IT Support Policy
1. Purpose / Background
This document applies to Postdoctoral Fellows, Sabbatical Scholars, Working Groups, and Catalysis Meetings at NESCent. Collectively these are referred to as ‘sponsored science’ or ‘sponsored scientists’. The document outlines the range of IT and informatics support NESCent can provide so as to ensure that the needs and expectations of sponsored scientists align with NESCent’s informatics resources and capabilities.
NESCent’s finite IT resources must be allocated to a large number of different projects, so if, as a sponsored scientist, you anticipate that human, software, or hardware resource needs may go beyond the basic level of IT support, please contact the Associate Director for Informatics (Todd Vision, tjv@bio.unc.edu, 919-843-4507) to discuss your needs.
2. Hardware Resources
2.1 Computer Hardware
NESCent provides shared workstations for use by resident scientists as well as meeting and working group participants. The machine(s) can be booted into either a Mac OSX or Windows operating system, and is equipped with a variety of office productivity and basic evolutionary analysis software.
For high-performance computing, sponsored scientists can be granted access to the Duke Shared Cluster Resource (http://www.csem.duke.edu/Cluster/), on which NESCent maintains a number of priority nodes and a variety of installed software packages. Sponsored scientists who anticipate using the cluster should notify support@nescent.org at least 3 weeks in advance of when it is needed.
NESCent can also provide loaner PC and Macintosh laptops for visitors on site. Sponsored scientists who anticipate using loaner laptops should register their need in advance at support@nescent.org to allow reservation of the equipment.
2.2 Office Hardware
NESCent maintains shared and fully networked common office devices, like color and b/w printers, copier, scanner, and fax. Instructions on how to use these will be communicated to meeting participants and incoming fellows prior to or at the start of a meeting or fellowship.
2.3 Network
All offices, conference rooms, and break-out spaces are covered by 802.11g-compatible wi-fi wireless network access points. Offices and conference rooms also have wall jacks for wired Ethernet network access. Instructions on how to use the network will be communicated to meeting participants and incoming fellows prior to or at the start of a meeting or fellowship.
2.4 A/V Equipment
NESCent has several video projectors with at least 1024x768 resolution. Projectors are provided for meetings, and resident scientists may use them as needed. The center also maintains audio and videoconferencing equipment (‘Polycom’) for use by all sponsored scientist. Sponsored scientists who anticipate using the A/V conferencing equipment should register their need in advance at support@nescent.org to allow reservation of the equipment. NESCent IT will assist in setup as needed.
3. Software And Application Infrastructure
3.1 Hosting Services Environment
NESCent maintains an environment for hosting collaborative sites, mailing lists, databases, web-applications, and source code development. In particular, NESCent runs the following services.
- Apache-based web server
- PHP4 (apache-module based) and PHP5 (cgi-based)
- JBoss application server (for J2EE/EJB applications), including Tomcat (for JSP/Servlet applications)
- MySQL 4.x and PostgreSQL 8.x relational database management systems
- Subversion source code repository
- Mailman for managing mailing lists
- MediaWiki for electronic collaborative workspaces
- Gallery for photo albums
IT will assist sponsored scientists to use these services on an as-needed basis. Contact support@nescent.org to allow NESCent proper planning and allocation of resources.
3.2 Scientific Software
Sponsored scientists should communicate their anticipated needs for analysis software to support@nescent.org as early as possible to allow time for licensing and setup, especially for software needed on the high-performance compute cluster. NESCent IT acquires, installs, and, where necessary, licenses scientific software on resident scientists’ workstations, on shared workstations, and on the high-performance compute cluster.
3.3 Collaborative Tools And Workspace
To facilitate effective electronic communication, sharing of documents, discussion notes, reports, slide presentations, and other material, NESCent Informatics sets up a mailing list and deploys a Wiki-type electronic collaborative workspace for all working groups. The electronic workspace is pre-loaded with content specific to the meeting participants, and a tutorial can be delivered to meeting participants on-site. Resident scientists can also request mailing lists and Wiki-type electronic workspaces to be set up for themselves and their collaborators.
4. Database And Application Development
NESCent Informatics staff can provide support in data modeling, database schema design and instantiation, and in programming middleware, web applications, and stand-alone applications. The staff can also help with developing analysis workflows and scripts. Supported platforms include:
- Programming languages: C, C++, Java, Perl, PHP4, R
- Database platforms: PostgreSQL
- Statistics platforms: R
- Web application platforms: PHP, J2EE (JSP, JSTL, Servlets)
- Middleware platforms: EJB, Hibernate, Spring
- Stand-alone GUI applications: Java/Swing
- GIS programming: ArcGIS
In order to maximize the number of sponsored scientists whose needs the programming staff can support, NESCent’s Informatics team will typically only aim to develop prototype, rather than production-level, databases and web interfaces. If accomplishing the research goals of a funded proposal requires an enterprise-scale production-type system, NESCent will assist in applying for the appropriate support at the San Diego Supercomputing Center’s Data Central, or in submitting a grant application to support additional software development staff.
