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This is the preferred option because it ensures the highest level of security and requires almost nothing from the end-user. We will assist with any problems that arise and generally help in any way that we reasonably can. Security patching happens automatically, and users are required to reboot once per semester (between semesters) to guarantee that kernel updates have been applied. Reboots may be required during a semester if a severe enough vulnerability is announced.

For software installation and removal, the Linux Team offers self-service package management. This allows non-privileged users to install and remove most packages from the system’s repositories. Self-service software management can be requested by the machine owner (not the machine user) or a professor in the research lab (whichever is applicable). 

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We do not provide users root access to managed systems. However, users generally only need this access to install software, which can be achieved through the self-service feature. If you need this feature, then you should request that it be enabled to start the approval process. Users are free to download, compile, and install software into their own home directories, as most of the time this does not require any special access (see Compiling and Installing Programs in Your Home Directory).

What We Need From You

When we take over the management of a machine, it will be installed from scratch to establish a baseline. We will need the following information to install and set it up:

• List of NetIDs which will have login rights

• An initial list of software to be installed

• Name of the machine (if not provided by your department or group’s IT)

• Name of the primary researcher for the lab (PI)

• Whether you want CentOS 7 Ubuntu 20.04 or Ubuntu 18.04

  • In general we prefer CentOS 7 because it is an enterprise OS that is much less likely to have breaking updates and generally has fewer security issues and bugs.

  • If requesting Ubuntu 18.04 is the preferred release. This release has newer versions of software and better support for newer hardware.

  • Ubuntu 16.04 might be possible, under special circumstances, when approved by the machine owner (not the machine user) or a professor in the research lab (whichever is applicable)Preferred OS is Ubuntu 20.04 at this time.

  • CentOS 7 may be available when there is a requirement by a specific software need.

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