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Computer Science Computing Facility

Computer Science Computing Facility. Technical Staff supporting the School of Computer Science. CSCF Formation. A result of the formation of the School of Computer Science MFCF was split into two units – roughly 2/3 of staff went to CSCF

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Computer Science Computing Facility

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  1. Computer Science Computing Facility Technical Staff supporting the School of Computer Science

  2. CSCF Formation • A result of the formation of the School of Computer Science • MFCF was split into two units – roughly 2/3 of staff went to CSCF • CSCF shares MFCF Help Centre (Consultants) & MFCF Operations in exchange for one CSCF-funded MFCF Staff person (Patrick Matlock) • CSCF Staff offices are located on the 2nd floor of DC, above the library

  3. CSCF Mandate • The primary computing support organzation for the School of Computer Science (SCS) • Not a separate department; we are a group of staff within the School. • We support approx. 100 faculty/staff, nearly 300 graduate students, and 1800 undergraduate students.

  4. CSCF Network • Two core switches with redundant links to rest of campus via Math, Science, and Engineering • Most equipment is from Extreme Networks, but it’s being replaced by HP over the next few years • Routing is being taken over by a pair of Netscreen-500 firewalls

  5. Standard Platforms supported by CSCF • Windows XP/2000 • Windows Server 2003 (WTS/AD) • Linux (ubuntu is strongly favoured) • Solaris 8 • Mac OS X

  6. Teaching Labs Supported by CSCF • Mac Labs for CS 100/200 – ~ 120 seats • Nexus Labs - ~ 95 seats • Thin client labs - ~ 100 seats • Nortel lab – 28 seats + a phone switch • Real time train lab – 20 seats + 2 tracks • Graphics Lab – 22 seats • Networks lab – 2 stations

  7. Teaching Computing Continued • Thin clients have access to Unix front-end (x11) or Windows Terminal Server (RDP) • 24 UltraSPARC CPUs dedicated for assignment work • Servers housed in MFCF Machine Room (MC 3015)

  8. Computing for Research • Most faculty/groups have their own computing resources (and in many cases machine rooms!) • We have a central environment (10 CPUs) available “for free” to all faculty/staff/grads • We encourage use of our “free” central e-mail/web services • CSCF Machine room is on the 3rd floor of DC

  9. Grad Student Desktop Computing • Faculty sponsors given choice of providing new student with a thin client or a PC • PCs can be Windows XP, Ubuntu Linux, or dual-boot • Students are given super-user access to machine. If they cause trouble, we wipe and re-install with a fresh image.

  10. CSCF Support of Research Computing Support is subscription based (2 types): • Desktop support – inexpensive way to get support for a single machine (best-effort) • Dedicated support – allows for support of pretty much anything, tasks prioritized by client Some faculty members and research groups elect to not get support from CSCF.

  11. CSCF Organization • SCS Director of Infrastrucutre is the CSCF Director – currently Professor Steve Mann • Associate Director of CSCF – Bill Ince • Administrative Support • Infrastructure Support • User Support • Research Support

  12. CSCF Advisory Commitee • Chaired by CSCF Director • Varying number of SCS faculty • One grad student • One undergrad student • CSCF Managers

  13. CSCF Points of Contact (PoC) • Every faculty/staff member, and course has a CSCF PoC • CSCF Research Support Group provides PoCs for research computing • CSCF User Support Group provides PoCs for non-research computing • A faculty member may have a PoC for his/her research computing and a different PoC for his/her teaching • For more details, see: http://www.cs.uwaterloo.ca/cscf/about/contact

  14. CSCF Administrative Support • 2 Staff: Jennifer Keir and Paul Thompson • Computer Account administration • Financial Administration • Software Licence management • Inventory

  15. CSCF Infratructure SupportStaff • Dave Gawley – Technical Manager • Dan Hergott – Networking • Phil Beldowski – Hardware specs, PC support • Adrian Pepper – Postmaster, Unix software • Guoxiang Shen – Backups, Unix administration • Clayton Tucker – Windows Adminstration • Walter Tautz/Daniel Allen – Linux administration • 1 Part-time staff

  16. CSCF User Support Staff • Jason Testart – Technical Manager • Ed Chrzanowski – Macs and Solaris • Fraser Gunn – Specialty Teaching labs • Isaac Morland – WWW Software • Stephen Nickerson - Nexus • Ian Turner – Macs, Nexus, Admin. Staff desktop support • UW Co-op student

  17. CSCF Research Support Staff • Lawrence Folland – Technical Manager • Mike Gore • Mike Patterson • Trevor Grove • High school co-op student

  18. Unofficial CSCF Staff Photo

  19. Current Projects • Auto lockdown of public labs – to reduce theft of computing equipment • Printing – We’re reviewing our printer deployment. We need to ensure people can print from all of our supported platforms. • UI update – thin client interface moving from twm on Solaris to KDE/Gnome on Linux • Grad Office Application – web-based application to track grad student admissions, TA assignments/payroll, grants • Ongoing CFI proposals

  20. The End Thanks for your time.

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