Conceptual Map of IT Services Web Site

Ordering information

All order for computing hardware, software (including licences) and consumables, must be made via
IT Services in the Psychology department.

This is to try and ensure that at least the following requirements are being met:

Regarding hardware:

      
That the specified product is the most suitable choice for the task(s) for which it is to be used, whilst still meeting 
     the requirements imposed on it by current regulations.
That the choice of configuration for hardware, firmware and operating system, is the most suitable.
That the item will be compatible with the existing systems and network (where applicable).
That the choice of supplier is the most appropriate and does not contravene any of UCL's purchasing agreements.
That no alternative product is available, which may be known to be a better choice.
That the item can be supported, if required, by the Support Team. 
That, as far as possible, if the item uses consumables, it uses those which we stock already.
That the terms of the warrantee are suitable.
That you are not ordering something which we already have available for your use.

Regarding software:

     
That you are not ordering software for which we already have a licensing agreement, that either covers your use of 
     the product, or to which you can be added at reduced cost.
That you are not ordering software from an external supplier, which is available through UCL Procurement Services, 
     at greatly reduced cost.
That, where available, the supplier offers an Educational Discount and is on the UCL Preferred Supplier list.
That the particular product, or version, being ordered is not known to have any serious problems, or bugs, or to be
     unstable in a particular configuration.

In addition to any savings that may be made by reducing incorrect, or unnecssary orders, we can often negotiate preferential terms from our suppliers, especially when we can combine orders to the same supplier.

 

Stores

Computing Consumables

We carry a limited stock of consumables for staff and postgraduates in the Bedford Way building. If you require larger quantities, or frequent small quantities, they will need to be ordered. If the consumables are for use in funded research, please let us know your grant number when collecting the item(s).

From  the General Office, 3rd floor:
Printer and Photocopier Consumables:
					
Paper for inkjet and laser printers and photocopier
Transparency sheets for inkjet and laser printer/photocopier
(Make sure you get the correct type for the  device.)
	

From  the IT Services stores, basement:
(Please contact a member of the IT team in  rB25.)
   		
Printing  consumables (for the more common models):
       
 LaserJet toner cartridges for Hewlett Packard
Inkjet cartridges for Hewlett Packard and Epson
    

Data  Storage Media:
	       
CD-R - 700MB
CD-RW - 650MB
DVD+R - 4.7GB
DVD+R DL - 8.5GB
DVD+RW - 4.7GB
Floppy disks - 3.5 inch, 1.44MB
    

Services we provide

User Support
Help and advice
Fault finding and repair
Problem solving
Web page creation help
Connecting peripherals
Operating system support for Windows, Mac OS, Linux/Unix
Software support for the more common packages
Where to seek further help or advice

Software
Provision and installation of packages for which there is a site/sub licence
Advice, purchasing and installation of software requiring an individual lecence.
Licence updates

Hardware
Advice on suitability, compatability, availability.
Purchasing specification and negotiation with supplers.
Setting up new hardware

Consumables
Supply of computing consumables
Purchasing of computing consumables for specific requirements.

Purchasing
Advice on hardware and software purchaing
Specification
Ordering

Network
Connecting computers and other equipment - Desktops, laptops, printers, etc.
Wireless LAN connection
Configuration of network settings
Cabling installation
Security
Room Booking
Seminar rooms
Testing rooms
ISD Cluster rooms
WebDAV File store
Subversion repositiories
External access
Firewall
SSH and SFTP connection
VPN Server access
SSL Certificates and keys
To local Intranet Restricted pages

Security
Virus protection
Patching of operating systems

User accounts
Authorisation, creation
Passwords - Resetting
Email - Configuring clients, aliases, group addresses, special needs
Web accounts and space

MM_XSLTransform error:
An error occured while loading XML document "Support/SPSSLicensing.xml".
Error message was: Access is denied.

Software available to staff

There are a number of different purchasing and licensing schemes in operation for a variety of software products. The main schemes are explained briefly below, followed by a list of the most commonly requested software currently available under those schemes.

