New York State Agricultural Experiment Station

Geneva, New York

Computer Center: 383 / 19-Mar-1999

Computer Passwords
You may have more than one ID or password

Most people at NYSAES need one or more computer accounts in order to do their work or fill in time cards. The computer accounts have an ID (e.g., abc12) and a password. Some of the computer accounts you use might have identical IDs but have different passwords. Two of the kinds of ID and password you might have are:

NetID and password, used for Bear Access.

SunID and password, used for NYSAES email, dial-up computer access, access to restricted files on Computer Center AppleShare server, Telnet and Comet logins to Turtle (SAS &c.), file uploads to the NYSAES web server.

Changing the password for your NetID

The password for your NetID should be changed through Bear Access. If you are having troubles changing your password, contact Patty Gibbs (peg1@cornell.edu, x289) at the Computer Center.

Changing the password for your SunID

There are rules to follow when you choose a new password. It must be at least 6 characters long, have at least 2 letters in it, and have at least 1 digit (1 to 9) or special character. Special characters that are allowed are minus (-), underline (_), and period (.). Your password should also be hard for a person or computer to guess. ‘Known word’ passwords are easy for computers to guess.

To change the password for your SunID:

Using a web browser such as Netscape Navigator, connect to the web page www.nysaes.cornell.edu/me/ .
Click on the link to "Change my NYSAES SunID password". A web page with a password changing form appears.

Enter your SunID (e.g., abc12) into the SunID box.

Enter the old password for your SunID into the Old Password box.

In the New Password box, enter what you want to change your SunID password to; in the New Password (repeat) box, enter the same thing that you typed into the New Password box.

Click on the Change Password button. If there was a problem changing your password, you’ll be told what was wrong and given a chance to fix the problem. If your new password is accepted, you’ll be told that your password was successfully changed.

Password problems

There are some common problems and solutions for passwords that don’t work:

The Caps Lock key on the keyboard is engaged, causing your password to be sent using all capital letters. Disable Caps Lock and try logging in again.
You’re entering the password for your NetID instead of the one for your SunID. Try entering your "other" password.
You’re entering the password for your SunID instead of the one for your NetID. Try entering your "other" password.
The Computer Center AppleShare server doesn’t accept your password when you type the entire password. That particular AppleShare server only uses up to 8 characters of your password. If your password is longer than 8 characters, try typing just the first 8 characters.