- Physics-Departmental-Computing

Juan Villamil - for onward cascade to your teams
by David Colling 28 Jul '23

28 Jul '23

Hi All, Just in case some of you may not have seen this ... Best, david From: Kerse, Robert W <r.kerse(a)imperial.ac.uk> Sent: Thursday, July 27, 2023 4:59 PM To: Kerse, Robert W <r.kerse(a)imperial.ac.uk> Subject: Juan Villamil - for onward cascade to your teams Dear Colleagues We would like to inform you that our Chief Information Officer, Juan Villamil, will be departing from Imperial College on July 31, 2023. Since joining Imperial in February 2020, Juan has played a pivotal role in advancing our technology infrastructure, driving our digital transformation efforts, and bolstering our cyber security measures. Throughout his tenure, Juan's expertise and leadership have been instrumental in fostering innovation, implementing key technology initiatives, and strengthening our cyber security framework. He has made significant contributions to enhancing our information systems, improving efficiency, and ensuring the protection of our digital assets. Under Juan's guidance, we successfully navigated the challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. His dedication and strategic vision were critical in ensuring a seamless transition to remote work and virtual learning environments, while maintaining robust cyber security practices to safeguard our data and systems. I hope you will join me in thanking him for his contribution and wishing him well in his future endeavours. We will shortly commence our search for a replacement Chief Information Officer. Robert Kerse Chief Operating Officer

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Follow up action on me.
by David Colling 14 Jul '23

14 Jul '23

Dear All, There was an action on me to follow up on Jenny's comments that her team's jobs were running very very slowly at the moment, even though they are not parallel jobs and don't require GPUs. I asked Andy Richards about this and his reply was along the lines of parallel jobs have been moved to cx3 where they have been running (very inefficiently) and blocking the queues for all other users. They may have been running inefficiently but at least they do run. These jobs will move over to the new resources in the not too distant future. However, even when these jobs are moved to the new cluster we have a lack of throughput capacity. This will be looked at when the true HPC jobs have been moved to the new resource. I believe that Andy is on this list and so he should feel free to correct me if I have been inaccurate. Best, david

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Next Physics Departmental meeting
by David Colling 11 Jul '23

11 Jul '23

Hi All, My apologies for sending this mail a little later than I hoped. The clear favourite date is 11th (i.e. next Tuesday), which is the day before the FRCC which is fine. This will be our usual timing of 12->13:00. The meeting will be mixed. I have booked 532 for those in college and I will ask somebody with an outlook calendar to create a teams invitation. We still have no deputy for Tim to represent Theory - any nominations Tim? Please send me your items for the agenda so that I can circulate it at the end of this week. The items that I have in mind are: - Status of the HPC upgrade. - General News from ICT (including the service des - Securing college devices - Mailman (and its demise) - Communication channels between ICT and the Department(s) - The unified Windows build across teaching machines. - RSEs in Physics (and FoNS) - ... Many of which will also be discussed at the at the FRCC the following day. Please do send me any additional items. This is clearly quite a full agenda but I will try to keep it to the point. Best, david

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Important if you use UG computers for teaching (including labs)
by David Colling 06 Jul '23

06 Jul '23

Dear All, If you don't use any UG computers for teaching and don't plan to for the next year then you can stop reading now - which I suspect is most of you. Otherwise, please read on. We have been trying to get a common build for all the windows machines used in UG teaching for a number of years. This would mean that all the computers could be used for all the different activities and we wouldn't need to have "that set of computers set aside for instrumentation and these microprocessors". The means that we are installing all the required software and drivers on all the machines. ICT have now built 4 machines with this new configuration. The plan is that we test these 4 machines and give ICT feedback on around the two week timescale. ICT then make any alterations that we need and then roll it out over all the computers on level 3 and in the UG labs in plenty of time for the start of term. ###################### the important bit ############################## So if you use computers for UG teaching then you are strongly encouraged to make sure that the things you want to do work on these 4 machines. Even if you think that what you want is pretty trivial. If you don't try it and when it comes to term time, what you want doesn't work then ... These machines can be found on the back row (nearest the window) of the microprocessor lab (Blackett 418). Ivan tells me that he has labelled them so they should be easy to find. If you need lab equipment to test them then please contact Graham and the team and they will be happy to help. Please test them and give me any feedback in the next two weeks so (say) by 22nd July. ######################################################################## Best, david

