About the Research Database Complex (RDC) at Indiana University

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System overview

The Indiana University Research Database Complex supports research-related MySQL and PostgreSQL databases and data-intensive applications that require databases. The RDC is strictly devoted to supporting research, and is not an instructional, classroom environment.

For RDC usage policies, including information about your responsibilities for maintaining database security and acknowledging grant support, see IU RDC usage policies.

The RDC supports MySQL Enterprise Server and EnterpriseDB (EDB) PostgreSQL.

Owners of RDC database accounts are responsible for creating backups of their databases.

Before storing data on this system, make sure you understand the information in the Work with data containing PHI section (below).

The RDC maintenance window is the third Sunday of each month, 12am-6am. Notice of any emergency downtime will be posted at Status.IU.

System access

To request an RDC database account, use the RDC Database Account Application.

UITS recommends using a group account as the owner of your RDC database(s). For instructions, see About IU computing accounts for groups or departments.

Note:
You can request a group RDC database account if your group has an established IU group account username, but you must provide the IU usernames of everyone who will be permitted to use the group database account. The person requesting the group database account will be considered the owner and responsible party for the account, and is expected to communicate system downtimes and other system information to the group.

You will receive a message in email confirming the creation of your database. Your database login credentials and information about connecting to your database will be sent separately. To have your database account password reset, use the RDC account password reset form. You will need to renew your account annually; an email will be sent to remind you.

You can access and manage your RDC database from your personal workstation and from your own servers. You also can access your RDC database from Quartz and Research Desktop (RED). If you are off campus, make sure you use IU VPN.

To request an account on an Indiana University research system, see Get additional IU computing accounts. Account availability depends on your eligibility.

For instructions on connecting to your RDC MySQL database, see Access your MySQL database at IU RDC.

Work with data containing PHI

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) established rules protecting the privacy and security of individually identifiable health information. The HIPAA Privacy Rule and Security Rule set national standards requiring organizations and individuals to implement certain administrative, physical, and technical safeguards to maintain the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of protected health information (PHI).

This UITS system or service meets certain requirements established in the HIPAA Security Rule thereby enabling its use for work involving data that contain protected health information (PHI). However, using this system or service does not fulfill your legal responsibilities for protecting the privacy and security of data that contain PHI. You may use this system or service for work involving data that contain PHI only if you institute additional administrative, physical, and technical safeguards that complement those UITS already has in place.

For more, see Your legal responsibilities for protecting data containing protected health information (PHI) when using UITS Research Technologies systems and services.

Note:

Although PHI is classified as Critical data, other types of institutional data classified as Critical are not permitted on Research Technologies systems. For help determining which institutional data elements classified as Critical are considered PHI, see About protected health information (PHI) data elements in the classifications of institutional data.

If you have questions about securing HIPAA-regulated research data at IU, email securemyresearch@iu.edu. SecureMyResearch provides self-service resources and one-on-one consulting to help IU researchers, faculty, and staff meet cybersecurity and compliance requirements for processing, storing, and sharing regulated and unregulated research data; for more, see About SecureMyResearch. To learn more about properly ensuring the safe handling of PHI on UITS systems, see the UITS IT Training video Securing HIPAA Workflows on UITS Systems. To learn about division of responsibilities for securing PHI, see Shared responsibility model for securing PHI on UITS systems.

Get help

For MySQL documentation, see the MySQL Reference Manual.

For EDB PostgreSQL documentation, see EDB Documentation.

Research computing support at IU is provided by the Research Technologies division of UITS. To ask a question or get help regarding Research Technologies services, including IU's research supercomputers and research storage systems, and the scientific, statistical, and mathematical applications available on those systems, contact UITS Research Technologies. For service-specific support contact information, see Research computing support at IU.

This is document amuw in the Knowledge Base.
Last modified on 2024-03-25 14:30:23.