The SRCF is the University of Cambridge's Student-Run Computing Facility. We provide web hosting, shell accounts and various other -computing services to members of the University and groups such as +computing services to members of the University (including alumni) and groups such as University societies. We are a University society, registered with the Junior Proctor. As such we are not formally supported by the University Administration in any way; instead the service is maintained @@ -18,10 +18,10 @@
The SRCF executive — the committee and sysadmin (system administration) team — consists of current and former University of Cambridge students. +
The SRCF executive — the committee and sysadmin (system administration) team — consists of current and former University of Cambridge students. We hold elections for the committee positions every year at our AGM, according to our constitution. -Any member of the University (staff or student) can register to become a lifetime member of the SRCF, and so use our services. -We do not charge any membership fees, or require anything from our members beyond that they abide by our Terms of Service.
+Any member of the University (staff or student) can register to become a lifetime member of the SRCF, and so use our services. +We do not charge any membership fees, or require anything from our members beyond that they abide by our Terms of Service.We always welcome donations — as we don't charge for our services, the future of the SRCF depends on the donations it receives. If you want to make a donation, please visit this page
+href="donate">this pageIf you want to donate some time and experience to help us out, then why not join our support team? This is an email-based help list for diff --git a/code-of-conduct.html b/code-of-conduct.html index aa4a652..5d87295 100644 --- a/code-of-conduct.html +++ b/code-of-conduct.html @@ -6,8 +6,8 @@
As of the Annual General Meeting held on Saturday 20th March 2021, +
As of the Extraordinary General Meeting held on Sunday 28th April 2024, the current SRCF committee consists of:
They may be contacted individually as above, or collectively at committee@srcf.net.
If you are interested in running for any of the above positions, but you want to know more about what is involved, you might want to read our - page about roles in the SRCF.
+ page about roles in the SRCF.The senior treasurer is Bob Dowling.
.user.srcf.net or .soc.srcf.net?The SRCF hosts many user websites on its systems, and we provide built-in domains of the form - CRSid.user.srcf.net or acronym.soc.srcf.net.
-The SRCF itself is not immediately responsible for content under these domains.
-In the first instance, you should direct queries to the owners of the relevant account as follows:
-For communications relating to infringing copyrighted material or other abuse, please also CC - soc-srcf-admin@lists.cam.ac.uk.
-We also host websites on custom domains, which do not end in .srcf.net. Please contact the system administrators
- at soc-srcf-admin@lists.cam.ac.uk if you're getting in touch about a website hosted by
- us under a custom domain and are unsure how to reach the site's owners.
+ Queries about user content of websites on a .user.srcf.net + or .soc.srcf.net subdomain, or requests for access to group + accounts, should be directed to + /reference/common-requests/">the owners of those accounts. +
++ Please review our + /reference/common-requests/">common requests, + as your query may already be answered or explained there. +
++ Changes to your own accounts (including password resets, account + reactivation, group account handover, updating personal details + and so on) can be done using the + ">control panel. +
++ For technical help and support, our + ">documentation + describes how to use our services, and includes tutorials for + commonly used software like WordPress and Drupal. +
+.user.srcf.net<
- Support team
+ Support and documentation
Technical assistance:
- how to upload web pages
@@ -35,7 +51,8 @@ Support team
@@ -47,12 +64,6 @@ System administrators
- installing new software
- takedowns e.g. copyright infringement
-
- Note that many account actions, such as resetting passwords, adding
- additional services, updating personal details, etc. can now be carried
- out on our
- ">Control Panel.
-
Reporting security issues:
- hacked accounts
diff --git a/donate/index.html b/donate/index.html
index ce0fa57..944be61 100644
--- a/donate/index.html
+++ b/donate/index.html
@@ -9,47 +9,9 @@ Donate to the SRCF
Before you donate...
Since we provide everything for free, we heavily rely on the kind
- donations from our members.
+ donations from our members. Please chip in
+ if you like what we do or find our services valuable to you. Any donation goes a long way to securing the future of the SRCF for years to come.
-
-
- Our donations are steadily falling and
- less than 0.1% of our total membership donate. Please chip in
- if you like what we do or find our services valuable to you.
-
-
- Targets & goals
-
- -
- £75 of monthly income for essential upkeep and maintenance of
- our hardware
-
- -
- Purchase of 4 AMD EPYC servers that will:
-
- -
- provide a much-needed refresh to our 8+ year old cluster
-
- -
- improve performance, ecofriendliness and space-efficiency of our
- servers
-
- -
- allow us to scale up our video conferencing in order to
- support the virtual freshers fair at the start of October,
- enable remote teaching/learning, and group projects running over
- the summer
- [editor's note: we wound down our first attempt at a video conferencing
- platform, called Timeout, in May 2021, although a future video conferencing
- platform deployment project has not been ruled out]
-
- -
- considerably reduce maintenance costs in the long run
-
-
-
-
-
Benefits
We intend to mention all donors on our donors page
diff --git a/fundraiser.html b/fundraiser.html
index 73d3e73..3b71e09 100644
--- a/fundraiser.html
+++ b/fundraiser.html
@@ -10,9 +10,9 @@
SRCF Executive meeting - 14 Nov 2019
-
+
diff --git a/get-involved.html b/get-involved.html
index e233280..a1f16af 100644
--- a/get-involved.html
+++ b/get-involved.html
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ Ways to get involved
We are dedicated to providing a safe, inclusive, welcoming, harassment-free experience for members of the SRCF
- community. Note that participation in these platforms is subject to our code of conduct.
@@ -60,10 +60,6 @@ Join the online community
@@ -139,4 +135,4 @@ Writing documentation
-
\ No newline at end of file
+
diff --git a/groups.html b/groups.html
index c657a0e..9e5ca9b 100644
--- a/groups.html
+++ b/groups.html
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ Group accounts
This is a list of all active group accounts on the SRCF. If you are looking to become an admin of a group account, you should contact the group's own admins to request your addition. If we don't have an account for your group, you can create one using the /signup/society">Control Panel.
-If a group account you're looking for is not listed here, it may be considered unmaintained (no current admins). In this state, any web hosting and email delivery is suspended. To gain administrative access to an unmaintained account, you'll need to contact the sysadmins for assistance.
+If a group account you're looking for is not listed here, it may be considered unmaintained (no current admins). In this state, any web hosting and email delivery is suspended. To gain administrative access to an unmaintained account, you'll need to contact the sysadmins for assistance.
diff --git a/index.html b/index.html
index 6f11243..f5aa158 100644
--- a/index.html
+++ b/index.html
@@ -10,7 +10,8 @@
The Student-Run Computing Facility +
(Home of the University-wide shared Linux system)
+The Student-Run Computing Facility is a volunteer-run student society that provides free, useful and flexible computing and network services for University of Cambridge staff and students of all degrees of ability.
/signup" role="button">Create an account » @@ -55,16 +56,15 @@The Student-Run Computing Facility (SRCF) is a volunteer-run student society at the University of Cambridge. We run our own servers hosted in-house within the university and provide computing services - for thousands of staff and students.
- Learn what we do » + for thousands of staff, students, and alumni. + Learn what we do »The SRCF is funded largely by donations from its users, for which we are very grateful. We can only spend as much as we have, so help us pay for our costs by donating as little as £3.
- +Is your company interested in sponsoring the SRCF? We have plenty of benefits to offer as we are one of the - largest societies in Cambridge. Read more about that here.
- Our current sponsors » + largest societies in Cambridge. Read more about that here. + Our current sponsors »There are no concrete plans for the next LAN party. If you would like to help -organise one, get in touch with the committee.
