The UW Computer Science Recharge Center (CSRC) is a shared department research facility meant to provide a computing infrastructure for all researchers in the department; including shared-access computing cycles, software, network administration, maintenance, operations and a number of specialized technical services (outlined below) that are either not generally available at the institution or commercially, or which are more cost-effective when provided through this department facility. Below is a catalog of a number of the services provided by the Computer Science Lab and the CSRC. Users who operate within the CSRC have access to this whole catalog of services. Quarterly rates for CSRC user fees are calculated annually, and budgets are billed quarterly.
Technical Coordination and Consulting Services – Consultation to address IT requirements of specialized research computing systems, or special technology infrastructure needs based on a particular project or field of study. Investigate new and emerging technologies to address current and future needs of our research computing environment. We consult with software and hardware vendors on medium and large purchases, and create procurement documents to simplify purchasing and ensure the correct equipment gets purchased.
Technical Support, Event and Problem Management - We respond to reported system issues and system hardware failures and software/service errors that occur on sponsored research equipment. Investigate and offer solutions or work-arounds to software/service issues.
Asset Management and Device Warrenty Service Support - Inventory tracking of research equipment and other assets including warranty information and service history. We handle repair cases with vendor within warranty period in most cases.
Backups - We perform nightly incremental backups of research data, then replicate that data to a secondary site, and can restore files by request or in case of catastrophic system failure . We maintain disaster recovery copies of most research data on 'off-site' central IT tape service.
Code Management and Source Version Control – Secure Git repository management, code reviews, issue tracking, wikis and much more via our locally-hosted GitLab service.
Database Management – Hosting and support for database services - primarily PostgreSQL and MySQL/MariaDB.
Datacenter Hosting – Server installation and limited datacenter hosting services. Configuration of host firewalls, centralized management of login and file access on servers. Routine application of security patches and software upgrades. Routine monitoring of log files, services, and resource capacity.
Datacenter Management – Monitoring and reporting of, and response to hardware failures. Proactive replacement of failed drives in redundant storage systems. 24/7 monitoring of environmental conditions and 24/7 on-call response to critical system events and outages and cooling failures.
Cloud Services - We support a broad palate of cloud-based serivces using cs.washington.edu identities based upon the sanctioned cloud service provicers, including mail routing services.
File Storage and Distributed Uniform File Access - Support and maintain distributed high volume redundant storage systems (DAS), including planning, management, and operational support. Maintain a groups service for shared file access across Windows and Unix systems, remotely accessible via a platform-agnostic distributed file system (NFS and NTDFS/Samba).
General Access Compute Cycles for Research - Members of the CSE research community needing general UNIX cycles can use any of the research Linux cycle servers: recycle.cs.washington.edu, bicycle.cs.washington.edu, and tricycle.cs.washington.edu. These machines have the same software installed as found on the gws desktop Linux machines. The software installation is based on a current version of CentOS Linux, with local customizations and additions.
Network Services - Provide DHCP services for all CSE systems/subnets. Provide DNS service and virtual web hosting within the cs.washington.edu domain. Maintain and update DNS servers and software. Develop and maintain firewall policies, and systems protecting networks, servers, and applications. Troubleshoot and resolve problems related to these services.
Server Cluster Management – Specification, installation and maintenance of server clusters; hardware, OS, scheduling software and distributed applications for computer clusters used primarily for research purposes.
Security - Participate in proactive and preventative activities related to application, system and network security. Respond to network and system security incidents including system forensic activities. We also provide user education and guidance.
Software – Manage software images and OS repos for rapid deployment to workstations and servers. Manage and maintain a wide array of development tools for research systems. Manage and provide access to a sizeable shared research Matlab license pool. Manage software donation programs from Microsoft and VMWare that provide free software to all users at our institution.
Web application development, hosting and service monitoring– Wordpress, Drupal, Mediawiki, HotCRP, Django, Jenkins and specialized support for an array of other custom-built web-facing research applications.
Email support - We offer mailman-based mailing list services for cs.washington.edu and bespoke domains. Inbound mail is scanned for viruses and optionally filtered for spam via our Spambuster service.
Virtualization & Containerization - We support and maintain scalable virtual server environments and platforms.