All members of the Harvard Business School community, including guest users, have a shared responsibility to protect confidential information and critical HBS network resources. Harvard University has put policies in place to ensure that the integrity and privacy of confidential information are properly protected. Please review the full list of policies at http://security.harvard.edu (Click “Policy” in the banner).

These requirements include

• Use strong passwords and do not share account credentials
• Use HBS confidential information only for work‐related purposes covered by this agreement
• Share HBS confidential information with others only for work-related purposes covered by this agreement
• Properly dispose of confidential information you no longer need to retain
• Immediately report any loss or possible unauthorized access to confidential information
• Immediately report loss of any of the devices on which you use confidential information
• Protect confidential information in your physical possession
• Properly protect confidential information when storing or transferring it
• Implement proper security features on all mobile/portable devices on which you use confidential information
• Read through and comply with Harvard University information security requirements at https://policy.security.harvard.edu/security-requirements that is appropriate for the data used

As a user of the Harvard Business School Research Grid affiliated with a member of the HBS community, I understand that, in the course of my activities, I may have access to Confidential Information. For purposes of this Agreement, "Confidential Information" shall have the meaning set forth in the Harvard Enterprise Information Security Policy:

These requirements include

1. I understand that, I may have access to information that HBS considers confidential. I have reviewed and understand Harvard’s Data Classification as explained on http://security.harvard.edu/dct.
2. I will protect Confidential Information by having a strong password (see http://policy.security.harvard.edu/u4-strong-passwords)that I do not share with anyone for each of my Harvard accounts.
3. I agree that I will protect Harvard Data according to its sensitivity:
• Level 3 data will only be stored on devices which have been fully encrypted. I understand that this requirement applies to both desktops/laptops and to mobile devices.
• Level 4 data will not be stored on any local device, including desktops, laptops, and mobile devices.
• Level 5 data will only be used in adherence to the specific requirements of that data; at this time, Level 5 data may not be stored on the HBSGrid. NOTE: for any questions concerning the appropriate classification of data, please refer to the Harvard University Data Classification categories listed at: http://security.harvard.edu/dct.
4. Except as required by my HBS sponsoring researcher, I shall not, either during my relationship with the Harvard Business School or thereafter, directly or indirectly use or disclose any Confidential Information (Level 3 or higher) without the prior written consent of HBS.
5. I agree that I will access only that Confidential Information that is necessary to perform my duties as a Harvard affiliate.
6. I will store Confidential Information in paper form securely.
7. I will report any breach of security of Harvard University Confidential Information that I learn about.

HBS Research Grid users must implement the required security features on all mobile/portable devices on which they use Harvard or HBS confidential information. If you cannot ensure a device meets the minimum system requirements, you will not use it to access HBS resources.

Computers ‐ Laptops and desktops

• Use a complex password (Details on password complexity requirements can be found at https://policy.security.harvard.edu/u4-strong-passwords)
• Set an inactivity timeout (i.e. my screensaver will come on within 5 minutes of inactivity)
• Keep Antivirus and malware software up to date
• Keep security patches up to date
• Ensure my computer firewall is active
• Ensure my computer is encrypted before downloading and/or storing any HBS information

Smartphones and tablets

• Enable a password or access code
• Set an inactivity timeout (i.e. my device will lock within 5 minutes of inactivity)
• Erase data after 10 unsuccessful pin/password attempts
• Devices must be encrypted.

Access is intended only for legitimate purposes which benefit the research at Harvard University. Access must be authorized by the faculty or management of HBS and our partners, and by the staff of Research Computing Services. Access should only be granted for the purposes necessary to accomplish the goals of Harvard University and its research projects.

All account holders, whether Harvard affiliates or outside collaborators, agree to be held accountable by the Harvard University Electronic Access and Information Security policies found at http://huit.harvard.edu/information-technology-policies.

In addition, researchers should make themselves familiar with the university research policies maintained by the Provost's Office at http://vpr.harvard.edu/.

Our computing infrastructure is a shared resource, supporting concurrent access by many users. As a result, RCS must enforce some basic guidelines for behavior and interaction to provide each user with the optimal environment for individual or collaborative research. In addition, as the compute, storage, and software support HRCI Level 3 and higher, certain standard computing practices normally allowed on desktops and laptop are not allowed on the compute grid. Those will be outlined below.

• RCS maintains several emails lists for communication with users, and every effort is made to keep the signal-to-noise ratio as high as possible. Certain subscriptions (e.g. rcs_grid for using the compute grid and/or project spaces) are required to keep one's account.
• Training is required for access to the compute grid, including remote access (SSH or NoMachine) and compute. Account holders must attend compute grid training, as these are tailored to improve the usage experience. Individuals who fail to attend required training will have her/his access terminated.

Persons will only be allowed access to project spaces once the access has been approved by the primary faculty sponsor for that project space.

RCS will only grant project spaces to workgroups using HRCI Level 3 and Level 4 data once the DUA and/or approved IRB proposal has been filed with RCS.

Project space usage is reviewed and confirmed on a yearly basis (usually in September). Inactive project spaces will be backed up and archived only after contacting the primary faculty sponsor. Archives are retained for the period of time specified by HU or HBS data retention policies, whichever is longest. Please contact the ESS group within HBS via a Service Now HBS IT ticket for more information on this process. For information about how to archive your data to an external drive, see our technical note at https://www.hbs.edu/research-computing-services/help/technical-how-tos-and-technical-notes/archiving-your-research-files.aspx.

Upon departure, please provide an appropriate amount of lead time (at least one month) to assist with copying data if needed. In this situation, If someone is not the primary sponsor of the project space, RCS will contact the primary sponsor to confirm this is permitted

Project spaces and home folders are backed up on a nightly basis. If you have questions on the backup policy, please contact the ESS group within HBS via a Service Now HBS IT ticket.