+organise one, get in touch with the committee.Location: The Free Press on Prospect Row
+Present:
+
- eb677), Chair & Sysadminjec226), Treasurer & Sysadminar899), Secretarydjh243), Publicity Officer & Sysadminmas90), Sysadminrsa33), SysadminApologies:
+cvrb2), MageThe sysadmins reported that Emmanuel College’s computer office had kindly donated an Intel server, which has been
+ dubbed mist and been tasked with virtual machine hosting in the existing Xen cluster.
The sysadmins reported further that Third Light have offered and prepared a large server and a serial console box, + which is ready to be collected or delivered. Edwin commented that the email thread had gone quiet for a couple of + months, with the last message being sent from him to our contact at Third Light.
+Action Edwin: chase up Third Light.
+The Computer Lab wants to dispose of its multiple NetApp storage servers (and associated hardware, including disk + drives). Malcolm has arranged for the SRCF to be given as much of this as the SRCF can take, amounting to one or two + NetApps and a large number of disk drives, which would offer about 36 TB of usable networked storage in the SRCF rack, + and also allow for offsite backups (with the offsite machine sitting in the CL’s West Cambridge Data Centre rack).
+Malcolm stressed that the CL computing staff were not in a position to provide support, time, or supervised access to + the WCDC, and that the NetApps would be operated without a support contract in place.
+With the Third Light and CL NetApp donations, the rack space at CUSU would be depleted almost entirely. Malcolm
+ proposed that nimbus and alto have reached the end of their useful lives by now (with
+ neither being in active service currently), and that they should be removed and recycled.
Malcolm further proposed that the next lot of hardware to go should probably be pileus (recycled) and
+ stratus (not thrown away, but kept unracked for now and potentially repurposed in future).
Edwin noted that attempts to organise a 20th Anniversary Dinner in Michaelmas term had failed, and asked for an extra + pair of hands to help with organisation.
+With the NetApp anticipated to arrive in the rack, offering a new centralised and networked storage for both virtual + machine disks and home directories, it would be good to gradually upgrade to 10-gigabit networking in the rack. + Malcolm quoted rough estimates at 10-gigabit switched as £160 to £200 for a second-hand one that will do the job, or + around £650 for a 40-gigabit switch (where each port can be broken out into 4x 10-gigabit ones).
+It was noted that a Cambridge instance of The Things Network, an association of community LoRaWAN networks, was to + launch in the next few days, and may be of future interest for fun SRCF projects.
+Edwin updated the Executive on the proposed establishment of a single students’ union, Cambridge SU, formed from an + effective merger of CUSU and the GU that has been nicknamed ‘New-SU’ (to rhyme with CUSU). The relevance of this to + the SRCF (if it goes ahead, pending a student referendum) would be a need to re-establish the existing arrangement + with CUSU in a similar form with Cambridge SU.
+Edwin and Malcolm reported that the Unions, regardless of the success or failure of New-SU, are seeking to officially + merge IT infrastructure, where there has historically been a quasi-converged setup for some years already. It is + expected that the SRCF sysadmins, acting as CUSU sysadmins, will inevitably take on responsibility for ex-GU + infrastructure that they had previously not dealt with.
+Jefferson noted that he would like an up-to-date register of the Society’s assets for record-keeping and reporting + purposes. The sysadmins agreed that they were best placed to gather this information.
+Action sysadmins: compile and provide an asset register, including replacement cost of items held. +
+The Executive noted that they had not received an anticipated monetary donation.
+Action Edwin: chase up that donation.
+ diff --git a/minutes/2020-07-14.html b/minutes/2020-07-14.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..77044c8 --- /dev/null +++ b/minutes/2020-07-14.html @@ -0,0 +1,81 @@ + + + ++ Minutes of the ordinary meeting held on Tuesday the 14th of July 2020 to + action the creation of a new mandate and approval for internet banking + to be activated for the Student-Run Computing Facility (SRCF). +
++ With the new information received by HSBC, namely that permission must + be officially granted to the primary user of internet banking to act on + the SRCF’s behalf, the committee now recognizes and approves that + the current junior treasurer, Matias Wang Almeida e Silva, is allowed + to manage all of the SRCF’s accounts with HSBC via internet + banking. It recognizes that they will be the sole + Primary User of the account and grant permission to + operate the account in accordance with their duties as junior treasurer. +
++ As it is not possible to hold an Annual General Meeting (AGM) for the + SRCF to write the aforementioned agreement into our constitution so that + it may apply to all future junior treasurers, it notes here that such + must be done once the conditions for an AGM to be held are met. This + cannot currently be done due to the present disruption caused by + COVID-19 and because it is stipulated that the AGM must occur during the + Full Term. +
++ Similar to the above, the committee also grants Matias Wang Almeida e + Silva with rights to act as the Primary User on all of the SRCF’s + registered accounts with HSBC via telephone banking. +
++ As the previous mandate has expired after 6 years, the junior treasurer + has created a new mandate with the following signatories to be added: +
+
+ The committee notes that Matias has submitted a
+ pws-msc-62831 form to HSBC.
+
+ Witnessed, approved and countersigned by those in attendance (full + name & date): +
++ MATIAS WANG ALMEIDA E SILVA 14/07/2020 +
+JOHN-JOSEPH ANTHONY GRAY 14/07/2020
+BILAL CHUGHTAI 14/07/2020
+MICHELLE SOO 14/07/2020
+Meeting adjourned at 23:59
+ diff --git a/minutes/2020-07-28.html b/minutes/2020-07-28.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..132be5b --- /dev/null +++ b/minutes/2020-07-28.html @@ -0,0 +1,244 @@ + + + +Minutes of the meeting held on Thursday the 28 of July 2020 to resolve the uncertainty surrounding the + authorization of system administrators to use SRCF systems.
+jjag3) - Chairmw781) - Junior Treasurerbc464) - Secretarymhws2) - Publicity OfficerWitnessed, approved and countersigned by those in attendance (full name & date):
+JOHN-JOSEPH GRAY 28/07/2020
+ MATIAS SILVA 28/07/2020
+ BILAL CHUGHTAI 29/07/2020
+ MICHELLE SOO 28/07/2020
Historic references to ‘sysadmins’ and ‘system administrators’ refer to the SRCF position of System
+ Administrator, as described on https://www.srcf.net/roles as of
+ Monday 20th July 2020 (below). Item 1 in
+ these minutes redefines the role of ‘system administrator’. When references to the new role are used, they will
+ mention this item.
++The job of sysadmin is not particularly a glamorous one, but it is one of the most important: the SRCF could + struggle along without a committee, but without the sysadmin team the service would grind quickly to a halt. +
+Much of the day-to-day administration of the SRCF involves responding to user requests, either by running one + of the SRCF scripts to create a database or add a user or whatever, or by explaining patiently why what they + want is stupid. The simplest requests can be dealt with by anyone with a shell and a keyboard, but + occasionally a closer familiarity with what is actually going on, and some greater ingenuity and problem + solving, is required.
+The admins are also responsible for developing and maintaining the scripts and tools to make life easier for + both themselves and the users, so software-engineer types will have some opportunity to exercise their skills. + The SRCF has been writing scripts for more than a decade, and some 2000-vintage Python and Perl is still in + operation, so there’s plenty of modernisation work to do.
+Since system administration is a shared responsibility, the amount demanded of any individual is not too + severe. Each admin is mostly welcome to pick and choose which tasks they are willing and able to deal with, + and focus on those. If you do nothing at all, and do not intend to start doing anything, we would appreciate + it if you would give up your admin rights to simplify bookkeeping, but as long as you are doing something, + even if that’s just approving membership requests or fixing the permissions on a society account, you are + freeing up the time of people who can do more involved things, like script development or service deployment. +
+Some experience of system administration is preferable, but of course we realise that the SRCF is a place + that many people go to gain that experience; however, knowing your way around the Linux command line is + probably essential if you are to carry out any serious administrative work. If you lack that experience but + are still keen to help the SRCF, don’t be discouraged – there’s a good chance we will be able to find + something else for you to do. Just ask!
