Services Provided By CS IT
SCOPE OF SERVICES
The CS IT Support Group offers a variety of I.T. services to its customers (CS Faculty, students, staff, etc.)
Our goal is to provide friendly, helpful IT support in a timely manner. We are very customer-oriented and strive for keeping our users informed and up-to-date with the status of support requests and the status of our CS computing infrastructure as a whole.
We provide a documentation wiki we call the CS IT Support Wiki at https://support.cs.jhu.edu with extensive details on the many services we provide. (The page you're reading now is a part of the CS IT Support Wiki.)
We are available via email at support@cs.jhu.edu.
For general user support, we are available M-F 8:30am - 5pm.
We also provide a Notices page available at https://support.cs.jhu.edu/wiki/Notices providing the status of our servers, computing labs, etc.
As the CS IT group resides in Malone Hall, most of our support and services are directed there.
Our CS IT Support services can be broken down into three categories:
Below is a comprehensive list of the services that the CS IT Support Group provides to our users. You can find more specific details about these services within the categories found in our aforementioned CS IT Support Wiki. If you have additional questions, please email us at our support address.
Computer Systems We Manage/Maintain/Support
We maintain...
- All of the Fedora Linux-based computer systems located in our CS Teaching Computer Labs, as well as our department's main compute servers.
- CS Office staff (MH 160) computer systems.
- Centralized servers providing CS online services.
- NOTES:
CS IT does not offer direct support for individual's or research lab computer systems (laptops, desktops, servers, tablets, smartphones, network equipment, etc.)
CS Faculty and researchers and their students typically self-maintain their own systems. (This includes server room rack setup and server installs.)
If you're having an issue with or need to configure your own or research lab's system, we might be able to offer you advice, but, for any support work to be done on them, you may want to consider the following options: 1)' contacting JHU's IT Help Desk at 410-516-HELP or by clicking the Get Help link on the JHU IT Services page. 2) or try contacting WSE's (Whiting School of Engineering) IT group. They can look at your system, but if it is something they cannot address, they might be able to provide you with other resources for further troubleshooting or repair. They can be reached at wsehelp@jhu.edu 3) Mac users might want to visit JHU's Technology Store in the Levering Hall's Sherwood Room, as they offer some technical support for Apple products. See our CS IT Support Wiki's page on Personal or Research Lab-owned Computer Issues
CS IT does not purchase, spec, or price out computer-related equipment for other than the CS Office Staff systems, the CS Teaching Computer Labs, and for CS central infrastructure support.
CS IT does not provide cables (USB, Video, adapters, other computing supplies) other than Ethernet cables. If you're looking for different cables/adapters, thumb drives, SD cards, etc., please visit JHU's Technology Store in the Levering Hall's Sherwood Room. Mac Users: The JHU Technology Store has a wide range of Apple products available. Power cables: We do have a limited number of power cables we can make available, as needed. Thumb drives: We have a few USB thumb drives that you may sign out for short periods of time.
CS Online Services
CS IT provides the following online services to CS-affiliated users.
- CS Linux Shell Login Accounts: We can provide you a Linux shell login account for our CS Lab clients and compute servers. This provides a user a home directory on our servers. A CS Linux account provides you a CS email address and webpage space. We maintain backups of home directories.
- CS Email Services: CS runs its own email services and can provide you with a CS email address, if requested. (A CS Linux shell login account automatically provides you a CS email address.) You can choose to forward CS email to your preferred email address.) For receiving CS mail, we provide both IMAP and POP services. We also make available a web interface for CS email access we call webmail. CS also provides mailing list services. Additionally, we filter our emails in a variety of ways to combat spam. All email stored on our email servers is backed up regularly.
- NOTE: CS IT does not maintain JHU Exchange email service. If you have issues with JHU Exchange email (or calendar), please open a trouble ticket with JHU IT by calling 410-516-HELP
- CS-based DNS Service: We can set up hostnames in the cs.jhu.edu domain for your CS-affiliated system.
- CS-Web Services: We provide space (via a linux shell login) and instructions for creating webpages accessible through our CS webservers.
- MySQL Database Service: CS hosts its own MySQL database service and can provide you a database for you to design and maintain. Our databases are backed up regularly.
- CS-provided File Storage: CS provides storage for those with CS Linux accounts on our systems, as well storage via Windows Shares.
- NOTE: CS IT does not maintain JHU-provided JHBox or JHOneDrive storage service. If you have issues with JHBox/JHOneDrive, please open a trouble ticket with JHU IT by calling 410-516-HELP. Alternatively, you can contact WSE IT's Help Desk for JHBox/JHOneDrive assistance as well.
- Virtual Machine Services (VMs): CS hosts a Virtual Machine server for coursework and light research. CS faculty, instructors, and students may request a VM be created for CS class use and CS-related school projects. A VM we create for the requester is then configured and maintained by the requester. VMs are not centrally backed up.
- NOTE:
- Please remember that other than for the CS office staff's systems, the CS Teaching Lab computer systems, and the CS infrastructure servers, CS IT does not provide direct support (repairs/configuration/troubleshooting/etc.) for other people's/labs' computers.
Infrastructure
Network
Malone Hall contains several different networks used by different groups within the building. Three of these are networks available for CS user access.
CS IT provides:
- Network jack-activation for CS-related offices, including initial troubleshooting of the actual network port.
- Static or dynamic IPs. Note: We do not configure an individual's or research lab's computers' network configuration. Due to the differences in network configurations amongst the variety of operating systems that exist now, we merely provide you the IPs and related information with general CS Networking documentation.
- We can provide you a network cable, if needed.
- NOTES:
- We do not manage Wifi in Malone Hall. For Wifi, please see Wireless Networking.
- CS does not have its own perimeter firewall, however, JHU does. For firewall issues, please see Requesting Open Ports on the JHU Firewall.
Printing
- We provide access to the CS IT-Managed printers located on each floor of Malone Hall, in addition to the department's copier in Malone Hall 154.
- We also change toner in the CS IT-managed printers when necessary.
- Our CS Grad and Ugrad Teaching Computer Labs' Linux systems are configured to print to the printer residing in each lab.
- NOTES:
- The CS IT group does not supply or change paper in the printers we manage. Users can obtain paper from the CS Admin Office, Malone 160.
- Our CS IT-managed printers are currently available to anyone to print to from your own system on the CS (and some JHU) networks. However, the CS IT group does not configure user-owned or research labs-owned computers to print to our printers.
Additional Infrastructure And Service Notes
- Audio/Visual (including conference room and office A/V) services and support in Malone Hall are handled by other groups within JHU. Please see: Audio-Visual.
- Power, HVAC-related, and other physical issues in a room or office are handled by JHU Facilities You can also submit a Facilities Request.
- Support for office telephones or cellphones is handled by JHU Telecommunications.
- For office furniture issues, please visit the front desk person in Malone Hall 160, who can direct you to the appropriate staff member.
- Malone Hall room scheduling is handled by the CS Dept's Administrative staff. Please visit http://engineering.jhu.edu/siteauth/malonerooms/request.html
- Maryland Hall 310 Classroom's Computers are handled by others at JHU, not by CS IT. Please see: Maryland Hall 310 Classroom
- Cables, adapters, computer supplies, and Apple (incl. Mac & Ipad) products are available from the JHU Technology Store, located in the Levering Hall's Sherwood Room.
- Mail/Shipping/Receiving: As of Mid-March, 2020, and until further notice, due to restrictions regarding access to campus buildings, incoming mail and packages can be picked up at the Great Hall in Levering Hall, daily, from 1pm to 3pm.