Unix account

open an account

Please email the following information to support-neuro@berkeley.edu:

• full name: what name do you use in the lab?
• email address: We use email for system outage notifications and disk quota reminders. You don’t need a .berkeley.edu email address; however, I may request a .berkeley.edu address to confirm your account.
• username: choose a username that is 8 characaters or fewer. Use only letters and/or numbers.
• position: what is your position in the Berkeley lab? Collaborator, Graduate Student, Postdoctoral Fellow, Undergraduate Research Assistant, or Staff Research Associate.
• contact: designate a lab member who you can relay your temporary password, either in person or by video/phone.
• mobile number (optional): if you provide a phone number, then I can contact you if you need to reset your password.

change password

I recommend that you install and configure X2Go (remote desktop) session first. Alternatively, you may login with a secure shell client.

1. In X2Go, you will see a menu in the upper left corner. click on:

   Applications -> Terminal Emulator

2. In the terminal window, type the ‘passwd’ command

   $ passwd

You will be prompted for your old and new password.

password security

A good password:

• Contains at least 8 characters
• Is unique, not derived from a dictionary word nor your username
• Contains at least one of the following:
  • uppercase letter
  • lowercase letter
  • number
  • special character

To ensure data integrity, don’t share nor re-use passwords. The following comic is an entertaining reminder to be sensible about password security:

Password Reuse from xkcd