Supported Systems

OS	Supported Until	Comments
debian-bookworm	2028
ubuntu-22	2027	no upgrade possible
ubuntu-20	2025
ubuntu-18	2023
ubuntu-16	2021
ubuntu-14	2019

 

This advice applies in full only to pplx, cmlx, allx and cplx systems, in particular not at present to systems in Astrophysics, Theoretical Physics or AOPP.

If your system is out of support (either highlighted red or not on the list) you must contact itsupport@physics.ox.ac.uk to have the system updated.

Legacy systems, and alternative operating systems can only exist on lab-inner networks which prevent access to the internet.

NB: All systems expire in the January of the year they lose official support, this is to buy time to complete upgrades.

Home Areas

By default, systems are built with network home areas, this means logging in from any desktop will provide you with all of your files.

This can be disabled and replaced with a local home area if desired. This has the benefit of being slightly quicker and more reliable as it doesn't need the network. The downside is that the system is not backed up.

Your network home area is entirely yours and nobody else has access, except support personnel who require permission either from you or the university registrar. 

Administrative Access

It is possible to give administrative access to Linux machines in the following circumstances:

1. Desktop systems with a single user - The primary user can have sudo access
2. Desktop systems with multiple users - The owner of the system (group lead / lab owner) can have sudo access.
3. DAQ/experimental systems - Any physics user can have sudo access if given permission by the owner.

You can request this access either when the machine is built or at any time after by contacting itsupport@physics.ox.ac.uk, we will need to verify with the system owner that you can have the access even if they have previously confirmed this, as we need the authorization in the ticket for our records.

While using your administrative access you must not attempt to change the network setup, or any security measures on the system, this is a violation of policy and will result in your access being removed and possible disciplinary action. All commands/actions run as administrator are remotely logged.

It is also possible to break your system with administrative access, if you do this the machine will be rebuilt from scratch, so please ensure you have good backups and use the access with care.

Installing Software

You can install any software in the available Debian repos. Before adding any other software you should check with IT for licensing/security issues.