University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
College of Biological Sciences
http://www.cbs.umn.edu/

CBS Information Technology Policy

Effective as of 1/20/2009 Last edited 1/12/2009

 

It is CBS-IT's objective to provide all faculty and staff with secure, effective and productive computing resources. In order to achieve this mission CBS-IT implements Information Technology policies originating from both within CBS and from the Board of Regents. In offering IT services CBS IT will avoid duplicating offerings available from OIT or other sources. CBS-derived policy is applied uniformly to all members of CBS and/or individuals using CBS network or computing resources. CBS IT policies are clarified or modified only by the Dean, the Dean's designate or the Director of IT. Regents' policies are implemented without exception and affect all University staff, students, and faculty.

 

Scientific Computing

CBS-IT recognizes that scientific computing presents special challenges. In order to better support scientific computing, some specialized support arrangements may be developed at the IT director's discretion that supersede general CBS-IT policy where absolutely necessary.

Lab equipment

CBS-IT understands that in a research institution such as CBS, advanced network attached lab equipment is commonly used and necessary to advance research and, therefore, the college must provide a secure and sustainable environment for such equipment.

Computer connected lab equipment with a network connection must:

  • Have a supported operating system or be removed from the network;
  • Have been manufactured in the last 8 years or be removed from the network;
  • Be either placed inside a special network segment which lacks access from off campus network resources or be placed into the Active Directory system.

 

Support: Who and What

CBS-IT offers computing services and help desk assistance to CBS Faculty and Staff under the following conditions. If these conditions are not met then no assistance can be provided, even if the hardware is used in the pursuit of work for CBS.

  • All systems supported must be currently and certifiably owned in whole by CBS and/or one of its supported departments.
  • Supported systems must have been built no earlier than 4 years before the date support is requested.
  • To receive full support, systems must run a supported operating system as defined by the Director of IT. Unsupported operating systems may receive limited support. As of September 2009, officially supported operating systems are Mac OS 10.5 or better and Windows XP or better (but they must be offcially released, i.e. no betas.).
  • Unless explicitly arranged, CBS-IT does not support staff or faculty running server technologies, either hardware and software, such as, but not limited to, file servers, email services, RAID arrays, web servers and database services.

Hardware Support

CBS-IT endeavors to provide complete support to the college, however, CBS-IT is currently not structured to provide comprehensive hardware support to the large variety of hardware within the college.

  • CBS-IT will diagnose computer problems, including hardware issues for systems that qualify for CBS-IT support.
  • If a hardware issue is determined to be the cause of a problem, CBS-IT will provide possible options for resolution of the issue to the computer user and recommend a course of action.
  • CBS-IT will evaluate any hardware upgrade requests and provide recommendations for hardware upgrades.
  • If the resolution of a hardware issue or hardware upgrade involves interacting with the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) or a 3rd party, it is the responsibility of the end user to facilitate such communication. CBS-IT will provide continuing consultation and advice to the end user regarding commutations with OEMs and 3rd parties.
  • Any expense assessed by an OEM or 3rd party for hardware repairs or upgrades are the responsibility of the Department/Lab or user and not CBS-IT.
  • In the event that an OEM or 3rd party must conduct on-site service to resolve a hardware issue, the computer user should be available during this service. CBS-IT can also be present to provide any additional aid needed during the service.
  • If computer hardware must be delivered or shipped to an OEM or 3rd party for service, it is the responsibility of the computer user to arrange this activity.

 

Networking

CBS-IT works with OIT to provide and administer networking for CBS. CBS-IT should be the primary contact for networking requests due to the expedited service CBS-IT can provide.

  • All network attached devices and computers inside of CBS network space are subject to CBS Information Technology policies and must be made accessible to CBS-IT at its discretion.
  • CBS reserves sole right to administer and allocate CBS domain name space such as cbs.umn.edu.
  • To insure security and manageability, firewalls will be implemented on each of CBS's buildings. Because of the dynamic nature of network security, CBS-IT will need to make minimal changes to firewall configurations while trying to maintain the highest degree of consistency. Ultimately the responsibility for firewall configuration lies with CBS-IT in partnership with OIT.

 

Manageability

To better service and protect the CBS community, Active Directory computer management is being implemented. For additional information regarding the Active Directory please visit the AD section of the CBS IT website.

  • All qualified computers both Mac and PC must be placed into the CBS run Active Directory desktop management system.
  • No attempt should be made to circumvent Active Directory policies.
  • All installations, reinstallations or system setups will be done with the most current CBS-IT supported operating system appropriate for the selected system except where demanded by a compatibility requirement. CBS-IT will not install unsupported operating systems.

 

Security

To insure compliance with Regents' policies and protect the assets of CBS, computer security and data must be safeguarded.

  • All computers must run CBS-IT approved firewall and anti-virus software amongst other security applications such as encryption software.
  • Operating system patches must be applied regularly and in accordance with Regents' policy.
  • A prudent security implementation requires that all software should have available updates applied regularly. Accordingly, CBS-IT will occasionally mandate updates to particular software packages.
  • Unsupported operating systems as defined by CBS-IT must either be isolated from the University network or be added to a special network segment with the assistance of CBS-IT.
  • Operating systems that are no longer supported by the manufacturer cannot be attached to the network.
  • Administrative privileges on all computers are to be assigned and managed solely by CBS-IT.
  • Servers offering services e.g. email, file services and database, should not be run by individuals or research groups in CBS. In some cases, exemptions to this policy may be made for research computing needs.
  • In the event of a computer or data security incident or threat, CBS-IT will respond as needed including, but not limited to, removing computers from the network and reformatting and reinstalling computers.

 

Data Protection

CBS values the data that faculty and staff generate in the course of their work, be it research, teaching or outreach. All users should make a good faith effort to regularly backup data especially when mandated by grant terms. This need for backup is especially important when data is stored on non University owned systems. CBS-IT will provide aid and assistance in establishing backup routines and resources but the ultimate responsibility resides with the end user.