Service Desk Policies & Services

Vision/Mission

Provide the best support possible for our customers, enabling them to focus on their areas of expertise.

Priorities

We strive to provide a high level of support for all customers. Occasionally the need arises to prioritize tickets due to load. If priority calls are necessary, the priorities are spelled out below.

1. Teaching - Anything impacting classes that are in session is to be given the highest priority.  If the class isn’t currently in session but the problem is related to teaching, it is a high priority but may be deferred if it can be completed without impacting the next class.

2. University owned or leased machines.

3. Personal machines as time allows with the limitations set out in the laptop/desktop support section.  Personal machines are not allowed on wired networks.

Services 

Free services provided for if you are affiliated with Engineering, Math, or Physics:

• Central authentication for Windows related services using campus Active Directory.

• Secure remote access via the campus VPN.

• File storage services via Microsoft file servers and AFS file servers.

  • Storage location is based on the needs of the groups and is discussed prior to creating the storage space.

  • Talk with us about quota options.

• Print services via Microsoft print server and CUPS print server.

  • Print quota may be in effect in certain cases.

• Service Desk for support services that are offered.

  • Contact possible via email, phone, or in person.

  • Doors are open 9-5, Monday-Friday, in EGR, except for UMD holidays. 

  • Support on holidays or after hours is best effort. Users may have to wait for assistance.

• Desktop support for University owned or leased machines for Microsoft Windows 10/11, Apple Mac OS (latest version), Glue Ubuntu Linux, and Glue Red Hat Linux.  

  • Support for other systems is extremely limited.

  • Desktop and laptop imaging available. Tablet support is best effort.

• Teaching lab support for labs used for official UMD classes.  

  • Fast turnaround on software change requests in the labs whenever possible.  

  • For Physics labs, there is a standard process to go through for lab software changes that requires committee approval.

• Audio/Visual support for many conference rooms.

• Limited research support including consulting and work that will benefit multiple research groups.  

• Raised floor computing space is available.

  • Space is limited and requests should be made to the Service Desk.

  • Fees may apply depending upon needs.

• Web hosting is available.

  • Limited to department projects or websites. 

  • No personal pages, including individual faculty and staff pages, are created or maintained by the Service Desk. Please see terpconnect.umd.edu, blog.umd.edu, or sites.google.com for personal pages. 

  • We also provide basic services such as helping to run web servers.  

• Backup is provided.

  • Backup is available for teaching related needs as well as a limited amount for individual “home space” and research use.

  • Engineering faculty and staff have free access to unlimited backups for up to 4 machines using the CrashPlan service.  Units outside of Engineering can pay for this service.

• Security options are provided.

  • Network and host based firewalls and separate internal/external DNS configurations.

  • Only computers on public networks are directly exposed to the Internet if an exception has been requested.

  • Faculty can choose between the more or less secure options that we have.  Staff machines are placed on secure networks.

• Disaster Recovery is provided for centralized services such as file storage and other services.  

  • Depending upon the seriousness of the disaster, the recovery time will vary.  

  • In the event of a disaster, every effort will be made to have a services desk up and running as quickly as possible to provide normal services.

• Collaboration tools such as Google Drive, Box.com, wiki sites, blogs, and web conferencing.

  • Some resources, such as software downloads and blog tools, are available through the Division of IT.

  • The tools available and supported may change over time as new technologies develop.

  • Anything unsupported may be given a “best effort” short-term attempt to assist the user.

• Virtual servers for short-term use. 

  • Offered with same day creation possible depending upon needs.

  • Can be provided for free for less than 30 days. (Sometimes needed in the event of a single job or month-long project, etc.)

  • Limited to as much as available resources can handle without impacting department operations.

• Hardware/Software Media Loans based on availability of items such as laptops, projectors, usb keys, laser pointers, etc.

  • Items are available for checkout to Faculty, Staff, and Graduate students for a maximum of 3 days.  

  • Undergraduate students can borrow items if a Faculty or Staff member is willing to sponsor them. 

  • If a checkout of more than 3 days is desired, approval is needed from a full time computing unit employee.  

• Router network connections are disallowed on our networks, but may be approved by the director in limited circumstances.

Services provided for a fee for ECE, ISR, Physics, and Math if you are affiliated with one of the units:

• Virtual servers for long-term use. 

  • Offered with same day creation possible depending upon needs.

  • Fee is based on required resources.

• Backup of research space.

  • Fee is based on resources required.