Make an encrypted USB stick with gnome-disks
This page explains how to use gnome-disks on DICE to make an encrypted USB stick.
Accessing sensitive data remotely from home or public machines
- Consider using a VPN (for example our OpenVPN service), particularly if you are using wireless in a public place - public wireless points are often less secure than those at home or within the University.
- When using a machine you do not manage (in an internet cafe, for example):
- You must avoid accessing sensitive data on such a machine.
- When using a home machine that you share with others:
- You must use a separate user account that other individuals have no access to.
- Please run antivirus.
Self-managed server rooms
The self-managed server rooms house self-managed machines which are unsuitable for an office environment. They are rooms B.Z14 and B.01 in the basement of the Informatics Forum. These pages tell you how to use them.
Safety
You must read this important information on safety and emergencies:
Self-managed machines in the Informatics Forum
A 'self-managed machine' on our network is any machine other than either a desktop running the DICE managed version of Linux, or a 'Windows Managed Desktop'. For example, a laptop (running any OS), a desktop running Ubuntu, a rackable server running Ubuntu, or a bespoke piece of equipment which has a wired network interface - all of these are 'self-managed machines' in our terminology.
Using the network from outwith the School
See also
What's a firewall? tells you what a firewall is.
Remote working is about using the School's facilities from outside. This page is specifically about the Informatics network.
Informatics firewall
Our network perimeter is protected by a stateful firewall: in general, all traffic which originates from within our network is permitted, whilst everything originating from outside is blocked.
Using the wired network in the Informatics Forum
General usage guidance
In addition to our overall computing Policies and guidelines:
General purpose servers
You can log in to several types of server:
Remote desktop (XRDP)
Use this to log in to Informatics from home with a full graphical desktop. For details see:
Remote login (ssh)
Use this to log in to Informatics from home on the command line. For details see:
Remote wake-up for sleeping computers
The School of Informatics has a remote computer wake-up service. You can use it to wake a computer which is sleeping, as long as that computer is connected to the Informatics network by a network cable, and has a fixed IP address.
Appleton Tower The wake-up service no longer wakes computers in Appleton Tower, because of recent changes in network equipment. Sorry. If we find a solution we'll mention it here.
Wireless network
Connect to wifi
On campus, use the secure eduroam network.
OpenVPN FAQ
This page contains some questions and answers specifically aimed at our Informatics OpenVPN setup. The Official FAQ and documents linked from it contain more general information which may help resolve problems.