Kategorie: ‘Support, Services & Updates’
Umsatteln auf situative mobile Heimarbeit – eine Herausforderung für die IT-Infrastruktur
Das Gerät hinter dem VPN -ein Beispiel für ein hochverfügbares VPN-Gerät, das bis zu 300 VPN-Zugänge gleichzeitig ermöglicht.
Quelle: Eigene Darstellung
Mit der Umstellung auf die situative mobile Heimarbeit (smH) –gerne auch als HomeOffice bezeichnet, wurden wir alle vor viele Herausforderungen gestellt. Gerade für die IT-Infrastruktur bedeutete dies nicht nur eine besondere Herausforderung, sondern auch viel Verantwortung, da ohne die Verbindung zu diversen Netzwerken das Arbeiten kaum vorstellbar ist. Ein grandioser Nebeneffekt, der mit dem Umsatteln auf die digitale Heimarbeit einherging, ist und bleibt die Digitalisierung, die aufgrund der Maßnahmen zur Eindämmung der COVID-19-Pandemie im Eiltempo an der RWTH Aachen vorangetrieben wurde.
Dass dies so gut vonstattenging und wir uns nun im ersten digitalen Semester an der RWTH Aachen University befinden, verdanken wir daher vor allem einer gut aufgestellten IT-Infrastruktur. Ohne unsere IT-Infrastruktur wäre der Betrieb in diesem Maße nämlich gar nicht möglich. Für die Bereitstellung und Erweiterung der IT-Infrastruktur bedanken wir uns an dieser Stelle vor allem bei den Kolleginnen und Kollegen der Abteilung Netze des IT Centers. Heute möchten wir Euch nämlich einmal darüber informieren, was hinter den Kulissen im Bereich des VPN-Service geschah.
Virtual Reality Group feierte 20-jähriges Jubiläum
Die aixCave im IT Center der RWTH Aachen University. Die Virtual Reality Group blickt auf 20-jähriges Bestehen zurück.
Quelle: Eigene Darstellung
Im aktuellen Jahresbericht des IT Centers berichten wir über ein ganz besonderes Jubiläum vom Herbst 2018: Das 20-jährige Bestehen der Virtual Reality Group. Seit nun mehr als 20 Jahren erforscht die Gruppe die verschiedenen Anwendungsmöglichkeiten von Virtueller Realität (VR) an der RWTH Aachen University.
Die Anfänge
Gegründet wurde die Virtual Reality Group im Herbst 1998 von Professor Christian Bischof, dem damaligen Leiter des Rechen- und Kommunikationszentrums (des heutigen IT Centers) und Dr. Torsten W. Kuhlen. Ziel der Gruppe war es, die Erforschung von VR an der RWTH durch personelle und maschinelle Infrastruktur zu ermöglichen. Von Beginn an zeugte die hohe Anzahl der Kooperationen mit verschiedenen Instituten der Hochschule vom großen Potenzial dieser Technik. Es wurde ebenfalls schnell deutlich, dass der Einsatz von VR von großer Bedeutung für die unterschiedlichsten Disziplinen der Wissenschaft ist.
Our Services & the HomeOffice – Access, Passwords and Collaboration
Arbeiten im HomeOffice – Viele Herausforderung, aber auch viele Lösungen.
Source: Pixabay
Today, our mini-series “Our Services for the HomeOffice” is dealing with access, passwords and collaboration.
Passwords and accounts in the Selfservice
Without certain passwords you are practically standing in front of locked digital doors. To prevent this from happening, we provide the Selfservice. There you can view accounts and personal data, manage accounts and set new passwords. Information about the Selfservice and the corresponding settings, which you can make here, you can also find on IT Center Help.
VPN – Your tunnel into the RWTH network
You need access to files, services and applications that are only accessible from the RWTH network? Then connect to the RWTH network via Virtual Private Network – short VPN. You can connect to the global RWTH-network, but also to the network of your institute, if you have been activated for the respective network by the institute administrator. This application is mostly used by employees of institutes.
All you need for the connection to the VPN are your access data for the VPN account and the AnyConnect Client. You can manage the access data yourself in the self-service.
