Research Labs Support
Creating/Renewing CS Research Accounts
Students:
If you need an account created for your research, please email the following information to csmaster@utep.edu
- Full Name
- Project you are joining
- Faculty you are working with
- Expected graduation date
Note:
- Faculty must be cc’d on the email request and must grant authorization before account creation.
CS Research Lab and Building Access
CS Research Lab and Building Access
CCSB Access
If a student starts working with a Faculty member as an RA their faculty may request a Brass key to access their labs.
Please read the following information carefully to know if you meet the criteria to get a Brass key and what it entails.
Students:
When accepting a key to your research lab, keep the following in mind:
- You are responsible for keeping your key safe. If you lose the key, you will be financially responsible for re-keying the research lab door.
- Do not lend your key to anyone. This keeps your research lab secure and your research materials safe.
- If you leave the research group, you must promptly return your research lab key.
- If you are graduating, you must return the key regardless of whether or not you will be returning as a Master's or PhD Student. You will not be cleared to graduate until you do so.
Faculty:
If you wish to request a key for your Research Assistants, please send an email to csmaster@utep.edu with the following information:
- Student’s MINERS user name
- Student’s 800#
- Room #
- Expected Graduation Data
Note: If your new researcher is not a UTEP student, staff, or faculty, you will need to ask the Chair to request an Affiliate ID Card with HR for them. This will allow them to use the building access system. However, if they are not Grad Students or employees they will not be eligible to get a brass key.
Administrator Access on CS Research Machines
If you need administrator access on a Research machine to install a program, ask your professor for permission. You will need to give him or her the following information:
- Your name
- Your email address
- Your Username
- The Machine Name
- The Machine’s IP Address
Your professor will then forward this information to us.
To help safeguard your research files, the CS Tech Team policy limits one administrator per computer. If a computer currently has an administrator, then you cannot have administrator access. The only exception is when the administrator is no longer in the research group, and your professor approves you taking the former administrator’s place or if your professor approves of more than one administrator after understanding the potential risk.
No one will be granted administrator access to a CS Server. There will never be a situation or program requirement where you absolutely have to have administrator access on a CS server.
Once you get administrator access, you are required to read and sign the “UTEP Standard 2: Acceptable Use of Information Resources” policy and the CS “Administrative/Special Access Accounts” form which will be maintained in the CSTECH Team Office and reviewed Annually.
If you need a Windows stand-alone machine, you will have to follow these guidelines:
You must request a stand-alone image from the CS Tech Team. The image includes the following:
- Windows 10
- Bitdefender Antivirus
- Visual Studio Pro
- Java JDK
- SSH Client
- Microsoft Office
You must keep up with the Windows Updates and virus definitions at all times.
You will be responsible for your own backups.
If you want to use remote desktop from outside campus, you’ll have to provide a name for the machine so that CS Tech Team can provide a static IP address.
This machine will never be part of the CS Windows Domain.
Can’t Access Your Stand-Alone Machine From Off-Campus?
If you cannot communicate with your stand-alone machine from off-campus, it means that your machine was not officially reported to the CS Tech Team. When you report the machine to CS Tech Team, then you will get a static IP address, and the campus firewall will not block the incoming traffic.
You can have root access to a Linux research machine, but you will have to meet the following conditions:
- The machine MUST be stand-alone. (To safeguard all research users)
- You MUST provide the root password to the CS Tech Team any time it changes. (For security reasons)
If the machine is going to be a member of the CS Domain, then you cannot have root access on that machine. However, we can provide sudo access on that machine based on your needs.
The CS Tech Team only installs and supports CentOS. All other Linux distributions are not supported. However, you can have a stand-alone Linux distribution, provided that you follow these regulations:
- You must report the installation to the CS Tech Team
- You must report the machine’s name to the CS Tech Team
If this machine will only be used for a few days, you can skip this step.
You will receive a static IP and a fully qualified name under the DNS.
Once you complete this step, you cannot change the name of the machine unless you request a change with the CS Tech Team.
- You must configure the firewall.
- You must keep up with the updates.
- You must provide the root password to the CS Tech Team
- Root must be disabled from direct SSH
- You must create a secondary account for daily work. (No using the root account for work)
Using SFTP
Any sftp software can be used to access your files from anywhere. Common free Windows compatible SFTP programs used in Computer Science are winSCP, FileZilla and CyberDuck (for MAC).
If VPN is not available, you can connect to callisto.cs.utep.edu.
Use your respective credentials when accessing these shares.