Nuclear Engineering User and Desktop Support

SUPPORT: ECN provides 20 hours ( 0.5 FTE) of base level IT support for all NE personnel on Purdue/NE-owned and ECN maintained computer hardware.  This includes: Sun Solaris 10, Linux RHE4, MS Windows XP, and MacOS X.

BACKUPS: Backups are available for ECN maintained computer hardware. Charges for this service are the cost of the client license and a one-time $10/GB media charge, for the life of the disk. We are in the process of updating the media charge.  Our target cost is $2/GB.

STORAGE: There is space available for each person working for NE.  Additional space is available.  ECN is working with the business offices to determine how to allow faculty and staff to purchase additional storage on centralized disk space.  If you have any storage questions, please contact ECN.

STAFFING: ECN will provide 0.5 FTE of staff that will cover the base level IT support and work with the NE personnel.  NE faculty, staff and students can expect to see our full time professional staff and well trained student staff attending to their requests.  The NE queue will be watched constantly during regular business hours.  The staff will address these requests in a timely manner.  We currently have 4 systems engineers, 7 students, and 1 site manager.  The rest of the support comes from the ECN Central group which consists of 31 full time staff.

SPACE:   Machine room space is the responsibility of Nuclear Engineering.  Please be sure to discuss your needs with ECN as well as Nuclear Engineering Administration.

COMPUTING EQUIPMENT PURCHASES: ECN is available for consultation, configuration, quotation, and working with vendors on computer equipment purchases.

DEVELOPMENT: ECN is available for hardware and software services that are not met by the standard agreement, for a fee.  This includes special projects including programming, special hardware support, additional web services, etc.

CONTACTING ECN FOR SUPPORT: The best way to request services and support is to submit a trouble report by going to: http://engineering.purdue.edu/ECN/TroubleReport

You may also access this trouble report on an ECN Maintained Windows PC via the link labeled "ECN Trouble Report" at the top of your Start Menu.

If you are unable to access this web page for some reason (can't login), you can ask someone else to go to the web page and submit your request for you.  The web page helps collect contact information, your location, and the location of the computer that may be needed to resolve the problem(s).

Another (less desirable) way to submit a trouble report or request services is to send email to nesite@ecn.purdue.edu. Provide information that will help support staff determine the cause and remedy the problem. At the very least provide a contact number.

ECN provides support services during normal University business hours. Normal requests for services should be submitted via the web page or email address above.

NE FACULTY AND STAFF PROCEDURE FOR HANDLING OFF HOURS SERVER FAILURES

The following procedure should be used by faculty and full time staff when a central shared compute or file server has failed outside of regular working hours and access to the failed machine is critically needed.

1. As for all failures, attempt to report the failure via the web site http://engineering.purdue.edu/ecn/troublereport or send email to nesite@ecn.purdue.edu.  Provide information that will help support staff determine the cause and remedy the problem.

2. Determine if access to the failed server is sufficiently urgent to contact support staff at home and ask them to attempt to remedy the problem from home and if the problem warrants coming to campus if necessary to remedy the problem.  The following is sent to an on call pager that is monitored for emergencies outside of regular working hours. ecn911@ecn.purdue.edu (message to text pager and email to several others)

ECN recommends that all computer users anticipate occasional failures of regularly used workstations and printers and develop a personal computing environment that can temporarily handle inevitable machine failures.  Practices that can be helpful include:

1. maintaining access to alternate workstations,
2. maintaining document and data files on central file servers,
3. maintaining access to alternate printers in other office areas and labs and
4. maintaining on an alternate computer or file server a copy of files for which continuous access is an absolute necessity and
5. maintaining alternate modem dial-up configurations.