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Next Physics Computing meeting
by David Colling 28 Jun '23

28 Jun '23

Dear Physics Computing Committee, There will be a FoNS Research Computing meeting on the 12th July and try to have a physics meeting the week before the FRCC (we missed the last one because Easter got in the way). So I have set up a doodle poll at: https://doodle.com/meeting/participate/id/ep2koGNb I have included some ICT people as it would be good to hear about managed devices and physics UG teaching windows deployment as well as the RCS etc. If you have agenda items then please let me know. Best, david

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Re: [Physics-Departmental-Computing] Securing Imperial : Post Audit and Risk Committee Follow Up
by David Colling 22 Jun '23

22 Jun '23

HI Jason, This doesn't answer Peter's question. In all the discussion that we had (over about 4 months) we drew up a list of different categories of machines including the category of unmanaged research machines, these had slightly more support than BYOD and had JAMF (or windows equivalent) installed but in a mode where it didn't interfere but only gave warning. There was also the option of taking a college bought device and turning it into a BYOD by having JAMF removed (or never installed). These classes machines would have the limited access to college systems - essentially through web browsers etc. This was about managing risk so that college systems were safe and researchers and educators were still able to do their jobs. This we thought was a good solution for all concerned. In email conversations with Juan this is, I believe, what he thinks the situation to be. However, from Tom's communications it appears that this is not actually the case and that all machines will have JAMF (or windows equivalent) regardless of whether the user wants it or not. This will cause significant unhappiness and result in many people buying (especially) apple devices on their grants by routes other than through the college supplier. Whereas most would have been happy with the mode where their device was monitored and just received warnings (because most people do want to be good citizens) they now have no warnings and zero visibility to ICT. What was wrong with the solution that we all thought that we had agreed? Best, david On 21/06/2023 15:21, Bennett, Jason W wrote: > Hi all, > > With Toms permission I am just clarifying this section. > > > Windows Devices > > *All* Windows devices purchased via the College preferred channels are > automatically enrolled into our Intune tenancy. > > > Laptops > > * Very similar to the Jamf process. > * Sent to a staging centre after purchase to be Autopilot > pre-provisioned– meaning they can then be shipped straight to customer. > * Are managed by Intune and Configuration Manager (Co-managed). > * Are Azure-AD bound but have no awareness of Active Directory (and > thus have no GPO applied). > > With laptops, and as with Jamf, *there is no such thing as a “College > build”* – we are using the OS as the vendor intended and applying MDM > profiles to apply, typically security orientated, settings. > > > Desktops > > * Although they are enrolled into Intune, they are typically sent to > ICT to “wiped and loaded”. This includes reinstalling an OS, > alongside installing several applications. > * Devices are managed by Configuration Manager. > o In time they will also be managed by Intune. > * Devices have AD awareness and settings are applied via GPO. > * This is currently considered the Classic method, but in time will be > Legacy. > > Other notes: > > * We have 15k active Windows devices in Configuration Manager. > o Of these, 2759 are co-managed between Intune and Configuration > Manager. > * We are currently testing Autopilot on desktops and hope to roll this > out soon. > * We will