In summarizing the resources now available to conduct experimentally based research in the UCLA Computer Science Department, it is useful to identify the major components of the research environment: the departmental computing facility, other hardware and software systems, administrative structure, and technical support staff.
Computing facilities range from large campus-operated supercomputers to a major local network of servers and workstations that are administered by the department computing facilities (DCF) or school network (SEASnet).
The departmental research network includes Oracle servers and shared workstations, on the school Ethernet TCP/IP local network. A wide variety of peripheral equipment is also part of the facility, and many more research-group workstations share the network; the total number of machines exceeds 1000, the majority running the Linux operating system. The network consists of switched gigabit Ethernet to the desktop with a gigabit backbone connection. The department LAN is connected to the campus gigabit backbone. An 802.11ac wireless network is also available to faculty, staff, and graduate students.
The central facilities and wide-area networking are operated by the campuswide Information Technology Services. Access to departmental and SEASnet machines is controlled so as to maximize the usefulness of these computers for education and research, but no direct charges are involved.
The support staff consists of hardware and software specialists. The hardware laboratory supports network connections, configures routers, switches, and network monitoring tools. The software group administers the department UNIX servers, providing storage space and backup for department users.