A:

Your OSC server account serves several purposes:

 

- Network storage: you can use this account to safely store all you critical work files in a convenient single location. You will find this expecially useful for large research related data especially in cases where some research data is too large to fit comfortably on removable media. Since the account can be accessed from any location on campus, you can avail yourself of different systems on campus while being able to access your data within a single storage container. Storing and accessing data in this manner also avoids confusion normally ensuing from various versions of data resident on multiple media. By convention, your personal account folder is usually designated synonymously as your OSCit server login name and is called the "U:" drive.

 

- Data mirroring: data storage on PCs and on external media may frequently seem to be an easy manner of permanently storing you information, however, these devices are notorious for failing and you may lose all your data in turn. If you save your data to your OSCit account, it is incrementally, automatically backed up on a data mirror storage system at preset intervals (currenly once per week). While OSCit is not responsible in any manner for a users data, we are usually able to retrieve your data from a mirror server should this event occur.

 

- Authentication: many of the systems at the OSC require you to login with a valid network server user ID and password. Your account will allow you to gain access to these devices.

 

- Data Sharing: while your personal account acts as your personal storage device, you may wish to share certain data with your research peers. When you login to the OSC data servers, you can share data easily with all other OSC personnel via the "tmp" or "T:" sare drive. This storage location is NOT permanent and all data on this temporary space is irretrievably, deleted each saturday.

 

If you desire to share data permanently with some of your peers in a secure manner, you may do so on one of our laboratory or administrative share. These data on these share drives/folders is PERMANENTLY maintained as well as mirrored as in the case of your personal account. However, the folder names are usually named after a laboratory or administrative function. For example you may be a part of the Dr. John Doe laboratory. In this case there would be a share folder named "jdoe-lab". Your user ID would be mapped such that the system would allow you access to the "jdoe-lab" folder but none of the others. Within this folder you can create, delete and thus share data with your peers who are also a member of the "jdoe-lab".

 

If you are a part of a collaborative research team with members external to MUN, the system can facilitate access to share points by providing secure, encrypted external access methods to a predetermined server share drive. Requirements and requests for such methods of access are handled on a case by case basis. To discuss external share access you should schedule an appointment to discuss this with one of the OSCit staff directly by e-mailing oscit@mun.ca

 

- Remote Access: If you are a faculty or staff member who serves an administrative role within the OSC, you can apply to have your account authentication extended to allow access to a special remote access gateway, allowing a secure single entry point access to the OSC systems from outside the MUN campus computer network. This will allow you to securely attach to MUN and OSC services typically not available outside of campus. All transactions within this scope of communication are encrypted. This gateway is designed to minimize the hazard to our systems and your account even in the event that the PC which you are using during such a session were compromised. The basic requirement for using this gateway is a computer running Microsoft Windows XP, Apple OSX or a reasonably current version of Linux. Windows 2000 or earlier are not supported.