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 […]
(This is just a copy of the mail I sent to staff and students earlier in the week but with an additional item about the need to turn off self managed and admin office machines). As previously advised, work being carried out in connection with the new student centre means that there will be no […]
Over the next couple of weeks, inhabitants of the Forum will note the appearance of new Xerox MFD’s in the South West printing areas of the forum. These are mono devices which also function as photocopiers and (colour) scanners. The Forum dweller may also spot that the existing Xerox MFDs in the North East print […]
In order to minimize the risk to computing facilities during the strike action there will be a ‘change freeze’ for those computing systems managed by the School’s computing staff. This will be effective from Friday 23rd February to Wednesday 21st March (or the end of the industrial action). Obviously there may be some business critical […]
Last year I wrote an article extolling the virtues of cloud based printing and announcing the intention to extend the use of cloud printing to those parts of Informatics where it was not already available. With one or two exceptions, this proposal was greeted with some enthusiasm and so over the next few weeks, the […]
We will soon be replacing all existing 100 Mb/s network switches in all of the Informatics Forum IT closets with new 1Gb/s switches. There are 17 IT closets in the Forum, each of which provides networking connectivity to its nearby offices. Typically, each closet contains three or four 100 Mb/s switches – so there is […]
The Forum server rooms are covered by a pair of Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPSes), one of which has developed a fault in its interface to the outside world. As a result we can neither query its status, nor expect it to signal machines to shut down when the power goes off. UPS Repair Man came […]
