ICT support for research 
Guidelines

By ASIT - Working Group for ICT support for research
Last update: July 2024

Requirements, how to apply for and duration of the IT support

Every research or dissemination project must have a Ca' Foscari faculty member or researcher as the contact person (or Principal Investigator - PI). The PI is the point of contact with ASIT for all matters relating to the project and is responsible for all aspects of data management and processing, and published content. Even if the PI has collaborators dealing with systems management, the responsibility towards third parties and the University remains with the PI.

In order to begin the analysis or request information about our services, the PI needs to submit an online request ("ticket") well in advance. This request should describe the project's main features. After receiving the request and evaluating the project's features, ASIT will start a preliminary feasibility analysis. This analysis will define the general structure and technological tools to be used, the list of requirements for implementation, and the schedule of planned activities.

The support will favour the use of the University's standard tools and available resources, following the first in - first out principle. The order of implementation may vary depending on the complexity and size of individual projects. Delays in receiving precise indications or complete and final materials from the PI, or any substantial changes in the requests, may cause ASIT’s activities to be postponed or rescheduled.

The service will be maintained for up to 5 years after the project's end date unless approved otherwise by the Rector or his/her Delegate. At the PI's request, close to the expiry date, the need to continue the service may be assessed, subject to the approval of the Rector or his/her Delegate.

Obligations of the PI

Adhering to the current European and Italian regulations concerning security, privacy, copyright, intellectual and industrial property, accessibility, and usability is essential for every project. The PI bears full responsibility and absolves the University of any negative outcomes resulting from non-compliance.

The PI guarantees that their content/services are not for profit or gambling purposes and will not be used, directly or indirectly, against public order or ethics, or to cause offence or direct/indirect damage.

The PI will be held responsible if they publish or distribute systems with the intent to violate the confidentiality of private messages, compromise the integrity of others' resources, or cause direct or indirect harm to anyone. This includes providing pirated software, cracks, key generators, serials, viruses, spam, or other harmful elements.

For example, the PI agrees to the following:

• not to store personal, sensitive, or judicial data without taking the necessary precautions. For example, if a virtual machine is used to process personal or sensitive data, the PI undertakes to include in the privacy policy the company offering the virtualisation platform among the recipients of the data collected;
• not to tarnish the reputation of the University, refrain from attributing the University as the publisher/typographer, and seek permission from the Rector or his/her Delegate before publishing any journalistic content;
• observe the rules of good network resource use outlined in the ‘Netiquette’ document on the Italian Naming Authority's website and other best practices recommended by ASIT.

Under no circumstances does the University accept any responsibility for the content entered, transmitted, or processed by the project, nor is it liable for damages suffered by the PI and/or third parties, directly or indirectly, as a result of using its services. The only responsible party in all cases remains the project's PI.

Websites and applications

Available services

ASIT is responsible for designing, developing, updating, migrating, and potentially acquiring websites, portals, databases, and applications for collecting, analysing, and sharing research results. This also involves managing internet domains and providing additional services such as web analytics, accessibility, and usability control tools.

All projects will be hosted on the unive.it domain. Creating a third-level domain (e.g. myproject.unive.it) is not allowed, but it is possible to request either a promotional redirect (e.g. www.unive.it/myproject) or the purchase of a domain that redirects to the URL on unive.it.

Updates, maintenance and shutdown

Once the project is published, ASIT will maintain the hosting platform to ensure it remains current with the latest technological and security standards. The PI will need to specify all required updates in terms of information and data. These updates will be carried out by ASIT or a specially trained contact person designated by the PI.

Upon its closure, the project may be unpublished or archived as a publicly accessible PDF.

Virtual machines (VM)

Available services

When using a VM, the PI can request resources such as computing power, memory, and virtual disks. These resource requests need to be approved by ASIT. Additional services such as backup, snapshots, and recovery can also be considered and approved as needed.

ASIT provides administrative access credentials to the operating system, subject to the presence of a qualified system administrator formally appointed according to the University's privacy policy.

ASIT chooses the platform for the VM taking into account the PI's requirements and the type of data being processed. The PI can select the operating system to be installed, as long as it is compatible with the chosen platform (hypervisor).

The VM may only be used for the purposes agreed upon when the project is approved. It may not be used as a network disk, i.e., as a tool for simply storing files and/or materials for downloading.

The VM will be associated with a public IP and a hostname (such as machinename.unive.it, to be agreed with ASIT), which must be used to access the operating system's administration via SSH and/or RDP protocols exclusively via VPN (Research profile).

Updates, maintenance and shutdown

ASIT is dedicated to keeping the host virtualisation platform (hypervisor) current and well-maintained. The most significant updates will occur on the first working Monday of each month and may lead to a temporary suspension of the VMs until the maintenance is finished. However, under no circumstances can the platform update be delayed or skipped. If any VM encounters compatibility issues after the platform update, it will be the responsibility of the system administrator to update the software with compatible versions.

The software installed on the servers, including the operating system, has its own guaranteed lifecycle and is supported for a certain number of years. At the end of this period, the software developers stop releasing updates, and the system is considered to be at the ‘end of life’. A system that can no longer be updated is at risk and will, therefore, be disabled.

ASIT conducts regular security checks on the virtual machines. If potential vulnerabilities in the operating system or installed software are identified, the PI and system administrator will be promptly notified, and the system administrator must address them promptly. If the reported vulnerability is not fixed within 3 working days, ASIT may deactivate the service. In urgent and/or serious cases, however, ASIT may suspend the service immediately and without notice.

The PI is responsible for the contents and any services provided by the virtual machine; the system administrator is responsible for the operation and maintenance of the VM and must therefore:

• ensure that the operating system and the installed software are continuously updated;
• promptly notify ASIT of any anomalies, misuse or failures;
• promptly notify ASIT when the resource is no longer necessary.

If the PI becomes unavailable, the VM will be shut down. It can be powered on again by associating it with a new PI.

Virtual cluster 
High-performance computing system

Available services

The technical specifications of the computing cluster, which is based on virtual machines for running professional or research tasks, can be found at www.unive.it/virtual-cluster. To ensure fair access to resources for all ongoing projects, it is important for each job to adhere to the maximum duration specified on the webpage mentioned above.

To use the service, you must log in via the University VPN (Research profile).

Updates and maintenance

ASIT is committed to managing and keeping the computing infrastructure up-to-date. The most significant updates will occur on the first working Monday of each month and may lead to a temporary suspension of jobs until the maintenance is finished. However, under no circumstances can the infrastructure update be delayed or skipped.