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Thanksgiving Break Closure

The UMIACS Help Desk will be closed from Thursday November 28th through December 1st. We will re-open at 9:00 A.M. on Monday December 2nd.

Mavericks and Backups

The most recent version of OSX, Mavericks, is incompatible with our deployed version of Druva. Druva is our backup software and we have upgraded it to support Mavericks. However, you will need to upgrade your Druva client. You can get the latest version of the client here. Alternatively you can bring your laptop to the helpdesk and we will upgrade it for you.

Adobe Acrobat Reader on Linux (RHEL/Ubuntu)

We regret to inform our users that we will no longer be able to provide this application on our supported Linux systems (Windows and Mac systems will not be impacted). We will be removing and blacklisting it from our installed systems during our November maintenance window.

The reason for this change is that there are several known vulnerabilities in the last version for UNIX systems (9.5.5). Adobe has declined to fix these issues and has instead deprecated the product[1]. Adobe has also declined to support a UNIX client in version 10 or version 11. Red Hat has already advised its users to disable and remove the application effective immediately[2].

Additionally, due to the recent security breach acknowledged by Adobe that has compromised their closed source product[3], it is only logical to expect more vulnerabilities to be found.

As such, during our November maintenance window we will be removing the application from our systems. We encourage our users to remove it from any self-supported machines they administer. Please email staff AT umiacs.umd.edu if you have any further questions.

The following are the alternative PDF readers supported:

RHEL5: evince or kpdf
RHEL6: evince or okular
Ubuntu: evince or okular

1. - http://www.adobe.com/support/products/enterprise/eol/eol_matrix.html#863
2. - http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2013-1402.html
3. - http://blogs.adobe.com/asset/2013/10/illegal-access-to-adobe-source-code.html

Java

Due to the frequency and severity of recent Java vulnerabilities, it is strongly advised that Java be disabled in all browsers on your workstations. If you do require Java, it is recommended to maintain a second, separate browser, solely for the instances which require Java. For instructions on disabling Java on your workstation, please see the following: How to disable Java

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Technical Reference

Welcome to UMIACS Wiki. This is the main place to find documentation and information about your account and the technical services that UMIACS offers. If this is your first time please start here Getting Started.

We provide many Core Services which include EMail, Backups and VPN.

We have lots of specific Lab Facilities that you may be interested in.

Please check here if you are interested in Ordering Equipment.

If you would like to open a support ticket, please contact the UMIACS HelpDesk