You must use your CS account and CS lab computers to connect to our MariaDB database on campus. If you are on campus, you may also want to physically log into a computer in one of the CS classrooms.
Account Basics
Your CS account shares the same username as your myUSF account, but different passwords. You should use your CS account for the following purposes:
- Logging into the computers in the CS classrooms (Harney 142 and LS G12).
- Logging into the computers in the CS labs (Harney 413).
- Logging into the lab computers remotely via SSH.
Alternatively, you use your myUSF username and password to login into myUSF, Canvas, access your @dons.usfca.edu email, and other university-wide resources.
Username and Password
Your CS account username will always be the same as your myUSF username. You can determine your username by looking at the part before @dons.usfca.edu in your USF email address. For example, if my email address is sjengle@dons.usfca.edu then my username will be sjengle.
Your initial password depends on when your account was created. Specifically:
-
If you have a recently created CS student account, your password will your entire student ID. For example, if your student ID is
20123456, then your initial password will be20123456. -
If you have an older CS student account, your password will be the LAST six digits of your student ID. Since your student ID is 8 digits, remove the first two digits from your student ID (usually
20...) and use the remaining digits as your password. For example, if your student ID is20123456, then your initial password will be123456.
You should change your password after logging in for the first time.
Local Access
If you are physically in one of the CS Labs, you can log into one of the lab computers running Linux directly using your username and password.
Remote Access
If you want to access one of the CS Lab computers remotely (for example, from home or off-campus), you must login using SSH. From a Linux, Mac, or updated Windows 10 system, open a Terminal window and enter the following command (replacing USERNAME with your own username before copy/paste):
This will log you into our gateway. However, Java and mysql are not installed on our gateway! You must next log into one of our lab computers. Enter rusers to find which systems are free. You want a system that has no users listed next to its name. Then, SSH into that lab computer. For example, if g1201 is free, you can enter:
You do not need to include your username or the domain “cs.usfca.edu” above, since you are already logged into a CS system.
See the CS Support video guides for how to login using PuTTY if you have an older Windows system.
Getting Help
Your CS account is created and managed by our CS Support team. If you run into any issues with your account, please contact them via email at support@cs.usfca.edu.
The instructor cannot reset your password for you, but we do have a test account you can use temporarily if you are having trouble.