Home office

Please read our Notes on IT security (german only)

Right now, criminals try to take advantage of people's uncertainty. There's an increasing amount of attacks on IT infrastructure as well as on personal computers.

A large part of attacks is being delivered by phishing emails which each one of us receives almost daily. They are used to contaminate your computer with malicious programs or to spy on you.

Right now, emails pretending to be sent by the WHO, DHL, Sparkasse and Paypal are distributed, asking you to open attachments or visit web pages to enter your user name and password.

The DATA CON working group of the Computer Science Institute offers training on data protection and IT security on its website.

Using official computers for home office is only possible when using notebooks. Your office desktop computer will not work at home. Please do not remove your desktop computer for home office!

• If you just received the notebook, you should absolutely start it up while you are still on campus. Also check if licenses for Windows and Microsoft Office are still valid (you will receive a note if they are not). If you have any questions, please call the ZDV hotline.
• With a notebook which is fully integrated into ZDV infrastructure, the first login has to be done while on campus.
• ZDV-Apps: It is possible to download applications you need for your work at home into AppV cache using VPN. The necessary steps are explained here: > https://www.zdv.uni-mainz.de/zdvapps-software-am-arbeitsplatz/ > 5. AppV und Notebooks (unfortunately this is still german only)
  Note: You only need VPN to download the applications once, to be able to use them from home. You do not need VPN permanently to work with your applications!
• Some applications are available via Softwarecenter. It is possible to install those from home, too.

Working with personal data

• Please use remote desktop to handle personal data on the university servers exclusively.
• Using remote desktop is mandatory for members of administration for reasons of security/data protection.

Communication and collaboration

• For phone calls use Skype for Business exclusively, as the university's number of landlines is limited. Advice on hardware (headsets or alternatives) can be found here(german only).
• Use Skype for Business for video and web conferencing also. In case you need a web cam: Unfortunately we are unable to provide these at the moment. Please check back with your institute and/or department how to acquire one.
• You can't use Skype for Business via remote desktop servers to make phone calls. You must install it on your local computer. Nor is it possible to use Microsoft Teams via remote desktop server to make phone calls.

Teamwork can be organised with Mattermost

• There's chat and group chat, you can also share documents, images and video.
• All data is being hosted on local servers.

• To access (non-personal) data saved to your own diskspace (U:), webDAV can be used.

Communication and collaboration

Use Skype for Business to call colleagues at JGU, as the number of landline lines at JGU is limited. Information on telephone hardware (headsets, alternatives) can be found here.

• For phone calls use Skype for Business exclusively, as the university's number of landlines is limited. Advice on hardware (headsets or alternatives) can be found here(german only).
• Use Skype for Business for video and web conferencing also. In case you need a web cam: Unfortunately we are unable to provide these at the moment. Please check back with your institute and/or department how to acquire one.
• You can't use Skype for Business via remote desktop servers to make phone calls.Nor is it possible to use Microsoft Teams via remote desktop server to make phone calls. You must install it on your local computer.

Teamwork can be organised with Mattermost

• There's chat and group chat, you can also share documents, images and video.
• All data is being hosted on local servers.

Apart from the services provided by ZDV you can also use Microsoft Teams. Teams works like a combination of Skype for Business and Mattermost, providing chat, meetings, notes, files for team members within a single program.

• A data processing agreement with Microsoft is available, so MS Teams can be used in accordance with GDPO. Data is nevertheless being saved outside of Germany in Microsoft cloud services (server location: Ireland).
• Please login with your JGU account.

To access data saved to your own diskspace (U:), webDAV can be used.

With respect to scarce ressources please refrain from using Remote Desktop if it is not absolutely necessary.

Preparation of your courses

All relevant information can be found at https://www.blogs.uni-mainz.de/teaching/digital/

There's a guide that will help you come to grips with the different tools and applications:

• Skype for Business for online meetings (audio and/or video conferencing, screen sharing, chat)
• Teamwork can be organised with Mattermost. There's chat and group chat, you can also share documents, images and video. All data is being hosted on local servers.
• BigBlueButton (BBB) is freely accessible open source software for web conferences. The learning conference system has been used in digital teaching since the summer semester 2020 (german only).
• Panopto is used for recording, editing and publishing video content. Using Panopto's recorder tool which is part of the application, you can do live streaming or record webcasts with your personal computer (PC or Mac). Panopto recorder can be installed on offical computers via Softwarecenter.
• Moodle is particularly suitable for classes. This learning platform offers easy to use tools for interactive and collaborative work. It is suitable for guided learning that is still self directed. Seafile, a centralized sync-and-share service can also be used by students and staff.
• Microsoft Teams works like a combination of Skype for Business and Mattermost, providing chat, meetings, notes and file sharing for team members within a single program.
  • A data processing agreement with Microsoft is available, so MS Teams can be used in accordance with GDPO. Data is nevertheless being saved outside of Germany in Microsoft cloud services (server location: Ireland).
  • Please login with your JGU account.

These times are an exceptional challenge for beginning students. We have collected important information for new students here.

As a matter of course all the tools offered for distance teaching can be used by students.

At the university library you will find help with digitally available media: mit e-medien zuhause arbeiten (german only).

On rare occasions it can be necessary to connect your local computer with the university network via some additional service, the so-called VPN (virtual private network) to identify you as a university member. Follow these instructions to get started.

• You can login to the university's central Linux servers linux.zdv.uni-mainz.de using SSH/Putty or RDP. There you'll find your home and network shares as usual.
• find out how to connect via SSH >here.
• Another option, especially with slow or unreliable network connections, is via mosh. Please install Mosh on your client computer beforehand. The usage is equivalent to SSH: "mosh username@linux.zdv.uni-mainz.de".
• find out how to connect using RDP > here. Using RDP, you'll have a full Linux desktop environment. Please take into account further information on working remotely/via RDP with Linux.
• Skype for Business: As an employee, however, you can use the chat function of Skype for Business. Linux users can also use the Skype for Business clients on their mobile phones to take part in video conferences or dial in by phone. Neither Skype for Business nor Microsoft Teams can be used to make calls on the remote desktop servers.
• We recommend Linux users to hold video conferences via the mobile clients if possible or to use Microsoft Teams.