UCL have purchased a Campus Agreement from Microsoft covering their most popular products, making them available for use by all departments and staff.

UCL Procurement Services have negotiated a number of licensing agreements with software suppliers, enabling them to duplicate and distribute certain application packages, for purchase by departments and staff at special rates which are often substantially lower than the normal price.

Some packages are available with further discounts to departments buying multiple licences covering a given period of use.

Other software suppliers offer their products to us at discounted "Educational" prices when purchased through UCL Procurement.

Some software is available through other Universities and from other UCL departments.

Software not available through UCL Procurement Services, must normally be purchased direct from the supplier, or via an appointed reseller, at the normal price. However, some suppliers do offer an Educational discount on certain products. It's always worth asking, as this can reduce the price by as much as 50% to 75%.

Some licences cover unlimited use of a particular version of the product, whereas others must be renewed each year. Certain software licences only cover use whilst on the UCL campus. If required for home use, the product may be available for purchase from the UCL College Shop.

A full, up to date, list of software pricing, as well as details of the licensing conditions, can be found on the UCL Procurement Services web pages.

No software should be purchased without first checking with the IT Services team, because we may already have installation disks, or CDs for the product, or possibly even have a spare licence.

Sometimes there may be free, or cheaper alternatives to an application, which can fullfill all that you require of the product (such as the Adobe Elements range).

For software not available from UCL Procurement Services, we will often know where to find the product at the best discounted price.

Products for which we have a site agreement or sub-licence (e.g. you do not need an individual licence):

Microsoft Office 2003 (Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, Outlook, Publisher and InfoPath)

Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 (Visual Basic, Visual C++, Visual C#, Visual J#, Visual FoxPro, Visual InterDev, JScript)

Microsoft Frontpage ?

Reference Manager

SPSS

Networked Printing

Web Accounts

Web space is available to members of staff, on our local servers. Contact Nico Preston of the IT Services team for more information and for an account.

You can create web pages which will be linked in as part of the main Psychology site, with a URL below the department's psychol domain address, like www.psychol.ucl.ac.uk/jeffery.fletcher.

These can be used for displaying personal information, research interests, or publications, or for making course notes, teaching materials and references available to students.

Sites with their own identities can be created, for instance a research group wanting a Psychology sub-domain address like www.vision.psychol.ucl.ac.uk, or in special cases, requiring their own UCL domain name, such as www.icn.ucl.ac.uk.

Pages can be public for the world to visit, or they can be restricted in various ways, requiring password authentication, or only allowing access to client machines on the UCL campus network, or just from within the Psychology department. Where necessary, for instance when creating a repository for external upload and download of sensitive files, access can be further restricted and transactions protected, by using SSL certificates for the clients, as well as for the server, along with passwords and strong encryption, to identify specific machines and users and reduce the risk of compromise through network packet sniffing and address spoofing.

Our web servers support a number of extensions, server models and scripting languages, including FrontPage, PHP, CGI, ASP, ASP.NET, VBScript, JavaScript, as well as MySQL, MSSQL and MS Access databases.

Web Demonstrator

The department has a Web Demonstrator who can advise and help you with creating web page content. Contact: Nikos konstantinou on x27591 (n.konstantinou@ucl.ac.uk).

UCL policy does not allow the running of personal web servers on individual computers attached to the college network. Such machines can represent a big risk to network security (please see security).

The ISD provide limited web space, on their systems, for users with UCL accounte. See here for further information.

