Overview of Computer Accounts

Accounts are the key to accessing electronic services at Drexel – virtually all resources require a current user-id and password to access them.  IRT provides everyone at Drexel with accounts used to access university-wide resources.  Other departments issue accounts used to access their services.

Accounts issused by IRT have a "user-id" made up of your initals followed by a number.  All accounts issused to you by IRT will use the same user-id.  To avoid confusion with I's, L's, and O's, the number never uses zeros or ones.  All accounts require a password of at least six characters.  To encourage good security, Drexel's password rules are fairly strict.  When your accounts are set up, they'll all use the same password, but you can change each account's password individually.

The account that members of the Drexel community use most is the DrexelOne account.  Of course, it provides access to the DrexelOne portal, but it's also used to access email, online courses, and other services.  Most notably, it's used to access CAMS, the Computer Accounts Management Service – the place where you pick up new accounts, change your passwords, manage email addresses, and request even more accounts. 

In addition to the DrexelOne account, everyone at Drexel gets a Drexel Domain account.  While students seldom use this account, faculty and staff use it to start their Windows-based computers, use the faculty/staff email system, and access university file servers. 

Some account types are yours for the asking, but aren't issued unless you make the request.  This includes Microsoft Exchange email for faculty and staff (sorry, students) and LinkEdu accounts, Google- and Microsoft- provided email and collaboration accounts for students (sorry, faculty and staff).  LinkEdu accounts improve upon the regular accounts that Microsoft and Google give away by removing the advertisements and giving the luster of a "drexel.edu" address.

Finally, IRT also issues some special-purpose accounts for access to Banner and other tools that are used to run the back-office parts of Drexel.  To request accounts of these types or for help with such accounts, contact the appropriate system administrator.