Rensselaer provides each student with two network accounts, a Hartford and a Troy Campus account. These two independent accounts can be used to access resources such as email, library subscription databases, and on campus workstations. RCS stands for Rensselaer Computing System and refers to your Troy campus account. The RCS account should be used for access to student email, Troy campus library resources, the online LMS (Learning Management System), and Troy campus computers. The Hartford campus account is referred to as the Hartford Network Account and should be used to access Hartford and Groton campus resouces such as campus computers, wireless access and authentication, Cole Library databases, and more. The Hartford account should also be used for registering for Hartford classes and any other online resources accessed from the student portal page.
Once students have registered for a class they are assigned these accounts at the beginning of each semester. As long as a student is registered in a class each semester, the accounts remain active. Active accounts from a previous semester will continue with the same usernames. The accounts will be disabled when a student graduates.
Troy RCS and Hartford Network account usernames are identical. You can request the information about your account username and initial passwords from online links located on the Hartford Campus's website Web Services Portal page located at http://www.ewp.rpi.edu/hartford/portal or the Technical and Information Services page located at http://www.ewp.rpi.edu/hartford/tis.
PLEASE NOTE that the initial default passwords for the two accounts are DIFFERENT. When you request account information, our helpdesk will send you an email that will contain the username (RCS and Hartford Network accounts) and information about the initial default passwords for each account. The email will also have the address links for where you can change the initial passwords. It is recommended that once you receive the username and password information that you change and keep both passwords the same for the two accounts. This will help to avoid confusion in the future.
If you have any questions or requests please contact Technical and Information Services.