Dear all
Plasma also rely on ssh, scp to access HPC (both college’s and external)
For OneDrive / Office 365: web access is OK, but it is much better to use the dedicated apps so files are stored locally and remotely, and you have full app functionality
For ICIS there is a distinction between the “self-service” part (individual payslips, my training, my expenses) and parts like purchasing.
I agree with the previous comment that the distinction between a “research machine” and a “teaching machine” is spurious. We carry one laptop around that MUST be able to do both.
Best wishes
Stuart
______________________________
Prof Stuart Mangles (he/him)
Professor of Laser-Plasma Physics
Imperial College London
I’m sending this email now because it suits my schedule. I don’t expect you to read or respond to it until it suits yours.
From: physics-departmental-computing-bounces@imperial.ac.uk <physics-departmental-computing-bounces@imperial.ac.uk> on behalf of Bantges, Richard J <r.bantges@imperial.ac.uk>
Sent: Wednesday, November 23, 2022 9:23:49 AM
To: Colling, David J <d.colling@imperial.ac.uk>; Bresme, Fernando <f.bresme@imperial.ac.uk>; French, Paul (PHOT) M W <paul.french@imperial.ac.uk>; Keaveny, Eric E <e.keaveny@imperial.ac.uk>; Sternberg, Michael J E <m.sternberg@imperial.ac.uk>; Staffell,
Iain L <i.staffell@imperial.ac.uk>; Pengelly, Ellen <e.pengelly@imperial.ac.uk>; Buchaca-Domingo, Ester <e.buchaca-domingo@imperial.ac.uk>; Michalickova, Katerina <k.michalickova@imperial.ac.uk>; physics-departmental-computing <physics-departmental-computing@imperial.ac.uk>;
Bryce, Craig T <c.bryce@imperial.ac.uk>; Bearpark, Michael J <m.bearpark@imperial.ac.uk>
Cc: Cucinotta, Clotilde <c.cucinotta@imperial.ac.uk>; Pearse, Will <will.pearse@imperial.ac.uk>; David Colling <david.colling@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Physics-Departmental-Computing] Services needed on a research computing desktop and laptop
Hi David, (CC: everyone else)
Having just read Andy Thomas' reply, I think SPAT's research requirements are fairly similar, particularly concerning SSH, SCP, SFTP access to our Linux servers within the College and external to institutions globally. I will compose a separate reply once I've
consulted with SPAT members, in particular those heavily involved with Space and Earth Observation missions in SPAT.
An immediate question I had from reading your email was whether ICT has indicated if it is to define new distinct classes of systems, e.g. Research, Teaching, Student, Admin, etc.. that all (desktop/laptop) systems will have to fall into. I think the latter
two already exist, but I anticipate those heavily involved in teaching (/supervision) will want to understand whether a Research class system can be combined with teaching (e.g. multiple "roles"), or whether these are being siloed?
SPAT's Linux servers are already being actively scanned for vulnerabilities by ICT's Nessus scanning software (which is still in a development phase), although I've been pushing for a standard research Linux server build for at least a decade, and the closest
I got was a dedicated "bantges" PXE menu option allowing me to install OEL 7 in an emergency. Your email implies that individual Group's servers are being treated separately from research desktops and laptops, but please say if this is my misunderstanding.
Rich
-----Original Message-----
From: David Colling <d.colling@imperial.ac.uk>
Sent: 22 November 2022 20:17
To: Bresme, Fernando <f.bresme@imperial.ac.uk>; French, Paul (PHOT) M W <paul.french@imperial.ac.uk>; Keaveny, Eric E <e.keaveny@imperial.ac.uk>; Sternberg, Michael J E <m.sternberg@imperial.ac.uk>; Staffell, Iain L <i.staffell@imperial.ac.uk>; Pengelly, Ellen
<e.pengelly@imperial.ac.uk>; Buchaca-Domingo, Ester <e.buchaca-domingo@imperial.ac.uk>; Bantges, Richard J <r.bantges@imperial.ac.uk>; Michalickova, Katerina <k.michalickova@imperial.ac.uk>; physics-departmental-computing <physics-departmental-computing@imperial.ac.uk>;
Bryce, Craig T <c.bryce@imperial.ac.uk>; Bearpark, Michael J <m.bearpark@imperial.ac.uk>
Cc: David Colling <david.colling@gmail.com>; Pearse, Will <will.pearse@imperial.ac.uk>; Cucinotta, Clotilde <c.cucinotta@imperial.ac.uk>
Subject: Services needed on a research computing desktop and laptop
Hi All,
I am sending this to the Physics Departmental Computing Committee and to the departmental members of the FRCC so that they can gather information from their departments.
As some of you know ICT are increasingly confining what people can do on college machines, even those bought on research grants and used by individual researchers. This has been most noticed by the change in the management of Macs. In my years involved in
departmental computing, no issue has annoyed more people. Behind this is the increased number of attacks on university computing system which is visible both at Imperial and elsewhere. Some universities have been badly hit and have ended up paying £Ms to ransomware
attackers. Apparently this is one of the things that keeps our President awake at night. This is clearly a threat that we have to take seriously, but it is also not clear how much damage could be done to college systems by a laptop or desktop used by a single
(or team of) researcher(s).
In discussions with ICT the most sensible approach seems to be that we define a class of machine that is a research desktop or laptop that ICT don't manage but which also has limited access to college central systems. Most of us have no reason to access payroll
(say) and in fact would view it as a security breach if we could. We have a meeting on the 30th November where we will discuss this proposed set up. What I need going into is the list of services that researchers would need access to from these research machines,
how that access would them + any other thoughts/comments. For example the sort of thing that occurred to me are:
service: Office365 (including sharepoint, email, OneDrive teams etc)
Access: Is access through the secure web portal enough for most of these plus a mail client providing secure access the the email.
[I use Office365 much less than almost anybody to whom this email is going so am the least qualified to answer this one]
Service: ICIS (Payslips, expenses claims etc)
Access: Secure web access should be enough.
Service: Starfish
Access: Secure web access is sufficient.
What other services are needed and how?
Other comments:
- I don't think that it is unreasonable to have a requirement that the disks of all research laptops are encrypted in case they are lost when travelling. The performance hit is minimal and if that is important then running on a laptop might not be ideal.
So please do send me your thoughts (on services mainly) and comments.
For once I would not be against you sending to everybody as I would welcome debate on this.
Best,
david
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