SCE
SCE Server Information
Programs in SCE
Admission in SCE
SCE Faculty Directory
SCE Resources
SCE Alumni
Institutes of SCE
Web Hosting in SCE
SCE Computing Labs
SCE Account Lookup
SCE Web Hosting Application
SCE FAQ
List of Softwares on SCE
List of Softwares on DCM
DCM Server Information
Unix Lab Introduction Page
Unix Lab FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I lookup my account information?(Student Account)

A basic account lookup for SCE domain accounts is available at the accounts search page .

Back to top

How do I lookup my account information?(Faculty Account)

A faculty account lookup for SCE domain accounts is available at the Faculty accounts search page .

Back to top

What is my password?

The default password for an SCE account, which is used to connect to both sce.uhcl.edu and dcm.uhcl.edu, is set as your student id.

Back to top

How do I reset my password?

By default your password is set to your student id. To change your password visit the password change site. This will not help if you have completely forgotten your password. Please contact us with your full name and student ID if that is the case.

Back to top

How long is my account active?

Capstone (gradute) accounts are kept indefinitely on the server. Access to these accounts after the given semester may not be guaranteed.

All course accounts are subject to deletion after that courses semester. Students are responsible for backing up their own files before the end of the semester.

How do I use my account?

The following default directories should be visible to all users from their root directory:

  • /pages/ - contains your public files visible at your web site url.
  • /db/ - contains the default Microsoft Access database (db.mdb).

NOTE: It is very important that you do not delete or rename these folders as it could create problems trying to access your website.

Users on the SCEWEB server will be able to view their website at the following URLs:

  • Internet: http://sce.uhcl.edu/<username>
  • Intranet: http://sceweb/<username>

Users on the DCM server will be able to view their website at the following URLs:

  • Internet: http://dcm.uhcl.edu/<username>
  • Intranet: http://dcmweb/<username>

The webserver will route any request for a users website to their pages folder with the same hierarchy. For example, if a request for a web page for the user SmithJ were requested at the url:

  • http://sce.uhcl.edu/SmithJ/about/contact.html

...the web server would look for contact.html in the following location:

  • \\sce\SmithJ\pages\about\

Files not in the pages directory will not be visible to users via a web browser.

Back to top

How do I map my network drive?

You can only map a network drive while you are on the UHCL network. It is not accessible from outside the UHCL network.

When you map a network share, your shared directory will appear as a local hard disk on your computer and you can browse and save to the drive from any program.

To map a network share follow these steps:

On the web server (sceweb.uhcl.edu or sce.uhcl.edu):

  1. Open My Computer or Windows Explorer
  2. Click Tools in the file menu at the top of the window.
  3. Select Map Network Drive... from the drop-down menu.
  4. In the Folder input box enter the name of your share. This is typically the same as your username. For example, if your username was SmithJ you should enter \\sceweb\SmithJ
  5. Uncheck "Reconnect at Logon"
  6. Click Connect Using a different user name before continuing.
  7. Enter your username prefixed with SCE\. (lookup account) For example, if your username were SmithJ, you should enter SCE\SmithJ. By default, your password is your student id.
  8. Click OK then Finish. Your shared folder should appear in a new window momentarily.

Back to top

How do I fix an "already mapped" or "Access is denied" error?

If you receive an "already mapped elsewhere" error even though you have no network drives map, you must use the command line to ensure its mapping is not hidden.

  1. Disconnect any network mappings if you have them
  2. To make sure that there are no hidden mapping go to the command prompt (Click Start, Run and Type in 'cmd' )
  3. Type in 'net use'
  4. If you see any mapping that are old and should not be there, type in 'net use /delete the_mapping_that should_not_be_there)
  5. Re-map your network drive as normal

How do I connect via FTP?

You can connect SCEWEB server using any FTP program you like with the following credentials:

  • Server or Host Name: sce.uhcl.edu/<share_name> or dcm.uhcl.edu/<share_name> (if you're FTP program says the host is invalid, try just entering sce.uhcl.edu or dcm.uhcl.edu then after connecting try to change directories to your share (it may not be visible).
  • Username: SCE\<username>
  • Password: (by default your student id)
  • Port: 21

Can I run a forum?

We highly recommend you run Snitz Forums 2000 as your ASP based forum software. If you forum is hacked due to out-of-date your account will be suspended permanently.

Back to top

Where can I get help for the Unix lab?

The unix lab has its own FAQ. Questions outside of the Unix FAQ's scope should be directed to Krishani Abeysekera.

Back to top

I am not able to access my JSP Pages on the server?

When trying to access a JSP page deployed on the server, you have to make sure that you are using proper case in the URL, i.e. for ex. if the url is exPage.jsp, then expage.jsp, cannot be used to access the page , and only exPage.jsp, can be used.

Back to top

I am not able to delpoy a database developed using MS SQL Express on the server?

If in case you have developed the database for your project using SQL express, and you try to just put the mdf/ldf files on the server , it may not function properly, beacuse we have SQL Server on the server and not SQL Express. What can be done, in this case is attach your SQL Express files (ldf/mdf) to SQL Server on the server. For doing this you need to contact the one of the Krishani Abeysekkera's RA's.

Back to top

How do I get more help?

If your question hasn't been answered by this FAQ, you can request further help by emailing one of Krishani Abeysekera's RA's. Please be very specific about the problem you are receiving including any error messages, prompts, account names or events that led you to this issue. The more appropriate information you provide, the faster your issue can be resolved.

Back to top

How do I apply for web hosting?

Active students can apply for web hosting via the following URL:

http://sce.uhcl.edu/hosting/

Back to top

How long does my web account last?

Personal web hosting for students last indefinitely. It is still up to the user to backup their own files in case of a hardware failure on the server.

