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SciTech Services

Research Support

Here is a list of some of the services SciTech provides. It is not comprehensive, as SciTech is adaptable to support many Research IT support needs. Please contact us with any questions.

Day to Day Support
Research Desktop and Laptop Support

SciTech will provide support for a desktop or laptop if:

  • used for research purposes ( including graduate student devices)
  • attached to a scientific instrument
  • is not part of the STS domain ( controlled by IST )
  • it is part of the STS domain, the task is non-administrative, and IST cannot do the task.

Support may be provided by IST or SciTech based on a case by case basis. Research desktops and laptops, no matter which team supports the device, may research specific applications. These will be supported by SciTech.

Examples
Hardware diagnostics repair and replacement
  • Finding and replacing powersupplies
  • Scavenging harddrives, or other parts, that are no longer being made
  • Searching the internet for parts for computers not under warranty
  • Assisting with ordering replacment parts
Hardware Upgrades

Pull out old GPU from Dell Alienware PC, check hardware requirements of other components, upgrade Power SUpply due to this research, install new GPU, test installation

OS trouble shooting

Windows won’t boot on Dell system attached to instrument, determine issue was BIOS upgrade, enable downgrade of BIOS so research continue while we look for long term solution to BIOS issue

Software trouble shooting

Google Meet won’t allow annotations whereas this worked 2 weeks ago. Did some troubleshooting and looks like it was due to an older version of Chrome installed

Software interactivity with instruments

Assisted with connecting an instrument to a PC using secondary network port in Chemistry, while allowing the PC to be on the regular network as well

Network configuration and troubleshooting
  • device connection to the network
  • intra-device communication
  • Laptop won’t load any websites, on-ste diagnostics revealed they had McAfee NetGuard enabled but license had expired, removed software and system started working as expected again
Firewall requests

Determine port number(s) for special service running on a Roof Top device in EAS and submit request for IST to open those ports to a specific EAS subnet only so the device is still moderately secured

Network name/address allocations

Added a new desktop PC in BioSci for a researcher that required a static IP and custom name to be assigned for remote access

Research Servers, Appliances, Clusters

SciTech will provide support for research servers, appliances, and clusters. This includes purchase planning, hardware purchasing, internal cluster networking, setup and installation, user account creation and deletion.

Examples
  • Nelson Amaral's cluster, heldar, has a virtual headnode hosted on SciTech's highly available virtual machine infrastructure. SciTech set up the operating system, and clusted the physical nodes.
  • Paul Myers has several network attached servers in the data centers. SciTech provides hardware diagnostics, and disk swaps, while Paul is in charge of the operating system configuration and user administration.
  • Small network attached appliances have been configured, purchased and installed by SciTech in various research labs.
Operating System Support

SciTech will provide support for any operating system needed for research.

Examples

This includes but is not limited to: - Windows 3.11 - Windows 95 - Windows 7 - Windows 8 - Windows 10 - Windows 11 - MS-DOS - HP-DOS - IRIX - Linux - BSD

Identity and Access Management

SciTech does not support systematic identity management systems such as LDAP or Active Directory. Old identity management systems were taken over by IST or turned off as no longer needed. SciTech will support local accounts or internal cluster identity management if requested by a research group.

Examples
  • heldar cluster LDAP
  • SciComp cluser LDAP
Research Lab Support

Any research IT equipment and software in a Science research lab can be supported by SciTech.

Examples
Research using IST Learning Spaces

If a researcher wants to use a IST lab (public or private) for research experiments, SciTech will coordinate and schedule with IST to accommodate such requests.

Examples
Network Support

SciTech supports internal cluster networking. IST supports all other networking for Science, including Edge (networking to the desktop) and Core (networking in the data centers and backbone) support.

Examples
Data Centers

SciTech will leverage IST Data Centers and will consolidate existing faculty satellite server rooms into these IST data centers.

Examples
Software Licensing

SciTech will manage Science research software licenses. SciTech will leverage IST licenses servers when possible. New software licenses server requests will be evaluated by SciTech and IST to determine the best place for support.

Examples
IT Security

IT device security is ultimately the responsibility of the researcher. SciTech will aid researchers, upon request, to secure devices, operating systems, and software security on Science Research equipment only. Research IT device security must be kept to University of Alberta standards.

Examples
Service Ticketing Support

SciTech uses the University of Alberta default ticketing system, Freshservice

Examples
System Administration Services

SciTech provides a full spectrum of system administration services. Here are some of the services we can provide upon request:

  • Patches & updates
  • User IDs
  • Network Services
  • Security
  • Application configuration and installation
  • Hardware support
  • Replacing failed components
  • Machine/cluster life-cycle
  • Decommissioning of research IT equipment
  • Data backup and recovery
Research IT Services
Research IT device pre-purchase consultation

SciTech provides consultation before purchases are made to insure they meet the needs of the research group, and will work inside the environment it was bought for.

Examples
Research IT grant costing

SciTech can help grant applicants cost out their IT needs, and propose alternatives.

Examples
Programming Help

SciTech can give advice on programming languages and algorithm choice

Examples
Gathering Science Research Needs

SciTech will try to meet with as many Science research groups as possible to understand their current and future needs.

Examples
HPC alternatives

SciTech will provide consulting with regards to HPC alternatives and suggest solutions.

Examples
Data management

If a researcher has a large amount of data to store. SciTech can answer questions like:

  • Where can I store this?
  • How can I organize this data to work with it easier?
  • How do I archive this data when I am done with it?
  • SciTech works with libraries to manage data life-cycle for researchers.
Data analysis

SciTech can provide information on (and help analyze):

  • What tools are available?
  • Which tool will do this "type" of analysis best?
Examples
Data visualization

SciTech can provide information on:

  • What tools are available?
  • Which tool will do this "type" of visualization best?
Examples
Problem Solving

SciTech can help researchers solve their IT issues. For example:

  • This research hardware/software used to work but now it doesn’t, please help!
  • Determining why code cannot run on multiple nodes within a cluster, etc.
Examples
Procurement

SciTech will be responsible for research IT equipment procurement.

Examples
Project Management

SciTech will provide project management services for Science researchers when asked to do so.

Examples
Proof-of-Concept and Prototyping

SciTEch can work with a researcher to develop a methodology or artifact that shows an idea can be realized.

Examples
Cloud Computing and Management

SciTech will be in charge of image creation for Cirrus cloud infrastructure, and can consult on use of public cloud services

Examples
High Performance Computing

SciTech will provide consulting with regards to HPC alternatives and suggest solutions. SciTech will administer small HPC systems that are owned by Faculty of Science Researchers. We can also help configure batch job processing applications for HPC clusters.

Examples
Business Application Support

SciTech provides ongoing support for: 

* Science Business applications developed by SAWAS
* applications developed by Science departments on Filemaker, on a consultation basis only
* WordPress administration and site support