Stored Researcher Equipment (This page is Obsolete - Do Not Migrate)

We regularly have equipment returned from students that belong to research groups or individual researchers. As we do not have sufficient storage room to hold them all, we intend to make this equipment available to other researchers, visitors, etc. on an as-needed basis, with the understanding that any of these machines may be requested back by their original owner at any time.

Overview of process for handling returning machines

1. update inventory with new location (eg: DC 2560G)
2. hold the machine for 30 days
3. determine owner - label machine with owner information
4. determine hardware specs, label if not done already
5. if not CSCF machine, determine if the owner wants it back and get it back to them
6. decide if keeping or surplussing - is there room for it on our storage rack and/or better than equipment on that rack?
7. if surplussing, use DBAN to wipe and install surplus Linux image, then add to surplus spreadsheet and update inventory
   • DBAN doesn't work on all machines, if this is the case, use Active Killdisk
8. if keeping, install latest image appropriate for that hardware, test it - if it works get a name and IP address for it, update inventory and DNS, label with the name, and put on storage rack

Updating inventory

• Room: set to current room location
• Comments: Any notes about who the machine is loaned to or what ST was involved in it returning should be put into the "Comments" field (note - do not use Carriage Returns in that field). Be sure to reference the ST# in the form ST#12345
• Authoritative User: should contain the name of who is responsible for deciding the fate of the machine. If it has been turned over to RSG for use or surplus, it should read "RSG" regardless of who purchased the machine originally.
• Support -> Group: set the "Group" field to "rsg-storage"
• Support -> Subscription Code: set to blank

Equipment with Group set to "rsg-storage" can be seen in the following list:

• http://www.cs.uwaterloo.ca/cscf/cscfnow/SupportedHosts/rsg-storage.html

It is helpful to fill out the hardware specs fields on the Hardware page, as they appear on the report, above.

Notes:

Procedures for users bringing equipment into the CSCF

When bringing equipment, there are new procedures in place, so take the following steps:

1. Write on a sticky-note that is provided, the ST number, your name, and the current date
2. On the PC, put a sticky note to hold for 30 days from current date (eg: "Hold until 2011-11-19" if today is Oct. 19th)
3. If you can, include any other information that our staff should know
   • Owner, contact info, former room number, and/or machine name
4. Any other important information that our staff should know can be noted either with the machine directly, or in the relevant ST entry
5. Put the machine on the RSG bench in DC2560G, where it will then be processed
6. Don't put machines on the racks anymore; the racks are now for processed machines. These will be labeled appropriately
7. Put any small parts, like mice, keyboards, cables, etc. into the box labeled as 'parts to be sorted'
8. Any equipment that is no longer functioning can either go in the box labeled 'Dead Stuff' or should get a label on it that says 'dead'

Procedure for RSG Staff regarding machines brought into the CSCF

When equipment is brought into CSCF's hardware lab, take the following steps:

1. Check for any labels present on the machine;
   • Barcode, owner, machine name and IP, hardware, ST number, and/or date brought in
2. Look up the included ST to see what information there is regarding the machine
3. If the machine has a hard drive and the person that brought it in didn't include a date, put a Do Not Wipe note on it including the date 30 days from the date of writing (be specific)
4. Do any necessary research to fill in any missing information (owner, hardware, etc) about the machine
5. If there is no ST number, or the ST didn't specify what is to be done with the machine, send an email to the owner/the person that brought it in to determine what they would like done with the equipment
   • SampleStoredEquipmentEmail
6. Anything that is NOT part of the research support group can be put on Phil's desk or in the appropriate place on the shelves
7. Any mice and keyboards can be put in the box labeled for cleaning
8. Any dead equipment can go in the labeled "Dead Stuff" box if not already there

Procedures for equipment potentially for use as RSG Loaner Machines

When equipment brought to the RSG bench has been determined for use by the CSCF as a loaner machine, take these steps:

1. Determine the Hardware specs of the machine and put a label on the side of the case (include: CPU, memory and disk as a minimum)
2. Determine if this equipment is as good or better than the equipment currently on the RSG storage rack and whether there is space to store it
3. Determine the owner of the machine. That may take some investigation. If we have been explicitly told that we can have the machine for our use (eg: by Phil for older infrastructure PCs or by a researcher) then the owner will be "cscf-rsg". If it still belongs to a researcher, then we use their userid (eg: imunro)
4. If not present, affix a label indicating the owner of the machine, near the barcode
   • Example: imunro or cscf-rsg (this should be small and lowercase for consistency)
5. If we are not going to keep it, proceed with SurplusEquipment, otherwise continue with the following:
6. If it doesn't have a barcode, it should get one
   • Place on top of case near the front, but not on the front panel directly (usually is the least removable part of the case)
7. Ensure that the machine is past the 30 day Do Not Wipe period before re-imaging
8. It is a good idea to wipe drive before redeploying use DBAN to wipe disks
9. Image the machine with our latest basic image from Asimov - see CscfGradImageNotes for a list of images
   • If the machine is a loaner laptop, see RsgLtImages
10. Update Inventory, General tab:
    • add a note to Comments about former name, IP, owner, and/or subscription code
    • Add any hardware information found during or after imaging
    • Change room number to where it is being put for now (usually "DC2560G")
    • Under the Support button:
      • change Web Page Groups to "rsg-storage"
      • change "Support Class" to "None"
      • Change "Subscription Code" to blank
11. if the machine has a name and/or address on a deprecated network, remove the address and update DNS (a full-time staff may be required to update DNS)
12. Assign the machine a new name and IP address belonging to the CSCF, and label the machine with the new name and address
    • Example: rsg-pc067.cs 129.97.171.222, where the 067 would be replaced by the next available number as listed in DNS and the IP would be as assigned by DNS
13. By default, equipment will be made available to other researchers as needed

Procedures for loaning equipment

If someone requests a piece of equipment, take the following steps:

1. If possible, use a machine belonging to the supervisor or in the same group as the owner of the machine
2. Otherwise, choose one of the machines labelled as "cscf-rsg"
3. If none of the machines above are appropriate and you wish to use a machine belonging to another researcher (or group), inform the owner that we're planning on redeploying the equipment
   • SampleStoredEquipmentEmail
   • (don't wait for an ok, but don't use it if you get a negative response)
4. Update inventory with the new room number, the date out, and the faculty/supervisor to whom it's being lent. In the comments, include the ST# involved
   • Under Support: Subscription Code should be changed to the group borrowing the equipment
5. Update DNS - make sure that the IP address and DNS name match. Do not use an "scspc" name for loaned equipment.

Surplussing equipment

Please see SurplusEquipment.