Policies

UFIT Research Computing Acceptable Use Policy

This acceptable use policy applies in addition to the UF Acceptable Use Policy and UF Information Technology Acceptable Use policy. 

The purpose of HiPerGator and its related resources is to advance the scientific, educational, and research efforts of the University of Florida and its partners. Any activity that interferes with this purpose may be modified or cancelled by UFIT Research Computing staff.

By using HiPerGator systems and resources, you agree to the following Acceptable Use Policy.

Active computational and blue storage allocations are required for data analyses, creation, or maintenance of active user accounts on HiPerGator.

If your research data contains HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act), PII (Personally Identifiable Information), PHI (Protected Health Information), or any other regulated data, please see the regulated data procedures or open a support request for further information.

Policy on use of Large Language Models from Countries of Concern

The University strictly prohibits the deployment or utilization of large‑language models that are developed, operated, or otherwise hosted by organizations located in, or controlled by, a foreign country of concern.  Accordingly, any use of such models on university computing resources, or the processing of any university data through them, is not permitted.

Section 288.860(1)(a) of the Florida Statutes defines a "foreign country of concern" as the People's Republic of China, the Russian Federation, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the Republic of Cuba, the Venezuelan regime of Nicolás Maduro and the Syrian Arab Republic, including any agency of or any other entity under significant control of such foreign country of concern.

For the current list of prohibited software, see the State of Florida prohibited application list and the UF Fast Path Solutions “Not Permitted” filter (GatorLink Required).

Cryptocurrencies and Mining

Performing “mining” operations involving cryptocurrencies such as BitCoin, distributed cryptography such as the distributed.net projects, and all forms of volunteer computing such as Folding@Home are prohibited.

Licensing

Some software offered on the system is controlled by individual license agreements. It is the responsibility of the user to maintain proper licensing of any user-installed software.

Maintenance

UFIT Research Computing makes every attempt to schedule server and cluster maintenance during regularly scheduled maintenance windows. However, issues do occur that may need to be handled outside these pre-described maintenance windows.

Service Accounts

UFIT Research Computing supports the use of non-interactive service accounts for workflow and application execution or data transfers from external sources. Submit a support request to start the process of obtaining an approved service account. Project duration and sufficient documentation are required with the account request.

Account aliases for interactive use by a person that are associated with a position that changes regularly are not supported by RC.

Multi-Factor Authentication

Multi-Factor authentication (MFA) is required for all individual UFIT Research Computing accounts.