Instructions for installation and connection depending on the operating system can be found in doc.itc under the following link:
https://help.itc.rwth-aachen.de/en/service/vbf6fx0gom76
sciebo –Share and edit data together
Collaboration is also somewhat difficult at a time when social distancing to protect each other is a top priority. Thanks to the free cloud service sciebo, synchronising and sharing files for digital collaboration is no problem. sciebo is the cloud service of the participating NRW universities. With this service, even large files can be edited together. sciebo enables members of the RWTH Aachen University to store data on a server and to synchronise and share them on differen devices. 30 GB storage space is available as standard. Instructions and information on using and creating project boxes are available on IT Center Help:
Information on access, runtimes and project boxes
Login for RWTH Aachen University members
GigaMove – move large files easily
If you want to share and move larger files, GigaMove is the solution. For the login, you only need your user name (in the form ab123456) and the password for the RWTH Single Sing-On Account. How you can use the worldwide available service, is documented on IT Center Help:
Record presentations and make them available
You have prepared a presentation and would like to record it to make it available to others? This is easily done with Microsoft PowerPoint. With PowerPoint you can record a video of your presentation including sound using a headest for the recording of your voice. How to record is shown in our YouTube tutorial, which explains the function of screen recording. Please keep in mind that this tutorial is currently only available in German.
As already mentioned in the last part of this mini-series, web conferences can also be easily held using the Zoom software. With Zoom you can hold your presentations in front of a digital audience and show slides about sharing the screen.
In addition, you can, if desired, record the current presentation and then make it available, for example, via RWTHmoodle.
Zoom and Camtasia can be requested for teaching via the respective dean’s office of studies and then obtained from the Center for Teaching and Learning Services (CLS).
Information and instructions for Zoom
Information and instructions for screencasts with Camtasia
Another option is to use the CLS to record presentations, for example in an auditorium, as a video and then make them available. The CLS is happy to help here. Information on this can be found on the CLS homepage.
You would like to know more about tips and recommendations? Then check in next time, when we inform you about RWTHmoodle and digital course rooms.
You can find more information at any time at https://www.itc.rwth-aachen.de/corona.
Responsible for the content of this article are Liza Schwarz and Nicole Filla.
Statement on attacks on high-performance computing systems
Several high-performance data centres throughout Europe are currently victims of cyber attacks. Some centres have therefore blocked the access to their computing capacity at least in parts due to security incidents to protect against (further) attacks.
Server room high performance computer
Source: Own illustration
Against this background, we are also taking appropriate precautions and monitoring our systems even more closely than before. Our statement and recommendations on the IT Center website provide information on the current situation.
Good News: Personal Submission of DFN Certificate Applications possible again
We are pleased to inform you that the personal acceptance of DFN user and server certificate applications will be possible again from Thursday, 14 May 2020 in the IT Center, in the building at Seffenter Weg 23 upper entrance.
After booking an appointment, you can now personally bring your user and server certificate applications from Tuesday to Thursday between 08:00am and 03:00pm.
User and server certificates can now again be handed in personally at the IT Center, Seffenter Weg 23. We are looking forward to it!
Source: Own illustration
Due to the strict regulations, access must be coordinated. This makes it necessary to book an appointment via our online appointment planning tool. Please also remember that your certificate applications can only be accepted upon presentation of an official, valid photo identification.
Please respect the following hygiene rules:
- Wear a mouth and nose guard throughout the building.
- Disinfect your hands after you enter the building, i.e. before you meet our staff.
- Please keep at least 2 meters safety distance.
- We give you a smile, but do not shake hands.
Please do not forget to bring along:
- Completed and signed server or user certificate application
- Official, valid photo identification
- Mouth and nose guard
- Mobile phone to be granted access to the building on site
You will receive detailed information about the procedure with your appointment confirmation. If you have any further questions, please leave us a comment under this blog post or contact us by phone, e-mail or via our chat support.
E-mail: servicedesk@itc.rwth-aachen.de
Contact by phone: +49 241 / 80-24687
Monday to Friday from 07:30am to 06:00pm
Chat support: Monday to Friday from 07:30am to 06:00pm
We are looking forward to seeing you!
Your team of the IT Center
Responsible for the content of this article is Nicole Filla.
Our Services & Home Office – Remote Communication
In order to provide you with information about our services in this special situation and in the time of initial restrictions, situational mobile work from home and others, we have prepared a mini-series on our blog. We will give you tips and tricks as well as recommendations for use, which will simplify your work at a distance.
Today is all about communication. We all know that communication is the linchpin in the last weeks. To keep it up as usual, you need access to mails, the telephone and possible audio and video conferences.
Home Office & Communication – You can’t do it without.
Source: Pixabay
RWTHmoodle at a glance for lecturers
The summer semester 2020 is just a few weeks old and yet it is already a very special one. Due to the corona pandemic, all courses will be held online this semester.
