Support even if CIS Server itself is offline (2) Test software installs/updates on Sprite BEFORE implementing on CIS (3) Possible future separation of website and e-mail services

MORE DETAILS...

The UCI CIS Server offers free e-mail, website, and mail list service for clubs and organizations. Early in the 2005-2006 academic year, CIS was taken offline at least 4 or 5 times over the course of only a few months, mostly due to unpatched web applications used in various user websites. During such periods while the server was being restored, user mail, websites, and mail lists were offline. Even the accounts used by CIS support staff were not accessible and we could not use a CIS mail list to notify users of what was going on or let them know how long accounts would be inaccessible... sometimes for days.

In an effort to help improve communication with CIS account users, in January of 2006, we decided to move the CIS account homepage off of CIS itself and move all support-related tools, downloads, documents, and information to a 2nd server known as "SPRITE". Although migration efforts started early, it was an ON/OFF project, and we did not complete the effort until November 2006. Much thanks and appreciation to Andy, Gene, Louis, Sameer, and Jesse for all of their contributions to the migration.

Initially, we were going to use JOOMLA as our Content Management System and Simple Machines Forum (SMF) for the CIS accounts home page and support pages, but we decided that maintaining 2 systems was going to be somewhat tedious and ineffecient. Instead, we decided to use a mod for Simple Machines Forum (SMF) called "TinyPortal" (thanx, Jesse!) to allow us to bring news articles to the front page and to provide a somewhat similar interface for users to be able to access the forums, Mailman mail lists, phpMyAdmin, and WebMail as they have in the past. The forums will also provide a more centralized way to store and search for information and allow users to comment upon documentation so that information can be improved and revised from time to time.

Should there ever be a problem with Sprite, try going to http://CIS.dos.uci.edu. We'll put some quick links to the major services there (WebMail, phpMyAdmin, Mailman) even though all the forums, tutorials, and other support info would not be accessible.

Eventually, we may separate e-mail services from web services so that the impact of a server's downtime is somewhat diminished. As it is now, a significant problem with a single user's website could disable the entire server... websites, e-mail, mail lists, etc., i.e. everything for everyone.

If you have any questions, please let us know. Thanxalot! --Sysop

[edit] What's good and bad about the UCI CIS server?

Normally, one does not advertise the drawbacks or undesirable aspects of a product/company/service, but since the primary objective of the CIS server project is to provide good e-mail/web service to clubs and organizations, I thought it would be in the best interests of the clubs to publish both the good and the bad about this free service. This way, groups can make their own decisions as to whether or not CIS accounts would be a good match with their needs and resources.

Why get a CIS Account?

• CONTINUITY ~ same e-mail/web addresses year after year
• ACCESSIBILITY ~ 24-hour access from on- or off-campus
• FULL CONTROL ~ no approval processes (subject to federal, state, local, University, and UCI Computer Use policy and guidelines)
• NO ADS ~ no ads/commericals; no selling/re-use of your information
• UCI DOMAIN ~ websites searchable through UCI home page and Google; clubname@uci.edu e-mail alias upon approval by UCI Postmaster
• NO ADDITIONAL COSTS ~ any club/organization registered with the Office of the Dean of Students is eligible for a CIS account
• ADVANCED WEB SERVICES ~ php, MySQL, perl, .htaccess
• NO BANDWIDTH CEILING ~ bandwidth is not actively monitored so you do not have to worry about getting cut off mid-month (NOTE: abuse will not be tolerated, however)
• GENEROUS SPACE ~ 200 MB web space, 50 MB e-mail space
• MAILMAN MAIL LISTS ~ e-mail subscription services to make announcements to club members or having large group discussions
• DIRECT SERVER ACCESS ~ volunteer developers can have direct access to the server for testing/developing new services; custom server configurations/installations possible
• FAST PIPE ~ server will always have a fast connection speed to the internet

What are some issues/problems with CIS Accounts?

• COMMUNITY/VOLUNTEER DEPENDENT ~ Dean of Students provides limited funding and support and tries to keep services operating at a premium level, but the CIS server is largely volunteer dependent so support can be spotty, e.g. if there is a problem while the Sysop is on vacation, the server may not be worked on until he returns unless there are volunteers available
• POOR / INCOMPLETE / OLD DOCUMENTATION ~ because the server is largely volunteer-dependent, documentation updates may be slow and outdated or missing material may not be fixed for long periods of time
• NO BACKUPS ~ the server runs fast and loose with virtually no backups; no funding has been provided for backup equipment or backup software and currently, there are no volunteers available to do the backups even to back up to itself from the unix command line
• NO BACKUP SERVER ~ if the server were to crash or be stolen, there would be no substitute server available to restore services; an emergency funding source would have to be found to replace the server or DOS would use a hand-me-down, outdated workstation to partially reinstate some services
• HOUSED IN DEAN OF STUDENTS ~ since the server is physically located in the Office of the Dean of Students, it is dependent upon building resources and an office work environment. Power outages, department moves, network traffic, router failures, etc. can all disrupt services. Whatever the Office of the Dean of Students experiences, so, too does the CIS server. Back in 1999, for example, a member of the night crew unplugged the server to vacuum an office. On October 4, 2004 there was a partial power outage on campus that corrupted the server configuration. Dean of Students also needs to reboot the server on occasion if the server must move physical locations, when updating software, and/or when troubleshooting or developing services.

Another point of interest to note is that the server is a Mac running Mac OS X Server 10.5. This can good, bad, both, or neither depending upon the circumstances, but most users probably would not notice, anyway.

Why is it good that the server is a Mac?

• requires less attention to manage and maintain than Unix or Windows
• requires less technical expertise, experience, and training
• virtually no viruses or widespread security problems for Mac OS X
• unix-based Mac OS X allows us to use popular unix-centric packages such as Apache, PostFix, Cyrus, SquirrelMail, Mailman, php, MySQL, perl, phpMyAdmin, and other open source products and services
• unix-based Mac OS X allows us to grant shell access to advanced users via SSH
• Dean of Students has better support resources for Mac than Windows and probably would not been able to offer this service using any other OS/platform
• volunteers can get good Mac and Unix experience

Why is it bad that the server is a Mac?

• server purchase price is initially higher than an equivalent Linux system
• Microsoft-based technologies not compatible (FrontPage extenstions, asp.net, Access, etc.)
• volunteers cannot get experience with IIS and Microsoft technologies

All in all, UCI Dean of Students tries to offer great e-mail and web services to clubs and organizations at little or no cost to them. Some services are competitive with or even exceed services that are available commercially, and we feel that UCI is among the leading universities nationwide in this regard. Feedback, contributions, funding, and new resources are always welcome and will be used to help improve our services to clubs and organizations and student volunteers.