+
1 Clarify What It Means to Be a System
+ AdministratorIt is evident that the ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to the administration of SRCF machines is outdated. Newer + services such as Timeout and other upcoming projects rely on the help of volunteers that have partial access to + these machines and, in some cases, root access on a select few.
+The committee, therefore, wishes to distinguish between:
+2 Clarify the Process of
+ Appointing a New System AdministratorPresently, the SRCF Constitution + §5.2 states that:
+++[The committee] shall be responsible for the appointment of system administrators, who shall be responsible + to the Committee.
+
The committee recognizes that the procedure for the appointment of system administrators has on occasion been + informal, to the extent that it casts doubts as to what the procedure entails. The committee notes that it has + always felt that it could intervene in this process if necessary.
+To improve this process, the following is proposed and will henceforth be the current committee’s + implementation of §5.2:
+The existing team of system administrators will be free to recruit and vet any potential candidates as they + always have.
+To appoint a new system administrator, a motion should be brought to the committee by email. The motion should + contain the following information:
+The committee will proceed to vote on the motion. The results of the said vote will be provided to the system + administrator team.
+The committee expects that the majority of these motions will be proposed by the existing system administrator + team. The committee also notes that there may be a reasonable time delay from the internal appointment of a + system administrator to its communication to the public via the minutes.
+3 Appointment of System AdministratorsThe committee wishes to acknowledge that, historically, the appointment of system administrators has been + poorly recorded. This has caused some confusion regarding the status of existing system administrators.
+The committee wishes to clarify that all existing system administrators are, and to the best of the committee’s + knowledge, and have always been authorized to perform the functions of a system administrator.
+The committee agrees to appoint Timo Wilken (tw466) and Daniel Carter (dcc52) as
+ system administrators, as defined in item 1. They are two most recent additions to the system
+ administrator team. Their status was previously unclear as there had been no written evidence of their status
+ until now.
4 Appointment of VolunteersThe committee wishes to approve the following people as ‘volunteers’, as defined in item 1:
mw781)jjag3)mec31)chtj2)deb31)5 Removal of Inactive System AdministratorsAt this time, the committee finds it appropriate to update the current system administrator list by removing + inactive accounts.
+The committee has deemed that an active system administrator shall be one that has logged in to the
+ pip server with root privileges at any point in the year preceding 20/07/2020.
+
Deletions in the table below represent the inactive system administrators who will have their root privileges + revoked. The remaining names will keep their root privileges.
+| CRSid | +Name | +
|---|---|
amc96 |
+ Andrew Cooper | +
amr66 |
+ |
as2193 |
+ |
bk372 |
+ |
bm380 |
+ |
dcc52 |
+ Daniel Carter | +
de298 |
+ Dimitrije Erdeljan | +
dec41 |
+ Dexter Chua | +
djh243 |
+ David Horstmann | +
djr61 |
+ Daniel Richman | +
eb677 |
+ Edwin Bahrami Balani | +
htp27 |
+ Harrison Pitcher | +
jec226 |
+ Jefferson Edralin Chua | +
jl945 |
+ |
ll461 |
+ |
mas90 |
+ Malcolm Scott | +
mti20 |
+ |
obw20 |
+ |
rc516 |
+ |
rjw201 |
+ Richard Whitehouse | +
rpc25 |
+ Ross Church | +
rsa33 |
+ Richard Allitt | +
sjm217 |
+ |
sm2030 |
+ |
tg307 |
+ Tejas Guruswamy | +
tw466 |
+ Timo Wilken | +
The committee will reach out to the removed system administrators and invite them to participate in further + discussions as friends of the SRCF.
+The committee will also update srcf.net/committee to reflect the changes made here.
+For system administrators who have had their access revoked, regaining access will follow the same procedure as
+ adding a new system administrator, as defined in items 1 and 2.
mw781) – Chairadj35) – Secretaryzb260) – Publicity OfficerWitnessed, approved and countersigned by those in attendance (full name & date):
+
+ MATIAS SILVA 15/11/2021
+ ANDREW JENKINS 15/11/2021
+ DAVID BAI 15/11/2021
+
Start of meeting at 1520
++ The SRCF has a longstanding relationship with Mythic Beasts. We are + already a customer of theirs through our domain registration. With the + impending closure of Hermes, we need a replacement mailbox and if one + could be had with Mythic Beasts this would be ideal. +
++ There has been an written exchange in the past, and Matias has + previously emailed them once about sponsorship, and they had proposed an + affiliate-like scheme where we could recieve money for people we + directed to them. It is understood that the SRCF had previously been + offered a VPS. +
++ Our most pressing concern is therefore to follow up the possibility of a + free or cheap VPS. This will be the responsibility of Andrew, once + Matias has forward existing correspondence to him. If this turns out to + be possible, we will provide to Mythic Beasts the benefits we provide to + our sponsors (see SCP below), in particular noting how helpful they are. + It is noted we already direct people towards Mythic Beasts on our docs + if they want something we can't offer. +
++ Our contact at Symbolic is an SRCF alumnus. They have given us money in the + past, but nothing had been provided as yet by the SRCF in recognition of their + support. The company has jobs or internships available which might be of + interest to our members, and wondered if there was an effective vector such + that this reached people who might be interested, rather than spamming everyone + and causing irritation. +
++ In the discussion of what the SRCF could do for sponsors, and in light + of the amount of money in question, it was agreed that we should offer + SCP the following: +
++ It was suggested that the prominence of the careers mailing list could + be increased by: +
+It has been observed by participants in #society on the IRC
+ that the SRCF is not living up to its name, in that with its current slate of
+ sysadmins, it cannot reasonably be called 'student-run'. The discussion of this
+ subject was non-exhaustive as not all members had reviewed the IRC.
+
+ It was noted that at the freshers' fair, a number of prospective members wondered + what we actually 'did': recreational server maintenance is quite a hard + sell. The point was raised that there should be a place for a class of + member who wants to be more involved with the community than the typical + user, but who needs to feel that they are a part of a community (or will + become part of a community) before they are prepared to make the + committment involved in becoming a sysadmin. + +
++ Our hackday this term achieved good attendance but was not felt by + current sysadmins to have been especially productive in light of the + friction in getting set up and the early finish. The possibility of + more regular sessions with lower expectations was raised, and it was + noted that we have a 'chicken-and-egg' problem in that constraints on + sysadmins' time mean we can't run as many events to recruit new + sysadmins as we might like, and that therefor the demand for sysadmins' + time was not eased. + +
+
+ Matias agreed that he would review the discussion in #society and that
+ we would discuss this further at a later date.
