CalNet ID Requirements

All users of CalNet and other campus systems must follow the campus Electronic Communications Policy.

Your CalNet ID is your online identity at UC Berkeley. It will be used for system access log-ins and authentication, and if you are eligible for campus email service, it will be the handle of your campus email address. For example, the CalNet ID oski.bear becomes oski.bear@berkeley.edu as an email address.

  • keep it short -- you will be typing it often

  • keep it professional -- professors and future employers will see you CalNet ID in your campus email address

  • make it yours -- since your CalNet ID serves as your username in many campus collaboration systems, consider including all or part of your name

  • keep it real -- you may use a pseudonym for privacy or other reasons, so long as the pseudonym does not constitute a false identity

In addition, we recommend that CalNet IDs do not include identifying data other than your name, e.g., birthdate. For example, Oski1225 for a birthdate of December 25 is not recommended.

CalNet ID Requirements

CalNet IDs must meet the following requirements:

  1. Must be 2 or more characters in length (maximum 19)
  2. Must contain at least 1 lowercase English letter, but no uppercase letters
  3. Must not contain your Student, Employee, or Affiliate ID
  4. Must not start with cads followed by a number
  5. Must not start with pvt-
  6. Must not start with svc-
  7. Must not start with app-
  8. Must not start with app_
  9. Must not start with guest-
  10. Must not start with spa-
  11. Must not start with a period (.)
  12. Must not end with a period (.)
  13. Must not start with a hyphen (-)
  14. Must not end with a hyphen (-)
  15. Must not contain two or more periods in a row (..)
  16. Only the following characters are allowed:
    • Lowercase letters (a through z)
    • Numbers (0 through 9)
    • Periods (.)
    • Underscores (_)
    • Hyphens (-)
  17. Must not start with uid or contain uid followed by a number

CalNet ID and Privacy

Please note that the CalNet ID is a public attribute and is available to campus departments for facilitating access to services. The "private" part of your CalNet credentials is the passphrase, so please be sure that you are the only person who knows your passphrase.