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Faculty Support


Faculty Support

  

The following core set of IT services is currently available to tenure, tenure-track, and full time teaching faculty within the School.  Viterbi IT, the School's central IT, will provide IT support to faculty members in ASTE, BME, CEE, CHEMS, CS, EEP, ISE, and ITP.  Faculty members in AME and EES, please refer to your respective department's IT group.

  • Computer (desktop and laptop) support service - trouble shooting, patch management, setting up new computer, and general assistance to improve security posture
  • Shared network storage
  • Shared calendars / collaboration tool
  • Online data backup

For additional information, please read below.
   

 

Who is Eligible

Tenure, Tenure Track and Full Time Teaching Faculty

Support Plans

Faculty in ASTE, BME, CEE, CHEMS, CS, EE-P, ISE, and ITP will be supported by Viterbi IT (the School's central IT).  Faculty members in these departments may choose a computer support plan on a per computer basis.  Each faculty member may enroll up to two computers.
Faculty in AME or EE-S should inquire with your respective department's IT group for service scope and availability.
 

Plan A

This plan is most appropriate for the following types of users:

  • Users who have desktop computer on USC campus.
  • Users who do not want to deal with software installation, upkeep, maintenance. This includes OS patching and updates.
  • Users who do not want or need to tinker with their computers but just want it to work.

Plan Details:

  • Viterbi IT will retain administrator rights on the computer. User will not have administrator rights.
  • User will use a standard account for every day computing.
  • Automated Windows update and patchinng.
  • Automated Microsoft Office update and patching.
  • Automatic mapping of network drives where applicable.
  • Other software update and patching. Some example, Firefox, Adobe Reader, QuickTime, Safari.
  • Access to school-licensed software such as Microsoft Office productivity suite.
  • Software installation assistance - faculty must provide appropriate license key for other licensed software.
  • Installation, setup and restoration of Network backups. The user will also have the option to set up and restore data personally.
  • Computer equipment is tagged for identification purposes only.
  • Computer hardware and software troubleshooting.
  • For out of warranty hardware, costs of parts and of any repairs by non-Viterbi IT personnel is the responsibility of the faculty member.

Plan B

This plan is most appropriate for the following types of users.

  • Road warriors. Users who have laptops that are used on and off campus.
  • Users who need to retain administrative rights for flexibility to install software but do not mind sharing administrative rights with Viterbi IT for system maintenance.

Plan Details:

  • Shared administrator rights between user and Viterbi IT.
  • User will use a standard user account for every day computing.
  • Scheduled appointments to update and patch the operating system (Mac or Windows).
  • Scheduled appointments to update and patch other software. Some example, Firefox, Adobe Reader, QuickTime, Safari.
  • Access to school-licensed software such as Microsoft Office productivity suite.
  • Software installation assistance - faculty must provide appropriate license key for other licensed software.
  • Installation, setup and restoration of Network backups. The user will also have the option to set up and restore data personally.
  • Computer equipment is tagged for identification purposes only.
  • Computer hardware and software troubleshooting.
  • For out of warranty hardware, costs of parts and of any repairs by non-Viterbi IT personnel is the responsibility of the faculty member.
  • Computer hardware and software troubleshooting on a time-available basis after Plan A subscribers.

Plan C

This plan is most appropriate for the following types of users:

  • Desktop and laptop users who would like to retain full administrative rights.
  • Users who need to install, change, update, modify their operating system and software frequently.
  • Users who do software development work.

Plan Details:

  • User will self-administer the computer. This includes software installation, updates and patches.
  • User will receive step-by-step instructions on how to set up online backup to Viterbi private cloud-based backup storage.
  • Computer equipment is tagged for identification purposes only.
  • For out of warranty hardware, costs of parts and of any repairs by non-Viterbi IT personnel is the responsibility of the faculty member.
  • Viterbi IT will provide emergency assistance to diagnose computer problem on a first-come first-served basis after users in Plans A and B. Such service is provided on a best-effort basis.

 

Enrolling Your Computer in a Support Plan

Beginning on Monday, October 25, 2010, tenure, tenure-track and full time teaching faculty in ASTE, BME, CEE, CHEMS, CS, EE-EP, ISE, and ITP may self-enroll computers to a computer support service plan of your choice at Viterbi Academic Services web portal.

  1. Go to http://myviterbi.usc.edu
  2. Login using your USC NetID credential
  3. Select “Equipment Inventory Manager” tool
  4. Select “Request New Computer Service Enrollment” option

Tagging of Your Computer Equipment

Tagging of your computer equipment is strictly for identification purposes and does not denote ownership.  The tag assists in keeping track of software installation for licensing purposes.

IT Services Available

1. Email

10GB quota.

Viterbi IT does not currently delete old emails.  This may change in the future if School policy changes.  For comparison, USC Information Technology Services deletes email older than 1 year.

Email is currently delivered with Microsoft Exchange 2007 Server.  You will be able to connect your smartphones (iPhones, Blackberry, Windows Mobile, Android) to the Exchange server to get your email, contacts, calendar.

Exchange is a collaboration platform so calendars, contacts may be shared and delegation of email rights to assistants is also possible.

2. Viterbi Cloud Storage (Using Oxygen)

Storage for your business documents that is accessible anywhere, anytime on a variety of end devices.

Provide functionality similar to commercial cloud storage applications such as DropBox, Box.Net or SugarSync but with your data residing on Viterbi IT’s servers here on campus and replicated to the Viterbi School’s disaster recovery site.