+
+
+ It was agreed that we would look into ways we could become more like a + more typical university society. This term, we agreed that we would + issue an end-of-term round-up bulletin email to our users (like many + societies do already) that would cover what we've been up to and working + on. The purpose of this is twofold: to make people outside the IRC loop + more aware of what's going on, and to provide somewhere we can recognise + our sponsors until we increase membership of the careers list. Writing + and sending this email is to be the responsibility of the Publicity + Officer, in consultation with the committee and sysadmins. We also + agreed that we would organise a volunteer/sysadmin pub meeting in the + hope of giving volunteers a more relaxed opportunity to meet and to + discuss plans: 'a hack day without the hacking'. +
+ +It was noted that:
+Matias:
+#society.Andrew:
+David:
++ Close of meeting at 1602 +
+ diff --git a/minutes/2021-12-18.html b/minutes/2021-12-18.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..136149a --- /dev/null +++ b/minutes/2021-12-18.html @@ -0,0 +1,48 @@ + + + +pc644) – Treasureradj35) – Secretaryzb260) – Publicity Officer+ This has not yet been done. Patrick to look at our accounts and fill out + the list of officers. Andrew to email proctors and ask for an extension. +
++ No progress from the committee end as yet. Andrew to talk to sysadmins + about the situation to establish whether anything had been arranged + independently by the sysadmins. +
+It should be our objective to get as many people involved as + possible, in the interest of recruiting more sysadmins. The following + ideas were proposed: +
+The possibility of a relaxed 'coffee and code' type event, which + could be an easier way to get people involved than a hack day, was + considered, but it was understood that this would represent quite a time + commitment and it wasn't clear where we might do this while the SU lounge + was not available for booking.
+ +All agree to have a meeting in early January.
+ + + diff --git a/minutes/2023-03-01.html b/minutes/2023-03-01.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a26c956 --- /dev/null +++ b/minutes/2023-03-01.html @@ -0,0 +1,35 @@ + + + +tc565) – Chairjas330) – Secretary+ Location: last year it was held in the SU lounge which offers free bookings. Alternatively the engineering department + is suitable. + The AGM needs to be held before the end of term (17th March) - provisionally we plan to hold it the weekend before + this so Sunday 12th March 4pm (to be confirmed by sysadmins and other committee members), hopefully this will allow us + to hold handover meetings before the end of term as well. +
++ We received a donation for £400 (from Richard Asher) and were asked for a receipt for this - we don't have access to + the bank account so can't confirm we've received this, we'll replay saying that we're working on gettingg access to + the account. We also received £600 from Henry Couchy. +
+Venue: https://meet.jit.si/SRCF150323
+In attendance:
+Venue: some bench on Parker's Piece
+In attendance:
+Venue: Google Meet
+In attendance:
+Venue : Google Meet
+In attendance: +
Context: The meeting was scheduled via a WhatsApp +group chat, and conversation continued on there after the meeting was +concluded.
+Additional context in #executive IRC/Discord channel
+The 2021 Annual General Meeting of the Student-Run Computing Facility - took place from 14:00 GMT on Saturday 20 March 2021.
-This page will be updated in due course with minutes from the meeting.
-
+ Date: 06/03/2022
+ Time: 16:00
+ Venue: SU Lounge, 17 Mill Lane
+
+ Andrei Popescu (atp58)
+ Andrew Jenkins (adj35), outgoing Secretary
+ Daniel Carter (dcc52)
+ David Bai (db260), outgoing Publicity Officer
+ Edwin Bahrami Balani (eb677)
+ James Steiner (jas330)
+ Matias Silva (mw781), outgoing Chairman
+ Mikel Bober (mb2345)
+ Richard Allitt (rsa33)
+ Ryan Gibb (rgt24)
+ Eleanor Clifford (tc565)
+
Patrick Connolly (pc644), outgoing Treasurer
+ +Following the 2020 EGM, there has been substantial consideration given to +the direction of the society. Since 2020, we have acquired some equipment and +lost Malcolm, our longstanding sysadmin and helper. It had been feared that the +club was losing relevance, but it has been good to see people appearing and +interest from first-years.
+ +This year we've had a successful freshers' squash, one hackday which was +well-attended, and a social visit to the Center for Computing History. We've +experienced difficulties with retention but feel we're making progress, and +have recovered well from last year.
+ +The challenges to be addressed are our impending relocation, and recruitment. +A volunteer form was created but there is substantial room for improvement in +following up contacts after they have expressed an interest.
+ +The SRCF is in a stable financial position. Following a donation drive in +2020, a number of people have continued to give monthly donations. We also +recieved a donation from CUES (CU Engineering Society).
+ +The list of sysadmins has been trimmed again. Of the people on the list, +only a small minority are regularly active.
+The servers have been upgraded from Ubuntu 16.04 to 20.04, shortly before +the former reached end-of-life (EoL). This was achieved with relatively little +disruption, but with one exception: the difficult decision had to be made to +shut down Timeout, our videoconferencing service.
+At the time we set up Timeout, at the start of the pandemic, options for +university-aligned videoconferencing had been somewhat limited. +By 2021 there were relatively low user numbers and competitive alternatives +existed. BigBlueButton, the software it was based on, was quite poorly documented in +English, and it wasn't easy to hack on it. It depended quite heavily on Ubuntu +16.04 so we just couldn't keep it going once that version of Ubuntu reached +EoL.
+There were some who had used Timeout a lot. It had been popular for events +and talks, and up to about a hundred attendees BBB was fine for that; with more +simultaneous viewers a streaming service would be more appropriate (and maybe +that's what a successor to Timeout should be, if we decide to establish one).
+In Michaelmas, we had a hackday that had a great turnout. We got started on +migrating mailing lists from Mailman 2 to 3 (which remains a work in +progress)
+We're looking for ideas for things to do with donated hardware. +On the software side, the sysadmins do have ideas on their wishlist (including +webhosting overhaul). To date there has been lots of thought, little action. +The need for recruitment is reiterated.
+ +The sysadmins used have a shared mailbox on Hermes, the University's mail +system. Hermes shut down at the end of 2021. Mythic Beasts had been considered +as a replacement option (see minutes passim.), but in fact we have set up a mailbox +on some servers in the CL's data center.
+Email is tricky to get right. Recently, mail sent from @srcf.net addresses +are beginning to 'get lost' by Gmail, marked as 'not validated' by SPF. It's +likely that in the near future we will need to change with the times and publish +an SPF policy, which we have not needed to do thus far. (EB currently sends mail +@srcf.net from his home server, but suspects this is not a common workflow). +
+ ++Since its birth over two decades ago, the SRCF has lived with the SU, initially +in the Trumpington St offices, then the New Museums Site, then 17 Mill Lane. The +SU will be moving again in April, so we will need to move as well. With each +move, it has always been difficult to try to obtain adequate space. +
+We are reminded of our longstanding relationship with the SU. In return for +the SU giving us space and power, the SRCF gives volunteer time to SU technical +assistance. Historically the SRCF has helped the SU with office IT, run a file +server, and helped keep their web-server going. It is our opinion that we are +still able to be useful to the SU even though some of their services are now +outsourced. It is noted that if in future the SU don't need or don't want our +help, then we may need to find a new home. +
++Discussions are in progress about space for us in the SU's new home in +University Centre. Whatever the outcome of these discussions, there will not be +adequate server space at the University Centre for at least 18 months, but some +space in the UIS offices at West Cambridge (the Main Equipment Room) is going to +be funded by the SU moving project. Discussion followed about how the move was +physically to be effected. (Since the AGM, the move has successfully been +carried out – you can read about it +on the SRCF blog). +
++
ELEANOR CLIFFORD nominates self, seconded by Edwin. Unanimously elected. +
+MATIAS SILVA nominates self, seconded by Andrew. Unanimously elected. +
+JAMES STEINER nominates self, seconded by Andrew. Unanimously elected. +
+VACANT (to be selected at a later date by a by-election). +
+ +Close of meeting 1723
+ +
+ Date: 12/03/2023
+ Time: 15:00
+ Venue: Cambridge University Engineering Department, Trumpington Street, Cambridge
+
+ Eleanor Clifford (tc565), outgoing Chair
+ James Steiner (jas330), outgoing Secretary
+ Edwin Balani (eb677)
+ Richard Allitt (rsa33)
+ CMT Cliffon (cmtc3)
+ Nils Andre (na600)
+ Brychan Thomas (bt416)
+ Daniel Carter (dcc52)
+ Jason Brown (jrb239)
+
Mattias Silva (mw781), outgoing Treasurer
+ ++ Allow the new Chair, Junior Treasure and Senior Treasure on the mandate for any and all bank accounts +
+ 9 for
+ 0 against
+
Venue: Intel Lab in the William Gates Building and https://meet.jit.si/SRCF_AGM_2024
+Time: 15:00
+In attendance:
+Apologies:
+- Minutes of the Extraordinary General Meeting held on Thursday the 12th - of March 2020 to elect a new committee for the Student-Run Computing - Facility (SRCF). -
-Of those attending in person (roughly):
-- Edwin explains what happened at the Annual General Meeting and what - prompted the call for an EGM. Discusses problems. -
-- Chair discussed expansion of publicity work. Someone noted that - publicity officer role was made up by someone to give themself a - committee position. But it’s good that we’re tinking about these things. -
-- Someone noted that other societies don’t know about SRCF: went to AGM, - IT officer did not realize society had account with SRCF. -
-- Senior Treasurer made note on being senior treasurer and how senior vs - junior treasurerism works. Claimed responsibility of society debt, to - disagreement of constitution, no resolution made, decided was not - important because society is solvent. Discussion of Proctors’ - recommendation. -
-| Secretary | -Treasurer | -Publicity | -Chair | -
|---|---|---|---|
| Vaseille | -Matias Wang Almeida e Silva | -Michelle Soo | -John-Joseph Gray | -
| Bilal Chughtai | -James (later retracted) | -Jacob Rowlands | -- |
The full name of all nominees was not noted.
