UserIDs and Passwords

userID

Every student enrolled at Binghamton University is assigned a userID.   The userID is used for all host systems and is retained throughout your stay at Binghamton University.  The userID is also used as the first part of your e-mail address.

Passwords

Students may have several different passwords to access a variety of systems. All students will have a BINGSUNS and a POD password. POD passwords are used for accessing email, Blackboard, computers in public areas, classrooms, the campus libraries, wireless, Campus Manager, and for releasing print jobs from the Pharos laser printing system. More information about passwords, including instructions about how to change them, is available in the Computing Accounts and Passwords document.

Computer Accounts

BINGSUNS Account

Every student is assigned a general access account on BINGSUNS, the central Unix server.   You will use your userID and your BINGSUNS password to access your BINGSUNS account.  This account can be used for academic work requiring a Unix operating system, for personal web pages and for reading e-mail with pine.  The general access account remains active for six months after you leave the university.

POD passwords are synchronized with BINGSUNS passwords, thus changing your POD password also changes your BINGSUNS password; however, changing your BINGSUNS password does not change your POD password.

Electronic Mailbox Accounts

An electronic mailbox account is assigned to every student.  You will use your assigned userID and your POD password to access electronic mail.   The mailbox can be accessed with a mail client of your choice (Mirapoint Web Mail, Thunderbird, pine and so on).  The electronic mailbox account remains active for six months after you leave the university.

BlackBoard account

Blackboard is a Course Management System that provides a powerful and easy-to-use suite of tools for instructors to build and manage virtual classrooms. Students enrolled in courses where the instructor is using the Blackboard course management system will automatically be assigned Blackboard accounts. You will use your assigned userID and your POD password to access Blackboard at http://blackboard.binghamton.edu. More information about Blackboard can be found in the Blackboard document.

Obtaining Computer Account Information with BUSI

Use the Binghamton University Student Information system (BUSI) to check your computer account information, course schedule, grades, final exam schedule, and grade options. In order to obtain computer account information from BUSI, you will need your library bar code number, so getting a university ID card is the first step toward obtaining a computer account .

Note that if you change a password, the password that was assigned to you will still be displayed by BUSI.   Occasionally, ITS may need to change your password for security reasons. If your old password ceases to work, check BUSI for your updated password.

Difficulties with computer accounts are resolved at the Help Desk.