PHAS User Accounts

Due to the COVID-19, if you need a PHAS account, please contact sysadmin@phas.ubc.ca (mailto: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 (http://www.it.ubc.ca/security/securitypolicies.html) and abide by the policies of the labs.

These accounts give one access to the lab facilities (https://phas.ubc.ca/computer-labs), access to the department's login hosts, disk space, and printers.   Email accounts (https://phas.ubc.ca/email) 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 (https://phas.ubc.ca/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 (http://mobaxterm.mobatek.net/download-home-edition.html).
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 (https://phas.ubc.ca/secure-passwords) page.