Services We Provide

Service 

Short Description 

Help Desk 

CS2 staff members rotate to triage requests that come into our help desk and forward such requests to the appropriate staff member(s) or external group(s). Students, faculty, and staff in CS can submit their requests at https://help.cs.unc.edu. There is also an email available at help@cs.unc.edu. Finally, CS2 keeps a database available at https://help.cs.unc.edu of common CS-related issues and resolutions to those issues. This site is available 24/7. 

System assembly and upgrades 

Many CS researchers rely on customized computer systems and storage appliances that are not sold by vendors such as Lenovo, Dell, or Apple. These unique systems require CS2 staff with knowledge to physically assemble various third-party components to form a complete working system. We have the ability to build custom PCs and servers with GPUs used for research. We also handle requests to install upgrades, such as RAM and SSDs. 

Purchasing 

Most computer systems in CS are purchased outside of the CCI program. This requires CS2 staff who can plan, configure, and design quotes for these systems. They must then work with accounting and purchasing to place orders in a timely manner. The State and University have rules and regulations that must be followed. 

Core Services 

CS2 manages core research computing services for the department. This includes running our own Domain Name System (DNS) and Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) servers to support research projects. Using these in-house servers allows us to change records quickly and dynamically. We also provide login servers for remote shell (SSH) access to files and systems. 

Google Workspace 

CS was one of the first UNC College departments to make the switch to cloud email service, Google Workspace. CS2 is responsible for account management and lifecycle. We also manage storage and respond to security issues for this service. 

Security and Access Control 

Select undergraduates and affiliated researchers from other universities have a need to access servers owned by CS research faculty. CS2 is responsible for responding to requests for this type of access. We work with HR and faculty to allow temporary secure access to systems. We also respond to security incidents and help promote best practices for this type of workload. 

Virtual Machines 

Virtual machines are a great option for access to a system that can be quickly recycled and/or repurposed after use. The department started investing in virtual machine infrastructure in 2016, and now allows access to all faculty, staff, and graduate students. This has helped CS course instructors provide a consistent system across all enrolled students. CS2 is responsible for the maintenance of this infrastructure. 

Shared Storage 

In addition to the campus cloud storage offerings by ITS, CS2 provides in-house storage space for CS users. This includes standard SMB storage for administrative staff, and large NFS/CIFS storage pools for research groups. CS students tend to fill up their allocated storage often, and CS2 staff will spend time educating them on how to reduce storage and manage their workflow. 

Meeting Space A/V 

The department manages 12 meeting rooms used by research groups for group meetings. CS2 is responsible for maintaining and supporting the A/V technology in each. This includes control system integration with the room (lighting, projector screens, microphones, and speakers). 

Custom OS Deployment 

Researchers, especially in Operating Systems and Security, need the ability to quickly deploy multiple OSs, including multiple kernels, on various types of hardware. In machine learning, there’s a need for special software, such as CUDA for GPU computing. To accomplish both, CS2 provides custom OS deployment tools for Windows and Linux. This allows researchers to automate the process of wiping a computer clean and reloading the OS from scratch, 24/7. 

Research Event Assistance and Building Displays

The department relies on CS2 staff for research event assistance. A few examples include invited speakers, dissertation defenses, faulty/staff recruiting, and faculty meetings. CS2 also supports the application that runs the Sitterson/Brooks building displays.

Asset Management 

CS2 manages over 1800 departmental assets in an online database at https://itam.cs.unc.edu. This includes tracking the lifecycle of a device, from purchase to disposal. We are also responsible for allocating the department Overleaf license.

Phones 

The department maintains its own phone system with 200 lines. CS2 has managed the number assignments and user voicemail accounts. We also deploy the phones and are responsible for a physically separate switched VOIP network in the Sitterson Hall and the Brooks Building.

Web Servers 

The department has a webserver at https://www.cs.unc.edu that hosts multiple websites for faculty and graduates. CS2 maintains a cluster of web servers for this site. We also maintain another 50 virtual hosts and keep up with their security certificate renewals. 

Alumni 

Former students and retired faculty maintain their CS accounts after leaving the department. CS2 responds to requests for this service. Examples are password resets, restoring lost files, and updating email forwarding addresses. 

Patch Management 

Security updates and patches are released all the time. To meet the security compliance requirements of the University, CS2 staff use tools such as Nagios and Qualys to look for vulnerabilities, patches, and updates that need to be downloaded and installed. We perform testing of updates to determine if they will cause any services to break. Finally, we also perform reboots after kernel and some application updates. 

Backups 

Due to the large amount of data stored on CS systems, we are unable to back up workstations or research servers by default. However, we do offer limited backup services by request (when the OneDrive service from ITS is not sufficient). CS2 manages a cluster of backup servers to protect important systems such as multi-user course virtual machines and administrative storage servers. 

System Monitoring 

CS2 monitors our research computing systems for issues with Nagios. Issues monitored include: simple network ping, system load, disk usage, RAID status, SSL certificate expiration, and service response time. This allows us to respond to issues typically before users notice something is wrong. We have someone on call to respond to emergency issues 24/7. 

Active Directory 

CS2 maintains a cluster of Active Directory hosts for the CS.UNC.EDU domain. This service includes provisioning, managing, and decommissioning of user, group, and group policy objects. In addition to Windows PC clients, we support LDAP and Kerberos clients for Linux workstations and servers. This allows CS2 to provide a single CS sign on for all of our users across multiple systems.