bwCloud SCOPE terms of use (terms & conditions)

The Baden-Württemberg Cloud (bwCloud) provides members of the state's teaching and research institutions with virtual machines (servers) at short notice and without a complicated application procedure. These virtual machines (servers) can be used analogously to corresponding offers from commercial providers such as Amazon EC2.

A.1) Who may use the bwCloud?[usage]

Basic usage restrictions (e.g. on members of teaching and research institutions in the state) result from the earmarking of the facilities that operate this service and the material restrictions to which the infrastructure operators are subject. The use of this service is restricted to activities which are:

• As part of a course of study,
• From teaching or learning events,
• Within the framework of research activities of scientists or
• In the context of the activities and tasks of central departments such as computer centres of the teaching and research institutions.

With the activities described, the authorized user group of the bwCloud is also specified:

• Persons who are enrolled in a course of study at a teaching or research institution in the state of Baden-Württemberg (students),
• Persons working as researchers or teachers at a teaching or research institution in the state of Baden-Württemberg (scientists) or
• Persons working as employees / staff at a teaching or research institution in the state of Baden-Württemberg (Mitarbeiter & Angestellte).

A.2) Requirements for using the bwCloud

The following technical and organisational requirements must be met in order to use the bwCloud:

1. The home organisation of the future bwCloud user(s) must participate in the bwIDM, the federal identity management system of the Baden-Württemberg universities
2. The home organisation has linked at least one of the two bwIDM entitlement elements "bwCloud-Basic" or "bwCloud-Extended" to the user's account. For details see also Questions & Answers: Entitlements
3. The user provides a valid and reachable e-mail address during registration. This e-mail address serves as contact for important notifications from the bwCloud operating group. The email address must exist at all times as the user is using the bwCloud. If a user is no longer reachable, the assigned instances and resources will be stopped until the matter is clarified.

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B.1) Who may not use the bwCloud?[excluding]

Based on the description of the groups of persons from section A), the list of persons who are excluded from the use of bwCloud:

• Persons who are not members of an institution or facility in Baden-Württemberg,
• Accounts that are used by more than one person or accounts that are shared with several people (so-called functional accounts).

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C.1) How long can the bwCloud be used?[duration]

There is no time limit on the scope of use. We reserve the right to stop or terminate the use of virtual machines for types of use related to a course of study or which are subject to a temporal (semester) cycle, in order to control the workload and to provide interested parties who have not yet been considered with resources to supply virtual machines. The bwCloud users affected by this will be informed in good time and in advance.

No binding commitments are made regarding the availability or performance of virtual machines

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D.1) How may the bwCloud be used?[how]

The guiding principle behind the use of the bwCloud is

characterized and described, since the bwCloud is a shared resource provided by the operating sites. All resources (compute and storage capacities, network capacities, etc.) are shared (for example in the network area) with other users of the bwCloud and with members of the operating institutions and organisations. If, for example, network capacity is consumed excessively and unilaterally by individual bwCloud users, this not only affects the other bwCloud users in the respective region, but in the worst case, the entire university.

FAIR USE therefore means: Every bwCloud user must behave in such a way that no one else is disturbed, hindered or affected in any other way by their own activities.

In case of doubt, please send a ticket via the bwSupport portal to the bwCloud operating group, in which the intended purpose is described. We help to evaluate and classify the planned usage of the bwCloud and clarify whether this can be realized with the bwCloud or not.

D.2) Dealing with critical situations

The central task of the bwCloud operating group is therefore not only to ensure the normal operation of the bwCloud infrastructure for the benefit of all bwCloud users, but also to react quickly and promptly to critical situations.

1. Since we generally do not (cannot) evaluate the activities carried out with the resources of the bwCloud, we ask the respective users of the bwCloud in such individual cases for brief feedback and comments on their activities.
2. This is followed by an assessment and consideration of the factual and informational situation by the bwCloud decision committee, consisting of members of all bwCloud operating sites and the project management (individual case review).
3. During this process, possible measures are communicated and implemented. These measures can range from toleration, tolerating under conditions to the discontinuation of the activities concerned.