Development of Computing in Psychology
	1978		Using PDP8 for processing audio signals and speech synthesis in auditory research (Wolfson House) and using the central processing facilities of what was then the Computer Centre (housed next to the Uni in Gordon Sq.). for data analysis. Punch cards and punched tapes for programming.
	1980?		Moved to Bedford Way building. Installed PDP11 and 12 for audio signal processing and speech synthesis. Using 12 inch floppy disks for booting and data storage/programming. Computer Centre moved to Kathlene Lonsdale building which we used for data analysis on UCLIC? Main frame and fan fold printouts (which had to be collected from the basement of KL building). Punch cards/dial-up modem link with dumb terminal. Early days of email (at least for me). (Only had a Terminal printer at the beginning (no monitor, just echo printout). Also used Amdhal main-frame? at ULCC. Email via central system.
	1981?		Using Cray-1s at ULCC for data analysis for large sets. Serial links direct to KL building Pyramid? and to ULCC. We had 2 or 3 CED (Cambridge Electronic Developments in red 19 inch rack for data/signal i/o fast D to A and A to D converters, etc. with large dual floppy drives, linked to other rooms for controlling experiments, collecting responses, signals, etc.
	1982?		Sinclair, Commodore Pets 8k RAM boot off cassette tape drive only. Monochrome (black/white, dark green/light green)
	1983		Pets 16k RAM up to 32k by end of year. Huge hard disk drives in separate box.
	1984?		Installed MicroVAX II multi-user system and thick wire Ethernet linking terminals on BBC micros running Kermit terminal emulators (on EPROM chips) in Bedford way 4th floor. Used large reel to reel tapes for storage/floppy for boot and small internal hard drive. Later fitted large capacity! external 875MB hard disk monster and special neural network processing boards for Kerry Greer - never used). microVAX ran VMS and Unix (DEC version) and programmed in C, Prolog, Fortran, Cobol, ADA, VAX applications included SPSS, Genstat, other stats progs, etc.). DECnet networking and Ethernet board using ?? software to translate the protocols and integrate the systems.
	19??		Econet network of BBC micros in UG Cubicles, with colour monitors and Econet server for data storage/sharing. Each user had their own login and account space on the BBC servers' hard drives. Econet bridged to Ethernet network using ??? for data upload to VAX and storage, etc. and email. Coordinated experimenst were run, where every cubicle's BBC ran the same experiment, or presented the same series of stimuli, then response data was downloaded to the central disk for analysis and results printout, giving instant feed back to the lab class on the groups' behaviour. Or the data could be transfered to the VAX for analysis. BBCs and Econet extended to PG computing room, off common room, where Andrew's office and store room now are (door in was at back of Lab 1).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Computing User Accounts

To use any computer, or computer-based facility at UCL, you need a valid user account on that system.

No single user account covers all of the systems at UCL (yet) and so you may need two, or more, sets of credentials.

Broadly speaking, the systems are divided into three main groups, each with its own authentication system, or systems:

Local systems managed by individual departments, catering for the spcific needs of their staff and students.
These include: desktop PCs, teaching labs/cubicles, research computers, print servers, email, web servers, versioning file store (Subversion,WebDAV), electronic message board, room booking system.

Centrally managed systems provided by the Information Services Division (ISD) for use by UCL as a whole.
These include: Cluster room machines and managed systems and WTS, email servces, multi-user system (socrates), fle store.

There is a small third category comprising systems that are provided for use campus-wide, but that are not accessible using the normal ISD authentication credentials.
These include: FIS (Oracle Finance System), some Library electronic journals.

Within the Psychology department there are a number of computing facilities that require their own user ID and password. For instance, local email, office desktop PCs, undergraduate Lab computers,

Follow the links below for more detailed information on user accounts (registering, changing) and on passwords (re-setting, choosing), as well as an explantion for the existance of multiple authentication systems.

Psychology

User Accounts

Passwords

Information Sytems Division

User Accounts

Passwords

UCL ISD Computing Accounts

User accounts

An ISD user account is required before being able to use any of the following:

• Email (POP and IMAP/WebMail)
• Unix time-share system
• certain restricted Intranet areas and services
• certain Library and Electronic Journal services
• StaffWTS (Citrix)
• Cluster Room PCs

Departmental Computer Reps

There are two Departmental Computer Reps for the Psychology Department. They form the point of contact between the Department and the ISD and are responsible for such things as authorising user accounts (creation, deletion, suspension, etc.), passing on relevant information to Users, etc. They are:

• Nico Preston (x37571)
• David Tam (x25359)

Registering for an ISD user account

To get an account and use the UCL computer systems, you must be a member of staff, or a registered student.

