Physics-Departmental-Computing

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physics-departmental-computing@imperial.ac.uk

March 2015

2 participants
2 discussions

Fwd: RE: Physics Departmental computing ..
by David Colling 11 Mar '15

11 Mar '15

Hi All, I just realised that this email would not have made it to the list because Lucy is not yet on the list (although she will be very shortly). Best, david -------- Forwarded Message -------- Subject: RE: Physics Departmental computing .. Date: Wed, 25 Feb 2015 09:04:09 +0000 From: Stagg, Lucy J <lucy.stagg02(a)imperial.ac.uk> To: Colling, David J <d.colling(a)imperial.ac.uk> CC: physics-departmental-computing <physics-departmental-computing(a)imperial.ac.uk> Dear David, Yes it might useful to be added to the list so please go ahead. With respect to the personal web pages that some departments have, we haven't actually supported these for a few years and are slowly phasing them out. There are scenarios where we can look at options other than the pwp, for example: - a group/project might have a site within the CMS (e.g. https://www.imperial.ac.uk/a-z-research/clean-fossil-and-bioenergy) - a collaboration with another institution requires a site with joint/it's own branding - we can provide server space but a non imperial domain would need to be purchased and any use of the College logo would need to be approved by me/Communications (e.g. http://www.proxomics.ac.uk) - there is a need for an application which will not be technically possible in PWPs or the CMS, for example Life Sciences have a number of protein databases that require a public interface. In these examples we can provide server space with an Imperial URL but the design of the site would have to a follow a simple template (white background, logo correctly used top left hand corner, blue links etc) which would need to be approved by me/Communications. I would usually discuss these on a case by case basis so I'm happy to talk to anyone who has any questions about it. It's also worth noting that In a few weeks time I'm expecting to be able to test some enhancements to PWPs including the option to add an extra page of your choosing, more easily being able to upload documents and being able to choose what, if any, news/social media items appear on your homepage. If testing goes well you should expect to see these improvements soon after so whilst you would still be confined to the design of the PWP there is at least a bit more flexibility on the way. Best wishes, Lucy -----Original Message----- From: David Colling [mailto:d.colling@imperial.ac.uk] Sent: 24 February 2015 13:02 To: Stagg, Lucy J Cc: physics-departmental-computing Subject: Physics Departmental computing .. Dear Lucy, At our last Physics Departmental Computing meeting Adrian suggested that you be added to our mailing list. So I thought that I would mail you asking whether or not you would before do so. It is pretty low volume. There was also a direct question that came up that you might be able to help with. The question was is there a location where academics could edit their own web pages? Somewhere less formulaic than the professional webpages . These was felt to be a need for such a space and I think that some other departments have this. Best, david

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Storage for UG projects
by David Colling 11 Mar '15

11 Mar '15

Hi, At our last meeting we discussed getting some disk space for UG projects that would be visible to jobs running on the condor pool. This afternoon Julia and I discussed this with Kenny and while we all agreed that it was a good idea we felt that it was a little bit of a chicken and egg situation. People wouldn't use immediately because they weren't used to using it and so it would take to become useful. If physics paid several £k for a server with (say) 40TB of usable space now it would already be close to being obsolete by the time people were really starting to use it in 3 or 4 years time and so most of the value would be wasted. So instead we thought that a having a smaller unit that people can start to use but expecting it to be upgraded to to a full server when usage took off. So what we are looking for is something with a few TB of disc space, machine managed by ICT content managed by physics. At a very basic level this could be a machine with just 2 x 4TB disk with RAID 1 ... however I think that ICT should suggest a cost effective solution as we are asking them to manage it. This would provide a testbed for projects and would be replaced by a larger server as usage grew. What do others (especially ICT) think about this suggestion? Best, david

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