-33 - 1 chair
-Secretary:
-Junior Treasurer:
-Publicity:
-Chair: John-Joseph Gray: 23
-- These amendments to the Constitution are proposed separately and - independently of one another, by resolution of the Committee. A separate - vote for each numbered amendment shall be held at the EGM. -
-+ Minutes of the Extraordinary General Meeting held on Thursday the 12th + of March 2020 to elect a new committee for the Student-Run Computing + Facility (SRCF). +
+Of those attending in person (roughly):
++ Edwin explains what happened at the Annual General Meeting and what + prompted the call for an EGM. Discusses problems. +
++ Chair discussed expansion of publicity work. Someone noted that + publicity officer role was made up by someone to give themself a + committee position. But it’s good that we’re tinking about these things. +
++ Someone noted that other societies don’t know about SRCF: went to AGM, + IT officer did not realize society had account with SRCF. +
++ Senior Treasurer made note on being senior treasurer and how senior vs + junior treasurerism works. Claimed responsibility of society debt, to + disagreement of constitution, no resolution made, decided was not + important because society is solvent. Discussion of Proctors’ + recommendation. +
+| Secretary | +Treasurer | +Publicity | +Chair | +
|---|---|---|---|
| Vaseille | +Matias Wang Almeida e Silva | +Michelle Soo | +John-Joseph Gray | +
| Bilal Chughtai | +James (later retracted) | +Jacob Rowlands | ++ |
The full name of all nominees was not noted.
+33 - 1 chair
+Secretary:
+Junior Treasurer:
+Publicity:
+Chair: John-Joseph Gray: 23
++ These amendments to the Constitution are proposed separately and + independently of one another, by resolution of the Committee. A separate + vote for each numbered amendment shall be held at the EGM. +
+Venue: Emmanuel college, University of Cambridge
+Date: 2023-04-30
+In attendance:
+The junior treasurer elected at the previous AGM resigned. Chair gives an +overview of the events ran by the society. For the previous year (2022-2023), +there was a fresher's squash to get people interested in open-source software +and a hackday was organised (although 2 were initially planned). A few years +prior a trip to the computing history museum was organised. Chair discusses the +challenges the incoming junior treasurer will face. The junior treasurer from +the previous committee (2022-2023) never setup the bank account and was removed +from the mandate. The 2021-2022 junior treasurer should be able to help +otherwise the senior treasurer, Bob Dowling, is on the mandate. This will need +to be resolved in addition to the de-registration of the society.
+Venue: Intel Lab in the William Gates Building
+In attendance:
+Apologies:
+| AGM | -20th March 2021 | -- | - Minutes - | -- | - | |
| - | 28th July 2020 | -- | - Minutes - | -- | - | |
| - | 14th July 2020 | -- | - Minutes - | -- | - | |
| EGM | -12th March 2020 | -- | Minutes | -- | - | |
| - | 14th November 2019 | -- | - Minutes - | -- | - | |
| AGM | -Tuesday 13th March 2018 | -- | Minutes | -Sysadmins' report | -- | |
| - | Tuesday 13th February 2018 | -- | Minutes | -- | - | |
| AGM | -Tuesday 14th March 2017 | -- | Minutes | -- | - Constitutional changes - | -|
| - | Monday 9th May 2016 | -- | Minutes | -- | - | |
| AGM | -Thursday 8th March 2016 | -- | Minutes | -Treasurer's report | -- | |
| - | Tuesday 19th January 2016 | -- | Minutes | -- | - | |
| - | Sunday 17th May 2015 | -- | Minutes | -- | - | |
| AGM | -Thursday 5th March 2015 | -Agenda | -Minutes | -Reports | -- (Accepted) constitutional changes - | -|
| - | Friday 5th Oct 2014 | -- | Minutes | -- | - | |
| - | Friday 11th May 2014 | -- | Minutes | -- | - | |
| AGM | -Thursday 13th February 2014 | -Agenda | -Minutes | -Reports | -Constitutional changes | -|
| - | Friday 17th January 2014 | -- | Minutes | -- | - | |
| - | Friday 11th October 2013 | -- | Minutes | -- | - | |
| - | Sunday 12th May 2013 | -- | Minutes | -- | - | |
| EGM | -Monday 11th March 2013 | -Agenda | -Minutes | -Reports | -- Constitutional changes - | -|
| - | Saturday 1st December 2012 | -- | Minutes | -- | - | |
| - | Friday 15th June 2012 | -- | Minutes | -- | - | |
| - | Friday 16th March 2012 | -- | Minutes | -- | - | |
| AGM | -Monday 5th March 2012 | -Agenda | -Minutes | -Reports | -- | - |
| - | Friday 14th October 2011 | -- | Minutes | -- | - | |
| - | Monday 3rd October 2011 | -- | Minutes | -- | - | |
| - | Friday 17th June 2011 | -- | Minutes | -- | - | |
| - | Thursday 17th March 2011 | -- | Minutes | -- | - | |
| AGM | -Thursday 3rd February 2011 | -Agenda | -Minutes | -Reports | -- | - |
| - | Saturday 22nd January 2011 | -- | Minutes | -- | - | |
| EGM | -Tuesday 5th October 2010 | -- | Minutes | -- | - | |
| - | Monday 4th October 2010 | -- | Minutes | -- | - | |
| - | Friday 14th May 2010 | -- | Minutes | -- | - | |
| - | Friday 12th March 2010 | -- | Minutes | -- | - | |
| AGM | -Tuesday 9th March 2010 | -Agenda | -Minutes | -- | - Constitutional changes - | -|
| - | Saturday 20th February 2010 | -- | Minutes | -- | - | |
| - | Tuesday 26th January 2010 | -- | Minutes | -- | - | |
| - | Wednesday 9th December 2009 | -- | Minutes | -- | - | |
| - | Tuesday 29th September 2009 | -- | Minutes | -- | - | |
| - | Saturday 18th April 2009 | -- | Minutes | -- | - | |
| - | Sunday 22nd February 2009 | -- | Minutes | -- | - | |
| AGM | -Thursday 19th February 2009 | -- | Minutes | -- | - Constitutional changes - | -|
| - | Thursday 15th January 2009 | -- | Minutes | -- | - | |
| - | Tuesday 30th September 2008 | -- | Minutes | -- | - | |
| - | Friday 16th May 2008 | -- | Minutes | -- | - | |
| AGM | -Wednesday 5th March 2008 | -- | Minutes | -- | - | |
| - | Monday 18th February 2008 | -- | Minutes | -- | - | |
| - | Thursday 17th January 2008 | -- | Minutes | -- | - | |
| - | Monday 19th November 2007 | -- | Minutes | -- | - | |
| - | Monday 15th October 2007 | -- | Minutes | -- | - | |
| AGM | -Thursday 15th March 2007 | -- | Minutes | -- | - | |
| - | Friday 20th October 2006 | -- | Minutes | -- | - | |
| - | Thursday 4th May 2006 | -- | Minutes | -- | - | |
| - | Thursday 28th April 2005 | -- | Minutes | -- | - | |
| AGM | -Monday 8th March 2004 | -- | Minutes | -- | - | |
| - | Tuesday 22nd April 2003 | -- | Minutes | -- | - | |
| AGM | -Thursday 13th March 2003 | -- | Minutes | -- | - | |
| - | Thursday 13th June 2002 | -- | Minutes | -- | - | |
| - | Tuesday 19th March 2002 | -- | Minutes | -- | - | |
| - | Tuesday 22nd January 2002 | -- | Minutes | -- | - | |
| - | Monday April 30th 2001 | -- | Minutes | -- | - | |
| - | Tuesday 20th February 2001 | -- | Minutes | -- | - | |
| - | Monday 6th November 2000 | -- | Minutes | -- | - | |
| - | Thursday 27th April 2000 | -- | Minutes | -- | - | |
| - | Monday 16th April 2000 | -- | Minutes | -- | - | |
| - | Friday 10th March 2000 | -- | Minutes | -- | - | |
| - | Thursday 24th February 2000 | -- | Minutes | -- | - | |
| AGM | -Sunday 20th February 2000 | -- | Minutes | -- | - | |
| - | Thursday 17th February 2000 | -- | Minutes | -- | - | |
| - | Tuesday 18th January 2000 | -- | Minutes | -- | - | |
| - | Sunday 3rd October 1999 | -- | Minutes | -- | - | |
| - | Thursday 3rd / Friday 4th June 1999 | -- | Minutes | -- | - |
| EGM | +28th April 2024 | ++ | + Minutes + | ++ | + | |
| AGM | +17th March 2024 | ++ | + Minutes + | ++ | + | |
| + | 24th September 2023 | ++ | + Minutes + | ++ | + | |
| + | 19th June 2023 | ++ | + Minutes + | ++ | + | |
| EGM | +30th April 2023 | ++ | + Minutes + | ++ | + | |
| + | 15th April 2023 | ++ | + Minutes + | ++ | + | |
| AGM | +12th March 2023 | ++ | + Minutes + | ++ | + | |
| + | 1st March 2023 | ++ | + Minutes + | ++ | + | |
| AGM | +6th March 2022 | ++ | + Minutes + | ++ | + | |
| + | 18th December 2021 | ++ | + Minutes + | ++ | + | |
| + | 11th November 2021 | ++ | + Minutes + | ++ | + | |
| AGM | +20th March 2021 | ++ | + Minutes + | ++ | + | |
