Ulakbim Usage Policy Agreement

ULAKNET USAGE POLICY

ARTICLE 1. PURPOSE

This usage policy sets out the procedures and principles governing the use of the National Academic Network (ULAKNET), operated by the Turkish Academic Network and Information Centre (ULAKBİM), an institute of the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye (TÜBİTAK).

ARTICLE 2. SCOPE

This usage policy covers all organisations and their users that use ULAKNET.

ARTICLE 3. DEFINITIONS

In this usage policy;

ULAKBİM; is the Turkish Academic Network and Information Centre affiliated with the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye.

ULAKNET; is the National Academic Network through which the electronic communication service and/or electronic communication infrastructure needs of education and research institutions are met, in accordance with the laws of the Republic of Türkiye and TÜBİTAK legislation, within the framework of the mandate set out in Law No. 278 of 17/07/1963 on the Establishment of TÜBİTAK.

ULAKNET Usage Policy (UKP); is this ULAKNET Usage Policy.

Sub-Policies; are the supplementary policies established by ULAKBİM to define the principles and procedures for the use of the services it provides via ULAKNET.

User Institution; refers to higher education institutions, TÜBİTAK units, public and private research organisations, and institutions whose applications have been approved by the ULAKBİM Board of Directors, which connect to ULAKNET by signing the UKP.

Users; are the students, faculty members, researchers and/or other affiliates of the User Institution who are authorised to use the institution's infrastructure and resources. This group also includes temporary/guest users who are not members of the User Institution but whose identity can be authenticated and authorised when accessing the institution's network resources and for the duration of their connection to the network.

Signatory Party; is the person or office in the senior management of the institution who signs the UKP on behalf of the User Institution. At universities this office is the rector or a vice-rector authorised by the rector; at other institutions it is the Director General, Head of Institution, Institute/Unit Director or equivalent.

ULAKNET Endpoint Management System (UUYS); is the web-based system in which information belonging to the User Institution is held and which is used to speed up communication between ULAKBİM and the User Institution.

UUYS Administrator; is the person appointed/authorised by the Signatory Party as responsible for the operations carried out on the UUYS.

TÜBİTAK EKUAL; is the service launched by ULAKBİM in 2006, formally known as the “National Academic Licence for Electronic Resources”, to make certain full-text and bibliographic databases available to academic and research institutions in Türkiye.

TRUBA: is the infrastructure formally known as the “Turkish National e-Science e-Infrastructure”, developed and operated by ULAKBİM, established to enable scientific research to be conducted electronically so as to ensure the effective and efficient use of high-performance, grid, cloud and similar computing systems and scientific data repositories by the research community in Türkiye, to ensure coordination between other centres serving a similar purpose in Türkiye and the services they provide, and thereby to develop the capacity of the Turkish Research Area (TARAL).

OLTA; is the Incident Tracking Service through which information regarding security breaches that may occur from external networks to ULAKNET or from ULAKNET to external networks is reported to the network administrators of the User Institution and followed up in accordance with the ULAKNET Incident Logging Sub-Policy.

ULAKNET Network Operations Centre (NOC): is the unit operating within the ULAKBİM Network Technologies Unit that is responsible for the technical management of ULAKNET.

ULAKNET Communication Lists; are the electronic communication groups established by ULAKBİM with the Internet addresses “ulak-y@ulakbim.gov.tr” and “ulak- teknik@ulakbim.gov.tr”.

Unwanted Traffic; is network traffic that affects, degrades or disrupts the quality of service on ULAKNET, causes disruption, or prevents others from using ULAKNET.

ARTICLE 4. GENERAL PROVISIONS

4.1.ULAKNET shall be used in accordance with the laws and regulations of the Republic of Türkiye. It is the responsibility of the User Institution to ensure that its Users use ULAKNET in accordance with the laws of the Republic of Türkiye and the relevant legislation.

4.2.ULAKNET must be used for the purposes of education, teaching, scientific and technological research and development, and the dissemination of or access to scientific, technological and cultural knowledge. The User Institution may not use ULAKNET for commercial purposes, whether directly or indirectly, and may not allow its Users or third parties to use it in return for commercial gain.

4.3.ULAKNET is managed and used within the scope set out in Articles 4.1 and 4.2 and within the administrative and technical framework defined by the UKP and its related Sub-Policies.

4.4.In order to comply with the UKP, the User Institution shall make the necessary technical and administrative arrangements and employ a sufficient number of technical staff.

4.5.The User Institution is expected to establish its own usage policy for its Users in a manner consistent with the UKP. The usage policies of the User Institution and any “Disclaimer” texts of the User Institution or its Users may not invalidate the UKP in whole or in part.

4.6.The User Institution shall contribute to the use and dissemination of new services offered via ULAKNET. To this end, the dissemination of new services may be encouraged by ULAKBİM.

4.7.For the efficient and secure use of ULAKNET, the User Institution must prevent its Users from generating Unwanted Traffic and must provide an adequate level of system and network security. The User Institution may not provide access to ULAKNET to third parties or organisations other than its Users without the approval of ULAKBİM.

4.8.If any provision of the UKP becomes temporarily or permanently unenforceable for any administrative and/or technical reason deemed valid by ULAKBİM, this shall not affect the validity and continuity of the remaining provisions.

ARTICLE 5. RIGHTS, POWERS, RESPONSIBILITIES AND PRACTICES

5.1.The User Institution has the right and responsibility to make ULAKNET available to its Users within the framework of the provisions set out in the UKP.

5.2.User Institutions that have a global Internet connection other than ULAKNET are obliged to route the portion of the traffic of the network services they provide that flows from the User Institution towards the Internet through ULAKNET.

5.3.The User Institution is required to access TÜBİTAK EKUAL services over the ULAKNET connection in both the outbound and inbound directions.

5.4.The User Institution shall provide the support necessary for its researchers to benefit from TRUBA services. Where the computing and storage resources on its campuses are incorporated into TRUBA, the User Institution is obliged to ensure coordination between its own units and to take adequate security measures so that TRUBA services are not disrupted.

5.5.The User Institution is responsible for entering the information requested through the OLTA System in a timely, accurate and complete manner and for taking the measures necessary to close incident records.

5.6.The User Institution is obliged to enter the information requested through the UUYS in a timely, accurate and complete manner and to keep the information entered up to date. The Signatory Party shall notify ULAKBİM of the details of the UUYS Administrator in the annex to the UKP. In the event of a change of UUYS Administrator, the Signatory Party shall notify ULAKBİM of the new UUYS Administrator's details by official letter. In this context, the User Institution is responsible for any consequences that may arise from the activities of the authorised UUYS Administrator or of any person not authorised to access the system.

5.7.The User Institution is obliged to cooperate with ULAKBİM so that ULAKNET can be operated. Accordingly;

• The User Institution is responsible for following the ULAKNET Communication Lists of which its administrative and technical officers are members, for providing the information requested by ULAKBİM accurately and on time, and for informing its Users as soon as possible about line faults and maintenance work that will cause interruptions announced by ULAKBİM.
• The User Institution should encourage participation in the workshops, training sessions and meetings organised by ULAKBİM that bring together the administrative and technical officers of ULAKNET.
• All reports of problems and faults relating to ULAKNET are made through the NOC by the officers defined and authorised by the UUYS Administrator of the User Institution. The following channels are used for communication with the NOC: e-mail: noc@ulakbim.gov.tr; Telephone: 0-312-298 93 88; Fax: 0-312-298 93 93.