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E.1) What may the bwCloud be used for?[purpose]

The purpose of the use of the bwCloud results directly from the focus of the activities of the persons entitled to use it and from the nature of the promotion of the hardware. This means that the bwCloud exclusively

• for matters of teaching, research and study,
• for activities and purposes relevant to science or research, or
• teaching, science and research supporting purposes (e.g. in the field of infrastructure facilities and services) may be used.

For example, this includes (in extracts) the operation of websites, software for organising projects or the operation of environments for carrying out special calculations. In addition, these offers may also be made available to other participants who cooperate with Baden-Württemberg institutions in research projects and teaching projects.

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F.1) What may the bwCloud not be used for?[no_go]

This list contains examples and descriptions of applications that may not be realized with the resources of bwCloud. It is not complete and is only for illustration. It will be continuously expanded or refined as required.

• In principle, the bwCloud may not be used or offered for the purpose of commercial exploitation, i.e. no resources of the bwCloud may be brokered to third parties or directly sold or rented or otherwise disposed of in an unauthorised manner, unless a corresponding authorisation has been obtained
• The bwCloud may also not be used for non-commercial purposes that are not directly related to research, teaching or operation or the above-mentioned purposes, unless permission has been granted
• In general, the bwCloud may not be used in a form that is contrary to the mission and purpose of the own institution/organization or that of the institution/organization of the bwCloud operating sites
• The bwCloud may not be used for (personal/individual/organizational) enrichment or to generate profits, for example through the use of special crypto-currency programs (so-called "miners")
• The bwCloud may not be used independently to operate virtual machines or servers based on Microsoft Windows. If you have a corresponding need, please contact us via ticket via the bwSupport portal
• The bwCloud may not be used as a free DNS server (e.g. in the context of OpenDNS), as a game or gaming server, as a private VPN gateway, as part of anonymization networks and -infrastructures or used as e-mail relay
• The bwCloud may not be used as an infrastructure for insecure services. Insecure services include databases that are available worldwide and are not further secured, for example, by individual access or changes to administrative accounts.
• The bwCloud may not be used as an infrastructure for "honeypots" without consultation.
• The bwCloud may not be used as an infrastructure for automated web crawlers without consultation.

The operators of the bwCloud generally do not look "into" the running instances. This means that on the part of the bwCloud operating group, no content checks are carried out on the systems and services operated in a running instance. However, as soon as we become aware of possible violations of the bwCloud terms of use or other legal norms, we reserve the right to take appropriate steps and measures.

Please note: Do not store any personal and/or sensitive data or information in the bwCloud. We can't provide a sufficient level of protection in order to meet the requirements of ZENDAS regarding data protection etc.

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G.1) Prospects for use[perspective_of_usage]

As long as no official price and cost table has been communicated, the use of this service is free of charge, as the technical infrastructure and part of the personnel are financed by the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts (MWK) and / or the operating sites of bwCloud. After the transfer to regular operation, the financing basis might change in principle. Although no prediction can be made at the present time as to how the financing developed, it is already clear that both the personnel and the technical infrastructure - initially in part, later predominantly - will be provided by the operators and have to be financed by them. The costs must therefore be passed on to the users.

In order to ensure stable operation and a reliable basis for expansion and planning for both operators and users the bwCloud, various proposals for cost models are currently being developed. If such cost models are decided and implemented, all users will be informed in good time. Virtual machines that were created before the introduction of user fees will remain free of charge for a transitional period, so that no unforeseen costs can be incurred by users.

As with any other service, the lifetime of this service depends on its intensity of use. If it is only used rudimentarily, it will sooner or later be discontinued. However, operators undertake to inform users in good time (at least one month in advance) of an impending shutdown, so that there is sufficient time to manage the switchover to alternatives.

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Z.1) Formal informations[formal_stuff]

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