Computing Resources

HSIT resources include an integrated Windows Network supporting faculty and staff desktop computing and file management, dedicated UNIX research servers providing more advanced statistical capability, and both a public internet website and secure internal intranet, as well as the Harris School graduate student computer lab and training room.

Windows Network

HSIT maintains two Windows 2003 servers running as domain controllers for the faculty/staff Windows network. Supporting logins from approximately 100 faculty and staff desktop machines, these servers currently allocate approximately 6TB of disk space for users to store files in a secure, consistently backed-up location.

Each network user is assigned their own "U: drive" mapped from their desktop machine to a secure directory on the server, accessible only to that user. Roaming profiles allow network users to login from multiple locations, while retaining access to files and settings. Additional secure server directories allow shared files among defined sets of users. Windows 2003 Server software provides users the advantage of restoring corrupted/deleted files and folders without the need to contact the IT staff.

User desktop machines are secured with the latest operating system patches, as well as McAfee's VirusScan and either Zone Alarm or Comodo firewall software to prevent attacks from outside the Harris School network.

Piecemeal backups occur twice daily on the servers themselves, allowing users to restore previous versions of their own files and folders. Complete backups of server data occur nightly.

UNIX Research Servers

For more intensive statistical computing applications, Harris School users also have access to UNIX servers running Solaris 10 and supporting applications such as SPSS, Stata, SAS, S-Plus and Matlab in multi-processor implementations. UNIX accounts are available to Harris School faculty, staff, and graduate students.

Internet/Intranet

HSIT maintains the Harris School website, as well as internal intranet portals for both faculty/staff & students. These allow Harris users to access files and folders on their home drives from any remote location via the web. The student intranet site also includes career services tools, including a placement survey and searchable database of job postings.

Graduate Student Computing

HSIT maintains the main computer cluster for Harris graduate students, located in the basement of the Harris School (Room 043). Open 24 hours a day, this lab contains 24 64-bit Windows 7 machines. This lab also contains there black & white laser printers, one color laser printer, and a color scanner.

The HSIT training room, located across the hall in room 043, contains an additional 15 machines (14 students & 1 instructor machine) and can be used for instructional workshops, TA sessions, etc. These machines are identical to those in the main lab. When not occupied for training sessions, these machines are available for student use as well. A second color scanner is present in this room as well.