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PHAS User Accounts

Due to the COVID-19, if you need a PHAS account, please contact sysadmin@phas.ubc.ca.

Generally, use of the department's computer facilities requires an individual account.  Department members & students registered in a course in PHYS, ASTR, or ENPH, can get an account.  For registered undergraduate students, on-line registration is available at the kiosks in Hennings 203 and 205 (look for the "REGISTER HERE" signs on top of the monitors).  Department members should see a systems administrator for account creation.  It is a condition of your login privileges that you have read and agree to UBC's Responsible Use Policy and abide by the policies of the labs.

These accounts give one access to the lab facilities, access to the department's login hosts, disk space, and printers.   Email accounts are also provided for faculty, staff and graduate students. 

PHAS password policy

As of 2014-04-01, your password must meet the following requirements:

  • length: Must be 12-20 characters (ASCII 7 bit) ( max of 20 is set by Microsoft server)
  • Must contain at least one upper case letter [A-Z]
  • Must contain at least one lower case letter [a-z]
  • Must contain at least one number [0-9]
  • Must contain at least one symbol: ! '"#$%&()*+,./:;<=>?@[\]^_`{|}~-

Passwords will expire after one year.

PHAS accounts normally remain valid for 3 months after a user leaves the department in good standing or ceases to be a registered student. Exemptions are rare and only in special cases which are supported by a supervisor.

Changing Your Passowrd

Generic Instructions:

  1. Open a terminal window (MAC users: Finder->Applications->Utilities->Terminal)
  2. Login to ssh.phas.ubc.ca:

    ssh <username>@ssh.phas.ubc.ca

    (for more information about ssh please refer to our secure login page)

  3. Use the "passwd" command to change your password:

    passwd

Instructions for Windows Users:

  1. Download MobaXterm v7.1 (portable edition) from here.
  2. Open (double-click) on the downloaded file MobaXterm_v7.1.exe.
  3. In the window that pops up, type the following:

    ssh <username>@ssh.phas.ubc.ca

    Enter your password when prompted.

  4. Now that you are logged in, use the "passwd" command to change your password:

    <username>@hyper:-$ passwd

Please see also our secure passwords page.