Policies and Guidelines

Network Computer Policies

• All servers that are mission critical to UWEC are located in the UWEC domain

  Rationale
  All servers in the UWEC domain will be closely managed and monitored. Only highly trained staff will have rights to manage, maintain, and backup servers in the UWEC domain. Servers in this domain are kept in a physically secure room with a UPS and special air-handling equipment. The UWEC domain is the most closely monitored domain on campus.

• LTS is responsible for NT, WINS, DNS, and DHCP servers

  Detail
  In special cases other departments may be allowed to setup these servers but they must first obtain written permission from the director of LTS.

  Rationale
  Because of the nature of these servers it is possible for someone to accidentally take down parts or all of UWEC's computing resources. Assignment of server names can cause confusion if not planned out. Assignment of an incorrect DHCP scope could have a catastrophic effect on the entire university.

  Detail
  These departments must have an identified primary contact person and a secondary contact person that LTS can get in touch with within hours if there is a problem.

  Rationale
  If a problem arises we need to be able to contact the responsible individual quickly to get our customers; students, back up and running.

  Detail
  These cases will be reviewed on a yearly basis. As UWEC moves forward departments who are granted permission must adopt the version of software/hardware as requested by LTS within 90 days of the request.

  Rationale
  It is possible in some cases that all servers and/or services that offer similar functionality will need to be upgraded together. Examples might be a need to move to new technologies or a virus or hacker attack.

• LTS is responsible for managing all domain names

  Detail
  If a request comes in to create a separate domain, LTS must approve the name and set up any trust relationship (if one is required).

  Rationale
  This is needed to make sure resource names are easily recognized and do not cause confusion for our customers.

• LTS assigns all computer IP numbers

  Detail
  Requests for special numbers would go to manager of technical services.

  Rationale
  This is needed to make sure resource names are easily recognized and do not cause confusion for our customers. An incorrect IP number could also result in customers not being able to get to other, unrelated computing resources on (and off campus). It could also take down one or more other computers on campus.

• LTS assigns all DNS names

  Detail
  Requests for names/entries would go to manager of technical services.

  Rationale
  This is needed to make sure resource names are easily recognized and do not cause confusion for our customers.

• LTS assigns all NT names

  Detail
  Requests for special names would go to manager of technical services.

  Rationale
  This is needed to make sure resource names are easily recognized and do not cause confusion for our customers.

• Trust Relationships are assigned/managed by LTS

  Detail
  UWEC domain trusts no-one. LTS sets up trust relationships.

  Rationale
  UWEC is the master domain where the student/faulty/staff accounts are managed. If the UWEC domain trusted another domain then the domain administrator in that domain could manage resources (files, customer accounts, etc.) in the UWEC domain.

  Trust relationships can become complicated to setup. If they are setup incorrectly you can inadvertently give permissions to access files and resources to people you did not intend to give access to. We only want people doing this who have the needed expertise and understand how the entire campus computing environment is set up.

• Domain Membership

  Detail
  The assigned administrator of a domain is responsible for deciding what resources are to be included in that domain.

  Rationale
  For example, in the UWEC domain, LTS would decide what devices can be a member of that domain. Resources (computers, devices, etc.) gain certain rights and you are able to manipulate them (control them remotely, install software, etc.) when they belong to a domain.

• LTS determines what resources are members of the UWEC domain.

  Rationale
  LTS will try to accommodate all of our customers but we reserve the right to refuse some resources from becoming members of the UWEC domain if we feel there are security issues involved. Appeals can be made to the director of LTS.

• Printing

  Detail
  Only printers that belong to the department/domain can be captured/queued unless written permission is given.

  Rationale
  A printer can be "captured" or controlled by more then one server. We do not want someone from department "A" capturing or controlling a printer that belongs to department "B" without first getting permission from department "B". One of the most frustrating experiences is having someone outside of your department tie up your printer by sending large documents to it and incur the expense of paper and toner.