Computing facilities in the CS Department
Revised: August 2007
1. Research computing
The CS Department has an excellent research computing facility, composed mostly of Sun workstations running Unix (Solaris 2.9) and Intel/AMD boxes running Linux. This list does not include machines in the Netlab (discussed below). Once a year, we upgrade to the most recent stable versions of the operating systems on our research machines except when older versions are needed for research.
The University provides high-end computing on the IBM Cluster; our research generally does not use this machine.
2. Instructional computing
The CS Department owns and operates the MultiLab in Engineering Annex 202. This facility has 29 PC clones that can be booted either to Windows XP, Linux, or a student Linux kernel (for students in operating systems classes). Separate machines provide file service to Linux via NFS and to Windows XP via Samba.
Students in our classes often use the CSLab in Engineering Annex 203, which has about 30 Mac computers. Graduate students are advised to get a permanent account in the Engineering Computing Center (ECC), which has several Sun and HP machines running Unix.
3. Administration
Overall guidance is provided by the Department Equipment Committee. Accounts policy is governed by the Accounts Committee (Professors Truszczynski and Finkel). Professor Finkel is responsible for proper functioning of the facility; he reports to the Chair of the Department. Paul Linton is in charge of regular operations; he reports to Professor Finkel.
4. Organization
Our machines are organized in four domains. The user community is separate for each domain. Each domain maintains file space for all its users; if a user has accounts on two domains, the user has two home file systems. Users who have accounts in several domains may choose different passwords in each domain. Within a domain there are subdomains. Individual accounts are often login-restricted to a subset of these subdomains.
Stable machines sit on faculty and graduate assistant desks and in the MultiLab. They are attached to the School of Engineering 10Mbps ether, although parts of the network (in particular, the MultiLab) use 100Mbps switched ether. We try to keep these machines functioning at all times. Backups are taken regularly (to local tape), software is kept up to date, mail is reliable, and user requests are handled promptly. Subdomains are Faculty, Student, and MultiLab. Graduate students generally are restricted to Student and MultiLab machines unless they are actively pursuing research that requires access to Faculty machines.
Research machines were purchased through an NSF Infrastructure Grant that started in 1995 and subsequent grants. We keep these machines functioning, keeping software current and responding to user requests. Individual machines are unavailable during scheduled experimental periods. Subdomains are Production (15 computers, mostly in AST 141), Robotics (7 computers in CRMS 519), and DBLAB (19 computers in AST107). Production machines are interconnected by 100Mbps ether. Research and Stable machines have access to each other's file systems.
Handson machines (16 Intel Pentium IV/1.5GHz in EE 102) are used for network classes. They are interconnected via redundant switches and are isolated from the rest of the internet by address translation software. Students are allowed to modify the interconnections within this lab.
Netlab machines are subject to frequent disruptions as they change names, network connectivity, and operating systems. They reside in various rooms in the HM building, and include Sun and PC machines. They are interconnected by a combination of 100Mbps ether and 1000Mbps lines. These machines are used for research in networks, operating systems, software engineering, mobile computing and vision. The administrative staff provides a best-effort service to keep them functioning well, and there is a reservation scheme for experimental use. Because this facility is a training ground for systems students, many people have supervisor privileges on these machines. These machines do not share file systems with other domains.
5. Software maintenance
Especially in the Stable domain, software is kept fairly up-to-date. Security patches are applied immediately as soon as they become available.
The SAT (System Administration Tool) suite is used in all five domains to provide a consistent view of user accounts, machines, printers, and mountable directories. The Stable, Research, Handson and CSNetlab domains share some SAT configuration. Each domain runs its own mail service.
We use the Pulsar tool in the all domains to detect problems before they are noticed by users, including runaway processes, insecure X sessions, disk-space depletion, and incorrect configurations.
6. Policies
Root privilege for Netlab machines can only be given out by Professors Griffioen, Seales, or Calvert, for the other domains by Professor Finkel. Root access is not to be transferred to others.
By default, the following groups of users may get accounts in the following subdomains:
| Group | Subdomains |
| Students in some courses | MultiLab |
| CS teaching assistants | Student, MultiLab |
| CS faculty | Stable, Research, Netlab |
Requests for extended privileges (anything beyond the defaults shown above) need to be made to the Accounts Committee, which will consult with the infrastructure-grant faculty. Such requests should indicate the need for the extended privileges and the length of time they are needed. For example, grant faculty may request that their research assistants have access to the Netlab subdomain. In general, the Accounts Committee will follow these guidelines:
1. Grant faculty's requests are honored.
2. Requests of other CS and EE faculty doing research consonant with the research goals of the NSF infrastructure grant and demonstrating a clear need for special access to the requested facilities will be honored.
3. Access to Netlab experimental machines will be granted only to researchers performing experiments requiring sole use of particular machines.
4. Requests of others will be denied. In particular, accounts for instructional access are not appropriate for this facility except for the MultiLab subdomain.
As always, access to any computers on campus is governed by the Policy Governing Access to and use of University of Kentucky Computing Resources.
Faculty who provide workstations from their own grants may not attach their workstations to the CS network unless they conform to its standards, including password security, user id protection, and software administration by the Accounts Committee. Generally, such workstations will be placed in the Faculty domain. Faculty purchasing computers with grant money should consult with the Committee before purchase to discuss these issues.
We review and revise these policies yearly.