Student registration

Undergraduate and postgraduate students are automatically registered for an account when accepted on a course of study and will receive their account details, along with their other introductory documents, when they first join UCL.

Staff registration

Full-time staff (teaching, research, secretarial, admin, technical etc) are normally registered automatically when their contract is processed by HR and should received their account details via the internal post.

If you know that your contract has been processed by HR, but you have not received details of your computing account from the ISD, then please inform one of the Departmental Computer Reps, so they can check to see why this is.

If, in the past, you have worked in another department at UCL, or have been a student of any kind at UCL, you should inform one of the Departmental Computer Reps, because your name will probably still be on the system and will prevent you from being registered automatically. The system will think you already have an account, even if it is no longer active, or is very old.

Visitor registration

Visitors and unpaid staff are not registered automatically and in order to be eligable for an account must be given Honorary staff status. This is a fomality that enables HR to add their name to the UPI database, which in turn enables their registration for an account. To accomplish this you must first see the Departmental Administrator, John Draper (x25338) in the Bedford Way building, or Julia Curl (x????) in the Torrington Place building, and ask for Honorary status. Once that has been done, you should contact one of the Departmental Computer Reps, Nico Preston (x37571), or David Tam (x25359), and ask them to authorise your registration on the UPI database.

Email and Web account for short-term visitors

If you are a short term visitor, or for some reason cannot be given Honorary status, then we can give you an email account on our local mail server and web space, if required, however this will not allow you access to the other services provided by the ISD.

Roll Account

Under certain circumstances, it may be necessary to have an account that can be used by more than one person, or to link the account to the post, when the person filling the post is changing frequently. In these case a Roll account can be created, which is issued to an existing account holder, who is responsible for it, but which is not restricted to use by any particular user. Contact one of the Departmental Computer Reps for more information.

Paying for an ISD account

If you are paid by another instiitution, or are not eligible for an account in any other way, but are, for instance, working collaboratively at UCL and have need of an ISD account, you may be charged a subscription fee for the service. For further information, please contact the ISD Helpdesk on x37779 (020 7679 7779).

 

Psychology Computing Accounts

User accounts are needed for access to:

	Local Email
	Web Space on the Psychology servers
	UG Lab and Cubicle PCs
	Room Booking System
	Versionning File Store
	File Upload server
	Other local network (Intranet) based facilities

Because these facilities are based on different computer systems, they currently require a different user account for accessing the lab and cubicle PCs, than for the local email, web and other network facilities.

To apply for an account on any of these systems (appart from the UG Lab and Cubicle PCs), please contact: Nico Preston.

For UG Lab and Cubicle PCs please contact the UG Computing Administrator: Steve Williams.

Email accounts and aliases, either short, or long-term, can be set up for special purposes and for groups requiriing a single address.

External Access and Security

External access to the Department's computer systems is restricted by an Institutional Firewall, by Access Control Lists (ACLs) and by Secure Socket Layer (SSL) Certificates and Keys.

The Institutional Firewall is configured to restricts incoming traffic only.Outgoing traffic is unaffected, provided it originates from within UCL.Also, all connections initiated from inside the firewall, are automatically given the permissions required for returning traffic to get through.

Obviously, by granting external access to any system, one reduces the overall security of that system and of others on the same LAN.One is effectively cutting a "hole" through that system's armour, exposing a part of its "body".

It therefore helps to keep any "holes" as small as possible, reducing the risk of unwanted things finding them and geting through the opening.If we have to expose part of the system, we try to make sure that it's not a particularly vulnerable area (like part of the soft underbelly).Our Web sites need to be visible to anyone in the World, but this can be accomplished whilst only exposing port 80 to http browser traffic (or port 443 to https traffic, when using SSL).

For this reason, external access is provided on an individual basis, when there is a specific need, for specific machine to a particular service, for the period of time needed.

The following details will be required:

	Netname and IP address of the system you want to access.
	Service and port to which access is required. (e.g. SSH on port 22).
	Netname and IP of client from which you want to connect.
	Duration of access requirement.

Most Internet Service Providers (ISPs), do not provide you with a fixed IP address, as part of their standard packages.