Auto-sync services cannot be used with cloud-based file sharing services (e.g., DropBox) and project spaces or home folders on our compute grid research storage, due to our HRCI-supported environment. However, use of push/pull services (e.g., RClone) is permitted.

Please see our Using Storage webpages (https://www.hbs.edu/research-computing-services/resources/research-storage/Pages/default.aspx) for general guidelines and information.

RCS reserves the right to terminate jobs that are unattended for excessive periods of time or are impinging on the resources of others ('threading out', 'swapping out', or 'out of control'). We will make every effort to contact the job owner before doing so.

RCS regularly monitors the state of the compute grid, the jobs that are running, and how these jobs are affecting the shared, fair-use of the resources for all persons. If we contact you for any reason about your jobs, we expect you to respond in a timely fashion and to assist us with any requests.

A monthly maintenance window -- typically the first Monday of the month -- is used for software and hardware patches, updates, and upgrades. Reminder emails are sent in advance of the maintenance window, detailing work to be done. Access and compute is not guaranteed during this time, and every effort is made to protect work in progress.

MariaDB accounts and space are available upon request.

RCS will provide database access credentials for persons with HRCI Level 3 data once the DUA and/or approved IRB proposal has been filed with RCS. Changes to access will only be granted after receiving explicit approval from the primary faculty or staff sponsor.

Please notify RCS if you plan to store Level 4 data on this server.

Software purchased and available for use under the HBS name, whether used on local machines or on the HBS compute grid, is governed by the Vendor's Terms of Service. Typically, copying the software is prohibited, and only limited number of installations are permitted, usually outlined in the licensing terms. RCS provides guidance to some of this information on our Software pages.

Guest Users are bound by the same terms as HBS personnel for installed software on the compute grid and are not able to purchase or obtain additional software from RCS.

If RCS provides access to installers or installation codes, you will not share these with any other persons.

Should you no longer be affiliated with HBS (end of study, end of employment, or end of guest access), it is your responsibility to remove HBS-licensed software from any personal computers where it may have been installed. Please see our off-boarding checklist.

Ensure that you've familiarized yourself with our documentation about the cluster and have attended the required training(s). Note that if you did not take the required trainings in the required time frame, your access may be revoked. The time invested will more than make up for the time saved.

As they are the gateway to the cluster for everyone, don't run anything on the login nodes. Please use the drop-down menus, wrapper commands, or LSF job commands to have your work performed on the back-end compute nodes.

Be as accurate as possible when requesting memory or CPU cores for your jobs. Access to this shared resource depends on everyone honoring "Take what you need, and Need what you take." For more information, see our guidance on choosing resources.

Ensure that you routinely monitor your interactive and batch jobs, so that you can terminate them if they stall or become idle. Remember that resources 'in use' are not available to anyone else.

Please do scaling tests if planning large numbers of jobs or parallel/multicore jobs to confirm that your code is correct and core usage is appropriate. Scheduling and then killing hundreds or thousands of jobs due to mistakes or problems is disruptive. See our documentation on parallelization.

Heavy I/O should be done on /export/scratch storage or storage local to the compute node. Heavy reading/writing large numbers of files while also running large numbers of (simultaneous) jobs can adversely affect others users' home and project folders. Please contact RCS if you have any questions.

Poorly behaved jobs or ones in the wrong queue may be terminated. Problem jobs or those not scheduled correctly can inhibit access and processing for other users, and may result in lost work. Thus, if a job is running improperly (e.g. excessive I/O; unreserved, excessive CPU usage) the job may be terminated. Repeated problems may result in disabling of a user's account.

Again, usage is intended only for legitimate purposes which benefit the research at Harvard University.

Do not store backups of your desktop or laptop data on the research storage, as this high-capacity, high-availability storage is expensive. Please use the HBS-supplied Code42 for backup purposes ora free cloud service (e.g., CrashPlan) if your data is not considered HRCI Level 3 or higher, or you might consider purchasing an external hard drive from your local electronics vendor.

Attend to any automated messages concerning "Out of Space" or "Over Quota" problems. These are not spam, and if ignored, may result in loss of data, for which neither RCS nor HBS IT is responsible.

Keep your project spaces clean and lean. See our document on archiving data within home folders or project spaces for more information (https://www.hbs.edu/research-computing-services/help/technical-how-tos-and-technical-notes/archiving-your-research-files.aspx).

Do not store data in directories not approved for the data classification level. For data with HRCI classifications higher than level 3, home directories and regular projects folders are not appropriate, and such data needs to be stored is a special location. Please contact RCS if you have any questions.

Heavy I/O should be done on /export/scratch storage or storage local to the compute node. Heavy reading/writing large numbers of files while also running large numbers of (simultaneous) jobs can adversely affect others users' home and project folders. Please contact RCS if you have any questions.

Store data with HRCI classifications in databases only if approved for that classification level. Please contact RCS if you have any questions or concerns.

For large or complex queries, please the EXPLAIN term or try to scale your work appropriately so that you do not adversely affect other MariaDB users.

Please see our documentation on MariaDB best practices (https://www.hbs.edu/research-computing-services/data-practices/general-and-best-data-practices.aspx) for information on how to make the best use of resources.

Software licensed for you via HBS or on the compute cluster is for your use only. Please do not share installers or license codes or in any way allow others to have access. And especially do not share your account credentials (username and/or password) to do so.

Don't install or run software that you do not trust or cannot verify the authenticity of the source. Since our work computers and research computing environment houses confidential and sensitive research data, we must reduce the risk of exposure or loss. Know and trust where you obtained software and know thoroughly what the software does.