This document outlines the policies and procedures for installing, upgrading, and maintaining all computers in the Computer Science department. It outlines the policies of the computer system administrators and explains important user information. It also lists the rights and responsibilities of the computer system administrators and computer users.
NOTE: If a user is granted system privileges on a machine, they are also bound by the System Administrator's rules listed here and in other CS polices.
The System Administrators (SAs) will be held to the standards for acceptable use outlined in the user policy. SAs must ensure that the computer systems work and that students and faculty are able to do their research and course work. Therefore, SAs are granted full privileges to the computer systems. At all times, System Administrators will maintain the ethical behavior described in this document. The users and SAs are expected to treat each other with respect and understanding.
System Administrators
Computer Users
The user is bound by the user polices of the University of Wyoming, the College of Engineering, and the Computer Science Computer Usage Policies.
Backups
All file servers have RAID. Backups to removable drives are completed every Friday night and a monthly backup is completed at the end of the month. Monthly backups are held for a period 6 months.
If you want to backup something, you can use a remove hard drive (that you provide) for the backups. You will need to make a request to the System Administrators. You can also use the CD burners located in the labs.
Recovery
Please NOTE: Backups are done on Friday nights. So if you create a file on Monday, then delete it on Thursday, it will not have been backed up. It is recommended that you backup your own files (via CD, memory stick, etc.) and do not rely exclusively on system backups.
Please send an email to System Admins with a request, including the files to be recovered and where they were located.
A file recovery is normally completed 2 business days after receiving the request.
An emergency is defined as a circumstance that adversely affects the user's ability to work. This may include a computer failure, server failure, or department network failure. An example of a non-emergency: printer jam (any time of the day or night). The administrators will do their best to fix the problem as soon as possible. Remember that the SA's are very busy and may not be able to fix your problem immediately. The SAs maintain the right to hang up on you in the middle of the night if you call with a non-emergency.
Failures on Non-Computer Science machines should be reported to the I.T. help desk (766-HELP).
The CS department administrators do their best to protect the computers and network. To do so, computer will be patched and updated. Insecure network applications, that can't be secured, will be removed if possible.
Students and faculty are not allowed to bring in person desktops (A desktop computer is any computer that is plugged into the network and left on.) These computers represent a big security risk.
Only CS graduate students and faculty can receive e-mail on CS department mail server. Undergraduate student e-mail will be redirected to the main campus mail servers.
E-mail in considered to be private communication. As such, it will not be tapered with, nor viewed, unless the user is having technical problems with their e-mail or misusing their e-mail.
Federal and state laws currently do not consider e-mail to be a private form of communication, like telephone conversations. Users should be aware of this fact.
E-mail Viruses
The CS department scans for e-mail viruses at the department mail gateway (both inbound and outbound e-mail). Any viruses found are deleted without any notification to the sender or receiver (most of the FROM: lines are forged anyway). The University mail gateway also scans e-mail for viruses.
NOTE: This does not mean you can not get a virus from e-mail and you should still have an Anti-virus scanner on your computer.
SPAM
The CS department does block spam from known spammer sites, in an attempt to keep users' e-mail boxes from "over flowing" with it.
It is highly recommended that you never buy anything from SPAM, as it is normally a scam/fraud and it may encourage them to SPAM more.
A student caught sending SPAM will have their account terminated and can be refered to police for misuse of University properity and other legal action.