So it may be necessary to allow access to a range of addresses, implying that we will also be exposing our system to your ISP's other subscribers.

This may be an acceptable risk for a short period of time, or if the service/port is not particualrly vulnerable and has additional protection, such as with a SSL connection to a high number port,

But to grant all Hotmail, or Yahoo, users for instance, indefinite access to our systems, via an unprotected port, or ports, would be asking for trouble.

This is effectively the case with FTP and Telnet access, because both services transfer all their data in plain text, including login UIDs and passwords.

SSL Key and Certificate Issue

Some of our connections require identification using an SSL Certificate and that all communication be encrypted using 2048 bit SSL Private Key.

The SSL Certificate and Key are issued by us, normally for 1 year, to identify a particular machine when accessing a specific server and are non-transferable.

You will still need a UID and password for the server, when connecting using SSL.

To request, or renew, an SSL Key and Certificate, please contact: Nico Preston

SSL Key and Certificate Installation

After issue, the SSL Key and Certificate will need to be installed on the client machine, along with the Public Key and Certificate of the issuing Certificate Authority (CA).

Your client Key and Certificate will be provided in the form of a PKCS12 file (with .p12 extension) protected by an Export Password.

During import and subsequent use, you will be asked for the Passphrase which protects the Private Key and will have been given to you at issue.

Import instructions for the client SSL Key and Certificate and the CA Public Key and Certificate, using Internet Explorer, Netscape and using the Microsoft Management Consol (MMC) can be found here.

Passwords on ISD systems

Passwords for accounts on the ISD's systems (those with usernames normally starting with ucjt and used for accessing email where the address is @ucl.ac.uk, for logging in to Staff WTS, Cluster room machines and various UCL web services) are reset automatically every 150 days, if not changed by the User before that deadline. This is a security measure designed to prevent Users from using the same password for years on end. You will be sent several reminders, via email, before the expiry date and it's good practice to change your password as soon as you receive the first reminder.

Changing your ISD password

Passwords can be changed by going to the ISD web site, www.ucl.ac.uk/isd, and clicking on the "Change Password" box on the right-hand side of the home page, then following the instructions. The system is quite strict and insists that passwords contain a mix of upper and lower case letters, numbers and punctuation characters. It also prevents you from using the same, or a similar, password again, even if you change it to something else first and then try to change it back, so there is no point in trying and it has a very long memory. It's worth thinking about what you will change it to, which is likely to be accepted, before actually trying, as it can be very frustrating to have your attempts rejected over and over again. Or just accept the fact that you are not going to have a memorable password, however hard you try and simply accept one of the pseudo-random ones that the system offers you.

Expired, or forgotten, passwords

If you miss the deadline for changing your password and find that you can no longer log in, or if you forget what your password is, then you should go in person to the ISD Help Desk, during office hours, and present your UCL ID card. They will then issue you with a new password. They cannot give you a password over the phone, or via any email account, as proof of identity is required.

Proof of Identity service

You can subscribe to a service which allows you to identify yourself over the phone by answering a series of questions, enabling the ISD to then tell you your password, however this must be set up in advance.

Emergency password reset

If you have not subscribed to this service and it is not possible for you to go in person, then you should contact either Nico Preston, or David Tam, who, if they know who you are, will be able to contact ISD User Services and get you a new password. They will need your name, your user ID and a contact phone number. It may not be possible to get you a new password straight away, as it is necessary to make telephone contact with the ISD User Services office, which is not always manned, as opposed to their Help Desk. So please be patient. Also, see the reset delay below.

Password reset delay

A password that has to be reset will take about 2 hours to come into effect, so you will not be able to use it until after that time.

Conclusion

Obviously it is best for everyone, if you change your password before it expires and don't forget what it is. It only takes a few seconds and very little effort to change it yourself, but can take several hours and the efforts of several other people for it to be reset.

Psychology Passwords

Psychology accounts include those for email with addresses ending "@psychol.ucl.ac.uk", accounts for web space on our servers whose URLs begin with "www.psychol.ucl.ac.uk/", or end with ".psychol.ucl.ac.uk".

