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IT Equipment Support

This page provides information on IT equipment authorised at the beamline and the support you can request from the IT Equipment Support Lab.

What is authorised or not at the beamline?

We can distinguish four different categories of computers at the ESRF:

ESRF Computers - On ESRF Network

At each beamline, dedicated computers for data acquisition and processing are available.

These control computers are already present at the beamline, maintained, and managed by central ESRF ITS services.

This category includes personal laptops, mobile phones, and tablets, whether belonging to remote home institutes or private individuals.

Please note that this equipment is not authorised on the ESRF network (wired or wireless) but can be connected to the available “EPN_Visitors” or “Eduroam” wireless networks.

Institutional or industrial equipment necessary for experiment setups falls under this category. Institutional computers can be connected to the internal ESRF network provided that:

  • The computer is up to date with security patches, and its operating system is still supported by the provider. For example, in 2024:
    •  Windows 10 & 11 are accepted, but not Windows 7.
    • Ubuntu 20.04 & 22.04 are accepted, but not Ubuntu 18.04.
    • Mac OS 12, 13 & 14 are accepted, but not Mac OS 11.
  • Windows-based computers must have an antivirus with the most recent updates.

The ESRF IT Equipment Support Lab can provide one 1Gb/s Ethernet copper connection to the ESRF beamline network during experiments and limited support during working hours for users' own Windows and Linux computers (not for Mac OS), strictly needed for the experiment under this category.
The ESRF IT Equipment Support Lab may also accommodate specific complex setups upon request (e.g., multiple machines or different network connection requirements). To do so, prepare a schematic representation of this setup, which will be requested during the evaluation of your request (see also the next section for the procedure to request ESRF IT Services support).

SCADA or OT devices include all electronic components or those that do not have a full operating system (e.g., wagos, motors, electronic controllers, cryostats, vacuum chambers, etc...).

Please note that this equipment is not authorized on the ESRF network (wired or wireless). If needed for the experiment, they must be connected to an isolated private network behind one of the supported institutional or industrial computers (see the previous section) participating in the setups.

Procedure to request ESRF IT Equipment Support Lab

If you think that during your onsite ESRF experiment you might need to plug any Industrial or Institutional computer (see previous section) into the ESRF Ethernet network, please tick the "IT Equipment Support Lab" box in the proposal form and the A-Form in the ESRF User Portal.

In order to ensure a proper preparation of the experiment, as soon as possible ahead of your experiment start date, please send an email to helpdesk@esrf.fr describing your needs (number, type of machine(s), corresponding operating system(s), network connectivity, etc...) with any document helping the ESRF IT Services to understand your needs.

This request will need to be evaluated by the ESRF IT Services and might need discussion ahead of the start date of the experiment.

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European Synchrotron Radiation Facility - 71, avenue des Martyrs, CS 40220, 38043 Grenoble Cedex 9, France.