EIES^®/Virtual Classroom^®
Frequently Asked Questions

1:   What is VC/EIES?

The Virtual Classroom® is an ongoing effort by NJIT to apply new technologies to education. One component of the VC effort is the use of EIES as a teaching environment. 1.1:   What is EIES?      The Electronic Information Exchange System (EIES) was first created by Dr. Murry Turoff and Dr. Roxanne Hiltz and others in 1975. Two complete rewrites have occured since then to follow the evolution of host hardware, programming languages, and functionality.

2:   How do I get an account?

Instructions for creating an account are available at http://www.njit.edu/CCCC/Docs/CreateAcct.html.

3:   Connecting to VC-EIES

You must have an Internet connection to use VC/EIES. 3.1:   Can NJIT give me an Internet connection?      Refer to the Telecom & Networks homepage at http://telecom.njit.edu for information on connecting via NJIT's modems or from an NJIT dormitory. Also see Connecting to the NJIT Campus Network for instructions. 3.2:   What is an "ISP"?      An "Internet Service Provider" or an "ISP" is used to make a connection to the Internet, usually via modem. You use the modem in your PC to call the ISP's modem bank(s), and the PC and the modem negotate a connection for Internet access. The connection can then be used to send or receive e-mail, browse the internet, and of course connect to VC/EIES. Popular ISPs include AOL®, AT&T World Net®, Erols®, MSN®, Prodigy®, Sprint®, and numerious other commercial providers, both large and small. (NJIT does not make endorsments or recommendations on these or any other commercial provicers.) NJIT also provides ISP connections for faculty and staff, as do most other academic organizations. Other types of ISP are ISDN from your local telephone carrier and cable-modem from your local cable-tv provider. 3.3:   NJIT is a toll call! Can I use an Internet Service Provider (ISP)?      Typical ISP services can be used to connect to VC/EIES. If you can use a Web browser from your home PC's ISP connection, then you can use VC/EIES. 3.4:   Can I use my Internet connection at work?      Given that your employer doesn't mind, yes. Some employers use have their Internet connection protected by software and hardware (aka "a firewall") with the intention of limiting use from within or without their private network. Check the Troubleshooting section appearing later if you encounter errors connecting to VC/EIES. 3.5:   Okay, I'm on the internet, what now? 3.6:   What's the URL? 3.7:   Where do I connect?      Use http://vc.njit.edu to get a signon screen to VC/EIES. Then click the link entitled "VC/EIES Signon". Bookmark this page for later signon instead of the "VC/EIES Signon" screen. 3.8:   Why NOT bookmark the "VC/EIES Signon" screen?      The HTTP address and port used by VC/EIES can be changed without notice. These can change with the status of hardware and/or software. VC/EIES is distributed across several computer systems; we automatically select the fastest running system when you signon.

4:   What is this about a "new database" for Fall 1998 semester?

All items in VC/EIES reside in a very large database. This database has become badly damaged during the years in which it was in use due to persistant bugs in the EIES application. Now that those bugs have been corrected it was decided that the database portion of EIES should be started fresh to prevent problems left behind by earlier troubles from intefering with our current version.

5:   Troubleshooting

Please attempt to rectify problems yourself before contacting NJIT's Computing Services Helpdesk. 5.1:   Firewall and proxy server settings 5.2:   ERROR 510 / Service not available to you      Some employers limit access into and out of the corporate network with "firewall" or proxy servers. Only the network administrator of the corporate network can remedy this situation by permitting connections to the following host/port combinations.   IP HOST NAME (IP ADDRESS) PORT NUMBER INITIAL CONNECTION vc.njit.edu (128.235.251.45) 80 SUBSEQUENT CONNECTIONS Once connected, users will be automatically be routed to one of the following. vc.njit.edu (128.235.251.45) eies.njit.edu (128.235.251.164) blue.eies.njit.edu (128.235.251.70) forum.njit.edu (128.235.251.82) helios.njit.edu (128.235.251.42) argus.njit.edu (128.235.242.100) 81 5001 5002 5003 5004 5005 51022 51023 NOTES IP address numbers can change without notice. Please use the IP host name whenever possible, as these do not change. Two more systems to be added Sep or Oct 1998. Any or all of these ports are used by the systems listed on the left. If you continue to have difficulty connecting via your office you can use a modem to directly connect to NJIT. See Connecting to the NJIT Campus Network at http://www.njit.edu/CSD/Docs/current.html for instructions. Alternately you may telnet to EIES/VC, as described in Connecting to EIES/VC via Telnet From a Remote Host at http://www.njit.edu/njIT/Department/CCCC/Docs/telnet.html. 5.3:   Is there any way to connect without PPP?      An obsolete but functional interface to VC/EIES exists, using telnet with VT-100 terminal emulation. As of this writing it can still be used to connect to VC/EIES, but is subject to discontinuance without notice. See The EIES Starting Guide, (VT100 version) at http://www.njit.edu/CCCC/Docs/vt100man/Intro.htm for instructions.

