Terms of Use

Who can use this eXile service

Every group or institute connected to the Department of Physics of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology can send a specific computer to the eXile.

If you have more than just a few computers which should be sent to eXile please contact us so we can talk about setting up a dedicated eXile network for your laboratory.

Use case

The eXile network service has been invented to host special computers in a secure way which are used for research or industrial purposes.

A computer can be sent to eXile when it is used for one ore more of the following applications:

• Industrial controller
• Monitoring
• Sensors
• Measurement
• Special test or lab computer

You can not send a computer to eXile which is used for office applications. If you want to send a computer to eXile that matches none of the points above, please contact us.

The following list provides reasons when you can send a computer to eXile rather than upgrading the computer to a secure and supported operating system:

• The specific application can not be run on a newer operating system and the reason is unknown.
• The manufacturer confirmed that the application is not capable of running on one of the supported platforms.
• The installation of security patches is not possible (even on a supported operating system) because the manufacturer prohibits this action because of warranty reasons.
• The hardware is not compatible with new and supported operating systems.
• The upgrade would be possible but causes high license or hardware costs.
• The system is running in the current setup and there are no resources nor knowledge to transfer the installation to a supported operating system.

Limitations for computers in eXile

When you send a computer to eXile you have to take into account that there are some network related limitations. The following actions are prohibited on a computer sent to eXile for security reason:

Browsing the web

A firewall restricts the access to any web server. If your specific application needs to be able to communicate with a specific web site or the end-user needs to have access, this can be granted case by case.

Receiving and sending mails

For an end-user it is not possible to access a user mailbox by POP/IMAP or Webmail. If your application requires sending mails it is possible to allow it in specific cases. Receiving mails is prohibited.

Access data on the file server

Generally it's not possible to access any file storage except when the application of a computer in eXile needs to have access to a specific share to either gather input data or to store result data.

Remote access to a computer sent to eXile

Remote access to a specific computer in eXile is not possible in general. If needed to monitor or control a process on a specific computer in eXile it can be granted (RDP, VNC or SSH). You can get the detailed information about how to connect your computer by one of the remote access protocols by either the eXile admin interface or contact your IT coordinator.

Further network services that are directly related to the application of a specific eXile computer can be granted under the following circumstances:

• Target and source of a network connection can be specified. Ports are not opened to the outside without restrictions.
• The network port range is limited and well-defined.
• The network service to be accessible on an eXile machine is not known to contain security risks.

End-User responsibility

To put a computer to eXile does not 100% help you to keep your computer up and running. It is required, that the administrator and end-user of all eXile computers are willing to bear the responsability and follow these points:

• Always keep the local host firewall whenever possible.
• Install a virus scanner (Avira or Sophos) and keep it up-to-date.
• Do not open office documents, write emails or download unknown files.
• Only execute binary files that are well-known and related to the use of the computer.
• Do not re-plug the network connector to a public network socket (UTP connector) since an eXile computer is patched to a special locked down network.