Box.net Cloud Storage

About

Tufts University entered into an Internet 2 agreement with Box.net to provide cloud storage for faculty, staff, and students. This service is not expressly licensed for clinical affiliates or contractors, but is seat-licensed for anyone pertaining the following:

1. Tufts Username, Tufts Password
2. A first.last@tufts.edu email alias

Authentication

Tufts is using ADFS 2.0 to provide a single sign-on experience for users of Box.net cloud storage. We elected to go with ADFS for several reasons:

1. ADFS represents a federated authentication service that will represent not only trusting within tufts, but eventually trusting external organizations also tied to the ADFS environment
2. ADFS (as opposed to Shibboleth, another federated authentication service Tufts supports) ties directly to active directory. Although Box.net does not currently support OU or Security group mapping in a way that Tufts would leverage, the synergy options in the future to provide storage tied to active directory organizational units is an opportunity we wanted to leave open

By using ADFS, users of the tufts service will be able to continue to use their Tufts Username and Tufts Password to access services that they use most frequently, which will maintain as consistent an experience as possible for our users here at Tufts.

Access & Account Creation

Account Creation
Box.net is configured to allow anyone to self-service provision their Box.net account using their Tufts Username and Tufts Password.

To create an account, simply direct a user to visit tufts.box.com/join for provisioning an account. During the pilot testing you will set a local password. Once the account is created follow the "Access" steps to use the tufts username and tufts password to log in.

Account Access
To log in to box.net, please visit tufts.box.com/login This will prompt you to "Connect" and utilize your Tufts Username and Tufts Password.

If at some point during the pilot it becomes necessary to access your Box.net storage with your local password made during setup, please select "Log in using Box Credentials" from the login screen and you will be able to do that. Please note that once the pilot is over you will only be able to access Box accounts using your Tufts Username and Tufts password, we will retire the ability for local passwords to exist.

Account Details

The following are the settings specified when an account is created:

Requirements

1. Must use first.last@tufts.edu as their login address
   • May not change their address after account creation, will require an administrator if their name changes
2. Must have an eligible AD account in the tufts.ad.tufts.edu domain
3. Must have a functioning password for active directory, and will observe the same lockout/eligibility behavior
4. Local passwords must be 8 characters, with a number, special character, uppercase letter.
   • No minimum or maximum password age, no password history

Created Accounts

1. Tufts email accounts are able to self-provision their accounts
2. Joining the tufts.box.com cloud will initiate an email to box.net brand administrators as a daily digest
3. Users are allowed
   • Unlimited "Box Sync" applications (options are 0,1,2,3,unlimited)
   • Unlimited phone applications (options are 0,1,2,3,unlimited)
   • Unlimited tablet applications (options are 0,1,2,3,unlimited)
   • Unlimited browser applications (only option)
4. Authenticated web sessions have a 30 minute timeout before forcing a new logon. (options are 10,15,30min, 1,2,8,12,24hours)
5. Users can share both folders and files with people who are not Tufts users
   • Permissions on these shares are extended to: Anyone, Tufts.edu only, and identified collaborators of the tufts.edu space
6. New links will default to open (anyone with the link can open the item.) It is possible to restrict this to only @tufts.edu addresses by default.
7. The following shared permissions are enabled
   • Co-Owner (full control)
   • Editor (Read/Write)
   • Viewer/Uploader (Read/Upload, no write/overwrite)
   • Viewer (Read, Download, no write)
   • Uploader (Upload only, no read, no write.)
8. The following shared permissions are disabled to reduce confusion for users
   • Previewer/Uploaded (upload and read only)
   • Previewer (view only, no download)
9. Shared links do not currently expire (default is 60 days)
10. Invited collaborators do not automatically expire (default is 60 days)
11. Deleted items auto-purge after 30 days
12. Notification settings by default are:
    • On upload, Comment, or delete for folders they own
    • upload and comment for folders they've joined
    • Users can specify broader or stricter notifications settings at their account level
13. By default "Sync" is enabled which allows desktop synchronization with Box storage
14. All tufts box users cannot see all other tufts box users for privacy reasons. This is not the default setting, it is not possible to only show unhidden users so all must be hidden.
15. New accounts are by default given a 2gb quota
    • We are assessing increasing this. Administrators right now are instructed not to increase above 4gb
16. Users are by default set to GMT -4:00 local time
17. Users are by default set to english for display language

Applications

Box.net allows a number of applications