IT Overview

IT facilities for PPE staff and students are provided and supported by three separate groups: local PPE IT staff, School of Physics and Astronomy IT staff, and University of Glasgow IT Services staff. Contact details for each group, along with an overview of the services they provide, can be found on the IT management page.

Information about a lot of the IT facilities to which you will have access is provided in this wiki, and it is well worth spending some time reading through it. This page summarises some of the key information, and should help you get started when you first join the group.

Additional information on IT matters can be found in the following locations:

• School of Physics and Astronomy IT Support
• Glasgow University IT Services

Acceptable Use

Any use of IT facilities at the University of Glasgow, including the connection of personal devices to the campus network, is subject to the university's Regulations for the use of University ICT systems and facilities, which is included as part of the contractual information provided to new members of staff, or with the information provided to students during registration. Additional policies and guidance may be found on the IT Services website:

http://www.gla.ac.uk/services/it/regulationscommitteesandpolicies/

You should also familiarise yourself with the university's Confidential Data Policy, which may be found along with other relevant information in the information security portion of the IT Services website:

http://www.gla.ac.uk/services/it/informationsecurity/

Accounts

As a member of the PPE group, you will have several accounts:

Account	Use	Managed By
PPE	PPE Linux desktops and services	PPE IT Support
GUPHYSICS	PPE and school Windows desktops; GUPHYSICS wireless network	School IT (but PPE IT Support can reset passwords)
GUID	E-Mail; university services and business systems	IT Services

Your PPE and GUPHYSICS accounts will be created for you by PPE and school IT support when you arrive. Your GUID (Glasgow Unique IDentifier) is managed centrally by IT Services.

• Members of staff can set up their GUID by following the registration instructions on the IT Services GUID page.
• For students, your GUID is your matriculation number followed by the first letter of your surname, and will be set up as part of the registration process with the university. Further information may be found on the IT Services GUID page.

You should not disclose your password to anyone. University IT staff will never request this information.

E-Mail

Staff and student e-mail accounts are managed centrally by IT services, and should be created for you automatically when you join the university. Further information, including instructions on how to configure various e-mail clients, can be found on the e-mail page of this wiki, and also at the following locations:

• E-Mail information for staff
• E-Mail information for students

If you need to send or receive large files, you should investigate the university's transfer service:

• https://transfer.gla.ac.uk

Laptops

Members of PPE will usually be provided with a laptop running either Microsoft Windows or Mac OS X. You are given a great deal of freedom relating to the configuration of these machines, but are also expected to take responsibility for their security and maintenance; in particular, you should ensure that any important files are appropriately backed-up.

Software

PPE desktops are generally provided with commonly-used software pre-installed. Information about other available software packages which may be of interest is provided in the software section.

The university's licence agreement with Microsoft allows staff and students to install a copy of the latest version of the Microsoft Office suite on up to five personal computers, and up to five mobile devices. This scheme is supported by IT Services, and further information may be found in the Office 365 section of their website.

Printing

Members of the PPE group have access to two sets of printers: managed ("pull") printers, which are supported and maintained by IT Services, and a few local printers supported and maintained by PPE IT support. There is also an A0 colour plotter intended for producing posters.

More details, including installation instructions for various operating systems, can be found in the printing section.

Ergonomics

Modern scientific research often involves long periods of time spent staring at computer screens, and so it is important for your comfort and health that you ensure that your working environment is set up correctly. The Safety and Environmental Protection Service (SEPS) provides information on this subject:

http://www.gla.ac.uk/services/seps/az/computers/

PPE IT support has a selection of USB keyboards and mice available which laptop users may find helpful.

Storage

PPE file servers store home directories and data directories (/data/xxx). These are available as standard via NFS on PPE Linux machines, and may be accessed using Samba from machines running Windows or OS X. See File Storage.

Files in home directories are backed up overnight and kept for up to six months (see Backups for more information). With very few exceptions, the /data areas are not backed up.

Accessories

PPE IT support maintains a supply of IT equipment, including keyboards (both PC and Mac), mice, monitors, audio headsets, USB flash drives, and a plethora of cables and adapters. If you need something to help with your work, please contact us.