11. Keeping Up to Date

Staus Page Information

Information on the status of the CSAR systems can be found at www.csar.cfs.ac.uk/mstatus/status.shtml. This information is automatically updated at regular intervals, and occasionally messages are placed here if there are any particular problems. If a machine is unavailable for any reason you can add your email address to a list to be automatically informed when the machine is back up (valid for one occasion only). This page also contains batch queue information.

Scheduled Maintenance

The systems may be unavailable during the scheduled maintenance sessions (generally Tuesday evenings, up to twice a month), and all users will be notified in advance of these sessions via email, on the systems and via the status page.

System Updates

Brief details of compiler updates and other system changes are available at http://www.csar.cfs.ac.uk/mstatus/system_updates.shtml

News and the CSAR Mailing List

Use is made of the news facility on wren and newton. When you log in you will see a list of unread news items relating to system matters. Read an item by typing news item_name. These news items may also be put on the news page on the web, along with more general CSAR information.

All aspects of the service will be described via the CSAR web pages and in a monthly email bulletin. When you register you are automatically added to our email list. We will occasionally provide additional information via email. Please ensure that you inform us if you change your contact details. You can see past monthly bulletins at web address www.csar.cfs.ac.uk/about/bulletin/

Support and feedback

All queries (or comments or suggestions) should be directed to the CSAR Helpdesk (email csar-advice@cfs.ac.uk, telephone 0161 275 6824/5997, fax 0161 275 6040). The Helpdesk is staffed between 8.30am and 6.00pm every working day. All calls are logged using a sophisticated automatic logging system.

The CSAR Service incorporates a 'Service Quality Token' scheme whereby users can give their views on any aspect of the service by allocating gold or black tokens, along with comments. Allocating tokens is a simple procedure via the registration system -- full instructions are given at http://www.csar.cfs.ac.uk/project_management/sqt.shtml. You may change your allocation at any time to reflect your current view.