HPC User DEAC Cluster Account Policy

Policy Overview

This policy governs all aspects of user account authorization, creation, and removal within the WFU DEAC computing environment. 

Account Authorization

Faculty Account Requests

Any faculty member of Wake Forest University’s Reynolda campus may request an account for use of the WFU DEAC computing environment. An account will be granted to a faculty member pursuing active research or developing innovative course curriculum requiring the use of resources provided by the WFU DEAC computing environment. The department chair(s) of the faculty member requesting the account will receive notification of the account request and approval. The purpose of this notification is to sustain and grow the facility by raising awareness of its usage among the chairs and, indirectly, the Dean. 

Faculty members from the Wake Forest University School of Medicine campus may request an account for use of the WFU DEAC computing environment. An account will be granted to a faculty member pursuing active research or developing innovative course curriculum requiring the use of resources provided and does not impose strict conditions upon the operation and access to the WFU DEAC computing environment. As an example, accounts created to conduct research that requires the entire computing environment to become HIPPA compliant will not be authorized.

 In developing innovative course content, faculty are strongly encouraged to request the cluster resources required to build the course curriculum. Educational uses of the cluster are strongly encouraged and given high priority to ensure the facility and its infrastructure do not impede the goals of the course. 

Research Faculty Requests 

Any research faculty member of Wake Forest University may request an account for use of the WFU DEAC computing environment. If the research faculty member is operating in the capacity of a post-doctoral research staff member, the account authorization will derive from the Staff Account Requests process described below. All other research faculty member account requests will be evaluated on a case by case basis at the discretion of the WFU DEAC facility systems management team and the WFU DEAC Representative Committee. 

Staff Account Requests

Any staff member of Wake Forest University may request an account for use of the WFU DEAC computing environment. An account will be granted to a staff member under the following conditions: a) the staff member’s department head or supervisor endorses the request for access, b) the staff member will be conducting research on behalf of a faculty member (research associate of any kind) or providing direct support to a faculty member (Information Technology Group), (c) the staff member is developing curriculum or instructing a course that requires the use of the WFU DEAC computing environment. 

Student Account Requests

Any student member of Wake Forest University request an account for use of the WFU DEAC computing environment. An account will be granted to a student under the following conditions: a) the student’s advisor conducts research within the WFU DEAC computing environment, b) the student’s advisor endorses the request for an account. 

An account will also be granted to students who are enrolled in a course that has requested use of the WFU DEAC computing environment as part of an integral role in the course curriculum. The request for a course related student account must come from the instructors registered for the course. The course related accounts shall only be valid for duration of the course. Normal account termination procedures begin at the end of the semester. 

External Person Account Request

An account will be granted to a person who is not directly affiliated with Wake Forest University provided that: a) the person is directly collaborating with a faculty member affiliated with Wake Forest University, b) the WFU faculty member has an existing relationship with the WFU DEAC computing environment, c) the WFU faculty member endorses the request for an account. These accounts shall be valid only for the duration of the collaboration with the WFU faculty member or until the WFU faculty member no longer is affiliated with the WFU DEAC computing environment. 

For clarity, an external person shall be defined as someone who has no official, direct relationship (academic or employment) with Wake Forest University (either the Reynolda Campus or School of Medicine). 

In certain cluster administration situations, a short term guest account may be authorized by the system administration personnel to facilitate normal operations of the facility. 

Account Termination

Default Account Authorizations

The default duration for which an account is authorized differs among the account types delineated above. The following list specifies the account types and their default period for which they are authorized: 

Account TypePeriod of Authorization FacultyDuration of faculty member’s association with the University, either through employment or emeritus appointment. To ensure faculty accounts are current, renewal requests will be sent every two years to ensure the account is still required. StaffAs authorized by supervisor up to 2 years, renewable every year thereafter. Staff ClassFor the duration of the course plus one academic semester. Limited extensions can be granted on a case by case basis to allow, as examples, for a student’s completion of course requirements or for additional work on the curriculum for publication. Student ResearchAs authorized by faculty advisor up to 2 years, renewable every year thereafter. Student ClassFor the duration of the course. Limited extensions can be granted on a case by case basis to allow, as an example, for the completion of course requirements. External PersonAs authorized by WFU sponsor up to 1 year, renewable every year thereafter. 

Accounts are subject to immediate revocation of their authorization if use of the account has violated the terms of the Cluster User Policy or the “Policy on Responsible and Ethical Use of Computing Resources” as approved by the Wake Forest University Committee on Information Technology. 

Revocation of Account

Once the account is no longer authorized for use on the WFU DEAC facilty, an automated process shall be used to expire and remove the account. This automated process will make a best effort to adhere to the following protocol: 

The account termination protocol may be abridged or disregarded in cases where authorization must be terminated abruptly or the adherence to the protocol would cause significant risk to the normal operation of the WFU DEAC facility. 

Account Management

Authorization Requests

 Requests for account authorization and group membership shall be submitted through the WFU DEAC facility’s designated request tracking system in production at the time of the request. During the 2006-2007 academic year, this system is the “RT” (Request Tracker) software suite. 

Group Membership

Each operating system group that is available for assignment to user accounts on the WFU DEAC facility has a designated approval authority registered for the group. Each group membership requested for an account shall be approved by that group’s designated authority prior to its addition. Because of the delays in communication associated with the designated approval authorities, group membership requests can take several business days to be approved and assigned to an account. In the interests of time, authorization and creation of accounts can be fulfilled without the requested group memberships assigned and, as the group membership requests are approved, can be added at a later date. With little or no prior notice to the account holder, any group membership on an account may be revoked by that group’s designated authority when requested through the designated request tracking system. 

Sponsorship and Authorization

In general, authorized accounts in the WFU DEAC facility are governed and protected by the “Policy on Responsible and Ethical Use of Computing Resources” as approved by the Wake Forest University Committee on Information Technology. 

However, conditions unique to the WFU DEAC facility exist and must be emphasized. Specifically, accounts authorized by a sponsor of any kind can be subject to the status, requests, and decisions of the sponsor. The balance between the rights of the account holder and the rights of the account sponsor are difficult to define fairly in a policy. Determination of this balance shall be under the sole discretion, as an arbiter between the two parties, of the WFU DEAC facility management and will be guided by the Cluster User Policy and “Policy on Responsible and Ethical Use of Computing Resources”. 

With little or no prior notice to the account holder, a person that authorizes or sponsors that account may revoke that authorization at any time and cause the account to undergo the automated revocation process. 

Transfer of Account Authorization

Users and their accounts are subject to changes in authorization parties (i.e. ‘advisors’) during the course of the academic career at Wake Forest University. Users are required to notify the WFU DEAC facility management through the Authorization Requests process of any changes that would affect an account’s authorization status or authority. While not an exhaustive or complete list, such changes include: (a) change of department, (b) change of degree program, (c) change of research group, or (d) change of research advisor. 

Failure to provide this advance notification could result in the account becoming subject to the automated account removal process.