be updating the Device Management webpages in due course to > outline both of the above outlined systems. > > Thanks, > > Jason > > *From:*Peter Pietzuch <prp(a)imperial.ac.uk> > *Sent:* Wednesday, June 21, 2023 12:52 PM > *To:* Willson, Thomas H <t.willson(a)imperial.ac.uk>; Robb, Mike A > <mike.robb(a)imperial.ac.uk>; Oliver, Gareth <w.oliver(a)imperial.ac.uk>; > Stephenson, Richard <r.stephenson(a)imperial.ac.uk>; Halimi, Amine > <m.halimi(a)imperial.ac.uk>; Cohen, Jeremy <jeremy.cohen(a)imperial.ac.uk>; > Haynes, Sian B <s.haynes(a)imperial.ac.uk>; Shaw, Rosie A > <r.a.shaw(a)imperial.ac.uk>; Boyle, David <david.boyle(a)imperial.ac.uk>; > McLachlan, Duncan J <duncan.mclachlan(a)imperial.ac.uk>; Taborda, David M > G <d.taborda(a)imperial.ac.uk>; Wong, Harmony <w.wong(a)imperial.ac.uk>; > Bearpark, Michael J <m.bearpark(a)imperial.ac.uk>; Galvan, Stefano > <s.galvan(a)imperial.ac.uk>; Bresme, Fernando <f.bresme(a)imperial.ac.uk>; > Wood, Nicholas E M <nicholas.wood(a)imperial.ac.uk>; Ochieng, Washington Y > <w.ochieng(a)imperial.ac.uk>; Kamara, Lloyd D <l.kamara(a)imperial.ac.uk>; > Colling, David J <d.colling(a)imperial.ac.uk>; McCann, Julie A > <j.mccann(a)imperial.ac.uk>; Constantinides, George A > <g.constantinides(a)imperial.ac.uk> > *Cc:* Joannou, Ingrid <i.joannou(a)imperial.ac.uk>; Taylor, James A > <james.a.taylor(a)imperial.ac.uk>; Bennett, Jason W > <jason.bennett(a)imperial.ac.uk> > *Subject:* Re: Securing Imperial : Post Audit and Risk Committee Follow Up > > Dear Thomas, > > Thanks for your email, but I'm confused now: what happened to the > category of unmanaged research machines? At least Computing's (and I > suspect other department's as well) concerns about compulsory > MDM/JAMF-managed machines are not addressed by the information below. > > Cheers, > Peter > > On 21/06/2023 12:39, Willson, Thomas H wrote: > > Dear all, > > Apologies for not sending out this email sooner. > > Recent events, such as the unfortunate incident at Manchester > University (as reported by the BBC > https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-65855002 > <https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-65855002>) and the > incidents that affected Imperials pension providers; SAUL > (https://www.imperial.ac.uk/human-resources/pay-and-pensions/pensions/saul/s… <https://www.imperial.ac.uk/human-resources/pay-and-pensions/pensions/saul/s…>) and USS (https://www.imperial.ac.uk/human-resources/pay-and-pensions/pensions/uss/ca… <https://www.imperial.ac.uk/human-resources/pay-and-pensions/pensions/uss/ca…>) serve as a stark reminder as to the importance of Cyber Security – including understanding the posture of our devices (e.g. patching, central reporting, running supported operating systems etc.), endpoint protection, MFA etc. > > At our last meeting, a number of issues were raised and hopefully > they should all be addressed below. > > > Standard Response > > The standard response that Academia (supplier of Apple equipment) > and the Service Desk should be providing members of Imperial if they > ask about device management is: > > /We enrol all devices purchased by Imperial College London into > Apple School Manager, as we are contractually obliged to do by the > College. The ICT department has provided the following information:/ > > /Devices are setup using Apple’s Mobile Device Management (MDM) > framework, details of which can be found on //Apple’s support web > pages/ <https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT204142>/. / > > / There are no known performance issues with MDM,and itis highly > configurable. If there is a specific configuration you need for your > work, please //contact the ICT Service Desk/ > <https://www.imperial.ac.uk/admin-services/ict/contact-ict-service-desk/>/who will be happy to help./ > > /Apple devices have been managed by ICT for over 10 years on an > opt-in basis, this is now mandatory to address the increased threat > of cyber-attacks. In addition, it will also assist Imperial in > achieving //Cyber Essentials/ > <https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/cyberessentials/overview>/which will > support some members of Imperial in their research applications./ > > > Requestable Exceptions for Apple Devices > > We are aware of 3 additional features/capabilities, which are > exceptions that can be requested by logging a ticket with the > Service Desk and for which a self-service form to automatically > process these requests will be available in July-August 2023 (we > will be sharing the link to this form as soon as it is available) > > Those exceptions are: > > 1. *Ability to run unnotarised applications* (i.e. applications not > downloaded from either the Apple App Store and/or applications > not notarised). This is a one-time exception request and lasts > for the life of the device not each time a member of Imperial > wants to run an unnotarised application. This is not required > to run code that was developed on the device e.g. python code. > > 2. *Ability to create local accounts *– this is possible upon > request. The primary user, who raised the request, can be an > admin and everybody a standard user. > > 3. *Ability to defer update warnings* – updates are not forced, but > people will be alerted/reminded when updates are > available/required to be installed. > > Historically ICT have alerted users when updates were available with > additional popup notifications. Those notification had in the past > resulted in our patch compliance reaching a peak of 79% on the 20^th > July 2022. These additional notifications were disabled (in January > 2023) as requested by some members of Imperial College because Apple > had marked an OS upgrade to Ventura as a minor update. > Unfortunately, this has resulted in our patching compliance dropping > to an all-time low of 19% on the 24^th May 2023. > > The prompt installation of security updates is a key component in > the device against cyber-attacks with the aim of installing updates > that mitigate critical/high rated vulnerabilities within 14 days of > release. > > The new notifications that will be pushed out will look similar to > the following: > > A screenshot of a computer Description automatically generated with > medium confidence > > This will be reintroduced at the beginning of July 2023. > > > Jamf Platform > > Some questions were raised about the Jamf platform regarding > security standards, privacy notices etc. The Jamf website has a > considerable amount of information on these topics and is available > here: https://www.jamf.com/trust-center/ > <https://www.jamf.com/trust-center/> > > > Python Development > > A number of people highlighted concerns around issues with Python > development on managed Apple Devices. Our RCS team (whose devices > are managed by JAMF) have recently published a blog post which > people might find helpful - > https://blogs.imperial.ac.uk/research-software-engineering/2023/04/20/pytho… <https://blogs.imperial.ac.uk/research-software-engineering/2023/04/20/pytho…> > > > Website Changes > > The content for the following website hasn’t changed significantly > (aside from some updates to the FAQs). It is worth letting you all > know that there the content for the Apple pages will be completely > refreshed in the coming weeks. > > Windows Devices > > There were some questions if Windows devices were being dealt with > in a similar way as Apple ones and they are: /any devices purchased > since December via official channels would have been enrolled into > our Intune tenancy – note this only applies to Windows laptops./ > > Cyber Task Force > > I don’t have a date for its creation/setup yet but as soon as I do > the information will be circulated. > > Thanks > > Tom >

