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Michael Fudge Remote Lab: Providing Access to Your Lab Facilities Virtually Sr. Systems & IT Support Administrator, Adjunct Professor Syracuse University iSchool

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Remote Lab: Providing Access to Your Lab Facilities Virtually. Sr. Systems & IT Support Administrator, Adjunct Professor Syracuse University iSchool. Michael Fudge. Start. http:// mafudge.syr.edu/remote-lab. Michael Fudge. [email protected]. @mafudge. iSchool?. 7000+ Alumni - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Page 1: Michael Fudge

Michael Fudge

Remote Lab:Providing Access to Your Lab Facilities VirtuallySr. Systems & IT Support Administrator, Adjunct ProfessorSyracuse University iSchool

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StartMichael Fudge

[email protected]

http://mafudge.syr.edu/remote-lab

@mafudge

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iSchool?7000+ Alumni728 Graduates585 Undergrads50 Faculty44 Staff9 Certificate programs3 Graduate programs2 Doctoral programs1 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

H010H013H027

# 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:

Our Problem: 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.Same experience for all.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 task2. 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.Inexpensive. Less confusing than alternatives.

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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 – Current 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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ChallengesSquatters. Try to stay on forever.Re-connectors. Use the same downloaded RDP file.Direct-connectors. Bypass the web UI and RDP directly into a machine.Working on solutions to these problems.

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Our Rollout

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TimelineSummer2011

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

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Thank You!Michael Fudge

[email protected]

http://mafudge.syr.edu/remote-lab

@mafudge

Questions?