labman 2012 presentation - remote lab
TRANSCRIPT
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Michael Fudge
Remote Lab:Providing Access to Your Lab Facilities VirtuallySr. Systems & IT Support Administrator, Adjunct ProfessorSyracuse University iSchool
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iSchool?
7000+ Alumni728 Graduates585 Undergrads50 Faculty44 Staff9 Certificate programs3 Graduate programs2 Doctoral programs
1 School of Information Studies
People
Tech.Info.
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3 “teaching” labs98 seats total1 “open lab”10 seats1 “mobile” lab30 laptops1 Specialized VM Networking lab1 “Remote” lab24 seats *
Our Lab Facilities
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Our Labs – SpecificationsDell OptiPlex 790 Small Form FactorIntel Core i7 2600 3.4 Ghz 8 GB RAM128 GB SSDDual MonitorsWindows 7 x64 Gobs of softwareImage Size 53GB
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Our Labs – ConfigurationImaged with Ghost over LANLocked down with DeepfreezeFaronics Insight to control classroom activityLeast privilege – no admin access.Roaming User Profiles Redirected My Documents.
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The iSchool Facilities Crunch
Fall 2010
Fall 2011
Fall 2012
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
H010
H013
H027
# of Class Sections Taught in Lab
56
45
50
Key TrendsFrom 2010 to 2012:
• 11 more classes use labs facilities
• 24% Increase
• 33 less hours per week of open lab
• 90% Booked
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Student Hears: Instructor Hears:
Overcommitted Lab Resources
“Complete this work outside of class...”
“…the labs are full.”
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But enough of our problems!
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Why does your organization maintain computer labs?
https://chronicle.com/article/Computer-Labs-Get-Rebooted-as/49323/
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Why We Still Maintain Labs:
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Problem Traditional Lab FacilitiesRequi
re Space
Time-Boun
d
Need Staffi
ng
Costly to
Operate
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The Question Becomes:
How do I provide access to lab facilities without a physical space to house them?
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Remote Lab, FTW!Access our “Lab Computers” anytime from anywhereDoes not need to be staffed.Does not occupy a room.No costly desks or furniture.No need to worry about theft…Or people spilling drinks.
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The idea is simple:
1. Dedicate bank of lab computers (BOLC) to the task
2. Allow users to connect with Windows Remote desktop (RDP)
3. ??????4. PROFIT!!!
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Why Windows Remote Desktop?
No Additional Software is required on the lab computer.Compatible with a variety of client operating systems.
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Demo.
Remote Lab In Action
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Remote Lab Design
Technical Information Ahead
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Components of Remote Lab
Bank of Lab Computers (BOLC)
Web Front-End
BOLC Status Tracker Database
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BOLC- Old SchoolStack a bunch of PC’s up somewhere.Allow remote desktopto your users.You can use older computers.A great Start.To scale, you’ll want to virtualize…
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Our BOLC – Hardware Setup
6 Dell 2950 IIIs (Xeon Quad Core, 32GB RAM)EMC AX4-5 iSCSI SAN (16TB) 2 SP’s1GB NIC for iSCSI1GB NIC for NetworkSet-up on the cheap, as proof of concept.Been running since last summer
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Our BOLC – Software VMware ESXi 4 Hypervisor6 ESXi Hosts 4 VM’s per server, 1 CPU, 4GB RAM ea.Each VM Runs on a unique LUN/StorageProcessor combo.Takes 2-3 Hrs. toGhost 1 Host.
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Web Front EndHow users find available lab computers.Users are authenticated via normal channels.A web page displays which “nodes” are available in the BOLC.When a user clicks on an available node, a customized .RDP file is sent to the client.
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BOLC status tracker database
A Simple 1 Table Database.Database tracks which nodes in the BOLC
are “available” and which are “occupied”Events fire at logon / logoff / startup / shutdown and record node status to the database.Same database is used by the web front-endfor UI Display.
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Group Policy TweaksSpecial computer and user settings are required for this unique environment Don’t allow users to kick each other off. Auto log-off at 120 minutes of idle time.
Prevents hogging of sessions. Run scripts at startup / shutdown /
logon / logoff to update the tracker database.
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Our Rollout
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Timeline
Summer2011
Fall2011
Spring2012
Fall2012
Summer2012
Initial design and prototype
SilentBeta
Public advertisedbeta
Rebuild from lessons learned
First semester of launch
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Public Beta – Monthly Logins
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Public Beta – Logins By Hour
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Other Realized BenefitsEases the lab crunchStudents don’t need to install softwareLess student support calls / tickets.License controlDistance education friendly!
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For Starting Your Own Initiative
Pro-Tips
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Pro-Tips
Start Small
Simplify
Buy-In
Monitor
Work from a proof of concept. No need to invest heavily to start.
Find a faculty / course which can benefit. Get them on-board.
Does your Remote Lab require the same apps as your Lab?
Track usage. Get feedback and opinions from users.
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Try It Yourself Download SURA / Mac VPN from https://software.ischool.syr.edu/downloadsSign in with g-ist-labman / 0sw3go315 Run SURA / Mac VPNSign in with same Step 2 CredentialsAccess Remote lab.https://my.ischool.syr.edu