| + | 28th July 2020 | ++ | + Minutes + | ++ | + | |
| + | 14th July 2020 | ++ | + Minutes + | ++ | + | |
| EGM | +12th March 2020 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + | |
| + | 14th November 2019 | ++ | + Minutes + | ++ | + | |
| AGM | +Tuesday 13th March 2018 | ++ | Minutes | +Sysadmins' report | ++ | |
| + | Tuesday 13th February 2018 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + | |
| AGM | +Tuesday 14th March 2017 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + Constitutional changes + | +|
| + | Monday 9th May 2016 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + | |
| AGM | +Thursday 8th March 2016 | ++ | Minutes | +Treasurer's report | ++ | |
| + | Tuesday 19th January 2016 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + | |
| + | Sunday 17th May 2015 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + | |
| AGM | +Thursday 5th March 2015 | +Agenda | +Minutes | +Reports | ++ (Accepted) constitutional changes + | +|
| + | Friday 5th Oct 2014 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + | |
| + | Friday 11th May 2014 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + | |
| AGM | +Thursday 13th February 2014 | +Agenda | +Minutes | +Reports | +Constitutional changes | +|
| + | Friday 17th January 2014 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + | |
| + | Friday 11th October 2013 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + | |
| + | Sunday 12th May 2013 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + | |
| EGM | +Monday 11th March 2013 | +Agenda | +Minutes | +Reports | ++ Constitutional changes + | +|
| + | Saturday 1st December 2012 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + | |
| + | Friday 15th June 2012 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + | |
| + | Friday 16th March 2012 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + | |
| AGM | +Monday 5th March 2012 | +Agenda | +Minutes | +Reports | ++ | + |
| + | Friday 14th October 2011 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + | |
| + | Monday 3rd October 2011 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + | |
| + | Friday 17th June 2011 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + | |
| + | Thursday 17th March 2011 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + | |
| AGM | +Thursday 3rd February 2011 | +Agenda | +Minutes | +Reports | ++ | + |
| + | Saturday 22nd January 2011 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + | |
| EGM | +Tuesday 5th October 2010 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + | |
| + | Monday 4th October 2010 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + | |
| + | Friday 14th May 2010 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + | |
| + | Friday 12th March 2010 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + | |
| AGM | +Tuesday 9th March 2010 | +Agenda | +Minutes | ++ | + Constitutional changes + | +|
| + | Saturday 20th February 2010 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + | |
| + | Tuesday 26th January 2010 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + | |
| + | Wednesday 9th December 2009 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + | |
| + | Tuesday 29th September 2009 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + | |
| + | Saturday 18th April 2009 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + | |
| + | Sunday 22nd February 2009 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + | |
| AGM | +Thursday 19th February 2009 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + Constitutional changes + | +|
| + | Thursday 15th January 2009 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + | |
| + | Tuesday 30th September 2008 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + | |
| + | Friday 16th May 2008 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + | |
| AGM | +Wednesday 5th March 2008 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + | |
| + | Monday 18th February 2008 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + | |
| + | Thursday 17th January 2008 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + | |
| + | Monday 19th November 2007 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + | |
| + | Monday 15th October 2007 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + | |
| AGM | +Thursday 15th March 2007 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + | |
| + | Friday 20th October 2006 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + | |
| + | Thursday 4th May 2006 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + | |
| + | Thursday 28th April 2005 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + | |
| AGM | +Monday 8th March 2004 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + | |
| + | Tuesday 22nd April 2003 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + | |
| AGM | +Thursday 13th March 2003 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + | |
| + | Thursday 13th June 2002 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + | |
| + | Tuesday 19th March 2002 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + | |
| + | Tuesday 22nd January 2002 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + | |
| + | Monday April 30th 2001 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + | |
| + | Tuesday 20th February 2001 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + | |
| + | Monday 6th November 2000 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + | |
| + | Thursday 27th April 2000 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + | |
| + | Monday 16th April 2000 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + | |
| + | Friday 10th March 2000 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + | |
| + | Thursday 24th February 2000 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + | |
| AGM | +Sunday 20th February 2000 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + | |
| + | Thursday 17th February 2000 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + | |
| + | Tuesday 18th January 2000 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + | |
| + | Sunday 3rd October 1999 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + | |
| + | Thursday 3rd / Friday 4th June 1999 | ++ | Minutes | ++ | + |
- Minutes of the ordinary meeting held on Tuesday the 14th of July 2020 to - action the creation of a new mandate and approval for internet banking - to be activated for the Student-Run Computing Facility (SRCF). -
-- With the new information received by HSBC, namely that permission must - be officially granted to the primary user of internet banking to act on - the SRCF’s behalf, the committee now recognizes and approves that - the current junior treasurer, Matias Wang Almeida e Silva, is allowed - to manage all of the SRCF’s accounts with HSBC via internet - banking. It recognizes that they will be the sole - Primary User of the account and grant permission to - operate the account in accordance with their duties as junior treasurer. -
-- As it is not possible to hold an Annual General Meeting (AGM) for the - SRCF to write the aforementioned agreement into our constitution so that - it may apply to all future junior treasurers, it notes here that such - must be done once the conditions for an AGM to be held are met. This - cannot currently be done due to the present disruption caused by - COVID-19 and because it is stipulated that the AGM must occur during the - Full Term. -
-- Similar to the above, the committee also grants Matias Wang Almeida e - Silva with rights to act as the Primary User on all of the SRCF’s - registered accounts with HSBC via telephone banking. -
-- As the previous mandate has expired after 6 years, the junior treasurer - has created a new mandate with the following signatories to be added: -
-
- The committee notes that Matias has submitted a
- pws-msc-62831 form to HSBC.
