Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY
A Research Centre of the Helmholtz Association

IT

Home Office


On this and the subsequent pages the possibilities are mentioned to work from home in the so-called "home office". This is only about the technical possibilities - other aspects to be considered such as data protection, work organisation etc. are not subject of these explanations. A guideline for mobile work and home office can be found on the web page of staff position D4 (here, German only) and the page of the personnel development provides information on the implementation of mobile working at DESY. Both pages can be accessed internally or via VPN.

Before you work for DESY from the home office, carry out the WBT training (Instructions (eng) -> Superior instructions -> Mobile work) and have the "Mobile work" approved. You submit the application for this in the GO portal (accessible internally or via VPN). You can find further information on this under "HR topics, information & forms" (accessible internally or via VPN) on the V2 pages, under the item "Mobile work".

In view of the current (16.3.2020) applicable home office regulations, work on private computers is also dealt with in particular. In any case, a computer with an internet connection at home is required. Special requirements are necessary for working within the complete DESY computing environment, these are described below. Some services such as mail and calendar, Confluence oder DESY Sync & Share, on the other hand, can easily be used via an internet browser. Access to the scientific computing resources  Maxwell and NAF/BIRD is also easy.

Please note that the UCO can only provide assistance for private environments with difficulty, as unknown conditions of the technical environment may have influence on the reported problem.

Helpful Links


Forwarding of Phone to business Cell Phone / private home Phone

Communication

Remote Desktop Connection to your DESY Workstation

If you are using a DESY Windows or MacOS device, please prefer to use VPN. Otherwise, please connect via SSH. Please see SSH vs. VPN by D4 (web site is only available from the internal network and only in German language).

  • If you want to connect to your DESY workstation on the campus using your (private) computer at home, please follow the instructions on: Access from external computers
  • Please follow the instructions on that site before going into home office.

 

DO's / DON'T's

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Should I preferably use SSH or VPN?

If you are using a DESY device, please prefer to use VPN. Otherwise, please connect via SSH.

The reason for this is that the DESY devices can only be kept up to date (Windows updates) via VPN and this requires a regular connection of the device via VPN.

Non-DESY devices should not normally be connected via VPN. The reason for this is that the device is completely in the internal DESY network when a VPN connection is established and can thus represent a possible security risk.

Which Services should I NOT use when using VPN?

If you work with a VPN connection, please avoid data-intensive services such as

  • Videostreams (e.g. Youtube, Internet Livestreams)
  • Audiostreams (e.g. Spotify, Internet Radio, Podcasts)
     

The reason for this is that the load capacity of the VPN gateway is limited. If these services are used by a large number of users, all VPN connections may suffer as a result of all connections becoming sluggish. If the load is high, all VPN users are hindered in their work.

FAQ

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Are there any Restrictions when working from Home Office?

Yes, depending on what you have to do from home, you may have to expect restrictions.

This particularly concerns the possibly limited capacity of the own Internet access or also the latency of the network connection to systems and services within the DESY network. This can lead to the fact that some applications such as Matlab can only be used from home to a limited extent and under certain conditions. If you should have to use special use cases or applications from home and see problems, please contact the UCO (phone: 5005, e-mail: uco@desy.de) for consulting purposes, stating your specific use case and the conditions of your use case (operating systems involved, etc.).

Login to the CISCO Self Service Portal is not possible - What can I do?

First, please make sure that your device is able to connect to DESY internal web sites. If you can basically access the web page of the CISCO Self Service Portal, but receive a message of the type "Berechtigung verweigert" / "Permission denied" when logging in, please contact telefon.service@desy.de giving your account name and your DESY extension to obtain permissions for the login. Please note that due to an increased number of requests, it could take a bit longer that usual until your request can be processed.

UCO Hamburg

UCO Hamburg
Phone: +49 (0)40 8998 5005
E-Mail: UCO Hamburg
Location: 2b / 131d
Link: https://it.desy.de/services/uco
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