6:   What about WWW home pages?

The VC system is provides web page hosting for faculty, staff, and students, but in its role as Virtual Classroom faculty and staff are given priority for teaching material. 6.1:   How do I set up my WWW homepages?      Your VC/EIES account has a VC/UNIX account assocated with it. See Connecting with Telnet for instructions on connecting to the VC/UNIX side, including setting up your UNIX password. Your VC/UNIX account will also have a blank Web page already setup for you if your account was created on or after August 24, 1998. You can check to see if the page exists with a browser (Netscape or MS Internet Explorer): Just enter http://eies.njit.edu/~login and you should get a blank page. See "What is My UNIX Login Name?" to determine your UNIX login. [Please note that http://vc.njit.edu/~login will also work starting in November 1998, and will be the preferred address.] If you don't have a working Web page as described, then just telnet to vc.njit.edu and enter these commands: mkdir public_html chmod 711 public_html cd public_html touch index.html chmod 644 index.html At this point you should be able to get a blank homepage on your Web browser. You can edit your page using Netscape Page Composer or similar software. Or you could make your Web page the old-fashoned way, by hand. This is a great way to something up quickly, but you will have to study the HTML language to have any more than the basics. To edit by had, continue the telnet session shown above with this: pico index.html In this "pico" is a simple editor. You can use "vi" or "emacs" if you know those editors. Here is an example of the minumum web page; you can copy-n-paste this into Pico: <html> <head> <title> My web page </title> </head> <body> Welcome to my web page! </body> </html> For more information on HTML coding please see The HTML Writers Guild (http://www.hwg.org); their homepage has a pretty complete list of links to other resources. 6.2:   Notes about "telnet"?      Telnet is used for logging into the VC/UNIX system. You will have to already have a connection to VC as described in Connecting to VC/EIES. You must also have telnet software, which might be included with your Web browser. Enter this as the URL to goto: telnet://vc.njit.edu If your browser does not support telnet in this fashion then try to run "telnet vc.njit.edu" under Win95/Win98/WinNT. Upon connecting you will receive a prompt something like this: UNIX(r) System V Release 4.0 login: Enter your VC/UNIX login name (see "What is My UNIX Login Name?" if you don't know it.) The system will then prompt: Password: Your VC/UNIX password can be different than your VC/EIES account; and at the present time changing one does not change the other. Select "U" for UNIX at the the menu: Please select from the following interfaces: V -- Virtual Classroom(tm) with VT-100 terminal interface; O -- Old Virtual Classroom (summer 1998 database); U -- Run UNIX shell; Your choice: The "bash$" prompt shows that you are at UNIX shell. Please refer to a UNIX primer if you are unfamilar with UNIX--almost any such book will do. 6.3:   I didn't get a UNIX "passwd" prompt! 6.4:   It said "UNIX password not set"      You can set your UNIX password through the VC/EIES menu. Telnet to VC/UNIX as shown above and select "V" (Virtual Classroom) at xxx 6.5:   What is my Email address?      xxx 6.6:   How do I move my Megahertz pages to vc?      xxx 6.7:   Can I put a CGI executable on my web page?      We regretfully do not support CGI hosting on the system at this time. This is an unfortunately necessity because it is quite difficult to protect the system from attack anywhere on the Internet vi CGI executables. We certainly do want to support CGI and are examining several methods of doing so at a reduced risk. 6.8:   What is disk quota? How much space do I get?      Faculty and staff have a default quota of 5MB; students recieve 3MB. You can ask for more space via email to helpme@vc.njit.edu or via one of the contacts mentioned in http://www.njit.edu/CSD/Help/csdhelp.html

7:   Regarding switch to new database for Fall 1998 semester.

The user database is literally being restarted from scratch, and old messages and conferences will not be copied over. Any login that was used in the preceeding year will be automatically copied over. The switch over is necessary because the current EIES VC database is in very bad shape and cannot be trusted to run another semester. The database and its files are too large (5.7GB) and there is too much damage to allow a logical rebuild. The old VC will be made available for read only usage for those who need access to old materials. Conferences can be moved via email from the old VC to the new. (instructions will be posted). Unfortunately the reply structure and membership of the original conference will not be preserved. There were major problem in the original setup of the current VC database and major operational difficulties for its initial year of operation. We do not anticipate making the same mistakes again and expect the new database to run indefinately. We have tried to patch the current system for several years in hopes that we could avoid restarting it. It now seems we have just been delaying the ineviable and are at the point of taking risks with questionable prudence. We are terribly sorry for the incovienience this may cause.

8:   Who can I contact for more help?

As mentioned earlier, please try to resolve the problem yourself before calling the NJIT Computing Services Help Desk. A complete list of telephone and e-mail contacts for all our systems is available at http://www.njit.edu/CSD/Help/csdhelp.html.