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OIT-12 Information Technology Infrastructure Standards Policy

Policy Last Updated: January 25, 2007

Purpose

Standardization provides the WVU community a high level of productivity in a cost-effective manner as well as other benefits, including reduction of complexity, improved operational efficiency, robust communication, and/or assurance of continued availability of service and the provision of consistent technical support.

Scope

This policy applies to all University staff, faculty, administrators, officers and students (collectively, “users”), including those on the regional campuses and Extended Learning sites.

Policy

To make the most efficient use of university resources, all computers acquired by the university will conform to the following minimum standards. Exceptions to standards may be considered when a non-conforming technology is essential to fulfillment of a unit’s role and mission.

Exceptions to Standards

As with any policy applied in a large institution, there are bound to be exceptions to the standards outlined in this policy. Written requests for exceptions, with justification, should be sent to the CIO.

Appendix A – Microcomputer Hardware Standards

All University purchases for administrative and student lab computer hardware must be coordinated through the Technology Support Center (TSC) to ensure that current and up-to-date specifications are followed and that business class, network certified equipment is purchased. These TSC hardware specifications will be updated on a 6-month cycle due to the ever changing release of new computers and software releases and the current specifications include:

Appendix B – Microcomputer Software Standards

The Software License Information Center (SLIC) negotiates annual discounted software site license agreements with many software vendors and in turn extends these savings to individual colleges and units. WVU units needing to purchase any software on this list, must purchase it from SLIC or the University selected reseller. Please refer to OIT-16 Software Site License Policy and Procedure and the SLIC web site for more information.

WVU’s current software standard, includes the following example:

  • Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP Professional
  • Microsoft Office XP Professional SP1
  • Web Development: Macromedia Dreamweaver, Microsoft Frontpage
  • AntiVirus Software: Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Edition v8.0
  • Web Browser: Internet Explorer 6 SP1
  • System Utilities
    • Acrobat Reader 6.0
    • Media Player 8.0
    • J-Initiator Control Panel 1.1.8.16 – for Web LETS and ISS Web – Based Applications
    • QuickTime 6.4 Minimum unregistered

Appendix C – Network Standards

The following WVU network infrastructure standards must be met to ensure protection of the WVU network and data, as well as reliable service on and to the campus. OIT Telecommunications & Network Operations maintains a listing of approved network equipment. Please contact Network Services to obtain this current list and to make purchasing requests.

Network Operations manages:

  • all LAN, WAN and building connections on and to the campus,
  • all DNS, DHCP, and IP assignments, and
  • the network infrastrucure from core to wall jack
  • Ethernet connection speed to the desktops must be switched 10/100mb and redundant to the building. Gigabit to the desktop must be approved by OIT. Any deviation of these ethernet connection standards must be approved by Network Services.
  • WVU campus backbone supports only IP protocol
  • No hubs are permitted and those currently in service must be discontinued immediately
  • All infrastructure purchases must be stored behind locked telecommunications closets or cabinets (ie. no equipment is permitted in open rooms)
  • All infrastructure purchases must be processed through the Network Services unit (for tracking)
  • Cisco Systems networking equipment is the standard
  • All new installations and upgrades of building wiring for the transport of voice, data, video, imaging information, etc. must meet or exceed the Minimum Wiring Requirement Specifications.
  • Remote Access to campus will be managed by OIT. This includes, but not limited to:
    • Dial-up modems
    • VPN
    • Remote Control
      • VNC
      • PC Anywhere
  • All wireless use will be deployed according to the Wireless Specifications
  • All workstations that connect to the WVU network shall comply with a standard naming convention determined by Network Services.
  • Any exceptions to the above standards must be requested to Network Services.

Appendix D – Electronic Communication Standards

All electronic communications that are sent to and from the WVU network will pass through the central communication management system. SMTP services will be restricted to the official electronic communications systems. Accounts and data on the communcation system will be managed according to the Email Policy.

