IT Overview of the university
Aim
The ZDV offers a lot of services in different units. Therefore, it can be overwhelming for new employees to get an overview. The aim of this guide is to provide a simplified overview and links to the most relevant services of the ZDV. The overview of the ZDV IT services by the ZDV can be found in German here and in English here.
General ZDV information
Help
If you have a problem and are unsure who to contact you can always write a mail to hotline@zdv.uni-mainz.de. It is a centralized email address where the requests will be forwarded to the appropriate unit of the ZDV. You can also go to their office during business hours (9 AM - 6 PM), address: Room 00 151, Johann-Joachim-Becher-Weg 21. Furthermore, the Windows group has the possibility to remotely controll your (Windows) PC.
Account self management
Every user can edit their personal details and manage, e.g., Email aliases in the accounts page. Another important functionality is the management and overview of permissions of functionalities under "My resources" and "Access rights". E.g., you can grant access to MOGON projects managed by you or permissions to access the group drive.
Local admin accounts
When you apply for a new Windows PC or let the ZDV install Windows on a machine, you can ask them to create a local administrator account for this PC. This administrator account has the permission to install woftware from unknown sources. Warning: careless use of the administrator account can compromise the security and correct functionality of the PC.
Accessing the internet
Every device that accesses the internet via cable (Ethernet) needs to be registered with the ZDV in order to access the net. Also the LAN jack has to be registered. This can be done via this form.
Printers
If you want to buy a network printer and connect it via the network it is important that the printer is able to handle Automatic (DHCP) IP address assignment. It also needs to be registered by with this form (only German available). The MAC address ("Netzwerkhardware-Adresse" in the form) should be accessible in the printer menu somewhere and have this format 00:1b:63:84:45:e6. The ":" can be "-" or removed. The ZDV will register the printer and then you can access the printer from your operating system with the IP address provided by the ZDV.
Printing Service
The printing services of the ZDV are described here. For poster printing it is especially useful.
OUs and OU admins
Underlying the University account management is a Microsoft Active Directory. Each working group is usually also an organizational unit (OU). It is of an advantage to have an OU admin that manages the group resources in the active directory, especially the ZDV hosted Windows PCs. The OU admin has elevated rights and can add or remove computers from the OU. For getting an OU admin account contact the ZDV hotline. The easiest way to manage the OU resources is to log in to the Remote Desktop with your OU credentials. There, an interface to access the Active Directory is available.
ZDV Apps and Software
On the ZDV Windows systems you usually do not have permissions to install unknown software. However, the ZDV provides a wide array of useful software. The guide on how to install software from the ZDV is here.
Phone services
Each employee of the university automatically has a phone number. You will find your own phone number, e.g., in the account website. The number is connected through Microsoft Skype. If you want an extra physical phone you can apply for one here (only German website available).
Microsoft Apps
As the university account is a Microsoft account you can log in to the Microsoft online website with your university account. This allows you to access a wider array of Microsoft App. E.g., an online version of Powerpoint and Word. Useful e.g., is Microsoft Forms with which you can create simple surveys.
Remote access
The university offers multiple ways to access the university remotely. VPN access is described here. The remote desktop access is described here. It is a convenient feature which lets users access the Windows resources via browser, or by connecting it natively with the home windows. The Linux service lets users use a Linux OS on their own files, which is also very convenient.
Network Storage
There are three main options how a person can access network storage. There is the personal network drive, the group network drive and Seafile.
The personal network drive can be mounted on Windows and serve e.g., as a backup for important personal documents. See this site for how to mount.
The group network storage is managed by the group leader in the accounts page. It comes with 10TB of storage, which is redundantly stored, meaning it is safe from data losses due to hardware failure.
For sharing and collaborating the ZDV hosts Seafile. It offers a wide range of capabilities including the creation of custom groups and has a client which can automatically load files to the Seafile cloud. For a introduction see the Seafile wiki. The client can be downloaded here for personally managed PCs or in the ZDV apps .
Faculty 10 specific
Sharepoint of the FB10
The faculty has its own website where the managed resources of the secretary are shown. Also some guides are available. One guide is how to book the faculty car. If you want to book something or need help write them a mail.
Token for the BZ 1 and 2
The access physical tokens to the BZ1 and BZ2 are managed by Stephanie Mitz. Contact her to get new tokens or to edit the permissions of existing tokens.
HPC at JGU
The university has a powerful compute cluster named MOGON 2. The wiki is found here. For a personal Windows we recommend using MobaXterm for accessing MOGON 2. Otherwise, follow the instructions of the HPC group in the wiki. Also it is strongly recommended to attend a MOGON introduction course by the ZDV HPC group to understand the basics of using a cluster, especially if you are unfamiliar with high performance computing. You can find the schedule of courses here.
VMs, servers and databases
The ZDV offers a virtual machine (VM) service where university members can apply for a VM. These can act as webservers for services of the working group or as small compute machines (up to medium workloads occasionally, as the compute resources of this service are limited). The application form can be found here. Furthermore, ZDV offers to host SQL databases. The application form is here (only German version available). This is useful if your working group wants to use a centralized and self-managed SQL database. However, you should know what you are doing, as setting up and maintaining a SQL database requires an expert or a lot of work.
Archiving
The university offers an archiving service with the name of iRODS. The service stores all data for a default of 10 years (can be expanded by editing the "Expiry Date" metadata). Resources for how to use the iRODS service can be found here.