Any UH-affiliated department, group, organization, faculty, researcher or staff member may request an account on the central web server for the purpose of publishing information on the web.

Any account on the UH central web server must have a sponsor. The sponsor will act as a representative of the department in overseeing the activities of the account (e.g. specifying who has access in the case of department, group or organizational accounts.) A faculty member may serve as his/her own sponsor. For staff members, the sponsor should be the staff member's immediate supervisor. It will be the responsibility of the applicant to find a sponsor for his/her department's account. A department head may serve as the sponsor of a department's account.

The purpose of an account on the UH central web server will be to provide information via the worldwide web. This account is not for general-purpose computing (e.g. reading personal mail, compiling programs, etc.) Users needing an email or general purpose account may apply for this kind of account through the UIT Tech Commons Support Center.

Accounts on the central web server will be 10 megabytes in size, and only web data may be stored in this space. That is, any extra space in the account beyond what is occupied by the webpage may not be filled with non-webpage-related files. Additional blocks of space may be granted contingent upon the approval of both the account's sponsor and the UIT Support Center.

Applicants for accounts on the central web server should contact a member of the Tech Commons Support Center at M.D. Anderson Library room 58 (in the basement), or send an email request to accounts@uh.edu. A member of the Support Center will contact the applicant to discuss their needs. The applicant should be advised that they are required to have the following information at hand:

1. The name, email address, campus address and telephone number of the applicant.
2. A potential username for the account (8 characters or less). If the account is for a department, group or organization, the username should be generic (e.g. named for the department or unit) rather than a personal name.
3. A name of a sponsor (as described above) for the account.
4. A brief explanation of the purpose of the account and its planned use.

The Support Center will process the request in consultation with the account's sponsor, and will then return the account name and password to the applicant. The applicant should allow approximately one week for processing depending upon the number of requests pending at any given time.

In order to be accessible from the main UH homepage, the page must be linked to the main page by the UH webmaster. For individual (personal) pages, all that is necessary is to name the page "index.html" and place it in your public_html directory. It will be automatically linked.

For department and organization pages, it is the responsibility of the department to request that this link be made. The UH webmaster will review the user's site and may check for such things as adherence to UH graphics standards. The page may also be reviewed by the sponsor of the account. The UIT Support Center will provide additional information on the use of the account, including basic HTML and UH-specific information such as UH graphics standards, etc.

UH central web account holders and users share in the responsibility for maintaining the security of their account and the integrity of their data and of the system in general. Users of computing resources should be aware that although UH computing facilities provide procedures to preserve the security of files, account numbers and passwords, security can be breached through actions or causes beyond the reasonable control of the facility. Account holders should therefore familiarize themselves with the level of protection the system provides for securing their files in order to make effective use of it. The UIT Support Center can provide assistance in this area. In the event of actions resulting in the loss or damage to an account holder's data or the invasion of a user's privacy, UH will make a reasonable effort to mitigate the loss or damage. In most cases, however, ultimate responsibility for the prevention and resolution of such problems rests with the account holder.

It is the responsibility of the account holder to log in periodically and keep the webpage updated. Accounts identified as "stale" will be locked. A stale account is one that has not been logged into either interactively or non-interactively (e.g. via ftp) for at least 180 days. The files in such an account will not be removed, and the webpage will remain accessible on the web. However, the owner of a locked account will no longer be able to log in without making arrangements through the UIT Support Center to have the account enabled.

Computer accounts, passwords, and other types of authorization are assigned to individual users (in consultation with the account's sponsor) and should not be shared with others. Account holders should select an obscure password and change it frequently. Passwords on the central web server will expire on a regular basis, consistent with the policy for other UH academic systems.