Senior Design Center - Laboratory Policies

Laboratory Information

Lab Policies
Laboratory FAQ
Backup & Restore
Subversion
Getting Help With Computer Problems

Users of the Senior Design Center (SDC) Laboratory are expected to abide by the following policies. These policies are intended to preserve the integrity, utility, and flexibility of the equipment in the lab. They are also designed to protect the privacy of work done by students and faculty and to preserve our access to networks to which the lab is connected. You will also find useful and important information in the FAQs section.

Lab Policies

Students are expected to comply with the relevant policies of the Computer Science Department and with NCSU network and computing policies (http://www.ncsu.edu/it/rulesregs/).
All labs are secured-access facilities. People who need access are granted that access on an individual basis via key or fob. Under no circumstances should you allow anyone into the lab.

It is your responsibility to update the Antivirus software on your machines. If the lab machines are not updated frequently they may be compromised. Set up an automatic update and an automatic system scan on a weekly basis.
Automatic updates: File > Schedule Updates
Automatic scans: View > Scheduled Scans

Any attempt to circumvent lab and system security, guess other passwords, or in any way gain unauthorized access to local facilities or network resources is forbidden.
Do not remove equipment from the lab without explicit permission from the course instructor.
You are expected to take proper care of the equipment in the lab. Report any malfunction via a Resource Request form immediately (see Getting Help With Computer Problems, below). Under no circumstances should you attempt to move, repair, reconfigure, modify, or attach any external devices to the lab equipment. Flash Drives are the only exception to this rule.
You are expected to take care of your lab space. Please keep your lab area neat and clean. Your lab space should be in the same condition at the end of the semester as you found it at the beginning of the semester.
Do not modify network connections or attempt to connect a personal machine to the local area network without prior approval.
Do not install or use file-sharing programs such as Kazaa, E-Mule, etc. on Senior Design Center lab machines, or personal machines on lab networks.
Student teams are responsible for backing up project related materials. See below for the backup procedure.
Please change the password for the ‘Team00’ Account to something unique for your team.
DO NOT CHANGE THE PASSWORD ASSOCIATED WITH THE 'ADMINISTRATOR' login. DO NOT RENAME OR DEACTIVATE THE 'ADMINISTRATOR' login.
If you change the password associated with the 'administrator' login, the system will be rebuilt, without notice, from a base image. No attempt will be made to recover project files and/or data.
If you install software or change any setting(s), and the computer subsequently becomes inoperative or unstable, no attempt will be made to recover. A “base system” image will be applied which will over-write the entire disk. You are responsible for recovering your work to date.
Do not change/add printer setups unless advised to do so by an IT staff member.

Laboratory FAQ

How do I log on to the computer in my workspace?

The computers that are in your workspace are not related to your unity accounts. An account for your team has been set up. The initial login/password for your team is “Team00/team00” (for Windows machines). Please change the password immediately.

Should I change the password(s) on my team’s SDL machine?

Please change the password associated with the team login to something more secure. Be sure to change the password to one that the team decides upon. All student team accounts have administrator privileges. Be advised, if you also create additional logins, the Sys Admin will not support any problems with these accounts. Please create passwords for any additional accounts as well.

DO NOT CHANGE THE PASSWORD ASSOCIATED WITH THE ‘administrator’ login.

What is installed on our lab machines?

The default operating system for the Senior Design Center is Windows XP Pro. Exceptions are only made when project sponsors require a different operating system for developmental purposes. The following software is installed in addition to Windows XP Pro

Office 2007
Visual Studio 2005
Eclipse 3.2
Tortoise SVN
Visio 2003
Firefox
Thunderbird

How can I get a specific application installed on our lab machines?

There are several applications that are freely available on the Internet and each team has administrator privileges on their machine. You are encouraged to install and configure these free applications in an effort to better understand the technology that you will be using to develop your project. If the application you need is not freely available for download on the Internet use the ‘Resource Request’ form provided on the Senior Design Center web site (http://www.csc2.ncsu.edu/sdc/students/forms/request.php). In your request be sure to specify your computer name(s) found on a sticker on the front of each computer and the software you need to be installed and any other helpful information.

Can we have administrator privileges on our computers?

Yes. All student accounts on Senior Design Center computers will belong to the ‘administrator’ group. With this comes the responsibility to ensure that your computer remains viable and stable.

Do I have access to my AFS space?

Yes, you may access your AFS space with your unity login through WolfCall. You may download and install the latest version of WolfCall at http://www.eos.ncsu.edu/wolfcall/.

Can I access lab machines remotely?

In an effort to increase security in our labs, machines will be made remotely accessible on a VERY limited basis. They will require that you access them from a FIXED IP address. No exceptions will be made to this rule. You must put in a resource request to be allowed remote access to your machines.

Can I connect a personal laptop or computer to the network?

Yes, but you must get permission before you can connect a new host to the local area network. If you would like to connect a personal machine to the LAN, use the ‘Resource Request’ form mentioned above. Wireless networks are available in several lab locations.

