E-mail accounts are created automatically for every registered
student on campus as well as all faculty and staff members. Individuals
DO NOT need to visit the HelpDesk to sign-up for an e-mail account. E-mail
accounts are created automatically through data downloads from the registered
student database and also from Human Resources and Payroll databases. Each
day there is a download of information with all enrolled students and all
employed faculty and staff members to the mail server. When this information
is updated new accounts are created.
Exceptions: Contract employees (ex. consultants, grant faculty), faculty Emeritus, and other users who are not directly paid by the University will NOT receive accounts automatically. If they need accounts they will need to come to the HelpDesk and fill out a Guest Access form. They are not guaranteed an account but it will be considered based on their need to access JMU systems.
Known Problems:
Folks in Records & Registration and Payroll Accounting Offices enter the data used by the mail server to create the accounts. Occasionally information is entered incorrectly which lead to e-mail accounts being created incorrectly since they are created automatically.
What to do:
Student accounts are created only after they register for classes and usually take a day or two to take effect based on the frequency of the downloads to the mail server (see above).
When a student comes to the desk asking about their e-mail account you should first ask them if they are currently registered.
If they are you should find out WHEN they registered for classes. If they registered that day then they will need to wait for about 24 hours for the account to be created.
If they have been registered for a few days or more you should check their JAC card and verify that they are using the correct user name according to the mail server.
Faculty/Staff accounts are created after PAR (personnel action request) forms are processed through Human Resources and Payroll Accounting.
When a faculty/staff member comes to the desk asking about their e-mail account you should first ask them when they were hired and if their PAR forms have been processed yet. They may not know the answer to this last question. You should ask them to be patient and give it a few days to be created.
Then if it is still not working after a few days you should check their JAC card to verify that they are using the correct user name according to the mail server.
How to Check Userid's on the Mail Server:
Using QVTNet, log in to the mail server as yourself.
As a HelpDesk consultant you will see a different screen when you log in to the mail server than everyone else on campus. HelpDesk consultants have a mail server shell which allows them to view basic account information on every user on campus. Simply type the userid they give you. You will get information on their name and location, their account status (i.e. active, blocked, dead-blocked, etc.), quota usage and forwarding information. If the customer does not know their userid or if the userid they give you does not work simply type in their last name and the server will present you with a list of the folks with that last name and their userid's.
You can also check userid's with the Electronic Directory of People off the JMU Homepage.
How to Check Account Status on the Mail Server:
When a customer complains that they cannot log in to Simeon, Pine or the Mail server you should check that their password has not expired. Using QVTNet, log in to the mail server as yourself and type the customer's userid at the prompt.
Their account information will be returned and you will be able to determine their status as Active, Blocked, Dead-Blocked or disabled.
Accounts that are Dead-Blocked or Disabled need to be reset and you should log a "Password Reset" and account reset call for this. Being sure that you indicate that the account is Blocked in the initial call text. HOLD FAST to your protocol here.. many customers will try to talk you into logging a password reset call over the phone, they may claim to know someone here in computing support and wish to speak to that person. The ONLY people that can verify customers over the phone are the liaisons and Stin Lenkerd, Director, ILR Computing Support. You can refer the customer to one of these folks who may be able to help them. NEVER promise anything to a customer over the phone!
Accounts that are Blocked simply need to have the password reset and in most cases the user can accomplish this themselves by logging in to the mail server directly (do not use Simeon or Pine mail clients) and choosing the P option from the menu to change their password. Their expired password should work at this level to allow them to set a new one.
Should I Forward My Mail?
When users log into the mail server to check their account status or change their password they will see an option to set mail forwarding. THIS IS NOT NECESSARY! If the line indicated that the mail is not being forwarded that simply means that their e-mail is coming straight to their account at JMU.
If a customer has an off-campus account, such as through AOL or Compuserve, or if they are going abroad and will have another e-mail account at another location it would be fine for them to forward their mail to that account. Then when mail arrives here at JMU for them it will be forwarded on to the account they are using.
Why Am I No Longer Receiving Mail?
If the customer is no longer receiving mail that they know is being sent to them chances are they are over quota. Check their account status to verify this. Each student has 2M of quota on the mail server, which is a fair amount of space. However, it can fill up fairly quickly especially if they save sent-mail in a sent-mail folder. Tell them that they will have to do some housekeeping before they can receive mail again. Remind them that attachments can take up a lot of disk space and that they can save attachments to files on a floppy to save them but at the same time get them out of their mail server account. Also remind them that they can save mail messages to disks which can then be opened in most word processors later.
E-mail comments to Lon Jarvis jarvislb@jmu.edu
last updated 3/17/00