Hardware and Operating System Policy

Reviewed by: Physics IT Policy Committee, currently under review.

The School of Physics through the use of Open Source and University site licenses now runs and supports the following operating systems (OS): Red Hat Linux, Mac OS X for research apps and Windows for legacy applications.

Physics IT Supported Computers:

• All computers which are maintained by Physics Support have a standard OS and software builds. Any customisations for a given user must be via request.
• Users are not permitted to have access to root, or administer accounts (elevated privilege accounts).
• As per the School Computer Purchasing Policy the School will provide a base model computer to each staff member and post-graduate student. The user can request a change to the base model system configuration at their expense. The user does have the option of maintained the computer themselves, however, in this case staff only provide very limited support.
• Where possible the School will always seek the best price for a given specification, with the aim of robust, low management/maintenance hardware designs.
• Where possible centralised management/maintenance will be used through remote hardware monitoring, software management and deployment tools.
• Purchasing of any hardware according to the Computer Purchasing Policy is managed by support staff. Support staff and School take no responsibility for hardware purchased by the user without consultation.
• Any network infrastructure purchased without consultation is at the user’s expense. The School or support take no responsibility for these purchases.

Any inquiries regarding the above should be directed to support.