Information technology services¶
The university has a centrally managed ITS platform, and the mode of interaction is via the service portal.
Network access¶
Access to the university network requires that one have a university account, the creation of which is performed by ITS and this should be included as part of your onboarding procedure.
Wired connections¶
Network access ports are located in most rooms in the to the building; however, the university implements MAC address filtering meaning that until your device is registered with ITS, you will not be able to establish a network connection. It is straightforward to have a machine be added to the whitelist, requiring a [[https://utas1.service-now.com/selfservice/|service portal]] request with both the physical hardware address and the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hostname|hostname]]. On Windows operating systems, both pieces of information can be sources from executing the following command in the command prompt:
For Linux operating systems, the same information can be obtained by executing the following commands in the terminal:
It is worth noting that MAC filtering is generally accepted not to aid security, for the simple reason that MAC addresses are broadcast as part of network traffic and thus authorised addresses can be detected and spoofed on alien hardware. Moreover, if one had access to an authorised MAC address, one could use spoofing to connect an undeclared device. One might expect such a task to be difficult, but a simple search could turn up a guide with details on how to spoof a MAC address.
Another noteworthy point is that each building belongs to a different subnetwork, each with locally managed hardware filter. The upshot of this is a registered device connected via Ethernet will not be able to establish a network connection in a different building. The use of subnets when managing large networks was necessary prior to the establishment of IPv6 due to problems associated with the exhaustion of IPv4 addresses; however, since the IPv6 standard has become commonplace - it was ratified as an Internet standard in 2017 - the case for continued subnetting is not convincing.
Wireless connections¶
Access to the university network is also possible through a wireless connection, provided through eduroam. Unlike the wired network, there are no restrictions on access and devices can be connected as described in the UTAS eduroam set up guide.
Connecting a Raspberry Pi to eduroam
Out of date
Raspberry Pi OS has updated how headless confiuration is performed, and thus the following guide may not work, although the secret sauce of the wpa_supplicant.conf should still be the same
As described in the official documentation, to set up a wireless network, one must place a wpa_supplicant.conf file in the boot directory. The only complication is that one is not simply using an SSID and password, but rather connecting as a user to the eduroam network. I found a blog post on the topic, which states one need only make a few minor tweaks to the original wpa_supplicant.conf file, which after some troubleshooting converged to a solution of:
External network access¶
If access to the university network is required when a direct connection is not possible, a Virtual Private Network can be used to extend the university network over the internet. The service is managed using a commercial system: GlobalProtect, and instructions on how to connect to the university network via VPN are provided for both Windows and OS X operating systems.
Support¶
Support for any issues is best obtained through the UTAS service portal. Whilst services are centralised, local services are likely to be provided by the Client Services Officer for the school, Mark Packer, although it is considered best practice to submit a support request through the portal rather than contacting Mark directly.
It is also possible to contact the IT helpdesk directly via telephone, although it is strongly discouraged, on +61 3 6226 2600.
Multi-factor authentication¶
During 2020 the university implemented a passphrase policy, in addition to a two-factor authentication system, to improve digital security. In addition to increased security, a major benefit to this system is that one no longer need periodically change their password. The cost to the system comes in setting it up, which in reality is a very low barrier; however, if you have not previously used two-factor identification it may seem somewhat bizarre. The university mypassphrase page has information about the policy along with the link for registration, and another page has information regarding the registration processes for two-factor authentication. Note that as part of this process, the university recommends using the Microsoft Authenticator app on your smart device, but be aware that there are free, and open-source apps which accomplish the same task, for example andOTP.
Storage¶
The university has a centralised server for storage, but it is not widely used. Increasingly, people are being encouraged to use OneDrive and SharePoint in place of central storage; however, given most people store their documents locally, this strategy seems moot. It is worth emphasising that people should be using appropriate storage platforms, and indeed are obligated to do so if their work is supported by the ARC.
Server access¶
Access to the server is a needlessly complex process. A request can be generated using the service portal; however, as part of the approval process, a letter of authorisation must be prepared from someone already having access to the server, stating that you require access to specific directories. In most cases, you will require read and write access to the following directories:
N:\Science, Engineering and Technology\School of Physical Sciences\Maths & PhysicsN:\Science, Engineering and Technology\School of Physical Sciences\Physics Teaching
Once the letter is obtained, it can be uploaded through the service portal and access will eventually be granted. This process has been known to take over two weeks, with a resolution only occurring due to an intervention from the head of discipline. This is especially galling as when working in other parts of the university, access was granted in a matter of minutes.
Physics database¶
Not supported
This database instance was set up, but there was little interest in using it, so whilst it still exists, it is not currently supported. Use at your own risk.
A locally hosted database exists for the storage of general information. Specifically, there is an instance of the PostgreSQL relational database management system hosted on physlabpi and is accessible over port 5432; however, you will need to be a registered user in interact with the database. In order to organise access, contact the facilities manager for physics.
Usage¶
If you have not used previously used a database, a good starting point is to install pgAdmin and have a browse of the PostgreSQL Wiki.
Computing resources¶
One may be dumbfounded that a large-scale institution does not have freely accessible computational resources, but that does not help to solve the issue. Despite a normal situation being an exchange along the lines of:
Hello ITS person, can I have a VM?
Sure thing! How much RAM, and storage do you require, and how many CPUs? I'll spin it up once I know your requirements.
Thanks, and have a nice day
the only way to have VMs running is to do it yourself or use research infrastructure. The former is a major time sink, and whilst it provides combustibility, large institutions should not individuals to do such things and it is inefficient by any metric. In the latter case, one can attempt to secure resources from the NeCTAR project, details of which can be found on the NeCTAR page.