Available for Windows, Mac OSX, Apple iOS and Android operating systems.

Provided at no cost to tenure/tenure-track faculty, full time teaching faculty (with titles of Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Associate Professor of Engineering Practice, or Professor of Engineering Practice) in the departments supported by Viterbi IT.

100GB of storage for faculty in departments supported by Viterbi IT.

Please click here for more detailed information.  Click here for the FAQ.

3. Viterbi Network Storage

Viterbi IT offers network storage to tenure/tenure‐track and full time teaching faculty (with titles of Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Associate Professor of Engineering Practice, or Professor of Engineering Practice) in departments it supports, specifically ASTE, BME, CEE, CHEMS, CS EEP, ISE, and ITP. This service is available at no cost. Data is stored on in‐house storage infrastructure of Viterbi IT and securely replicated to a remote disaster recovery site for further data protection.  Highlights of the Viterbi Network Storage:

40GB network storage at no cost; requests for higher storage quota will be evaluated on a case‐by‐case basis

Network storage is accessible anywhere with Internet

Data saved on network storage is securely replicated to a remote site for service protection

Data saved on network storage is backed up daily with data retention up to 4 weeks

Enhanced data security compliance ‐ data stays within Viterbi IT storage infrastructure at both local and remote sites

Data accessible via multiple access protocols: CIFS/SMB, SFTP, and HTTP/web

Cross‐platform client support: Windows, Mac, Linux, FreeBSD, and SolarisWindows and Mac clients on USC network can mount/map drives to the network storage

4. “Private Cloud” based backup:

100GB quota.  Will be increased in the future pending additional storage capacity.

The backup system works whether your computer is on campus or off campus.

There is no limit how many computers you would like to back up.

5. Secure FTP Server Space for Distributing Electronic Course Material:

Meant strictly for instructional support.  Each request will be reviewed to determine eligibility.

Please submit a service request at http://viterbi.usc.edu/servicedesk with the following information: Course Number, Section Number, Estimated Storage required to host the files.

6. Microsoft Office - Currently, we could only install the software for faculty for up to two computers.  Under the licensing agreement with Microsoft, we are unable to supply the software media and license serial number at this time.

7. Update and patch of your operating system and applications, if applicable.

8. Troubleshoot hardware and software related issues.

 

Additionally, your data stored with Viterbi IT, whether it is on email, network storage or backups, are all backed up nightly.  Viterbi IT has a disaster recovery site established at Duke University’s Pratt School of Engineering through a reciprocal equipment hosting agreement.  In the event of a regional disaster, replicated backup data will be accessible from the remote site.

For additional information on any of the above, please feel free to submit a service request for additional information at http://viterbi.usc.edu/servicedesk.

 

Non-Viterbi Backup Services

1. USC Digital Repository

USC is offering fee‐based network storage (file‐server access) service through USC Digital Repository (http://repository.usc.edu/). This service is still in formation and slated for launch in Q2 2012. Details are forthcoming though still sketchy at this point. There are two related press
releases about the service:

http://www.nirvanix.com/news‐events/press‐releases/2011/2011‐11‐15.aspx
http://uscnews.usc.edu/science_technology/usc_launches_powerful_cloud_archive.html


Highlights of the File‐Server Access service:
 

• $70/TB per month.
• Contact: 213‐740‐9263
• Data saved on network storage is securely replicated to peer storage in Nirvanix data center
• Data accessible via CIFS/SMB. HTTP or web access is being investigated.
• Windows and Mac clients on USC network can mount/map drives to the network storage


2. Commercial Online Backup Services


Online storage services make a great secondary backup solution because your data is safe in case of burglary or hardware damage. The services generally provide software for file encryption and for scheduling automated, incremental backups, and they typically store your data at multiple remote locations for increased security. Some services even let you share files remotely. The downside of these services is you have to put your trust in a third party to keep your data safe, and that might not be acceptable to you.  They are also the slowest of the backup methods, taking anywhere from 10 minutes to 12 hours to upload 1GB of data and 10 minutes to 3 hours to download. In addition to the type of files and the speed of your computer, the variables that account for the huge disparity include what else is happening on your PC during the backup, the speed of your Internet connection, and network traffic both on your end and at the online backup service.  If you have a limited amount of data, you can use one of the free services, and the upload time would be more reasonable. But if you have a lot of data and are frequently adding to it, the slow speed and the monthly fees can make this a poor long‐term choice.


The following web sites provide online data backup review comparisons.
 

http://online‐data‐backup‐review.toptenreviews.com/
 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_online_backup_services
 

Top rated commercial online backup service providers are:


SugarSync https://www.sugarsync.com/ 100GB @ $14.99 / month
Review: http://online‐data‐backup‐review.toptenreviews.com/sugarsync‐review.html
 

OpenDrive http://www.opendrive.com/ 100GB @ $5.00 / month
Review: http://online‐data‐backup‐review.toptenreviews.com/opendrive‐review.html
 

MyPC Backup http://mypcbackup.com Unlimited @ $9.95 / month
Review: http://online‐data‐backup‐review.toptenreviews.com/mypc‐backup‐review.html


Dropbox http://www.dropbox.com 100GB @ $19.99 / month
Review: http://online‐data‐backup‐review.toptenreviews.com/dropbox‐review.html

 

 (Last Updated: 1/25/13)