-
- Witnessed, approved and countersigned by those in attendance (full - name & date): -
-- MATIAS WANG ALMEIDA E SILVA 14/07/2020 -
-JOHN-JOSEPH ANTHONY GRAY 14/07/2020
-BILAL CHUGHTAI 14/07/2020
-MICHELLE SOO 14/07/2020
-Meeting adjourned at 23:59
-Location: The Free Press on Prospect Row
-Present:
-eb677), Chair & Sysadminjec226), Treasurer & Sysadminar899), Secretarydjh243), Publicity Officer & Sysadminmas90), Sysadminrsa33), SysadminApologies:
-cvrb2), MageThe sysadmins reported that Emmanuel College’s computer office had kindly donated an Intel server, which has been dubbed mist and been tasked with virtual machine hosting in the existing Xen cluster.
The sysadmins reported further that Third Light have offered and prepared a large server and a serial console box, which is ready to be collected or delivered. Edwin commented that the email thread had gone quiet for a couple of months, with the last message being sent from him to our contact at Third Light.
-Action Edwin: chase up Third Light.
-The Computer Lab wants to dispose of its multiple NetApp storage servers (and associated hardware, including disk drives). Malcolm has arranged for the SRCF to be given as much of this as the SRCF can take, amounting to one or two NetApps and a large number of disk drives, which would offer about 36 TB of usable networked storage in the SRCF rack, and also allow for offsite backups (with the offsite machine sitting in the CL’s West Cambridge Data Centre rack).
-Malcolm stressed that the CL computing staff were not in a position to provide support, time, or supervised access to the WCDC, and that the NetApps would be operated without a support contract in place.
-With the Third Light and CL NetApp donations, the rack space at CUSU would be depleted almost entirely. Malcolm proposed that nimbus and alto have reached the end of their useful lives by now (with neither being in active service currently), and that they should be removed and recycled.
Malcolm further proposed that the next lot of hardware to go should probably be pileus (recycled) and stratus (not thrown away, but kept unracked for now and potentially repurposed in future).
Edwin noted that attempts to organise a 20th Anniversary Dinner in Michaelmas term had failed, and asked for an extra pair of hands to help with organisation.
-With the NetApp anticipated to arrive in the rack, offering a new centralised and networked storage for both virtual machine disks and home directories, it would be good to gradually upgrade to 10-gigabit networking in the rack. Malcolm quoted rough estimates at 10-gigabit switched as £160 to £200 for a second-hand one that will do the job, or around £650 for a 40-gigabit switch (where each port can be broken out into 4x 10-gigabit ones).
-It was noted that a Cambridge instance of The Things Network, an association of community LoRaWAN networks, was to launch in the next few days, and may be of future interest for fun SRCF projects.
-Edwin updated the Executive on the proposed establishment of a single students’ union, Cambridge SU, formed from an effective merger of CUSU and the GU that has been nicknamed ‘New-SU’ (to rhyme with CUSU). The relevance of this to the SRCF (if it goes ahead, pending a student referendum) would be a need to re-establish the existing arrangement with CUSU in a similar form with Cambridge SU.
-Edwin and Malcolm reported that the Unions, regardless of the success or failure of New-SU, are seeking to officially merge IT infrastructure, where there has historically been a quasi-converged setup for some years already. It is expected that the SRCF sysadmins, acting as CUSU sysadmins, will inevitably take on responsibility for ex-GU infrastructure that they had previously not dealt with.
-Jefferson noted that he would like an up-to-date register of the Society’s assets for record-keeping and reporting purposes. The sysadmins agreed that they were best placed to gather this information.
-Action sysadmins: compile and provide an asset register, including replacement cost of items held.
-The Executive noted that they had not received an anticipated monetary donation.
-Action Edwin: chase up that donation.
-Minutes of the meeting held on Thursday the 28 of July 2020 to resolve the uncertainty surrounding the - authorization of system administrators to use SRCF systems.
-jjag3) - Chairmw781) - Junior Treasurerbc464) - Secretarymhws2) - Publicity OfficerWitnessed, approved and countersigned by those in attendance (full name & date):
-JOHN-JOSEPH GRAY 28/07/2020
- MATIAS SILVA 28/07/2020
- BILAL CHUGHTAI 29/07/2020
- MICHELLE SOO 28/07/2020
Historic references to ‘sysadmins’ and ‘system administrators’ refer to the SRCF position of System
- Administrator, as described on https://www.srcf.net/roles as of Monday 20th July 2020 (below). Item 1 in
- these minutes redefines the role of ‘system administrator’. When references to the new role are used, they will
- mention this item.
--The job of sysadmin is not particularly a glamorous one, but it is one of the most important: the SRCF could - struggle along without a committee, but without the sysadmin team the service would grind quickly to a halt. -
-Much of the day-to-day administration of the SRCF involves responding to user requests, either by running one - of the SRCF scripts to create a database or add a user or whatever, or by explaining patiently why what they - want is stupid. The simplest requests can be dealt with by anyone with a shell and a keyboard, but - occasionally a closer familiarity with what is actually going on, and some greater ingenuity and problem - solving, is required.
-The admins are also responsible for developing and maintaining the scripts and tools to make life easier for - both themselves and the users, so software-engineer types will have some opportunity to exercise their skills. - The SRCF has been writing scripts for more than a decade, and some 2000-vintage Python and Perl is still in - operation, so there’s plenty of modernisation work to do.
-Since system administration is a shared responsibility, the amount demanded of any individual is not too - severe. Each admin is mostly welcome to pick and choose which tasks they are willing and able to deal with, - and focus on those. If you do nothing at all, and do not intend to start doing anything, we would appreciate - it if you would give up your admin rights to simplify bookkeeping, but as long as you are doing something, - even if that’s just approving membership requests or fixing the permissions on a society account, you are - freeing up the time of people who can do more involved things, like script development or service deployment. -
-Some experience of system administration is preferable, but of course we realise that the SRCF is a place - that many people go to gain that experience; however, knowing your way around the Linux command line is - probably essential if you are to carry out any serious administrative work. If you lack that experience but - are still keen to help the SRCF, don’t be discouraged – there’s a good chance we will be able to find - something else for you to do. Just ask!
