How Can We Help?
Quick Start Guide
The Economics Department’s IT Team (Econ IT) provides high quality computer support for all faculty, staff and students. The team currently consists of three full-time IT Professionals. Our goal is to provide the Department with state-of-the-art technical resources and support services. The resources we provide supplement those provided by MIT’s central IT Department, IS&T.
Where to go for help
The main Econ IT office is located in E52-311, and is generally staffed by appointment only. Please email all support requests to econ-support@mit.edu.
Getting an Account
Your MIT account is used to access Econ departmental resources and resources provided by IS&T. If you do not yet have an MIT account, you can create one at https://web.mit.edu/register/.
If you have an account but do not remember your password, IS&T provides multiple ways for resetting it.
You can access most MIT browser-based resources by using a personal certificate. To create or renew your MIT certificate, visit https://ca.mit.edu/ca/.
Many resources will require Duo two-factor authentication. This system will require you provide authentication via secondary device (typically your smartphone) in addition to your password. More information is available from IS&T.
Home Directories and Data Storage
Every member of the Department is provided with a home directory on our network storage system. Home directories are accessible from our Linux research servers (as well as personal computers, including Macs). They provide a high level of reliability and user accessible backups (snapshots). When working on a Linux server, you should save all personal files to your home directory. Students are provided with a 500GB quota, faculty members are given 1TB. To discuss options for increasing your quota, email econ-support@mit.edu.
Many faculty members have shared “proj” directories on the Linux research servers. This is a shared storage space intended for collaboration with students, RA’s and co-authors.
Research Computing Servers
Econ IT supports many RedHat Enterprise Linux-based research computing systems. This includes both shared systems open to all Dept. Faculty/Students and private systems used by individual faculty members and research groups. These systems allow you connect remotely and run computationally intensive jobs regardless from both on and off campus. The primary shared systems are blackmarket, supply, demand, and econometrics. The department has also invested in Econ priority equipment on a central MIT shared HPC cluster called Engaging. This cluster is available to all members of the MIT community.
Wireless Network
Wireless access (802.11b/g/n) to MITnet is available throughout campus. Guests to MIT can connect using the “MIT GUEST” network. Regular users should connect to “MIT SECURE”, which will require you to enter your MIT credentials. More information about MITnet and connecting are available from IS&T.
VPN
You will first need to connect to the MIT VPN in order to access many resources from off-campus (including all econ research computing servers). More information about connecting is available from IS&T.
Software for Personal Computers
IS&T provides the MIT community with software for use on personal computers at no cost. A full listing of available software and instructions on downloading and installing are available from IS&T.
Additional Documentation
Econ-Help is our knowledge base system, you can find documentation and answers to common questions. You will need to login with your MIT certificates to access most of the site. IS&T also maintains a Knowledge Base.