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Things every new Grad Student should know (IT edition)

Congratulations on getting into the program and welcome to UCSB.  Here are some things we think will be helpful in your graduate career:

  • Help@grit.ucsb.edu (zammad.grit.ucsb.edu)
  • Printing (wired connections only)
    • The printers in the building are locked down to wired internet connections only.  We do this so that we don't get random people from all over campus printing to our printers. If you need a wired connection, let us know.
  • Wired internet access
    • If you want a wired internet connection please let us know by submitting a ticket.
  • GRIT ID vs. netID
    • Your UCSB netID (and password) are used for most things on campus (ex. wifi, e-grades, VPN, UCpath, etc) Your GRIT ID will get you into GRIT resources (ex. our servers, your desktop computer).  These may or may not be the same depending on what you chose to so.  If you do not have a GRIT ID, but need one, have your advisor fill out a Compute Access Request Form (CARF) on your behalf.
  • Home folder
    • When your account is created, a home folder is created for you at /home/yourusername (ex. /home/jgaucho).  It is limited to 50 GB, so great for personal use.  But if you need more than that, please use project folders that are set up for your groups/projects.  Your home folder access will follow you around from server, so will be accessible from any Linux server you log into (*with a few exceptions).
  • HPC compute access
    • We have several High Performance Compute systems available to researchers.  Once you have a GRIT account, these will be accessible to you.
  • BookStack
    • You're already here.  Feel free to look around. New information is added here regularly.
  • Zabbix
    • If you use HPCs and you can't get to one, or one is being slow, you can check on their status here: zabbix.grit.ucsb.edu If the server is being heavily used, consider using one of the other ones.
  • CrashPlan
    • A free-to-you back-up service (thank you Office of Research) is available and can be a real life saver.  It saves a copy of all your files in the cloud in case your computer gets damaged or stolen. If you would like to install CrashPlan on your computer submit a ticket.
  • Windows Key + P (duplicate vs. extend)
    • If you are teaching in the Geography labs, The screens (one on the lectern and one in front of the class) can either show the same thing, or can act as a dual monitor set up where it shoes different things on each screen.  Feel free to use this feature by the pressing the Windows Key + P. Please change this back to duplicating the screen at the end of your class period.
  • Restart if computer account locked out
    • If a lab computer gets locked out, just restart the computer and it will log back into the Student account.
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