RSC Computer Information & Policy

Last updated: 18th Oct 2007

Contents:

1. Desktop use & available software
2. Instrument control
3. Computation
4. Mail serving and printing
5. Networking
6. World Wide Web; and FTP
7. Policy
   1. Access to School Computing Resources
   2. World Wide Web
   3. Backup and Archiving
   4. Maintenance
   5. Security
   6. Departure Policy
   7. Guidelines for Using the Users Area in Craig 1st Floor (Above Tea room )

Desktop Use & Available Software

The RSC has mainly Macintoshes plus some Windows and Linux/Unix Computers

Members of the School are encouraged to use Mac(intoshe)s for general desktop computer use. PCs running Windows 2000 or XP are used in some areas for general desktop computer use. This is generally because there is some other need to use Windows computers in these areas. However, the new Intel based Macs can now run windows natively, or through virtual machines.

A small number of people use Linux computers as their desktop machine.

The School currently has about 150 computers for general desktop use. Desktop use includes the following kinds of applications. The latest version of software is used unless otherwise indicated.

• Office Suites

  • Microsoft Office
  • AppleWorks
  • Open Office
  • Neo Office

• Reading Email

  • Thunderbird
  • Apple Mail
  • Eudora
  • Pine
  • Mutt
  • Note: (Entourage, Outlook and Outlook Express are discouraged)

• Remote Access

  • Terminal access to various computers both on and off Campus;
    • SSH
    • Nifty Telnet (mac)
    • Putty(win)
    • VersaTermPro
      
      
  • X-terminal access to various computers both on and off Campus (partly for graphics display);
    • MacX
    • Apple X11
    • eXcursion(win)

   

• Graphics Production/Data Interpretation

  • To generate and display chemical structures
  • ChemDraw (as part of ChemOffice)
  
  
  
  • Generate graphic display of both collected and simulated data;
    • KaleidaGraph
    • DeltaGraph
    • IgorPro

   

• General drawing and image manipulation

  • Graphic Converter
  • AppleWorks
  • Adobe Illustrator
  • Adobe PhotoShop
  • PowerPoint

• Databases manipulation & scientific resources/references

  • EndNote
  • Reference Manager
  • For storing and manipulating databases of administrative data needed by the School both financial, personal and technical. The main database used at present is FileMaker although the School also has the specialist chemicals databases
    • FileMaker
    • ChemStock
  • For accessing the University's main administrative databases via the Campus network.
    • Citrix
    • Entire/Natural Connection
  • Using the Cambridge Crystal Structure Database

 

• Mathematical programs

• Maple
• Mathematica

• Language Compilers

  • C
  • C++
  • Fortran 77/95
  • Visual Basic
  • Perl
  • Python

• Anti Virus Scanners

  • Sophos

Instrument Control

Mainly PCs running Windows and Linux.

• The School has about 60 Windows PCs used for data collection and equipment control. This is mainly done using standard PC interface cards with both locally written and vendor supplied software drivers being used;
• The Workshop Electronics Group uses Protel for Windows for their CAD design work
• The versions of Windows in use range include DOS/3.1.1/95/NT4/98/2000.
• Vaxes and Alphas running VMS are used for instrument control of some of the Mass Spectrometers.
• The NMR Centre uses Suns for instrument control of their Varian NMR spectrometers.

Computation

• This list only covers the computation done on computers in the School.
• Members of the School are active users of the ANU Supercomputer Facility's and APAC machines for their large computational problems.
• The School's main Unix server is faraday.anu.edu.au. It is an Intel PC Server running Linux (Red Hat). This server does print, file serving and runs small computational tasks. A similar Linux machine, rsc.anu.edu.au is used for email and web serving.
• The School also has a Vaxserver 3100 which is used for legacy computation. This machine is still needed, since there are programs used in the School which are not available on other platforms.
• A soon to be decommissioned HP9000/735 Unix server is also used as a shared machine for legacy computational purposes.
• A general purpose SGI graphics workstation is also available.
• There are also groups with their own workstations.
  • The Evans Group uses Macs for local computation.
  • The NMR Centre apart from the Suns controlling Spectrometers has Suns for data reduction and display. It also has Silicon Graphics machines, principally to run software that is not available on other platforms.
  • The Ollis Group uses Silicon Graphics workstations for data reduction and display plus some computational work. These machines are used principally to run software that is not available on other platforms and for stereo data display.
  • The Otting Group uses both Linux and Silicon Graphics machines for data manipulation and display.
  • The Radom Group uses IBM workstations plus it's desktop Macs for data display and computation.
  • The Sevick Group uses both Sun and Macs for computation.
  • The Welberry Group uses a small Linux Cluster for computation.

Mail Serving and Printing

Mail Related Stuff

Members of the School generally use the School's mail server. Support is provided for POP & IMAP clients (Although we prefer IMAP) clients principally Thunderbird, Eudora and Apple OSX Mail.

The School also has web mail access available at http://rsc.anu.edu.au/mail

Mail addresses can take one of two forms:

• person@rsc.anu.edu.au
• firstname.lastname@anu.edu.au

Printing @ RSC

The School currently has medium capacity printers available on each floor in all buildings. There are also high quality colour (wax) printer available for A4 printing of both plain paper and transparencies.

