MCDONALD OBSERVATORY / DEPARTMENT OF ASTRONOMY COMPUTING Index      previous   |   next   Restricted access systems pegasus - Sun StorageTek Storage Appliance. RLM 15.320E. Provides distributed software services (/opt/local) for all Solaris systems in Austin. preakness - Duel 2.8 GHz Intel Xeon w/ Gigabit Ethernet. GNU/Linux. RLM 15.320E. This system is the host for all mass storage arrays, currently totaling over 3 TB. It also provides distributed software services (/opt/local) for most GNU/Linux-based systems in Austin. affirmed - Sun Ultra 5. Solaris 2.8. RLM 15.320E. This system hosts the Department and Observatory web server, http://www.as.utexas.edu/, which contains a variety of useful information including access to course pages. There are no private web pages on this server. continuum - Intel Pentium-4, GNU/Linux. RLM 15.320E. Provides login management and windows domain services for "public" windows systems. Austin Ethernet Network The Departmental network connects computers using TCP/IP and EtherTalk protocols. It currently delivers a minimum of 100 Mb/s of data to all network ports. The physical network has a star topology, centered around an array of high-speed switches which connect one department computer to another and each to the outside world. The switches intelligently channel network traffic between systems, allowing packets to only move on the segments required for point-to-point communication. This has important security connotations, since it means that users on other segments are unable to see the traffic between two computers on other segments. Not all segments in the building are activated, although this can be easily remedied by contacting helpdesk@astro. As required by University policy, all connections to the campus network must be identified and authenticated. This is done in the following two ways: Static machines - Workstations, servers, and printers which are always present on the Departmental network are assigned static addresses. These are fixed and ensure that the reliability of central services is maintained. This list is carefully maintained and monitored. For example, there are 494 static hosts on the Austin Ethernet network. If a desktop workstation is being purchased, we will be happy to assign it a fixed address. DHCP - We provide a pool of addresses for laptops connecting to the departmental network. This methodology is the same as the one used by commercial cable-routers as well as the University at large, which often means a given user doesn't need to reconfigure their laptop when they change locations. If you would like to have the option to connect your laptop to our network, email helpdesk@astro or bring your laptop into the computing suite, 15.320. Connections to Mt. Locke are routed over two 1.5 Mbit T1 lines, making them fairly slow compared to the traffic on our internal network. Please be patient when transferring data over this connection. Index      previous   |   next

4 September 2008 McDonald Observatory · The University of Texas at Austin · Austin, Texas 78712 site comments: www@www.as.utexas.edu