Policies regarding UITS research systems

• Overview
• Passphrases
• Login and file transfer access
• Software requests
• HIPAA
• Restrictions
• Acknowledge grant support
• Questions and comments

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Overview

The High Performance Systems (HPS) group, part of the Research Technologies division of UITS, manages and administers IU's research supercomputers. These systems and associated support services enable IU researchers to solve large and complex scientific problems and to handle massive data sets.

To protect data and systems at IU, the HPS group may place limits or restrictions on technology services provided on or from any HPS-owned or -managed system and network, as follows:

• Limitations may be implemented through the use of policies, standards, and/or technical methods, and could include (but may not be limited to) usage eligibility rules, passphrase requirements, or restrictions against using certain protocols or applications known to cause security problems.
• Restrictions may be deployed permanently, based on continuing threat or risk, after appropriate consultation with affected constituents, or deployed temporarily, without prior coordination, in response to an immediate and serious threat.
• Restrictions deployed temporarily will be removed when the risk is mitigated to an acceptable level, or if the restrictions have an effect on university functions that approaches or exceeds the risk associated with the threat, as negotiated between the affected constituents and HPS administrators.

Any stated policy by the HPS group is evaluated in conjunction with Appropriate Use of Information Technology Resources (IT-01).

Passphrases

You authenticate on the IU research systems with your IU passphrase. Each passphrase is intended for the owner of the account only; do not share your passphrase with others. If your passphrase is determined to be insecure, your account will be disabled until you reset your passphrase.

UITS will not give out account passphrases for the research systems in email or by telephone. If you've forgotten your passphrase, see Reset your IU passphrase.

Login and file transfer access

Login and file transfer access are limited to the designated interactive nodes via clients and commands that use the SSH protocol version 2 (SSH2). For security reasons, the Telnet and FTP protocols are no longer supported. For information about transferring files to and from the Scholarly Data Archive (SDA), see Access the SDA at IU.

Software requests

• Check software modules on the IU research supercomputers to determine whether the software you need is already available. Log in, and then, on the command line, enter module avail; for more about software modules, see Use modules to manage your software environment on IU research supercomputers).
• You are welcome to install software packages in your home directory or in your space on Slate. This method gives you full control over which version is installed and how it is installed, and it allows you to update your packages. However, a package installed in a home directory or Slate space can be used only by the user who installed the package; alternatively, a package installed in a Slate-Project space can be used by everyone in the project. If you need help, contact the UITS Research Applications and Deep Learning team.
• When multiple users need access to a software package that is not available on the IU research supercomputers, a faculty member or Principal Investigator (PI) can request its installation by submitting the HPC Software Request form. If students need access to a software package that is not available on the IU research supercomputers, their advisors must submit the HPC Software Request form. Although the initial request must come from a faculty member, a student may be appointed for further contact.

HIPAA

For more, see Your legal responsibilities for protecting data containing protected health information (PHI) when using UITS Research Technologies systems and services.

Restrictions

• Internet Relay Chat (IRC) bot programs are not permitted.
• Unattended listening user services (for example, programs that open a socket waiting for a connection from another host) will be terminated.
• Accounts not logged into within 30 days of creation will be disabled.
• Accounts not used for a period of six months will be disabled.

Acknowledge grant support

The Indiana University cyberinfrastructure managed by the Research Technologies division of UITS is supported by funding from several grants, each of which requires you to acknowledge its support in all presentations and published works stemming from research it has helped to fund. Conscientious acknowledgment of support from past grants also enhances the chances of IU's research community securing funding from grants in the future. For the acknowledgment statement(s) required for scholarly printed works, web pages, talks, online publications, and other presentations that make use of grant-funded research systems at IU, see Sources of funding to acknowledge in published work if you use IU's research cyberinfrastructure.

Questions and comments

The policies described in this document were established with the goal of providing a stable, powerful, and efficient research computing environment for IU faculty, graduate students, and staff. If you have any questions or comments about these policies, contact the High Performance Systems (HPS) team.