We will shortly be upgrading the remaining Forum core network switch.  With this one there will be some (expected) visible effects, as follows: This switch is normally the “root bridge” for the entire Informatics network.  While we do have extensive redundant connectivity, the active paths are usually based around this switch being at the centre.  […]

The computing help elves have been busy. In the past few weeks they’ve overhauled the pages on Printing and on Audio-visual facilities. In particular there are now pages on AV in Appleton Tower (formerly not covered at all) and AV in the Informatics Forum (formerly split over many pages). If you’re looking for help or […]

Apologies for the short network disruption yesterday afternoon.  It was caused by a 10Gbps forwarding loop, which was created as the second-last fibre was being connected as part of our core switch upgrade programme.  As soon as we realised there was a problem the fibre was disconnected again and the port configuration corrected. Background: we […]

We will shortly begin the process of upgrading the switches which form the core of the Informatics network in the Forum and Appleton Tower.  The network has enough resilience built into it that this can happen mostly transparently to users.  Where this is not possible, an announcement will be posted in advance, though actual downtime […]

We’ve made a new version of Virtual DICE for the new session. Virtual DICE is the lightweight DICE-like virtual machine which you can install and run on your own computer (here’s how to install it). We release a new version of Virtual DICE twice a year. This version has the hostname tiepolo. It has most […]

Next Tuesday (4th September) the remote desktop service which uses the NX technology – nx.inf.ed.ac.uk – will be decommissioned. It will be replaced by a new service which is based on RDP – xrdp.inf.ed.ac.uk – see the computing help page for details. The machine hosting this service – hammersmith – also needs to be reinstalled […]

The 5th minor update for ScientificLinux 7 (which is based on RHEL7) is now ready for deployment to the Informatics DICE office and student lab machines. A minor update like this provides us with the opportunity to update important software and fix any bugs which are not security issues (we apply security updates as soon […]

Our remote wake-up service will be down this weekend, 14-15 July, because of planned work to the electricity supply in the James Clerk Maxwell Building. Sorry for the inconvenience. It should be back to normal on Monday morning.

For the last 5 years we have provided a remote DICE desktop service which is based on the NX technology. Although this system has some nice benefits, particularly being light on bandwidth requirements, the technology is beginning to show its age and there is a serious shortage of good client software for many platforms. With […]

Now that every floor in the Forum has at least one cloud printing device with more to follow, I thought it might be useful to provide a few hints and tips on how to get started with cloud printing. Setting your machine up DICE managed machines You don’t need to do anything, the cloud queues […]