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NetID: Complete Guide to NetID

General information about the NetID

NETID: Complete Guide to NetID

What is a NetID?

A NetID is a special type of account. It is only to be used by the person it has been assigned and represents that person in the various services provided by the University. It is a special account because specific attributes about the individual, from their Identity, are associated with this account allowing access to services and resources automatically based on their affiliation with the University.

A NetID is provisioned for life, meaning that once it has been assigned to an individual, it will not be reassigned to anyone else and will be reassigned to the same individual should they leave and later return to the University.

Another unique feature of the NetID account is that it is automatically provisioned into multiple services. The individual only needs to remember and use one account regardless of the service they are trying to access.

Eligibility

Everyone who has an affiliation with the University has one account, their NetID, that is theirs and allows them the ability to access Rice services as themselves.

NetIDs can exist in four possible states: enabled, claimed, locked, or disabled.

An enabled NetID is one that has been created and is ready for the individual to claim through the NetID activation process.

A claimed NetID is one where the individual has activated the NetID by setting their initial password, setting up Duo, and providing external contact information. A claimed NetID is one that is fully usable by the individual to access Rice services.

A locked NetID is one that was previously claimed but needed to be administratively blocked for some reason. Normally, this locked state is temporary due to a security concern. In this state, the individual is not able to access any Rice services, though the data associated with the NetID within services is unaffected.

A disabled NetID is one that is no longer usable by the individual, and the data belonging to that NetID is eligible for cleanup by the service owners.

Whether a NetID is enabled or disabled follows the Identity life-cycle, which loosely tracks a persons affiliations with the University. NetIDs generally are enabled prior to the start of their first active affiliation and remain enabled as long as the individual has an active affiliation.

A claimed NetID will allow a person to authenticate to Rice services. A disabled or locked NetID will block authentication to any Rice services.

Services

A service is a tool or resource that assists an individual with a particular task, like email, coursework, file storage, and networking.

For more information about services, please see the [Link for document 146633 is unavailable at this time] (You must login using the link at the bottom of this page to see this link)

Naming Format

The NetID is automatically generated as an individuals first affiliation data is provided to the Identity and Access Management (IAM) group.

The format of the NetID is two or three alphabetic characters followed by a number. It is common for these two or three characters to be a persons initials, though there are many instances where this is not the case and random or semi-random characters are used. In all cases, the alphabetic characters used in the NetID should be treated as opaque with no specific meaning associated with them.

Changing your NetID

It is IAM policy not to change NetIDs once assigned. NetIDs are automatically provisioned into multiple up and downstream systems, some of which we control and others do not. We cannot assure that user data will not be lost when performing a NetID change.

There are allowed exceptions to this policy. If the assigned NetID causes emotional distress for the individual, we will make every effort to change the NetID to a new random value, but we cannot guarantee that data will not be lost in the process or that it will not be a disruptive process for the individual. The chance of successfully changing the NetID is directly related to how long the NetID has existed and which services it has been used with.

Acceptable Use

NetID accounts can only be used by the individual they are assigned to. These accounts cannot be shared with anyone else for any purpose. Individuals found to be violating this policy could face sanctions up to and including the loss of their NetID.

Authentication

Duo

To protect your accounts, Rice uses Duo for multi-factor authentication (MFA). This means that after entering your NetID and password into most services, you will then be prompted by Duo to respond that you are actually making the login request. This prompt will be displayed on the screen and you will need to respond to that prompt using one of your configured Duo access methods.

Do not

Do not use weak Duo authentication methods for anything other than emergency use: SMS, VOICE, Backup Codes

Do use more secure Duo authentication methods for regular use: PUSH, PASSCODE, Hardware tokens
Do setup multiple Duo authentication methods: PUSH, PASSCODE, Hardware tokens, SMS, VOICE, Backup Codes

For more information about Duo, please see the Duo: Complete Guide to Duo.

Password

Please use a strong and unique password. We encourage you to use a password manager and make a long, 30 characters or more, random password that includes letters, numbers and special characters.

Do not

Do not re-use any password you have previously used elsewhere for your NetID.
Do not share your password with anyone. Rice support staff will never ask for your password.
Do not write your password down or keep it in an insecure area.

Do use a unique password for every service.
Do use a password manager for storing your password securely.
Do change your password immediately if you think that someone else may know it.
Do change your password annually, at a minimum.

The criteria required for passwords is displayed on the password changing page of MyNetID.

Managing Your NetID Account

Claim your NetID

Before you can use your NetID the first time, it must be claimed. The claim process will step through finishing the setup of your Identity and will include:

Setting external contact details - for notifications of changes to their identity
Setting an initial password - for being able to log into services
Configuring Duo - used for MFA
Configuring an alternate email address

If you are a student, information about activating your NetID will be sent to you in the packet of information from the University. Included in this packet will be your student number, called a Rice ID.

If you are an employee or visitor, you will receive an email, once IAM receives information about you, with instructions and an Owl ID. If you do not receive an email please contact Human Resources or the Visitor Management group to check on your data in their system.

You will need to visit the website, https://MyNetID.rice.edu, click on the link, Start by activating your NetID, and enter your ID number, name and date of birth to start the process.

At the end of this process, the web site will tell you what your NetID is. Please make a note of your NetID in a safe place so that you will have a record of it for future reference.

Important notes about this process:

The name you enter is the one that Rice has on file for you and will most likely be your legal name.
You can only go through the NetID activation process once to completion.
If you have activated your NetID at any point in the past, you can use the password recovery options to obtain access to your old NetID. Remember, your NetID is yours for life, even if you leave the University for 2, 5, 15 years or more.

Change Your NetID Password

You can only change your password if you have previously claimed your NetID.

