[Jun 28, 2008 8:06] Email phishing scam targeting WebMail users has been reported. More Information
Table of Contents
What is the whois database?
whois is the database of user information maintained by ITC. The information for whois comes from the Registrar's Office, Payroll, ITC, and other administrative departments. Information in the whois database includes your name, your classification (staff, student, faculty, etc.), your department, your telephone number, your Messenger Mail address, and your email address.
How do I use whois?
All ITC-maintained UNIX systems have a whois command that will access the database. At the command prompt on those machines, simply type:
/uva/bin/whois [search_string] where [search_string] is one of the following:
- A University Computing ID (e.g. mst3k)
- A last name (e.g. Smith)
- A last name, a first name (e.g. "Yahoo, Joe") {use quotes!}
- A University telephone number
- A University-wide email alias ("jyahoo@Virginia.EDU") {use quotes!}
- A numeric UNIX User ID (e.g. 499)
UNIX machines that do not have the University's whois client installed can use the following syntax to access the database:
/uva/bin/whois -h whois.Virginia.EDU [search_string] The -h
whois.Virginia.EDU option tells the client to use the University's database.
How often is whois updated?
A daily job loads new University staff, faculty, and student information from administrative records. This job also updates name and department information provided by University records. As people leave the University, the system will expire records. New e-mail addresses and aliases appear in whois the morning after a user registers his or her email address. Telephone and messenger mail updates done by ITC or through the ITC Directory Update Service pages will be reflected immediately in whois lookups.
How do I get my information updated in the database?
whois contains a large amount of information on University users. This data comes from administrative data such as Payroll and Registrar records as well as ITC-maintained data. Depending on the field, the answer to this question varies. whois uses the official name for people as derived from administrative records. If a user changes his or her name due to marriage or to other circumstances, for example, then he or she should go to Payroll (if a faculty or a staff member) or to the Registrar's office (if a student) to get this name information updated. Users can update their telephone numbers, Messenger Mail information, home page URL addresses, and other directory data by visiting the following page:
http://whois.Virginia.EDU/update
How does whois relate to the University People Search and the LDAP server?
Currently, all these systems derive their directory information from a common database. The People Search option available from:
http://www.Virginia.EDU/dir.html
gets rebuilt once a day with new and with updated information. More information about the University's LDAP system is available online.
If I leave the University and return, will I get my mailid, email aliases, and UNIX UID back?
If you left the University after 1991, more than likely you will get the same University Computing ID and UNIX UID that you had when you left the University. Before 1991, Academic Computing (a predecessor organization to the current ITC) had to purge the user database because of space constraints. If you are returning to the University, and have had all your accounts deleted, then you may apply for a new account by visiting the ITC Accounts Page. ITC does not, however, guarantee that you will be able to acquire the same system-wide electronic mail address or aliases. Information about these aliases and about registering your electronic mail address at the University is available on ITCWeb.