FAQ on Unix Servers                              Show all answers         Hide all answers

You can apply for a Unix server account at http://www.itservices.hku.hk/home/services/forms.htm

See FAQ on Computer Accounts.

You can query your disk usage as follows:

Visit the Computer Centre web site left-hand side menu and click Account Utilities => Quota Enquiry => Disk Quota => select Check your quota

If your disk quota is exceeded, you must delete some files in your home directory or sub-directories. 

See FAQ on Computer Account.

See http://www.itservices.hku.hk/home/facilities/host.htm

See http://www.itservices.hku.hk/ccsystem/software/index.html

See http://www.itservices.hku.hk/handbook/unix/unix_c.html

See http://www.itservices.hku.hk/faq/www/ssh-index.htm

See http://www.itservices.hku.hk/faq/www/ssh-index.htm

See http://www.itservices.hku.hk/handbook/netunix/netunix00.htm#chap6

See http://www.itservices.hku.hk/faq/hostprint.htm

See Question 4 of FAQ on Computer Account.

When Unix accounts are created, the default finger names of the accounts are set to the users' names registered with the Registry of the University.

If you wish to change the finger name copied from the Registry's data, you may submit your request to the ithelp@hku.hk.

A user has enquired about how to set the Unix terminal type to vt100.

For old users, when they login, the system will display the message

TERM = (vt100)

and the user should simply press the key (or on some keyboard) to set the terminal type to vt100.

For new users, the default terminal type is already set to vt100 in the login script, and there should be no need to explictly set it, unless you are using a terminal emulator of different type.

Should any user still encounter problem, please contact our Help Desk in Room 104, Run Run Shaw Building for assistance.

Account budgets are deducted based on your

1. connection time
2. CPU usage
3. disk usage

See http://www.itservices.hku.hk/handbook/csh/chap6.htm#6.1.5

If you are concerned that your budget is going quickly,  check the following:

• Have you been running large programs that take a lot of CPU time?
• Have you forgotten to logout of connection sessions or have active processes running?
• Have you used up a lot of disk space in your account for webpages or email folders?

To check the processes owned by you in Unix derived from System V Release 4.0 (such as the HKUSUA system), the user can issue the command:

ps -ef | grep UID   e.g. ps -ef | grep ccbox

The output will look like the following:

UID         PID   PPID    C STIME    TTY             TIME CMD
ccbox    995320 667062  0.0 09:59:14 pts/9        0:00.08 -csh (csh)
ccbox    999409 995320  0.0 10:19:56 pts/9        0:00.00 grep ccbox

To kill any of your processes, identify the process id (PID), and the issue the command:

kill -9 PID

e.g. kill -9 995320 to kill the first process in the example above.

Call the Help Desk at 2859 2480 and ask for the license manager to re-install the expired license for the software.

To backup your files in the host account to TAPE, read documentation at: http://www.itservices.hku.hk/document/unixtape.htm

To restore a file/mail folder in your host account from the backup system, fill out the electronic form CF-24a/b at http://www.itservices.hku.hk/home/services/forms.htm or print and return the completed form to the Computer Centre General Office, Room 223, Run Run Shaw Building or fax it to fax number 2559-7904. You will be notified by email when the file is restored in your account.

CF-24a - Application for File Restore-Request on Host System - For Departmental Application
CF-24b - Application for File Restore-Request on Host System - For Personal Application (charge of $200)

Read documentation on UNIX jobs and foreground/background processes (under chapter 5) at:
http://www.itservices.hku.hk/handbook/unix/unix_toc.html

Three batch queues have been defined. They are: smallq, mediumq and largeq.
 

Batch Queue	Maximum CPU Time Limit per process
smallq (default queue)	10 minutes
mediumq	2 hours
largeq	10 hours

There are 2 computer systems which can run CPU intensive, batch jobs - hpcpower and hkusua.

Currently, we recommend the hpcpower system for running batch jobs. This system is a High Performance Computer Cluster. It consists of  several clusters of PC servers and this can serve many CPU intensive jobs at the same time.

In order to use hpcpower, you need to create a user account in the hpcpower computer and then submit batch jobs there.

Please refer to the web page http://www.itservices.hku.hk/ccsystem/hpcpower for information about High Performance Computer Cluster and its user manual.

And please refer to the web page http://www.itservices.hku.hk/ccoffice/forms/cf137.html for an application of a user account on the hpcpower computer.

To get the tcsh, type:   /usr/local/bin/tcsh
or insert this line in your .login file.

For system management purposes, we enforce a unified start-up shell for all users. Therefore you cannot use tcsh directly without first going through the csh.

If you accidentally deleted some system files (e.g. .login), you need to restore the default login script files.  Login your server using the Telnet program and then type the following command:

 /usr/local/bin/set_def