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Use of Software engineers in research and teaching
by David Colling 25 Jan '23

25 Jan '23

Hi All, I am trying to assess how best the Department (and maybe faculty) can best support software engineers both in teaching and research. This clearly depends on how they would be used. I have put together a survey for people to fill in at: https://forms.office.com/e/Y8kMh48hDm I am sending this to the computing committee in physics, the heads of the different labs and the DUS. Please circulate it to all the relevant people in your groups. This form will be used by other departments in FoNS. Please complete by *** FRIDAY 3RD FEB *** Best, david

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Does anybody still use OriginPro?
by David Colling 20 Jan '23

20 Jan '23

Hi All, I guess that the question is in the subject line. The college has been sent a quote for the license renewal and it is not small (not huge but not small). I know that we used to use in in the UG labs but believe that this has all changed to python now. Is my belief correct? Do any research groups use it. Clearly if it is widely used then we should renew the license but if it isn't ... Best, david

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Re: [Physics-Departmental-Computing] MOSS and Gradescope - plagiarism comments
by David Colling 16 Jan '23

16 Jan '23

Hi Tim, Thanks for these comments - some of the other aspects look quite useful. The part about previous years is something that we should talk to Ed Tech people about. I have cc'ed the list so that others can see your email and can comment. Best, david On 10/01/2023 16:24, Evans, Tim S wrote: > Hi David, > > After our discussion in the meeting I looked up gradescope and found the > following UK based discussion of this software > > https://www.elearning.fse.manchester.ac.uk/fseta/gradescope/ > <https://www.elearning.fse.manchester.ac.uk/fseta/gradescope/> > > Has some advantages/disadvantages bullet points that might be useful. > > Gradescope is much more than just MOSS so we might not want the other > stuff. For instance, it contains AI “marking” of assignments. It > generally reproduces all the structure of Blackboard/Turnitin reports > but for code. MOSS is just the turnitin replacement though it is more > limited than Turnitin. Not sure we need all that other guff or if it is > helpful. Perhaps it can be if we learn to use it. > > My biggest concern is that MOSS only checks code against what you > submit. So I submit all the code (now 9 years worth) to MOSS and that > works for me. Not sure it is possible to add this old code to > Gradescope when checking an assignment. So Gradescope does NOT appear to > compare code outside the one assignment, so previous years work is not > checked. Nor does gradescope check against github or anywhere else on > the internet. It is not simply Turnitin for code in that sense – I > don’t need to submit past reports for the same project, Turnitin find > matches for those (only trivial text matches so far). I find the most > serious problems are people using bits of code which was placed on > Github in previous years (I found 20 examples then stopped looking) then > changing the variable names and sometimes a bit more. I think > Gradescope is designed for simple code examples and to catch in class > copying. It is not designed for bigger projects (3^rd year computational > physics) where chunks of standard code reappear legitimately – you can > only implement Maxwells equations and Runge-Kutta in so many ways – but > where code is most likely to be copied from previous years. I also find > code in my 3^rd year course is too long/hard to check by eye. I have to > use grep to check for identical strings to be able to be sure. [Labels > and comments are the best as students forget to change those when > changing variable names though the best I found was a misspelt word in a > comment as they had changed part of the word that had been used in an > old variable name!] > > So I am not convinced Gradescope does the job I want. However it seems > to be the only option other than MOSS. Gradescope might be a partial > solution for others however e.g. cover 1^st year lab exercises. I’d > like to test the AI marking out, that could be interesting. > > Thanks for all your work with the committee > > Tim > > Dr Tim Evans, > > Senior Lecturer, Theoretical Physics group, Centre for Complexity Science, > Room H609, Physics Dept., Imperial College London, SW7 2AZ > > 020 7594 7837 http://imperial.ac.uk/people/t.evans > <https://exchange.imperial.ac.uk/owa/redir.aspx?C=esaZLh0UHEqt0kuUzGCfC2DJkF…> > > @netplexity http://netplexity.org/ > <https://exchange.imperial.ac.uk/owa/redir.aspx?C=esaZLh0UHEqt0kuUzGCfC2DJkF…> >

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Disappearance of H: drive
by David Colling 13 Jan '23

13 Jan '23

Hi All, My apologies for sending so much traffic to this normally very lightly loaded list. On Tuesday some of us met to discuss computing support for teaching computers. One thing that came out of this meeting, which I wasn't suspecting, was the reliance of some parts of teaching on the H: drive. At yesterday's H: drive meeting I brought this up but I hadn't written down the name of the packages and agreed to follow it up and find out more. I was going to only write to the people who were in that meeting to get the names of the packages but then I thought that it might be useful to send it to everybody in case there were other surprises that required the H: drives that I didn't know about. So: 1. If you were in the meeting on Tuesday and have software that required the H: drive then please let me know ASAP so that we can get support from ICT on how to deal with this (they are happy to help but will not be experts in the particular software and so may need your cooperation). 2. Whoever you are, please do see if there are any pieces of software on which your group's research or teaching rely that need access to the H: drive. If you find something then please contact me ASAP as the H: drives are going away - when is not clear but ICT are keen to do this as soon as they can and have already removed them (or made them read only) for some parts of college. Best, david

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