The administration of the standard electronic communication systems for faculty and staff and students will reside within the Office of Information Technology. Account management of the communication system for faculty and staff will reside with the Office of Information Technology. Approval of automated email services on individual systems will reside with the Office of Information Technology.

All electronic mail being sent from and delivered to the official WVU electronic communication systems will be scanned for viruses and spam as indicated by the Anti-Virus, Anti-Spam Policy.

Faculty and Staff Communication System

The official electronic communication system for faculty and staff user accounts at WVU must be, at a minimum, capable of the following:

Email

  • Sending and receiving electronic mail from other users within the WVU network
  • Sending and receiving electronic mail from other individuals outside of the WVU network

Calendar

  • Provide users a calendar system
  • Provide users the ability to share their calendar with anyone else within the faculty/staff electronic communication system

Address Books

  • Provide a system wide address book, listing all accounts within the faculty/staff electronic communication system
  • Provide users a personal address book to store email addresses and other contact information for individuals outside of the faculty/staff electronic communication system
  • Provide users the ability to create new personal address books and share them with other users within the faculty/staff electronic communication system

Folders

  • Provide users the ability to create folders within their mailbox to organize and store email
  • Offer mechanisms to filter or automatically move items to designated folders/automate folder management
  • Provide users the ability to share individual folders within their mailboxes with other users within the faculty/staff electronic communication system

Web Access

  • Provide users with access to their email account through a web-based client interface.

Instant Messenger

  • Provide users the ability to communicate with other users within the faculty/staff electronic communication system using instant messages
  • Provide users the ability to save conversations held using instant messaging

Document Sharing

  • Provide users the ability to interactively share documents with other users within the faculty/staff electronic communication system
  • Provide users the ability to control who has access to each document and what privileges they will be granted
  • Provide resource accounts that can be used to manage and schedule resources and provide a consistent source of communication to individuals both within and outside of the WVU network

Student Communication System

The official electronic communication system for student user accounts at WVU must be, at a minimum, capable of the following:

Email

  • Sending and receiving electronic mail from other users within the WVU network
  • Sending and receiving electronic mail from other individuals outside of the WVU network

Calendar

  • Provide users a calendar system
  • Provide users the ability to share their calendar with anyone else within the student electronic communication system

Address Books

  • Provide a system wide address book that individuals can search for other users based on a specified criteria
  • Provide users a personal address book to store email addresses and other contact information for individuals outside of the WVU network
  • Provide users the ability to create new personal address books
  • Ability to restrict visibilty of user entries and information by request.

Folders

  • Provide users the ability to create folders within their mailbox to organize email

Electronic mail services

Certain applications and systems on campus may require the ability to send and/or receive electronic mail. If this is necessary the following criteria must be met within the system before mail services can be enabled.

Approval

  • Registered with OIT
  • Justification must be given as to why this service is needed and what benefit WVU will gain from it.
  • Obtain approval from CIO

System Requirements

  • OIT must have the ability to evaluate the configuration on the system to check for security/vulnerabilities at all times
    • This may be done manually or software may be used to perform these scans
  • All email will be routed through the official scanning system
  • Systems will be used for automated processes only
    • No individual user accounts will be placed on the system

Appendix E – Anti-Virus Standard

All computers (clients and servers) connected to the WVU computer network or networked resources shall have WVU supported antivirus software (preferably the most current version) correctly installed, configured, activated, and updated with the latest version of virus definitions before or immediately upon connecting to the network. This antivirus software must be updated regularly and meet or exceed the Anti-Virus Specifications.

Appendix F – World Wide Web Standard

The WVU home page is considered an official publication as well as a campus-wide information source. Additionally, all pages produced and supported by administrative units such as the colleges, schools, departments, and institutes are considered Official WVU Web Pages and must meet or exceed the WWW Standard and/or Guidelines.

