Use of all computer and networking resources at CU Boulder are covered by a set of policies published on-line. Individuals using or accessing these resources, including the ECES Student Server, should familiarize themselves with these policies:

Use of CU-Boulder's Computing and Network Resources

Guidelines for Computer Users

Use of Electronic Mail

In the unlikely event that a policy set forth by the ECE Department concerning use of ECE computer and network resources conflicts with CU policy, the CU policy will take precedent.

The ECES Student Server and the ECE Undergraduate Labs are intended for academic use only. Use of ECE computer and networking resources for non-academic activities may result in loss of access to specific services or account termination.

Users of ECES must maintain the privacy and security of their passwords.

Do not give your password to anyone.

Administrators will not ask you for your password.

Sharing your password with others, even if they have their own ECES account, is a violation of ECES policy and may result in loss of your ECES account.

Shell access to ECES is limited by a simple program called pdmenu.

Remote Unix shell access with access to ECES home directories is provided by two additional servers:

eces-shell.colorado.edu
eces-shell2.colorado.edu

Users should not attempt to bipass pdmenu on ECES in order to gain an interactive shell or to execute commands on ECES other than those available via pdmenu.

ECES is not a process server, and users should not attempt to run programs on ECES other than those available via pdmenu.

ECES-SHELL and ECES-SHELL2 are process servers providing an interactive Unix environment with access to home directories on ECES.

Users are discouraged from running long-term cpu or I/O intensive processes on either ECES-SHELL or ECES-SHELL2. Such processes may be terminated by ECES System Administrators.

Users should monitor their processes on the process servers to ensure that they are not "running away" or monopolizing system resources.

Users are discouraged from building and/or executing their own binaries (applications) on the process servers. If your academic work requires that a particular application be available on the process servers or in the ECE Undergraduate Labs, please contact ecehelp@colorado.edu.

ECES-SHELL and ECES-SHELL2 are in no way to be used as development or testing environments. Users who run development or test binaries or scripts on these machines may lose their shell access or have their accounts terminated.

Users who install or execute binaries or scripts which are neither approved by ECES system administrators or directly related to their academic activities may lose their shell access or have their accounts terminated.

Appropriate Use of ECES Data Storage
Data storage resources on ECES should be used for academic materials only.

For more information on the appropriate use of CU Computer resources, read:
Use of CU-Boulder's Computing and Network Resources

Storage of Copyrighted Materials
Storage and sharing of copyrighted material in violation of state and federal copyright law will not be tolerated. The ECE Department reserves the right to remove and/or prevent access to copyrighted material found on the ECES Student Server. Continued violation of copyright law by the improper storage and/or sharing of copyrighted materials may result in forfeiture of access to data storage resources on ECES or loss of access to ECES.

You should review CU's new copyright guidelines, which are posted here:
www.colorado.edu/copyright

Storage of Digital Media Files
Digital media files stored on the ECES server will be excluded from data backups. These include mp3, mpeg, wmv, mov, and other file types. Users who require or utilize these file types in their academic pursuits should contact ECES administrators for information on having their digital media files included in the backups.

Disk Usage Quotas
Users of the ECES Student Server are allocated a preset amount of data storage space on the server -- aproximately 650MB. Users who reach their preset quota may experience difficulties and delays in accessing and using ECES and ECE computer labs. If this occurs, it is the users' responsibility to restore the full functionality of their account by removing data or by contacting the ECES administrators for help.

Data Integrity and Backups
The data storage hardware utilized on the ECES Student Server contains built-in redundancy which should provide users with extremely reliable data storage. Data stored on the ECES Student Server is backed up each night, and these backups will be maintained for at least 31 days.

However, the ECE Department cannot ensure or take responsibility for data loss due to hardware failure. Hardware and/or software problems may temporarily and unexpectedly prevent access to data stored on the ECES Student Server. The ECE Department has taken measures to minimize the chances of data loss and loss of access to data, but cannot guarantee that this will not occur. The ECE Department also offers no guarantee of access to data backups.

The ECE Department provides ECES users with the ability to publish material on the world wide web. This material should be related to users' academic pursuits and may not violate any of ECE or CU's policies concerning inappropriate, obscene, harassing, and copyrighted materials. ECES users are also prohibited from utilizing web pages published on ECES for commercial gain or for political campaigns.

Please see CU's policy on web publishing here:
Web Publishing Policy

The ECE Department reserves the right to remove from the ECES Student Server any information or material it deems inappropriate or unrelated to academic pursuits.

Please see CU's policy on E-mail:
Use of Electronic Mail

Printers are available in some ECE Undergraduate Labs.

Printing in ECE Undergraduate Labs should be limited to materials which are necessary for the completion of assignments in that particular lab, including lab reports, data, and homework assignments.

Printers should not be used to print out course materials such as lecture notes, course notes, lab assignments, or solution sets.

Students should not attempt to maintain printers themselves. If there is a problem with a lab printer, it should be promptly reported to the Teaching Assistant, ecehelp@colorado.edu, or to the ECE Front Desk in ECEE 1B55.

Any damage resulting from a student attempting to repair a printer, including changing the toner and refilling paper, will be considered vandalism and damage to University property.

If excessive or inappropriate use of ECE Undergraduate Lab Printers is observed by Faculty, TAs, or ECE staff, students may be barred from using the printers and/or asked to compensate the ECE Department for the cost of toner, paper, and printer wear.

Any use or attempted use of ECE computer and network equipment or the ECES Student Server to cause harm to ECE, CU, or other computer and network resources will not be tolerated.

For more information on what constitutes harmful activity see:
Guidelines for Computer Users

Activity in violation of Federal, State, or University law or policy may result in the loss of access to resources, disciplinary action, personal liability, and/or criminal prosecution.

For more information on the enforcement of CU computing policy and consequences for violations, see:
Use of CU-Boulder's Computing and Network Resources

For information on the privacy of electronic mail please see:
Use of Electronic Mail

Users of the ECES Student Server are responsible for safe-guarding the privacy of their files on the ECES Student Server. For information on controlling Unix and Windows file permissions on the ECES Student Server, please see:
A Brief Unix Primer.

In order to maintain the proper function of the ECES Student Server, ECES administrators may find it necessary to examine, modify, or remove users' files and e-mails. Users will be notified of any file modifications or deletions.

Activity in violation of ECE policy may result in loss of access to resources or disciplinary action.

Activity in violation of Federal, State, or University law or policy may result in the loss of access to resources, disciplinary action, personal liability, and/or criminal prosecution.

For more information on consequences for violating CU computer and network policy please see:
Use of CU-Boulder's Computing and Network Resources