Local System Information

This page offers pointers to detail of how to use lab systems, how to get help, and so on.

Getting help and introductory documents

• Getting help: The main contact address will be sys-admin@cl.cam.ac.uk. However, that is not the only possibility. It's usually best to contact via a rôle address rather than guessing who is best-placed to answer your question: a list of rôle addresses may suggest where to look.
• The systems managers use a job-ticketing system to keep track of reported problems; it's useful to know how it behaves.
• An introduction to computing facilities is an on-line copy of the booklet new users are given.
• The Frequently Asked Questions list.
• The local system administration pages A to Z list.

Administrative matters

• Web server information including how to export personal web pages files to the WWW and restrict access to them using .htaccess files and Raven passwords.
• Information for, and about, new arrivals at the Computer Lab. A selection of information, both technical and general, for new arrivals at the Computer Laboratory. This information is intended for everyone, visitors and longer-term residents. There is also information for the host of a visitor.
• Information for people leaving the Computer Lab, or moving into the Writing up/Hot Desk area.

Workstation provision

• Equipment allocation, replacement and support
• Choice of Operating System on Lab managed machines
• For users of Unix systems. Redhat (Fedora and CentOS) and Ubuntu Linux. General information, software installation, configuration, applications.
• For users of Microsoft Windows systems. General information, access, applications.
• For users of private Macintosh OS/X systems Local configuration and integration information.

Systems software

• Applications software, including MATLAB and Unix tools.
• Printing from Unix or Windows systems.
• Mail in the Computer Laboratory gives broad coverage of the facilities available.

Communications and the network

• Request a network connection.
• The Computer Lab network. An overview of the lab networks, both physical and wireless.
• The means of access to Computer Lab Systems, and other security related issues.
• Using the secure shell ssh to connect to the Laboratory.
• The one-time password system, that allows safe connection to lab unix systems in an insecure environment.

Facilities

• Information about the Time Sharing Systems.
• Information about the File server and other file spaces.
• Disc usage and quota report (requires Raven).
• Users can boot a machine if it's off.
• For users of the Publicly-accessible scanners.
• For users of the Public CD/DVD writing machines.
• Specialist services such as SPSS, Adobe CS5 running under Windows.
• Public Windows Terminal Server machines.
• Video Conferencing Facilities
• Condor is a specialized batch system for managing compute-intensive jobs. We have a local Condor Pool running on the processor bank machines. In addition large memory multi-CPU virtual machines can be made available for those with specific computational needs that are not met by Condor. To request access to those contact sys-admin@cl.cam.ac.uk to discuss your requirements.

If you spot things missing from this page and its sub-pages, please notify sys-admin@cl.cam.ac.uk.