Obtaining Computing Support for Projects

Any new experiment, project or an existing one that is expanding should notify the local computing support team as soon as possible via Helpdesk.

Any and all computing requirements for the project should be provided.

This information should be provided at the earliest possible time and kept up to date as much as possible.

When developing your project be mindful of the following computing areas:

• What hardware needs to be purchased (which is a topic of its own, see ComputerProcurement)
  • If hardware is being provided by a 3rd party provide the exact specifications of the equipment before it arrives
• How any hardware needs to be configured
  • Managed HEP Linux or standalone
  • Is any hardware going to be moved off-site at any point
  • Which OS version
  • Layout of local storage for OS, users, data
  • Networking requirements and connections, specific hostnames
• User access
  • Sudo required (note that sudo is not generally supported on Managed HEP Linux)
  • Protocols used eg SSH, HTTPS
  • Local network access or off-site access
  • Local users, HEP users or external users
  • Any confidential data
• Does any of the local data need to be backed up
  • How much
  • Local backup or networked
• Which software packages are required
  • Any need for licenses and/or license managers
  • Are any Installation instructions available
  • Any local services eg databases, web servers, containers

Too much information is preferred over too little, assume the admins know nothing about your project.

Not providing the requirements information in a timely manner can lead to prolonged delays in starting projects and inefficient use of admin effort.