For lecturers and students at RWTH this is a special challenge, but especially the teaching and learning portal RWTHmoodle offers many great opportunities for communication with students and for teaching and learning content. There, lecturers can use virtual course rooms and thus exchange information with students and make learning materials available.
Here are some tips and tricks about RWTHmoodle for lecturers
Source: Pixabay
In this article you will learn more about the different functions of RWTHmoodle which are especially important at the start of the digital summer semester. Beside the descriptions of the different features you will find links to helpful pages of the IT Center Documentation Portal and further information.
Opencast for video upload
With the streaming server of RWTH it is easy to provide recorded lectures or other video material in the course rooms. These videos can then be viewed by the students in the course room. Video material of up to 10 GB can be uploaded. Follow the link.
Managing tasks and duties
If you do not want to organize student submissions by e-mail, you can use the activity “Task” in RWTHmoodle. In this way, tasks can be set, submitted and evaluated completely digitally. All this is displayed in the course room in a simple and clear way.
Notify and inform students
To keep students up to date with the latest developments, there are a few options in RWTHmoodle. We recommend the forum “Announcements“. It allows students to be notified about new announcements by e-mail. However, the announcements remain permanently visible in the course room via the forum.
Create student folder for submissions
The Student Folder activity is a great option for sharing content and materials between students. If lecturers include such a folder, students can also upload materials in the course room and share them with others.
Allocate consultation hours by appointment planner
With the activity of the “Appointment Planner”, the allocation of consultation hours is no longer a problem using the digital way. Booking online is very easy once the activity has been activated by the lecturer.
Restrict access and visibility
If requirements for the view of certain materials should be fulfilled in advance, this can be easily controlled via RWTHmoodle. Both the previous completion of a task, the membership in a group or a certain time: All this can be set to limit the access to files, follow the link here.
Designing tests
To create tests in course rooms in RWTHmoodle you need to activate the activity “Test“. It allows you to create and run tests for students and thus allows easy retrieval of knowledge despite spatial distance.
Designing interactive course room elements with H5P
H5P makes it easy to integrate interactive elements into the course room. These include dictations, cloze texts, pictures, memory games and the possibility to conduct a quiz. All this is activated with just a few clicks and provides a varied alternative to the other content.
If there are still questions that cannot be answered by the tutorials or if there is a general need for advice about RWTHmoodle, the CLS “Learning Platform Management” department now offers online consultation hours. These can be booked under the following link:
https://www.buchsys.de/cls-aachen/angebote/aktuellerzeitraum/RWTHmoodle-Sprechstundeonline.html
We hope you have gained a good insight into the most important functions of RWTHmoodle for lecturers and wish you a smooth implementation of your teaching concept in this very special semester.
Responsible for the content of this article are Susanne Kubiak and Liza Schwarz.
5G-Industry Campus Europe an der RWTH Aachen – Das IT Center jetzt auch beteiligt
Seit Oktober 2019 hat sich am Aufbau eines 5G-Forschungsnetzes an der RWTH Aachen so einiges getan. Zuerst wurde die Förderzusage des Bundesministeriums für Verkehr und digitale Infrastruktur (BMVI) erteilt. Mit dieser Zusage ließ auch der Aufbau des 5G-Netzes nicht lange auf sich warten. Die notwendigen Frequenzen sind ebenfalls der RWTH Aachen durch die Bundesnetzagentur zugeteilt worden.
Auch das IT Center unterstützt künftig die 5G-Initiative an der RWTH Aachen.
Quelle: Unsplash
Welcome to RWTH Aachen University
Welcome to RWTH!
Source: Pixabay
We, the IT Center, would like to welcome you, dear newly enrolled students. We all know that every beginning is exciting and sometimes a little difficult. As if it wasn’t enough to begin a new phase of life as a first semester student, you are even rushing into a digital first semester.
Done: RWTH achieves another milestone
Source: Pixabay
Another milestone on the way to becoming an NHR data center has been reached: RWTH Aachen University – together with Technical University Darmstadt (TU Darmstadt (TU Darmstadt) – would like to become part of the National High Performance Computing Network.
In the Joint Science Conference (GWK), the federal and state governments have agreed to jointly promote not only research buildings and large-scale facilities but also high-performance computing at universities. The aim is to create a coordinated network of several National High Performance Computing Centres (NHR), which will provide resources and services for high-performance computing for all German universities.
