A CIM account will get you access to most cim computers and resources.

To request the creation of an account, you will need to fill in the CIM Computer Account Application .

1. Fill out and sign the identification form in the pdf document.
2. Carefully read the “Policy on the Responsible Use of McGill Information Technology Resources”and sign at the end of the document to confirm that you have read and agree to abide by the rules.
3. Once both completed, send the form to your supervisor so that they can also sign the identification form.
4. Your supervisor should send the form back to “support@cim.mcgill.ca”

Once you receive the confirmation that your account has been created, you should log into a CIM system to change your password. If you are on a linux system, you can directly ssh to to a cim machine with

ssh <CIMUSERNAME>@barn.cim.mcgill.ca

If you are on another type of operating system, we suggest using an ssh client such as PuTTY

Once logged in, type in passwd to change your password. The passwd command will ask you for your current password, then ask you for the new password you want to set.

CIM computers accessible via ssh have fail2ban enabled so that after a number of incorrect tries your IP address will get “banned” from accessing the machine. This is to prevent brute-force attempts to find a user's password. The exact number of tries and length of the ban can vary between computers, depending on configuration. In the event where you lock yourself out of a computer, you can either wait for the ban to get automatically removed after roughly a day, or contact support@cim.mcgill.ca to have us unban your IP. When contacting us, please let us know what your IP is so that we know which address to remove the ban for.

If access to CIM rooms is required, send a message to support@cim.mcgill.ca with your ID number and the list of room for which access is required.