If you'd need to know where and what they are, please refer to http://rsc.anu.edu.au/~rsccu/RSC-Only/printers.html

Networking

The School provides 10/100 Mbit ethernet connections to all rooms.

World Wide Web and FTP

The School's World Wide Web (WWW) server's address is http://rsc.anu.edu.au

The School also provides an anonymous ftp server at ftp://ftp.rsc.anu.edu.au/pub...

Please ask the staff in the RSC Computer Unit about putting material there for distribution.

Policy

• Access to School Computing Resources

  • Computer and email accounts are normally provided on the School's main server for all members of the School who request such accounts. 'Member of the School' is here taken to include official visitors to the School.
  • Accounts on other general purpose School machines are available to all members of the School. Access is available to these machines via desktop computers distributed throughout the School's buildings.
  • Accounts are also available on the School's machines to members of the Department of Chemistry or other areas of the University. These accounts are provided subject to resources being available for them. Approval will also be dependant on someone within the School (usually a Group Leader) being responsible for the use of such an account and there being a need for the person to have access to the School's special computing resources.
  • Access by any other person to any Computing Resources within the School needs to be approved by the Dean.
  • Access to special purpose and group machines within the School is at the discretion and with the permission of those responsible for these machines, which is generally the group leader.

• World Wide Web

• The School's web server is available at http://rsc.anu.edu.au.
• This service is intended to provide internal information such as telephone and email addresses and seminar information, as well as general information about the School and the academic areas of interest of members of the School.
• Any personal web pages hosted on the School's web server must conform to the University's guidelines for such pages and must not contain information that bring the University into disrepute.
• Web access from the School goes through the University proxy server, so browsers must be configured to use either:



• use the automatic proxy script found at http://netserve.anu.edu.au/proxy.pac
• or configure your proxy server to be wwwcache.anu.edu.au:80

• Access to the ANU proxy server requires authentication using your ANU staff/student/affiliate number and password.

• File Storage plus Backup and Archiving

• Both the School's main Unix machines and the Macs used by the School's Administration are backed up daily with five-weekly archives kept for five years.
• For other computers the responsibility for ensuring adequate backup rests with the groups or individuals using them.
• Members of the School are therefore advised to use the RSC file server faraday to store all their Mac and Windows files.
• Faraday runs an AppleTalk(Netatalk) service for Macs and a Windows Networking (Samba )service to allow these machines to use and store files on its disks. Faraday's disks are backed up each evening.

• Maintenance

  • Hardware Maintenance for all computers is done on a piecework basis and no maintenance contracts are used after the warranty period for the equipment expires.
  • Hardware Maintenance contracts are held for the School's main servers.
  • Hardware Maintenance contracts are evaluated for other computers individually.
  • The School only supports the software packages listed in 'a. Desktop Use'. Generally it cannot provide help or upgrades for other software which is the responsibility of Groups or individuals.

• Security

  • All computer use within the School must comply with the University's guidelines on such use. This includes the "Guidelines on the Use of University Computing Services" and any other official instructions pertaining to Computer Use at the ANU.
  • Private Computer Software
    • Members of the School may use their own properly licenced software on the School machines with the permission of the School Computer Unit.
  • Private Computer Hardware
    • Members of the School may use their own computer hardware within the School, provided that they take all responsibility for its security and that they accept that they are responsible, both for any damage however caused to their equipment and for any damage however caused by their equipment within the School.
  • Private Use of School Computers and Network
    • Members of the School are reminded that as with other University resources, all computing and network resources are to be used principally for University purposes.
  • Members of the School are expected to be familiar with the "ANU IT Services Rules" the "IT Services (General Conditions) Order" and other relevant rules and regulations of the University.
    • Most of this information is available at http://www.anu.edu.au/its/policies/ .

• Departure Policy

  • Computer accounts and files will normally be removed two months after a person has left the School.
  • Automatic forwarding of email will normally be provided for one year after a person has left the School, resources permitting.
  • Group Leaders may request that computer accounts be maintained for departing members of their group. Group Leaders will be deemed to be responsible for these accounts. These accounts are also subject to the provisions contained in 'i. Access to School Computing Resources'.

• Guidelines for Using Users' Area in Birch Room 119

  • The machines in Birch 119 are communal. As such, these guidelines are in place.
    • Work takes priority over any personal use.
    • Please take care and leave them and the room clean and ready for the next user:
      • Do not leave any paper or other material lying around. Any paper lying around will be thrown out.
      • As with other communal areas like the library, do not eat or drink in the room.
  Please report any faults by ANY of the following means:
• Tell someone in E11 or E14 or leave a clear note for someone there.
• Leave a message on extension 54089
• Email help@rsc.anu.edu.au
• Files & Storage
  • Remember that any files on the machines are liable to be deleted, so keep a copy of anything precious.
  • Every machine has a scratch area called "scratch 28". Any files there will be automatically deleted if they are more than 28 days old. Please use this scratch space and delete files if you do not need them.
  • Once a month, the machines will be manually checked. Any large or old files will be deleted.
  • The file space in the folder "common" is shared across all the machines using the network. This is the first place to put your files
• Software and Configuration
  • Do not install any software. Talk to the Computer Unit staff in E11 or E14 about anything you need.
  • Do not change the configuration of the machines. Talk to the Computer Unit staff.
• Please turn machines or at least their screens off at night.