Computer System Policies, Rules and Procedures

The following policies, rules, and procedures have been set by the Systems Committee.
If you have any questions or comments, send mail to "systems@math.kent.edu".

1. Terms of Use

The computer system in the Mathematical Sciences Building is intended for use as a research and teaching network. All systems connected to departmental network should comply with its security guidelines. Any system found in violation of the mentioned guidelines will be disconnected until it is compliant.

The following actions are FORBIDDEN unless prior written approval is obtained from the Systems Director:

• attempts (either failed or successful) to gain unauthorized access to a system or its data.
• unwanted disruption or denial of service.
• the unauthorized use of a system for the processing or storage of data.
• changes to system hardware, firmware, or software characteristics without the owner's knowledge, instruction, or consent.
• sharing, contribution or in any other way dissemination of copyrighted material.
• any other form of abuse, originating from or targeting departmental network

The users found to perform such actions will have their account terminated and will face any further action that the Department may choose to pursue against them.

2. Account Allocation Policies

A KSU Banner ID number is required to obtain and maintain an account on the department's computer systems.

Sharing of accounts is prohibited. Computer accounts are intended for usage by the account owner only. If the systems staff encounter an instance of account usage by anybody other than the account owner, the account will be disabled until the owner presents a new password through a secure channel. (E-mail is NOT considered a secure channel).

Department Faculty and Staff: Department employees must fill out a user-account form to obtain an account.

Departmental Students: Students will receive accounts as needed for classwork. These accounts may be deleted after the need for the computer account is fulfilled.

Other KSU faculty and students: In general, faculty and students outside of the department will have access to computer accounts through Computer Services. An account for these people may be provided on the departmental system in the following cases:

• The person has a research or teaching affiliation with the department.
• The person has a need for a service that is only available on the departmental system. In this case, the person requesting the account must present written documentation signed by the Chair of their department describing the need than cannot be met by any other University resource.

Non-KSU People: In general, accounts will not be provided for people who are not affiliated with KSU. Exceptions to this policy will be considered in the following cases:

• The applicant is working in conjunction with departmental personnel on a research project.
• The applicant (or their organization) is willing to provide resources to compensate for those used in accessing and using the departmental computer systems.

In any case, users who are not part of the department must be aware that they are required to follow all departmental systems policies, and that service will be suspended if it places undue stress on departmental resources.

3. E-mail

As important notifications will be sent to users email address in our department, users are expected to read all e-mail sent to their account.

Users should use an IMAP compliant mail client to access their mail (link to setup an email client ). Mail clients which are able to handle the POP-3 protocol should work as well, however IMAP is the recommended method for retrieving mail.

4. Personal Web Pages

Users are permitted to use departmental computers to host personal web pages. Such pages, however, may not be used to host a commerical enterprise without the written consent of the Systems Director. Moreover, any such web page should clearly indicate that it is a personal page or a student activities page and must not misrepresent itself as a official web page of Kent State University or any of its departments or offices.

5. Software Installation

Software will be added to departmental systems under the following conditions:

• Faculty requests for software installation will be accommodated provided sufficient resources exist for the installation and operation of the software package.
• Software requested by other users will be installed at the discretion of the system staff. If an installation request is denied, an appeal can be made to the Systems Committee.

In either case, installation will occur only if system resources are sufficient for the use of the requested package.

NOTE: Software is NOT supported unless it is placed on the list of officially supported software by the Systems Committee.

The system staff may run software related to system operation on all equipment within the department. This includes, but is not limited to, security software.

6. Windows Machine Policies

These policies are in addition to general security guidelines.

• See University Policies.
• Must have up-to-date Anti-Virus software/definitions. (See software available.)
• Must have latest Service Pack(s) and latest updates.
• University owned permanent machines (system supported and non-system supported) must have a static IP address.

Software that needs special approval :

• MYSQL
• IIS

Software NOT allowed (exceptions can be made after discussion with Systems Manager):

• SMTP(including MS Exchange)
• FTP server
• Telnet server
• DHCP server
• DNS server
• IIRC server

Personal and non-permanent machines (such as laptops) use a dhcp address.

7. Graduate Student Machines

Grad machines are not assigned to individual graduate students, but are provided for their use. Students may be required to share machines. There is no promise that machines will be available in the future. The machines are provided as funds allow.

Systems will be built with a standard configuration, and will be maintained by the system staff. The local data on these systems will not be backed up using department's backup facilities; students are advised copy important documents to their regular home directories for backup purposes.

Students can install software on their Windows™ office machines. Students wishing to install software on their Linux™ office machines must submit a request to systems. Requests for software installations will be handled on the basis of need (as determined by the Systems Director) and may take 1-2 months or more to be completed.

Students may be given access to student machines in other offices if their research requires it. Requests for additional access should be submitted to the Systems Director.

These machines are part of the departmental network and are therefore subject to all security and privacy policies of the department.

8. Networking Personal Computers

Personal computers may be put on the departmental computer network under the following conditions:

• The machines must conform to all policies in place.
• Personal computers not controlled by the departmental systems staff will be placed on a secure sub-network. These machines will not be given any privileged access to departmental resources, and departmental personnel will not manage these machines.

All equipment must comply with OARnet security requirements.

9. Additional Lab Policies

Users are not allowed to unplug network cables from the lab machines. Other machines, such as laptops, can connect to the network by using the building wireless network. Because lab machines are wiped clean every night, users should save important files to their home directory or a removable storage device, (i.e. Flash drive, floppy, CD-ROM...etc.) Everyone should throw their papers and garbage away when finished in the lab.