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IT Services for Researchers at UVa

  • Overview (CADRE: https://cadre.virginia.edu)
    The "Computation and Data Resource Exchange" is a University-wide exchange designed to simplify the process of finding local research technology solutions. The CADRE website provides a comprehensive list of the software, services, training opportunities, storage solutions, and computational hardware available to UVA scholars. CADRE is multi-disciplinary and supports all eleven schools of the University.

  • Some items of particular interest:
    • Crashplan: http://its.virginia.edu/crashplan/
      Crashplan is a backup service for desktop computers. It's currently free for UVa users. By default, crashplan will automatically maintain a backup of your files by copying them to a cloud-based storage system. It's easy to install (the motto is "Set It and Forget It").

    • ITS WSUS service: http://its.virginia.edu/software/patchmanagement/
      The Windows Critical Update Service (also known as the Patch Management Service or WSUS) makes it easy for department LSPs to keep up with applying necessary maintenance updates ("patches") on Windows machines. Using a Microsoft technology called Windows Software Update Server (WSUS), ITS downloads and tests patches, then distributes them automatically to machines that utilize the service. If you are responsible for multiple Windows computers, using the ITS Windows Critical Update Service can relieve you of the chore of maintaining each machine individually and ensure that all are as up-to-date as possible.

    • Rivanna: http://arcs.virginia.edu/rivanna
      In 2014, the College of Arts and Sciences, the Engineering School, the UVa Library and the Data Science Institute purchased a powerful new computing cluster called "rivanna". The new cluster has over 4,800 cores, 1.4 PBs of temporary storage and fast Infiniband interconnects between nodes. It runs a minimal version of CentOS operating system. The cluster is managed by the UVa Advanced Research Computing Services (ARCS) group.

    • Symantec Antivirus (Mac and Windows): http://its.virginia.edu/software/displayPackages.php?tId=26
      UVa has a site license for Symantec Antivirus. It's available for free to students, faculty, and staff.

    • Mathematica/Matlab/SPSS/IDL/LabView/SolidWorks/OriginPro/Mathcad: http://its.virginia.edu/software/displayTitles.php?catId=0
      UVa has site licenses for these and many other pieces of research software. Terms of the licenses vary from one product to another, but they are documented at the site above.

    • Alertus: http://www.its.virginia.edu/software/desktopalert/
      Alertus provides the UVa community with emergency notifications in cases of severe weather or other emergencies on Grounds. If you have Alertus installed, and your desktop or laptop computer is turned on and connected to the UVa network, then info from public safety personnel will appear on your screen as a pop-up window overlaying all other open windows. Typically, alert information comes from the University Police Department or the UVa Office of Emergency Preparedness.

    • Identity Finder: http://www.virginia.edu/informationsecurity/identityfinder/
      Identity Finder software is designed to locate personally identifiable information (PII) in the form of Social Security Numbers (SSNs), credit card numbers, and other sensitive information that is stored on computers. Individuals and departments at UVa can use Identity Finder to help them find and, where possible, remove PII.

    • The Hive: http://its.virginia.edu/hive/
      The Hive uses a technology called VMware to deliver the software you need to you in your dorm room, apartment, or library, for free! The Hive saves you money (fewer expensive software licenses to purchase); and The Hive saves you time (no need to wait to use a public computer just to access a particular application).

    • Some general information about storage: https://somrc.virginia.edu/userinfo/storage/

      Some specific storage services:

      • Scratch space on rivanna: http://arcs.virginia.edu/resources/storage
        More than a petabyte of high-performance scratch space is available to rivanna users.

      • "value" storage: swift and NAS: https://cadre.virginia.edu/service-detail/storage
        UVa has recently deployed two new low-cost storage solutions. One is a NAS-based system that can be mounted from Linux, Windows or OS X computers. The other uses an object-based distributed storage system called "swift", to which files can be uploaded or downloaded via a special client program. The first is intended for online storage of current data, and the second is intended for archival storage. Neither is implicitly backed up, but arrangements can be made to automatically back up files from the NAS storage to the swift storage.

      • Box.net (1 TB): http://its.virginia.edu/box/
        UVa's contract with Box.net gives each user 1 TB of storage space in Box's cloud. This can be accessed through the web, or a "box sync" client installed on your computer can automatically back up files from your computer into the cloud.

      • OneDrive (100 GB, coming soon)
        UVa is currently in the process of deploying Microsoft's "Office365" services. One of these will be "OneDrive" which will give each user 100 GB of storage space, integrated into their Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, etc.) It will be easy for users to store their documents in OneDrive from within these applications.

    • ARCS courses: e.g., Summer education series: http://arcs.virginia.edu/services/summer-education-series
      The Advanced Research Computing Services group provides many courses, short-courses, and other training oppportunities.