If you know your NetID password, you can change your password at any time by visiting the website https://MyNetID.rice.edu. Once you log in with your existing password, you can change it by clicking on the Change Password link in the menu.

Recover A Forgotten NetID Password

If you do not remember your existing password, you can instead use the recovery feature to reset your password. Visit the website https://MyNetID.rice.edu and click on the link on the front page titled Forgot Password?.

Creating an Alternate Email Address

When your NetID is initially created, a default netid@rice.edu email alias will be created for you. Each person can also create up to three alternate or vanity email aliases that will all send email to your one email mailbox.

Log into https://MyNetID.rice.edu

Choose the menu option Create Email Alias

Since you can only create three alternate email addresses and can not delete any that you have created, please be mindful and choose wisely when creating a new one.

With email systems, the character case of the letters does not matter, and the period character is automatically removed from email address names. This means that the following are ALL the same:

ExampleUser@rice.edu
exampleuser@rice.edu
example.user@rice.edu
Example.User@rice.edu
Example.......User@rice.edu

Please use the period character sparingly or not at all. Never use consecutive periods like that last example.

Capitalizing the email address may make published addresses look better, especially if the address contains multiple words.

If you create an address in error, please submit a ticket to help@rice.edu requesting that the alias be deleted.

Changing your Published (Primary) Email Address

While you can have multiple email addresses for your mailbox, only one of those addresses will be published publicly for you.

Your published email address can be found on your entry in the Rice online directory (https://search.rice.edu).

To change the published email address used in the Rice online directory:

Log into https://MyNetID.rice.edu

Choose the menu option Select Primary Email Alias

Here you can pick from any email aliases already created the one you wish to be used as your published email address.

Special note for students

If you prefer not to be listed in the Rice online directory, you can request it to be withheld. Please see the Office of the Registrar's web page on FERPA for more information about this process.

Updating Contact Information in MyNetID

The external contact information you provide when claiming your NetID and which can be updated at any time afterwards is used for special communication regarding your account. If you ever forget your NetID password, the recovery process will use this information to assist with self service recovery of that password. It is also where password change or account lock notifications will be sent.

Please keep this information current.

Log into https://MyNetID.rice.edu

Choose the menu option Contact Information

What to do if you can not log into your account

The first step is to determine why you cant log into your account.

Step 1: Has your NetID been enabled?

If you are a student, have you received your onboarding packet of information from the University? If you havent, your NetID has probably not been enabled yet.

If you are an employee or visitor, have you received your onboarding email at your personal email address? If you havent, your NetID has probably not been enabled yet.

If you have received your onboarding information and are still unable to claim your NetID, please contact either the Office of the Registrar if you are a student or Human Resources if you are an employee or visitor.

Step 2: Have you already claimed your NetID?

If you have received your onboarding information described above and have your ID, OwlID for Employees and Visitors and Rice ID for students, you will need to claim your NetID, using the activation link Start by activating your NetID on the front page of https://MyNetID.rice.edu.

This process can only be completed once. If you try to do it again, you will receive a message telling you that youve already completed it.

You will keep the same NetID if you start here as a student and then later come back as an employee. If you are returning after being gone for a while, and do not remember your previous password, you will need to use the Forgot Password? process to change your password.

Step 3: Are you using the correct password?

You can check if you are using the correct password by attempting to log into https://MyNetID.rice.edu. If that is successful, the password you entered is correct.

If that was unsuccessful, you used an incorrect password and need to use the Forgot Password? link on the front page to initiate a password reset.

Step 4: Have you changed your password recently?

When you change your password, please do not forget to update anything that may be using your old password on your behalf like your computer, tablet or smartphone . Failure to do so may result in the system blocking your access because of invalid authentication attempts.

Some places that you should check for an old password are:

Any app or software you use, like a mail client
Wireless or wired networking configurations

Step 5: Has your NetID been administratively locked?

In most cases where we have to lock an account administratively, an email will be sent to your personal email address with an explanation and other information.

It is probably not an administrative lock if you do not see an email in your personal mailbox.

WARNING
While we will send you an email to notify you of the administrative lock don't assume when you receive an email in your mailbox that it comes from us. Be cautious of any email you receive claiming that your NetID or account will be locked. Do not click on any link or call phone numbers without verifying their authenticity. Hackers use this all too common method to fool people into disclosing sensitive information. We will only send you email AFTER we have locked your account.

For verification purposes:

The Rice OIT Help Desk phone number is 713-348-HELP (4357).

The site you will need to visit to change your password is https://MyNetID.rice.edu.

When you are unsure, please contact the OIT Help Desk. How to Contact the OIT Help Desk

Step 6: Is the service experiencing problems?

Check the Rice status page at http://status.rice.edu to see if the system you are trying to access is having problems.

Service outages here will automatically update once OIT Staff have corrected the problem.

Problems with the service or the more general Accounts and Access or others may indicate the cause of the problem.

If nothing is listed here, this is probably not the issue.

Step 7: Has your affiliation with the University changed recently?

Some services are only available to people with certain affiliations to the University.

None of these steps helped

This block is not permanent but will take time to clear automatically.

So, what can you do to clear the block? Nothing, it clears automatically. The most information that can be given is to wait, give it some time, and try again.

Spend this downtime thinking about where you have used your NetID and what may be trying to authenticate as you, checking and fixing any that you find.

If you have looked everywhere you can think of and are still having the problem please contact the OIT Help Desk for assistance in tracking down devices that may be connecting as you. How to Contact the OIT Help Desk

How can we improve this document?

If something is not described well or information is missing, please submit a ticket by sending an email to help@rice.edu with the name of the page and how it can be improved.

NetID: Complete Guide to NetID

See Also