News

The latest version of Matlab, R2025a, is available. The software and license codes are directly available for Science accounts and can be requested by other entitled users by sending mail to the helpdesk. The software can also be found on the install-share. All C&CZ-managed Linux machines have this version installed, the older version (/opt/matlab-R2024b/bin/matlab) will be available temporarily. The C&CZ-managed Windows machines will not receive a new version during the semester to prevent problems with version dependencies in current lectures....

As most Science users have enabled their two-factor authentication, we are now going to restrict DIY functionality for accounts without a second factor. If you have not enabled a second factor, you can: Login into DIY Set a password Enable your second factor All other functionally is disabled and will lead to an ‘Insufficient access’ error. In subsequent versions of the DIY software we will (further) hide actions and listing that you will not be able to use....

Lilo7 was running ubuntu 20.04 LTS (LTS=Long term support). Since the LTS support period has ended for ubuntu 20.04, we have turned off lilo7 on June 2nd, because there are no (free) security updates anymore for this OS release. We will repurpose the hardware for other tasks for the faculty. We have a new lilo9 with Ubuntu 24.04 LTS. We will make this the new lilo on August 1st 2025. Lilo9 will remain available until end of May 2029....

Update 2025-05-20 This has been activated around 11 ‘o clock. On May the 20th we have enabled mandatory multifactor authentication for the following services: DIY web site. Roundcube, for reading mail. SSH from the internet to public servers, like the lilos. Below you can read how you can log in for each service. DIY Enter your Science login name, your password and the TOTP code from your authenticator app....

A new version of Mathematica (14.2.1) has been installed on all C&CZ managed Linux systems, older versions can still be found in /vol/mathematica. When connected wired or wireless on campus or through VPN, the software for Windows, Linux and macOS can be found on the C&CZ Install disc. During the installation you must specify: License server: mathematica.science.ru.nl License: L4601-6478 According to the Mathematica Quick Revision History: “Version 14.2.1 includes critical updates for Chatbook and code captions along with other bug fixes and stability improvements....

The latest version of Maple, Maple2025, for Windows/macOS/Linux can be found on the Install network share and has been installed on C&CZ managed Linux computers. License codes can be requested from C&CZ helpdesk or postmaster.

On the 20th of May 2025 we are enabling 2FA (second-factor-authentication) on the C&CZ services: DIY, Roundcube and SSH on the login servers. In this article you can find information on this roll-out and how to activate 2Fa on your Science account. As mentioned in an earlier news item, we’ve finished the tests and reached the following conclusions: Anyone with a Science account can enable 2FA in DIY using this procedure....

After our previous news message concerning the new implementation of DIY, we are now ready to announce: The new DIY will go live on Thursday the 20th of March. The previous DIY server will be kept running on https://prev.dhz.science.ru.nl. If there is are things that work in the old one, but not in the new one, please let us know. The old DIY will be turned off on the first the 11th of April 2025....

We have updated the authentication process for login servers after a succesful test we announced in CPK#1383. As of now, your ~/.ssh/authorized_keys file on lilo is ignored!, instead you can send us your public ssh key (contents of the .pub file) to keep for your account. This change is designed to prevent bad actors from easily gaining persistent access. For convenience we have added the keys we have found in homedirectories that were added or modified after we restricted access to lilo, if your key is from before December 9th, you will need to send the public key to us....

At the end of last year we’ve promised an update on how we are planning to make access to our services more secure. In this post we expand on those plans. In short: we are going to deploy 2FA on Science accounts and make it mandatory for services that are reachable from the internet. How this all works from an organizational standpoint is, at this point, not complete clear yet. Do we need a “in-person” vetting procedure?...