ssh fingerprints for bastion hosts

Posted on March 17, 2016 by Adam Thorn

Those of you who use our bastion host (citadel.ch.cam.ac.uk) may know something about ssh fingerprints: these are identifiers used by ssh servers which allow you to check that you really are connecting to the right server, and allow you to verify that your network traffic hasn’t been intercepted by a malicious third party.
We’ve updated http://www.ch.cam.ac.uk/computing/network-bastion-host to include the fingerprints of citadel (along with their Randomart ASCII representations, which lets you see at a glance whether or not the fingerprint is correct or not)

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New software for managed Linux workstations

Posted on March 7, 2016 by Catherine E. Pitt

Mathematica 10.4, Intel compilers 2016 Update 2, and Portland compiler suite 16.1 are now available on managed Linux workstations running Ubuntu 14.04.
The compilers are also available on local compute clusters.

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Microsoft Office available across the University

Posted on February 16, 2016 by Adam Thorn

The University now has a University-wide license for a number of Microsoft products, including Microsoft Office.
Departmentally-owned computers are eligible for Office 2016 Professional, and this can be installed on managed Department computers via WPKG (Windows computers) or Munki (Mac OSX Computers)
All members of the Department are also entitled to install Office 365 ProPlus on personally-owned devices whilst they are members of the University. You can install Office 365 ProPlus on up to 5 computers, 5 tablets, and 5 phones (i.e. potentially up to 15 devices)
Further details of how to get Microsoft Office installed on your computer are available at http://www.ch.cam.ac.uk/computing/software/microsoft-office-pro-plus

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Computer reps meeting Nov 2015

Posted on November 20, 2015 by Catherine E. Pitt

Slids from the talks from the group computer reps’ meeting held on 20th November 2015 are now online on the COs web site.
Topics covered were

  • Network update: Network upgrade progress / ChemNet / Wireless access points / Instrument VLAN
  • OpenVPN changes from October 2015
  • West Cambridge Data Centre move
  • Microsoft EES agreement
  • WPKG
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Upcoming OpenVPN changes

Posted on October 6, 2015 by Catherine E. Pitt

Many people in the department use our OpenVPN service to get access to the Chemistry network when they are not physically in the building. If you use OpenVPN, you need to make some changes before 22nd October 2015 to ensure that things keep running smoothly after that date.
The change you need to make is to download and install an updated config file from http://www.ch.cam.ac.uk/computing/openvpn-changes-october-2015. If you aren’t sure what to do with the config file there are more detailed instructions for most common devices linked from http://www.ch.cam.ac.uk/computing/openvpn-service.
If you’re having trouble with that do put in a ticket or bring your device along to our IT surgery in M13 betwee 2pm and 4pm on Monday afternoons. We can look at devices at other times by appointment – again please put in a ticket to arrange that.
A second change that you may want to make is to switch from using your Admitto username and password to your ChemNet username and token. The reason for doing this is that a ChemNet token is much safer to store on your devices than your Admitto password. If you have previously had to type your Admitto password in every time you wanted to connect, then you can now save a ChemNet token on your device and have OpenVPN connect without typing any password.

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Intel 2016 compilers available

Posted on September 18, 2015 by Catherine E. Pitt

No you didn’t read that wrong, and the year is still 2015 as I write this. Intel have released a new major version of their Fortran and C/C++ compiler software, called Composer XE 2016. It will become available on managed Linux workstations and clusters over the next few days. Clusters should all have it as of September 18th.
Those who take an interest in the latest compilers may recall that Intel released Composer XE 2015 in late summer 2014 so perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised.

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Cambridge Structural Database on the Managed Cluster Service

Posted on August 24, 2015 by Adam Thorn

The Cambridge Structural Database System (provided by the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre) is now available for use across the University via the Managed Cluster Service, including MCS rooms in the Colleges.
Anyone using a Departmentally-managed computer can already access the Structural Database by following the instructions on our website.

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ChemNet

Posted on August 20, 2015 by Adam Thorn

We recently launched a new Department-wide wireless service, which we’re calling ChemNet. The idea is that it’s a single wireless network that covers the entire Department, so you can connect to it once and then move around the building seamlessly. It also gives you access to devices on the Chemistry network such as fileservers and printers – unlike Eduroam, for example, where you’d have to then connect to the Department network via our OpenVpn service.
Hopefully, you’ll just need to set it up once on any device and then you’ll be automatically connected. Instructions are available at http://www.ch.cam.ac.uk/computing/chemnet
If there’s anywhere in the Department where you can’t connect to the ChemNet wireless network, please let us know at support@ch.cam.ac.uk in case we are able to improve our coverage.

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MATLAB 2015A

Posted on June 9, 2015 by Catherine E. Pitt

MATLAB 2015A is now available for installation on our managed Windows workstations. Please email support@ch.cam.ac.uk if you would like it installing. Unfortunately the sheer size of the package means it’s not possible to simply install this one from our web interface at https://apps.ch.cam.ac.uk/wpkg/ as it causes the automatic installer to time out.
It is also available as a module on the Ubuntu 14.04 managed Linux workstations. Type

module add matlab/R2015a

to put it on your PATH.

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Recent problems with network services

Posted on April 1, 2015 by Catherine E. Pitt

A failure of a UPS (uninterruptible power supply) on Wednesday March 25th caused faults on a number of infrastructure machines. This affected most of the services that provide network access in Chemistry, although in most cases only for a short time as services were failed over to another server room. A few machines (bastion host, chembox) required extra repair work but these are now functioning normally. The UPS itself has also been repaired.
Some workstations failed to reconnect to services automatically and require a reboot, so if you’re still experiencing problems with managed workstations please try rebooting them.
In addition one of the fileserver machines providing services to a number of research groups (including Atmospherics, UCC, Theory, and Duer) has been suffering intermittent problems since Tuesday 24th March. Attempts to repair the machine in place were not successful and this service has now been moved onto different hardware.
We regret the inconvenience. If you are still experiencing problems with services in Chemistry please report them to support@ch.cam.ac.uk

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