Keep all of your Smith accounts in sync!

security.rhsmith.umd.edu

The P-Synch tool allows you to synchronize a single password across all of your Smith accounts. There three passwords you can synchronize using P-Synch are Novell, Lotus Notes Client password (kept in the Notes ID file), and Lotus Notes Internet Password (iNotes).  The user interface is entirely web based and can be found at http://security.rhsmith.umd.edu. The commercial name of the tool is P-Synch.

Those with only a RHSmith forwarding address will not be able to synchronize the Lotus Notes Email account password because they do not have a full Lotus Notes account.  People typically in this category are part-time graduate students.

Accounts affected
Below is a list of the accounts unique to RHSmith.  Once you use P-Synch to synchronize these passwords you can treat them as one single account, but it is still important to know what they are used for.

For more detailed information on the accounts used at the Smith school, please see our account chart. 

Using P-Synch for the first time

I need help!  Something here doesn't make sense!  Something isn't working!  The Smith IT help desk can walk you through the process, including resetting your iNotes password to a known value. You can contact them by email at helpme@rhsmith.umd.edu, by phone at 301-405-2269, or in person in VMH 3520. The hours of operation are 8AM to 10PM.

IMPORTANT: Those with a full Lotus Notes email account need to use the Lotus Notes client in the computer lab or via the eSmith Portal before trying to add or change their Lotus Notes client password.

1) Log in to the Lotus Notes client on a Smith School computer (computer lab, eSmith Portal, or faculty/staff office computer) and open your mailbox.  This is required to sync your Notes ID file.  Those without a Smith mailbox (general part-time students) can skip this step.

2) Log in to P-Synch using your Lotus Notes username.

3) Use your Lotus Notes web password, also sometimes called your iNotes password, to log in. (For new students, unless you have changed the password, this should be the password on the account sheet that was given to you during orientation.)

4) The first time you access P-Synch you are required to provide answers to a minimum of four security questions. The questions will be used to gain access to P-Synch in the event of a forgotten password. This means if you forget or have trouble with a password sometime in the future you won't need to contact the help desk and wait for an administrator to reset your passwords... you can do it yourself!

5) By default, only your Lotus Notes Internet password (iNotes) is part of you P-Synch profile. In order to change your Novell and Lotus Notes client passwords (if you have one) you must add those accounts to your P-Synch profile. To add accounts click the “Add login accounts” link.

Remember, those with only a Smith forwarding address and not a "real" mail file do not need to to synchronize the Lotus Notes Email account password because they do not have an ID file. People typically in this category are part-time graduate students.

6) Type your username (for Novell or the Lotus Notes client) and click the “Find my login IDs” button. P-Synch will then search its database to find your other accounts.

7) P-Synch will display the accounts it was able to find based on the username you supplied. Type your current password for those accounts and click “Add to my profile”; P-Synch will verify your password on both accounts, if P-Synch is able to verify the password it will add the account to your P-Synch profile. If you have changed your passwords you may need to repeat this process, once for the Novell account and once for the Lotus Notes client account.  

Note: Those without a full Notes email account will still see the Notes client ID, however there is no need to add it to your P-Synch profile because there is no password associated with it.

Some people find what's being done in this part confusing. To recap, here's the idea, explained another way. P-Synch has a profile for you as a user. Your "username" for this profile is your iNotes password. Stored in your profile are links to other accounts. You need to claim those accounts by giving P-Synch the username you use on those systems, and then validate that you really are the owner of those accounts by giving it your password. 

8) Once you have added your accounts to P-Synch, you can synchronize the passwords. Click the “Change passwords” link on the left hand menu.

When you click the Change passwords list  you'll get to pick for which accounts you want to change the password (all of them, by default), and the rules for password quality are displayed on the screen. These rules are strict, but are required to ensure the integrity of our systems.  The Smith rules for password quality are modeled on the University Directory's rule set, and match it as closely as possible.

After changing your passwords you will get a confirmation screen showing where passwords were changed. 

If the change for the password of the Notes Client fails (as shown in the graphic above), your Notes ID file may not be in the P-Synch database. You will need to use the Notes client in the computer lab or in the eSmith Portal once so P-Synch can collect a copy of your Notes ID file.

9)  If you have saved your Lotus Notes and Novell passwords (for mail and access to the Windows Applications) in the eSmith Portal, you will need to log in to the eSmith Portal to update those passwords.