Goals, or possibly conflicting forces to resolve:

1. Accessibility -- pathways to resources

   Criteria: 24x7x365 access

   • primary -- on-campus: physical building, lab and mailbox access
     • this acess is required

     • not all buildings, labs and mailboxes will be available to all students

       But when they are, they will meet criteria.

     • special needs: ADA and ergonomic considerations

   • secondary -- off-campus: remote access to applications and files

     This access is considered a convenience rather than a requirement. Consequently, support for it is low priority,

   functionality adequate, pertinent, flexible performance adequate to support peak usage monitorability unmodifiable, unobtrusive currency stable (latest stable releases (per quarter and budget)) manageability moderate (standardized, organized, institutionalized) maintainability high (planned, documented, automated, tested) service responsive, reliable, timely, informative, effective scalability moderate

2. Security -- authentication, authorization and crime avoidance

   Criteria: constant vigilance with adequate maintenance

   • There will never be enough resources to effectively address all concerns.

     Consequently, must put forth a best-effort in light of all other work to do with limited human resources.

   • All students, faculty and staff must have a valid UW Net ID as a means of authentication.

     Other official ID (e.g., driver's license, student ID card, Husky card, etc.) may suffice to prove identity.

   • Login accounts use the UW Net ID as the account ID.

     They are created from class lists, on demand by students not on current class lists with proper ID, or by special request from faculty and staff. In all cases, there must be an academic reason and a tie-in to a UW-sponsored activity to justify account creation.

     Login accounts are rarely shared (see guest accounts for the one exception) to ensure accountability.

     Login accounts are disabled and may be deleted for reasons of:

     1. abuse of lab resources,
     2. inactivity over more than two quarters,
     3. academic program change,
     4. academic program drop or graduation

     The user is responsible for backing up all files prior to leaving the program for any reason.

   • Guest login accounts have limited access.

     They are used for people who aren't yet in the system (e.g., assessment tests for potential students) or who may never be (e.g., a special group of people who are being shown the capabilities of the labs). If possible, the login times are restricted and the account is set to expire on the last day of use. Further restrictions may also apply.

   • Groups are used to ease security authorization management.

     Some groups of users require login accounts. Since login accounts should not be shared, the name of the group should not conflict with current and future UW Net IDs. That is, group names should avoid the user namespace.

     If group accounts are needed, it is usually for sharing files and using the name for a common reference. Therefore, login access is not required as long as the members of the group have read/write access to the group login's file space.

     Groups should probably also be used for databases, although the mechanism used in a DBMS is often incompatible with the mechanism with the OS.

   • Access to production servers or control rooms requires authorization and a key.

     Both malicious and inadvertent disruption of service can be mitigated this way.

     Servers must be protected from network attacks. Power outages and other environmental sources of disruption should also be considered, subject to cost and criticality.

     Clear labelling and instructions can help avoid inadvertent disruption in a control room.

   • All keys must be returned on demand or prior to the exit of the student from the academic program.

   • Anything of value that is easily transportable must be locked down.

     This is more of a deterrent than a guarantee of keeping it in our possession.

   • Anything of low value that you wish to remain in one place should be locked down.

     This keeps the resource (e.g., books, staplers) in the desired location, making it easier for users to locate the resource. There is a tradeoff here between the cost of securing an item and the inconvenience of a roaming location for it.

3. Availability -- keeping the system up and operational
   1. Production Server Criteria: 99.9% uptime (down 10 minutes per week)

      Guaranteeing this is subject to having the correct hardware and stable campus infrastructure (e.g., electrical power).

      Data availability is critical, and the production servers that allow a user to access his/her data will have the most resources devoted to them.

   2. Workstation Criteria: 98% during a quarter and 50% during a break

      Workstations are typically nearly-identical copies. So when a workstation becomes unavailable, a user may choose to find another unused one on which to work.

      Workstations get re-imaged during breaks, which accounts for the significant drop in uptime.

   3. Printer Criteria: none

      Printing is free in the labs, and is considered a privilege and convenience vs. a requirement. Since all printers in general labs are available for use, if one fails, there is often another that can be used. As printers get specialized (e.g., color printers or wide-format printers), there may not be any redundant lab resource to switch to. Options then may include the Copy Centers.

   4. Network Criteria: 99.9% uptime, to the extent it is under lab control

      The UW Computing & Communications Department manages the network in most buildings once the network cable plugs into the wall.

4. Connectivity -- internet/intranet/extranet/micronets as well as hardware interfacing
   1. Network Criteria: fixed, roaming, discoverable
      • "Fixed" means an existing port on the network (usually, a hub).
      • "Roaming" means a wireless connection on the campus network
      • "Discoverable" means a wireless connection on a lab network (usually for small devices)

   2. Interfacing Criteria: in specially designated areas only
      • PDA cradles
      • USB ports
      • Firewire ports
      • Video ports
      • Audio ports
      • Microphone ports
      • Gameports/MIDI ports
      • serial/parallel ports
      • SCSI ports
      • additional network ports
      • infrared ports
      • modem ports
      • CompactFlash/SmartCard/Memory Stick/PC Card box
      • removable hard drive tray
      • removable media (floppy/Zip/CD/tape?)

5. Currency -- degree of being up-to-date

6. Functionality -- the end use of lab resources as well as the operational infrastructure

7. Manageability -- meta-concerns: policies, standards, procedures

8. Maintainability -- degree of ease of fixing, upgrading, adding and deleting resources

9. Security -- protect data and operations and recover from attacks

10. Customer Service -- quality of service to customers

11. Performance -- efficiency of use of resources

12. Scalability -- ability to expand or contract amount of resources per demand