User Account Policy

Policy Summary

This policy addresses the creation and deletion of user accounts on the SCS file server. Access to dialup, email, and web services is also discussed. The Local Systems Committee (LSC) will mediate in situations where there are disagreements regarding the interpretation of the following policy and will clarify an existing policy and/or develop new policy as needed. Questions or concerns regarding the following policy should be sent to the LSC lsc@scs.fsu.edu.

Definitions

Types of Accounts:

• Faculty: School of Computation Science (SCS) faculty.
• Postdoctoral Associate: Postdoctoral associate supervised by SCS faculty.
• Staff: Administration, technical support group, student assistant and other non-faculty staff employed by SCS.
• Student: Graduate or undergraduate student supervised by SCS faculty or staff.
• Class: Students enrolled in a course offered by a SCS faculty member.
• Guest: Persons collaborating with SCS faculty or Staff members on a project.

Status of user accounts:

• Active: Full access to the user's home directory and to the files contained within. Full access to all services available to the user as defined by the account type he has been assigned.
• Disabled: No access to user's home directory and to the files contained within. Access to mail is permitted (except for class accounts, where an email account is not provided) for six months from the time an account is disabled.
• Removed: The user's home directory and the files contained within are removed from the SCS file system after they have been archived. Ownership of the archive is transferred to the SCS sponsor who is permitted to transfer ownership to another person where appropriate. When the user's sponsor is no longer affiliated with SCS, ownership of the archive is transferred to the SCS director.

Guidlines

Account Eligibility

Computer accounts are provided to SCS Faculty and Staff and their affiliates (e.g., postdocs, graduate students, and research collaborators) for research and instructional purposes. In cases where only internet access is needed ACNS services should be used rather than SCS accounts. All SCS accounts are subject to the University's appropriate use guidelines as described in Policy OP-H-6 USE OF UNIVERSITY INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY RESOURCES (http://www.vpfa.fsu.edu/policies/bmanual/itpolicy.html) and users are required to sign a consent form acknowledging the rules and regulations described in this policy.

Account Requests

The Local Systems Committee is ultimately responsible for approving account requests; however, in practice, account requests are submitted directly to the TSG. Account requests can be made on-line at http://www.scs.fsu.edu/systems/userapps.php. TSG will activate the account as soon as the request has been verified. See the Requesting an Account guidelines for details.

Account Activation

Account creation will be given a high priority. Except for class accounts, accounts will be created within two days of a request. As soon as a new account is created the user or sponsor (depending on the perferred contact method) will be contacted with the information needed to begin using the account.

Account Review and Expiration

SCS accounts are reviewed at least annually. The LSC will notify account owners that their account will be disabled if they do not confirm that the account is still in use. If the account owner fails to reply to this request within a month, the account will be disabled. The account will remain disabled for six months after which time it may be removed from the system.

Class accounts are an exception to the review and expiration policy stated above. Class accounts are disabled automatically two weeks after the end of the semester and the accounts will be removed from the system one month after the end of the course unless the instructor provides the LSC with written instructions to the contrary.

All deleted accounts are first archived in an appropriate manner.

Account Disk Quotas

To maintain a healthy file services platform, SCS will maintain file storage quotas on the primary user file systems. The quotas are set by default according to the user account type (e.g., faculty, postdoctoral, etc.) and may change as our storage capacity changes. The default quotas can be found at Disk Quota page.

The nature of an individual's research or the nature of the research of an entire group may require higher quotas than the default values. When this is the case, the individual should discuss his/her needs or the needs of his/her group with the Systems Manager to arrive at a consensus for what the quotas ought to be. Generally, the Systems Manager will then direct TSG staff to provide the necessary storage quota for the individual or the group. If there is any disagreement about the appropriate quota, the Systems Manager will consult the LSC for final arbitration. Every effort will be made to accommodate a userÕs request for more disk space within the limits of a shared file system.

Storage quotas will be reviewed annually by the Systems Manager and the LSC to ensure that the research needs of the faculty are being met and that total system capacity is being allocated appropriately. It will be the responsibility of the LSC to determine if all quotas above the default level are being used appropriately and to make changes in the default levels as needed. It will also be the responsibility of the LSC to direct the Systems Manager to reduce any quotas that the LSC determines to be unnecessarily high. This annual review will occur in April of each academic year. If there is a question concerning a request for additional disk space, the Systems Manager will consult the LSC for final arbitration.

A list of the quotas for every account will be maintained for public record at DiskQuota.

Account Web Services

Accounts on the SCS web server will be created automatically for all user accounts except for class accounts. Class accounts on the web server will be created if the course instructor requests them. In general, students are encouraged to use the campus-wide web server maintained by ACNS unless the course has specific requirements that the SCS web server is able to provide. Content published by individual account owners on the SCS web server is subject to the same policies and guidelines described in the FSU computer use policy (see http://gtcr.fsu.edu/#policy). See the web page setup page for details.

Account Email Services

Email accounts will be provided with all user accounts except with class accounts. ACNS provides students with an email account. Email accounts are subject to the same policies and guidelines described by the FSU computer use policy (see http://gtcr.fsu.edu/#policy).

Account Backups

User and research directories on the shared SCS file system (AKA fs) are incrementally backed up on a daily basis. Backup information is retained for at least one month from the date that it was originally archived. See the Backup description page for more information.

Account Dialup Access

SCS offers a very limited dialup service. Account sponsors may request a dialup account; however, if dialup access exceeds the available capacity then it may be necessary for the sponsor to provide written justification for dialup access before an account will be granted.

Last changed: 30 Jan 2006

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