Virtual Machines

We will have virtual images available upon request. Virtual machines are good for running multiple machines without needing extra equipment filling up your cube. If you need and virtual machine running Windows 2003, XP, RHEL 4 or 5, please put in a resource request. You can download the VMWare player for free from here: http://www.vmware.com/products/player/

Parallels

We will provide more information about using this virtualization tool later.

Backup & Restore

In Senior Design, you will have a network share on which you can back up your lab machines. This is extremely useful in the event that something happens to your machine. We recommend setting up your environment with all of your software in place before writing any code. You should then attempt a backup and restore of your environment. Knowing how to do this before there is an emergency is extremely advised. Name this first backup something like backup_original.

Connect your S: drive (your network share for Senior Design)

Create connection to network drive
Open a command prompt
Run the command:
C:\ net use S: \\vclc1-1.hpc.ncsu.edu\teamXX
(replace XX with your team number. I.e.: team01)
Put in your user name and password.
From now on, this will be your S: drive.
You can now move files back and forth to your network share as well as back up your system to your network share.
After logging out, you will need to re-establish the connection to your S: drive when you log back in. To re-establish the connection, all you have to do is double click on your S: drive, and type in the name and password when prompted.
If you are still having problems, use the following command and then start again at step1:
C:\ net use S: /d

Backup Procedure

Open my computer, double-click on your S: drive, punch in name and password if asked
If there is not an S: drive present, see section on connecting your S: drive
Run the backup program. It is located here: Start > all programs > accessories > system tools > backup
The wizard should start up, click next
Choose: backup files and settings. Click next
Click: all information on this computer. Click next
Under the heading: choose a place to save your backup, Click browse
Ignore the error message asking for a disk by hitting cancel
Select a name for your backup.
Use the drop down list at the top to S: drive, hit Save
Now, click Next
Review the summary and hit, finish
Once the backup is finished, it will ask for a 1.44 MB diskette. Do not insert a disk. Instead, just hit OK.
You will get an error message saying the diskette was not installed properly. Just hit cancel.
You will get a 3rd error message saying the ASR disk was not created. Just hit OK.
Hit the Close button to close the backup utility. You backup is now complete.

Restore Procedure

Note: This backup procedure will wipe out ALL data on the machine that has been created or changed since the backup was created. Please make sure your backup is as up to date as possible before following this procedure.

Note: If Windows does NOT boot, immediately put in a resource request. If Windows is functioning, and you just need to do a restore, use the procedure below.

Start the backup program: Start > all programs > accessories > system tools > backup
The wizard should start up, click next
Select: Restore Files and Folders and click Next.
Hit Browse … a pop up window will appear
Hit browse in the new window
Select your S: drive from the drop down list at the top. If the S: drive is not available, connect to it using the procedure in the section labeled “Connecting to your S: drive”
Select your desired backup file and click Open
Hit Ok
Your backup file should appear under: Backup Identification Label.
On the left, under: Items to Restore, expand the CD icon
Under the CD Icon the name of your backup file should appear
Expand the plus sign next to your backup file
Under your backup file, you should see two C: folders, and a System State folder
Put checks in the boxes next to all three of these folders
Click Next
Click Finish
Click OK on the warning message.
You will usually have to restart your machine once the Restore has finished.

Subversion

In Senior Design, we use version control to keep track of changes to code. This helps to restore your work in case code gets corrupted, overwritten, or changed improperly. We have set up a Subversion server for you to use. Keep your code on the subversion server, and use the “checkout” procedure to get code and make changes.

How to Use the Subversion Server:

We will be using Tortoise SVN to connect to the Subversion server:
Create a new folder, or select a blank folder where you plan to keep your code.
Right-click on the folder, and select SVN checkout
For the URL use the following Address:
https://vclc1-1.hpc.ncsu.edu/Senior_Design/svn/teamXX
(again, replace teamXX with your team number)
Click Ok
You will be prompted to accept the SSL Certificate.
You will then be prompted for a username and password:
Username: teamXX
Password: The same as the password to your file space. (e-mailed to you)
You should see the folders added to your coding folder: Trunk, branch, and tags.
These three folders are the standard for keeping track of your coding. Here is some documentation on how to use the different folders:
http://dev.wp-plugins.org/wiki/RepositorySetup
Click Ok.
You are now connected to the Subversion server. You can right-click this folder at any time to checkout or update a piece of code. Spend some time getting familiar with this system. It will help you and your teammates from overwriting each other’s hard work.

Getting Help with Computer Problems

Please let us know immediately if you have any problems backing up, restoring or using the subversion server!!!

Go to http://www.csc2.ncsu.edu/sdc/

On the left, under forms is a link called “Resource Request”

Click the link, and you will be asked to login with your Unity name and password.

You should then fill out the form explaining your problems or requesting your needs. Make sure to include the Computer Name with your request (it is written on the front of the machine). Resource Requests should be completed by the Team Lead.

Resource Requests should be completed by the Team Lead.