-
1 Clarify What It Means to Be a System
- AdministratorIt is evident that the ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to the administration of SRCF machines is outdated. Newer - services such as Timeout and other upcoming projects rely on the help of volunteers that have partial access to - these machines and, in some cases, root access on a select few.
-The committee, therefore, wishes to distinguish between:
-2 Clarify the Process of
- Appointing a New System AdministratorPresently, the SRCF Constitution - §5.2 states that:
---[The committee] shall be responsible for the appointment of system administrators, who shall be responsible - to the Committee.
-
The committee recognizes that the procedure for the appointment of system administrators has on occasion been - informal, to the extent that it casts doubts as to what the procedure entails. The committee notes that it has - always felt that it could intervene in this process if necessary.
-To improve this process, the following is proposed and will henceforth be the current committee’s - implementation of §5.2:
-The existing team of system administrators will be free to recruit and vet any potential candidates as they - always have.
-To appoint a new system administrator, a motion should be brought to the committee by email. The motion should - contain the following information:
-The committee will proceed to vote on the motion. The results of the said vote will be provided to the system - administrator team.
-The committee expects that the majority of these motions will be proposed by the existing system administrator - team. The committee also notes that there may be a reasonable time delay from the internal appointment of a - system administrator to its communication to the public via the minutes.
-3 Appointment of System AdministratorsThe committee wishes to acknowledge that, historically, the appointment of system administrators has been - poorly recorded. This has caused some confusion regarding the status of existing system administrators.
-The committee wishes to clarify that all existing system administrators are, and to the best of the committee’s - knowledge, and have always been authorized to perform the functions of a system administrator.
-The committee agrees to appoint Timo Wilken (tw466) and Daniel Carter (dcc52) as
- system administrators, as defined in item 1. They are two most recent additions to the system
- administrator team. Their status was previously unclear as there had been no written evidence of their status
- until now.
4 Appointment of VolunteersThe committee wishes to approve the following people as ‘volunteers’, as defined in item 1:
mw781)jjag3)mec31)chtj2)deb31)5 Removal of Inactive System AdministratorsAt this time, the committee finds it appropriate to update the current system administrator list by removing - inactive accounts.
-The committee has deemed that an active system administrator shall be one that has logged in to the
- pip server with root privileges at any point in the year preceding 20/07/2020.
Deletions in the table below represent the inactive system administrators who will have their root privileges - revoked. The remaining names will keep their root privileges.
-| CRSid | -Name | -
|---|---|
amc96 |
- Andrew Cooper | -
amr66 |
- |
as2193 |
- |
bk372 |
- |
bm380 |
- |
dcc52 |
- Daniel Carter | -
de298 |
- Dimitrije Erdeljan | -
dec41 |
- Dexter Chua | -
djh243 |
- David Horstmann | -
djr61 |
- Daniel Richman | -
eb677 |
- Edwin Bahrami Balani | -
htp27 |
- Harrison Pitcher | -
jec226 |
- Jefferson Edralin Chua | -
jl945 |
- |
ll461 |
- |
mas90 |
- Malcolm Scott | -
mti20 |
- |
obw20 |
- |
rc516 |
- |
rjw201 |
- Richard Whitehouse | -
rpc25 |
- Ross Church | -
rsa33 |
- Richard Allitt | -
sjm217 |
- |
sm2030 |
- |
tg307 |
- Tejas Guruswamy | -
tw466 |
- Timo Wilken | -
The committee will reach out to the removed system administrators and invite them to participate in further - discussions as friends of the SRCF.
-The committee will also update srcf.net/committee to reflect the changes made here.
-For system administrators who have had their access revoked, regaining access will follow the same procedure as
- adding a new system administrator, as defined in items 1 and 2.
The SRCF has various ongoing projects. Come talk to us if you are interested in working on any of them, or if you want to propose new projects.
+The SRCF has various ongoing projects. Come talk to us if you are interested in working on any of them, or if you want to propose new projects.
Each role has additional responsibilities, which are detailed below:
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@The Secretary records the minutes of each meeting and writes them up -afterwards to be published on the minutes +afterwards to be published on the minutes page. These are an important part of helping users to understand what the society does, and reminding the committee of their day-to-day duties, so getting them done promptly and accurately is essential.
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@The Junior Treasurer is responsible for ensuring we have an accurate, up-to-date record of how much money the SRCF has, where it goes, and where it comes from. They will have their address published on the donation page so will occasionally receive cheques, +href="donate">donation page so will occasionally receive cheques, which they then need to take to the bank to pay in.
They are also responsible for maintaining our bank accounts, so some diff --git a/services.html b/services.html index 8bd09b6..a1390e1 100644 --- a/services.html +++ b/services.html @@ -39,7 +39,7 @@
Mattermost is a flexible, open source messaging platform - that enables secure team collaboration. You can use it for your society, with friends or for any group.
-Learn more about Mattermost here
-- The Cambridge University Student-Run Computing Facility is a - volunteer-run student society that provides useful and flexible - computing and networking services for members of the University. For 21 - years, it has attracted the interest of students interested in computing - and technology and enabled them to freely experiment in a Linux sandbox. -
-- The SRCF is one of the university’s largest societies. We have ~2500 - active members from across the University that are proactively involved - in using our services. Collectively, they maintain ~800 group accounts. - Our full membership is ~10,400 members, which includes our alumni and - past users. The SRCF runs free services such as web hosting, shell - servers, mailing lists, video conferencing and more. A team of volunteer - system administrators maintains these services. -
-treasurer@srcf.net to get in touch!+ The Cambridge University Student-Run Computing Facility is a + volunteer-run student society that provides useful and flexible + computing and networking services for members of the University. For 21 + years, it has attracted the interest of students interested in computing + and technology and enabled them to freely experiment in a Linux sandbox. +
++ The SRCF is one of the university’s largest societies. We have ~2500 + active members from across the University that are proactively involved + in using our services. Collectively, they maintain ~800 group accounts. + Our full membership is ~10,400 members, which includes our alumni and + past users. The SRCF runs free services such as web hosting, shell + servers, mailing lists, video conferencing and more. A team of volunteer + system administrators maintains these services. +
+treasurer@srcf.net to get in touch!If you're a company, you can - read more about the benefits we offer for potential sponsors. For keen supporters, find out how you can support us - and our mission here. + and our mission here. Thanks !
diff --git a/tos.html b/tos.html index ef9d650..8c769df 100644 --- a/tos.html +++ b/tos.html @@ -43,7 +43,7 @@Personal accounts must not be used to host anything which might need to be maintained by more than one person, such as a society website; you should apply for a Group account for this purpose.
Please see our privacy statement for more information about how we handle your data.
+Please see our privacy statement for more information about how we handle your data.
You grant us permission to view any information stored, processed, transmitted or received by our systems for the purposes of ensuring correct operation, integrity, security and compliance with these Terms of Service and relevant legislation.
You are not permitted to compromise or allow to be compromised the security, privacy, integrity or availability of another person's or Group's account or data, or of the SRCF itself. In particular you may not access another person's data without their explicit consent.
Starting in October 2018, the SRCF runs two email services. We originally offered webmail access to both, although +
Starting in October 2018, the SRCF runs two email services. We originally offered webmail access to both, although
following a system upgrade to Ubuntu 20.04 we are not in a position to offer SquirrelMail webmail access to the older pip-based email service
(via webmail.pip.srcf.net) any more. However, you can still access pip mailboxes
using IMAP and terminal mail clients.