Using the NIU Nameserver Database

The "CSO Nameserver" - what is it?

A widely used database system, developed at UIUC. It usually stores data about people, but can also contain information about services, weather, restaurants, classes, etc. NIU has just established such a nameserver. It currently contains Human Resources data about all faculty and staff. Information about students is also being added.

The nameserver and you

Your name is most likely in the database now, or will be soon. Anyone on the Internet can access the public portion of your records (fields such as the Social Security # fortunately are not public, as far as I could determine). This means that people from the outside who are trying to contact you can discover your e-mail address, phone number, etc. when they query the nameserver.

Aliases

Initially every person appears in that database under an alias; e.g. I was given the name ebehr. The aliases do not normally correspond to real computer accounts, so they are not terribly useful, until you enter an actual e-mail address in the database. For example, I set my e-mail field to behr@math.niu.edu (details on how to do this appear below); from now on, when someone sends mail to ebehr@niu.edu, the letter will be automatically forwarded to the correct mailbox on our system. It should be clear by now that if you want the nameserver to be useful, you need to modify some of your entries.

The ph client

One of the ways of interacting with the CSO nameservers is a simple client application called `ph'. Our version by default connects to the central NIU nameserver (which happens to be running on a machine called corn.cso.niu.edu). It can be used to get the data associated with a name, e.g. `ph behr'. It can also be invoked with the `-s server' option to query nameservers at other institutions (but it's far better to use the gopher or the Web for this...).

Finally, it can be used simply as `ph' to make an interactive connection with the NIU nameserver. When you do this, you will see the ph> prompt, indicating that the server is waiting for commands. Type `help' to see their list; here is a typical query: 

ph> query behr
----------------------------------------
              name: Behr, Eric
      office_phone: 753-6727
 preferred_address: NIU, Math, WH 320
                  : DeKalb, IL 60115
         work_data: Research Assoc., Mathematical Science, WH 323
          email to: ebehr@niu.edu (behr@math.niu.edu)
----------------------------------------
ph> exit
Note that there are several other ways of getting at that information. Eudora users can enter `corn.cso.niu.edu' in the "Ph server" field under "Configuration" menu; they can then use the "Ph" menu to make simple queries. You can also look people up from a Web browser, either by going to the central NIU Web server, or by following this link.

Changing the information

After connecting to the nameserver using `ph', you can identify yourself to the server by typing login , e.g. login ebehr.

The server will ask for the password (note that this has nothing to do with your password for our Unix machines!) The administrators set things up so that the password is your last initial followed by the last 4 digits of your Social Security number. It can be changed with a `passwd' command similar to the one on our Suns. If you are concerned about other people guessing your initial password and playing silly tricks on you, by all means change it to something more private.

When you are logged in, you can type me to review your full database entry. Some of these can be changed, and various others can be added. You can type fields to see a long list of allowed data fields; the flag Change at the end means that you are allowed to change the given field.

For example, you may want to enter the surface mail address you normally use. Typing edit preferred_address will automatically invoke the vi editor; put the address you want on a few lines, save and quit. The new "preferred_address" field should have been added - verify this with me or query .

As we said above, it is important that you change your email field: type edit email and enter your real address in the form user@math.niu.edu, then quit the editor. From now on when you do a query of your name, you should see something like "email to: ebehr@niu.edu (behr@math.niu.edu)" in one of the fields. You can test whether you were successful by sending a short letter to the address @niu.edu from one of our machines; it is best to do this both before and after you made the changes - the first attempt should result in an error message, while the second one should come back as a normal letter forwarded to you.

If you still need more information, you can read another writeup prepared by ACS, and their hints on dealing with frequently encountered problems.

Last modified: 2/18/97 [EJB]