Technology

Support and Maintenance of Departmental or Discipline Specific Hardware and Software

Summary chart for technology systems support responsibility

Support for Departmental or Discipline Specific Desktop Software

Support for Departmental or Discipline Specific software that simply resides on a desktop/laptop computer is described under Academic/Accepted Software on the Simmons Technology website. Central support for this type of software is generally limited to assistance in installation. Users of such specialized software are expected to be largely self-sufficient.

Support for Departmental or Discipline Specific Software loaded on Hosted Servers

In general, local application software, particularly that which is not distributed with the operating system, is maintained and configured by the technology owner - that is, the department. If application software requires either a newer or older version of underlying software (e.g., an older browser or java version, a newer operating system) than is supported, this is the responsibility of the department as well.

Support for Departmental or Discipline Specific Hosted Servers

Technology Networks & Servers provides hosting services in its Data Center for servers belonging to Simmons College departments, providing them with a gigabit connection to Simmons data network, a controlled environment, and conditioned or emergency backup power. The following services are provided for hosted servers: physical security, management of hardware repair, backup, operating system patches and updates, virus protection, support for Simmons' standard databases and web servers, emergency after-hours support.

Servers hosted by Technology must conform to current Technology standards for both hardware and operating systems. Lifecycle policies require that servers be removed from service when they no longer run operating systems supported by Technology.

Administrative access to hosted servers is in accordance with the Technology policy "Administxrative Rights on Simmons-owned computers (6/22/04)". System owners should refer to the "Simmons College Acceptable Computer and Network Use Policy (6/13/2004)".

Due to the nature of jointly administered servers, security on hosted servers is a combined effort. Network and Servers staff provide guidance and recommendations as needed. When security vulnerabilities are known to be being actively exploited, preemptive action will be taken to patch the systems unless system owners have indicated they would rather have their systems shut down in such cases instead.

 

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