Back to top

Can I get help setting up my web page?

We do not help with designing web sites. There are a lot of good resources available on the web. You can begin with Google.

Back to top

What is my MSSQL/MySQL account information ?

To login to MSSQL or MySQL, your account name is probably the same as your SCE account. This means you do not include the course prefix (e.g. c423007fa) before the username. The name of the database on the other hand DOES include the course prefix. By default the password to login to MSSQL/MySQL is your student ID.

Back to top

How do I connect to Database ?

Here is the connection string to connect SQL database server


SqlConnection myConnection = new SqlConnection("user id=your username;" +
"password=your password;server=dcmweb;" +
"Trusted_Connection=no;" +
"database=your database name; " +
"connection timeout=30");

If your name is Alex Smith and Database name c432009SmithA, then here is the connection string format :

SqlConnection myConnection = new SqlConnection("user id=SmithA;" +
"password=studentid ;server=dcmweb;" +
"Trusted_Connection=no;" +
"database=c432009SmithA; " +
"connection timeout=30");

Back to top

Can I access MSSQL/MySQL database from my laptop/desktop ?

You can access MSSQL database ,

  1. Open SSMS[Sql Server Management Studio] .
  2. Type sceweb[ for SCE webserver ]or dcmweb[ for DCM webserver ] as server name.
  3. Select SQL server Authentication.
  4. Enter the correct username and password as specified by the course faculty member.
  5. You should be able to login to it.

You can access MySQL database ,

  1. Open MySQL Query Browser and then type sceweb[ for SCE webserver ]or dcmweb[ for DCM webserver ] as server host name.
  2. Enter the correct username and password as specified by the course faculty member.
  3. Type the Database Name for default schema .
  4. You should be able to login to it.

Back to top

My ASP application works at home on my local machine, but not on the server. What is wrong?

There are a number of things that could be different between your configuration and the configuration on the server. For one, make sure you are basing your program on the .NET Framework 2.0 or higher (3.0 or 3.5) and not the 1.1. Second make sure you are not using any local paths or includes in your code. Lastly, Google the error you are receiving to see if anyone else is experiencing the problem.

Back to top

What is the name of my MSSQL or MySQL database?

If your instructor has requested MSSQL or MySQL, the database name will be the same as your full share name. The only difference is that it is NOT proceeded by SCE\. MSSQL/MySQL logins are seperate from your SCE logins. When connecting to the database with ASP, use 'dcmweb' as the host name. When you are connecting with PHP, user 'localhost' as the hostname.

Back to top

What is my course account name?

Course names use the following standard:

c<Course Number><2 Digit Year><2 Letter Term (sp/su/fa)><Last name><First letter of first name>

This whole username is truncated to a max of 20 chars with characters at the end being cutoff. If you name was John Smith, and you were enrolled in CSCI 4230 in the Fall of 2007 your account would probably be c423007spsmithj.

Back to top

How do I map my network drive?

You can only map a network drive while you are on the UHCL network. It is not accessible from outside the UHCL network.

When you map a network share, your shared directory will appear as a local hard disk on your computer and you can browse and save to the drive from any program.

To map a network share follow these steps:

On the courses server (dcm.uhcl.edu or dcmweb.uhcl.edu):

  1. Open My Computer or Windows Explorer
  2. Click Tools in the file menu at the top of the window.
  3. Select Map Network Drive... from the drop-down menu.
  4. In the Folder input box enter the name of your share. For course accounts, your share name would comply with the naming conventions. If you were taking CSCI 4230 in the Fall of 2007, and your SCE account name was SmithJ, your share would likely be c423007fasmithj. Then, your share would be \\dcmweb\c423007fasmithj
  5. Uncheck "Reconnect at Logon"
  6. Click Connect Using a different user name before continuing.
  7. Enter your username prefixed with SCE\. For example, if your username were SmithJ, you should enter SCE\SmithJ. By default, your password is your student id. For capstone group accounts ONLY, your username would be the same as the sharename. (SCE\c423007fasmith)
  8. Click OK then Finish. Your shared folder should appear in a new window momentarily.

Back to top

How do I connect via FTP?

You can connect to DCM server using any FTP program you like with the following credentials:

On the courses server (dcm.uhcl.edu or dcmweb.uhcl.edu):

To connect to your account using the console FTP application follow these steps:

  1. Click on Start
  2. Click on Run and enter 'cmd'
  3. From the command prompt type in 'ftp'
  4. The command prompt should respond with 'ftp>'. Now connect to the server using 'open dcm.uhcl.edu'
  5. When it asks for your password enter your SCE domain account (SCE\<username>)
  6. Enter your password which, by default, is your student id
  7. Now you must select which share you want to use. For example, if you share name was c563307fasmithj you should type 'cd c563307fasmithj'. At this point you should be able to see your /db/ and /pages/ folders.
  8. For Capstone accounts use login name as shown in example "sce\cap{Last two digits of the year}{First two alphabets of current semester, i.e. for Fall = fp, Spring = sp, Summer = su}gp{group No}" i.e "cap07fagp1"
  9. After successful login Please do not start uploading your files, type the following command to get into your capstone directory "cd cap{Last two digits of the year}{First two alphabets of current semester, i.e. for Fall = fp, Spring = sp, Summer = su}gp{group No}" i.e "cap07fagp1"
  10. At this point if you fire "dir" command you should be able to see your /db and /pages folders.

For more information on how to use the DOS FTP program, please view this tutorial or search for 'dos ftp' in a search engine.

If you have problems connecting or staying connected and you are certain your login credentials are accurate, try to disable Passive Mode in the options of whichever FTP client you use.

Back to top

Research Assistants (RA)

Back to top