Michael Fudge

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

Start

Michael Fudge

mafudge@syr.edu

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

@mafudge

iSchool?

7000+ Alumni728 Graduates585 Undergrads50 Faculty44 Staff9 Certificate programs3 Graduate programs2 Doctoral programs

1 School of Information Studies

People

Tech.Info.

3 “teaching” labs98 seats total1 “open lab”10 seats1 “mobile” lab30 laptops1 Specialized VM Networking lab1 “Remote” lab24 seats *

Our Lab Facilities

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

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.

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

Student Hears: Instructor Hears:

Our Problem: Overcommitted Lab Resources

“Complete this work outside of class...”

“…the labs are full.”

But enough of our problems!

Why does your organization maintain computer labs?

https://chronicle.com/article/Computer-Labs-Get-Rebooted-as/49323/

Why We Still Maintain Labs:

Problem Traditional Lab FacilitiesRequi

re Space

Time-Boun

d

Need Staffi

ng

Costly to

Operate

The Question Becomes:

How do I provide access to lab facilities without a physical space to house them?

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.

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!!!

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.

Demo.

Remote Lab In Action

Remote Lab Design

Technical Information Ahead

Components of Remote Lab

Bank of Lab Computers (BOLC)

Web Front-End

BOLC Status Tracker Database

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…

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Our Rollout

Timeline

Summer2011

Fall2011

Spring2012

Fall2012

Summer2012

Initial design and prototype

SilentBeta

Public advertisedbeta

Rebuild from lessons learned

First semester of launch

Public Beta – Monthly Logins

Public Beta – Logins By Hour

Other Realized BenefitsEases the lab crunchStudents don’t need to install softwareLess student support calls / tickets.License controlDistance education friendly!

For Starting Your Own Initiative

Pro-Tips

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.

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

Thank You!

Michael Fudge

mafudge@syr.edu

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

@mafudge

Questions?