IST Servers

Terms and conditions for access to and use of IST Servers.

Introduction

This document describes selected Web and email servers that are supported by IST and the access and usage rules associated with each.

General Guidelines

Since the servers supported by IST and the campus network are shared resources, users of these servers must comply with the University's Statement on the Use of Computing and Network Resources and the University's Statement on Security of UW Computing and Network Resources to ensure that their use of the server does not negatively affect the security or performance of the server or the network.

Access to IST Web Servers

IST supports Web servers for use by academic and support departments of the University within the following guidelines:

• The Web application supports the administrative and research objectives of the University. This would not include, for example, student projects or student clubs.
• Access is limited to designated staff (authorized by the department) within the academic or support units.
• Requests for a new site from academic support units must be submitted by the computer support person of the department and supported by the unit head.
• Requests for a new site from academic units should first check for the availablity of these services within their Faculty. Requests should be supported by the Faculty Associate Dean of Computing.
• During the development phase, Web applications may present an additional risk to the campus because of the possible exposure of vulnerabilities. As a result, access to development servers will be limited. The IST Security Advancement Group will provide recommendations on this and other security related issues.

Use of IST Web Servers

Users of IST Webservers should:

• complete the development and testing of dynamic content on development machines (see Development Guidelines)
• follow published UW guidelines on E-Commerce
• complete an appropriate security audit on all dynamic applications before migration to production environments; the cost of this audit should be considered as an essential part of the application costs.
• plan and budget for the ongoing maintenance of the application. This includes the monitoring and removal of any security vulnerabilities (e.g. installation of current patches on open source and commercial packages).
• inform IST about any changes in point of contact; where appropriate IST will maintain this data in DNS. Client will also maintain a current .forward on the Web server to a regularly monitored address of the person responsible for the application.
• ensure that the application imposes modest resource requirements on the Web server. Applications exceeding these requirements should likely be moved to their own server environments.

IST Servers

info and testinfo

The info (production) and testinfo (development) servers are used primarily for the delivery of static content, corporate (non personal) Web pages.

Both servers run in a Sun Solaris environment with the Apache Web server.

While most pages on the info machine are static content, some dynamic pages (e.g. created using Perl or PHP) do exist.

dogwood and sumac

The dogwood (production) and sumac (development) servers are used by the academic support units for applications with dependencies on Microsoft Windows and Microsoft IIS. Both servers are configured with current versions of the operating system (Windows 2003 Server) and the web server (IIS Version 6).

Many of the applications running on IIS servers make use of database facilities. Most use simple MS Access facilities. These have caused problems because of hard limits on the number of open database connections on the server. Some clients have requested access to MS SQL Server facilities.

watserv1

This server provides email and Web services to a variety of organizations within and affiliated with the University. It runs in a Sun Solaris environment with the Apache Web server.

Access to the server is limited to the affiliated colleges, clubs sponsored by the Federation of Students and some special purpose applications within IST (e.g. software license server, ist course accounts)..

Recommendations:

1. Web pages of affiliated colleges be migrated to info; email accounts of affiliated colleges be migrated to admmail.
2. Work with Federation of Students to facilitate orderly migration of club web sites to Federation servers - in progress.
3. Terminate where possible and migrate remaining accounts to jubilation.

admmail and jubilation

Admmail is the primary email server for academic support staff; it is also used to provide personal web space; jubilation is used by retirees of the University. Both servers run in a Sun Solaris environment with the Apache Web server.

Access to admmail is limited to academic support staff; access to jubilation is normally limited to retirees.

strobe and pole

Strobe (production) and pole (development) are servers well suited for applications requiring dynamic content. Both systems run on LAMP servers (Linux, Apache Web software, MySQL database software and the PHP and Perl interpreters).

fortuna and fortunadev

Fortuna (production) and fortunadev (development) are secure systems intended for use in eCommerce application. Review the following documents if you are developing an application that generates financial transactions.

• UW's Statement on Electronic Commerce
• Financial Services guidelines on E-Commerce applications.

Requests for the Installation of Software

Users of the IST supported Web servers may require the installation of special purpose software. Software in support of the Web application may be installed under the account assigned to the client or may be installed at the system level under the following conditions.

Client Installed Software

• Client should request (request@rt) approval before the installation of any commercial or open source products (e.g. PHPBB).
• Client should be familiar with and in compliance with Security guidelines.
• Clients must assume full responsibility for all aspects of their application. This includes, for example, changes necesitated by upgrades to systems software. It also includes dealing with maintenance issues that may arise after the departure of the original developer.

System Installed Software

Clients may request the installation of system level software. IST will assess each request using the following criteria:

• reliability, security, robustness of package
• usefulness of software to other clients. Requestor may solicit support for their request from the Web Operations team.

Packages meeting the first criteria will be installed for evaluation on a development server (e.g. pole ). A further assessment will be completed before the software is approved for installation on production servers (e.g. strobe ).

System installed software requires regular maintenance; upgrades may introduce problems or require changes to dependent applications. Application developers are responsible for keeping their applications in sync with current production releases of system software and for all code changes and testing resulting from the regular maintenance of system software.

Additional Notes

Development Guidelines

Web development can be complex, particularly with the wide range of options available. IST provides support for our clients to improve the security and sustainability of applications. This support includes:

1. development and maintenance of a "best practices" document for developers
2. assistance in selecting the most appropriate environment
3. assistance in selecting and configuring appropriate database environments
4. assistance in ensuring that appropriate security measures are built into the application

Supported Databases

mySQL, running on one of IST's linux servers, has proven to be a robust database application environment for many small and moderately sized applications. IST recommends and supports this environment.

Many of the Web applications in our IIS environment were developed with MS Access. This database is easy to use and provides a viable solution for small applications.

Microsoft SQL Service may be required in some IIS applications particularly when the application has been purchased with this requirement from a vendor. If these situations, all support for the database and the application is the responsibility of the client.

Use of Virtual Hosts

Clients often prefer addresses that identify their department (e.g. www.athletics.uwaterloo.ca) rather than a more generic form (e.g. info.uwaterloo.ca/athletics). IST will attempt to provide these addresses, however, if secure logins are required, the standard host identifier must be used ( e.g. info.uwaterloo.ca/athletics).

Last updated by Paul Snyder, August 21, 2007

 

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