To request a password reset, please contact Nico Preston (x27571).

 

Scanning and OCR

The scanner

A document scanner attached to a Dell GX270 PC, available for use by staff and postgrads, is located in the Bedford Way building's General Office (r310).

The scanner is a HP ScanJet xxx, A4 flatbed with document feeder.

Image scanning

HP PrecisionScan Pro software package can be used for scanning images to produce bitmap or vector output in 2 bit monochrome, grayscale (8 bit) bitmaps, 256 colour bitmaps, or TrueColor (24 bit) bitmaps, at up to 1200 dpi resolution. This application provides all the usual zooming, cropping, rotating, filtering and adjustment functions.

Text scanning (OCR)

For text scanning, there is OmniPage Pro OCR software (Optical Character Recognition) which will translate text in image format into character codes for editable text compatible with wordprocessing packages such as Micorsoft Word. It can handle a large selection of fonts provided the image of the text is of reasonable quality and contrast. For characters the software is unsure of, human intervention is sought.

High contrast line drawing scanning

Black and white line drawings seem to scan better when OmniPage Pro is used, rather than the HP image scanning software.

OmniPage Pro can also be used to scan grayscale and colour images.

Cubicle Computers

PCs available for general use

The PCs situated in the cubicles on the third floor of the Bedford Way building, are part of the UG teaching resource and are mainly for the use of undergraduate students.

However, when not being used for lab classes, undergraduate projects, or exams, they are available to other members of the department. Undergraduate students have priority, so staff and postgraduate users should be prepared to relinquish any they are using, if no other cubicle is available.

At certains times during the summer break, the lab and cubicles are used by courses run for visiting students. Please also give up any cubicle you may be using, if it is needed by one of these students.

Some additional application packages have been installed on certain machines.

A user ID and password is needed for access.

Please contact Steve Williams (r316, x 25666) for more details, before using any of these PCs.

emailPsychol

Computing and Network Services

ISD Accounts for new staff

As a new member of staff, you should automatically be issued with an account by the UCL Information Systems Division (ISD). This user id and password gives you access to the following services:

Email (POP and IMAP) Windows Terminal Servces for staff (Staff WTS) Time-share systems Library services Restricted web areas

For this to happen automatically, you must be a permanent or an honorary member of staff, with a contract from UCL Human Resources (HR). If there is a hold-up with the processing of your contract by HR, then there may also be a delay before you receive your computing account details. If you have ever been registered for an ISD user account with another department, or have been a UCL student, then that could prevent the automatic processing of a new account. If you think that any of the above apply to you, then you should notify one of the departmental computer reps, so that your account application can be authorised and submitted manually. Similarly, if you think there may be a hold-up for some other reason, or you feel that you have been waiting too long, then please contact one of the reps.

File Store & WebDAV We provide an central file store for use as an upload area where files can be saved for subsequent accessed or retrieval by yourselve or another person, or specified group of people. Authentication for both the client and the server is controlled by SSL certificates and all transfers are encrypted using SSL keys. The user authentication is by id and password (also encrypted). The WebDAV protocol is used to perform the transfer. The user can connect by openning the web folder specified by a URL, using a web browser, then just drag and drop the required file(s). This facility is primarily intended for uploading sensitive data files across the Internet, to be accessible by a limited number of authorised others. For instance to allow researchers to upload video clips whilst conducting field work at remote sites, which can then be retrieved and viewed by a tutor, or by other members of the research group. However, it may be used for two or more people based locally and simply wanting some way of sharing sensitive files. Please contact Nico Preston for further information.

Subversion - Versionning File Store. We provide a versionning file store system using Subversion. This can be very useful for collaborators working on the same files and wanting a way of keeping track of changes and which editted files are the most up-to-date versions. The system takes care of organising all the files, both locally and on the serveri, initially presenting just the latest versions, but allowing one to track back through all previous versions as needed The repositories are secure and protected by SSL certificate and key. For a fuller description of the system and its uses, please follow the link below. Instructions for use are provided here. Please contact Nico Preston for further details.

UG Computing