Appendix G – Web Browser Standard

Web browsers supported by WVU for centrally managed web based systems are listed below. To successfully access and use these WVU systems, you should utilize one of these web browsers. When contacting the OIT Help Desk for assistance using any of these systems, you will be asked to verify that you are using a supported web browser.

Supported Web Browsers

System Supported Browser(s) by Operating System
Windows XP Macintosh Unix/Linux
MIX IE 6 (sp2), 7
FireFox 2, 3
Safari 3.1		 FireFox 2, 3 (OS 10.4)
Safari 3.1
WVU eCampus (WebCT Vista) IE 6, 7Mozilla 1.7

Firefox 2, 3

 Mozilla 1.7.x (OSX Only)

Firefox 2 (OS 10.3 & higher), 3 (OS 10.5 & higher)

Safari 2 (OS 10.3 & 10.4 only), 3 (OS 10.4 & higher)
STAR IE 6, 7

Firefox 1, 2

 Safari 1.2 (OS 10.3 only)
GroupWise IE 6, 7
Firefox 1.5		 Firefox 1.5Safari 1.2 Firefox 1.5
MAP IE 6 (XP only)
IE 7
Netscape 7.2 or later
Firefox 1.5.x
Firefox 2		 MAC OS 10.x Safari 1.3.2 or later

Safari 2.0.4 or later

Firefox 2

 MS VistaIE 7

Netscape 7.2 +

Firefox 1.5.x

Firefox 2
ROADS IE 6, 7

Firefox 2, 3
MasterApps IE 6, 7

Firefox 2, 3

 Safari 2

Firefox 2

 Mozilla 1.0 +
eIDR IE 6, 7
eSEI IE 6, 7Firefox 2, 3

Safari 3

 Firefox 1.5 and 2

Netscape 7.2

Safari 1.2, 2, 3

 Firefox 1.5 and 2.0
Service Desk Express (SDE) IE 6, 7

Firefox

Safari 3

 Firefox

Safari
MapTime (Kronos) IE 5.5 sp1 or 6

Netscape 4.5, 4.7, 6.1, 6.2
wvuScholar.wvu.edu IE 7

Firefox 3

 Firefox 3

Download Locations

Supported web browsers can be downloaded at the following locations

  • IE – http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/ie6/downloads/critical/ie6sp1/default.mspx
  • Firefox -  http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all-older.html
  • Netscape – http://browser.netscape.com/ns8/download/archive.jsp

Appendix H – Server Standard

The following WVU server standards must be met to ensure protection of the WVU ne twork and data. OIT Network Services maintains a listing of approved network equipment. Please contact Network Service to obtain this current list and to make purchasing requests.

  • All servers and services must be registered and approved by OIT, as well as available to OIT for an annual review to verify that all servers and services are in compliance.
  • A list of services provided by each server will be submitted to OIT. Unregistered services will not be accessible off of the subnet.
  • All servers and clients must be on seperate Ethernet subnets.
  • All services not in use will be disabled.
  • All servers that connect to the WVU network shall comply with a standard naming convention determined by Network Services.
  • Participation in OIT’s central virus protection will be available by approval of OIT.
  • All servers must have a backup mechanism in place.
  • All servers must be stored in a physically secure location.
  • All servers will be up-to-date with respect to operating system patches and subject to vulnerability assesment by OIT.
  • Server operating system must be currently supported by the vendor.

Questions or Problems

  • Call us at 304-293-4444. Voice mail is available around the clock, 365 days a year. We will respond the next business day if you leave a message outside normal office hours.
  • Email us at oithelp@mail.wvu.edu. Briefly describe the assistance you need, tell us the best time to contact you, and provide a phone number.

Responsibility

The Associate Provost for Information Technology (CIO) is the policy administrator for information technology resources and will ensure this process is followed. Additionally, Deans, Directors and Department Heads are responsible for compliance with University policy within their respective administrative areas.