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Frequently Asked QuestionsGeneral InformationThe following URL will allow you to change your selection:
The technologies implemented in the VCL project have the flexibilty to allow for remote access to many different operating systems loaded with varying software. The infrastructure is flexible enough to allow access to Windows/Macintosh lab environments, as well as departmental computing resources, though these have not yet been implemented and will only be implemented if the education process is furthered by their inclusion in the VCL Project. VCL ReservationsPrinting within VCL can be difficult due to the number of different printers that exist. Some printers that are locally attached through Remote Desktop Connection will be reconigized by the default Windows printer drivers, others printers will not. To work around this, most VCL windows environments should have pdfFactory installed. PdfFactory will show up as a virtual printer and is selectable as a printer within the windows applications. This will print the output to a pdf and then you can copy this pdf file to your machine and print as you normally do. If your local printer is not supported by the default windows drivers, then you must select the pdfFactory and print to a pdf file. On custom Windows and Linux environments you have adminstrative and root level rights. Since the VCL system reloads each expired reservations with a clean environment, there is no threat of any residual data being left on a machine for the next user. On Linux and Solaris Lab machine environments, you only have user level rights. The same premissions as you would experience at the console of a walk-in lab. Yes. Just run Remote Desktop Connection or SSH again and login with the same user name and password. You will have 15 minutes to reconnect, before your reservation is timed out. Reconnecting to a Remote Desktop session on a Windows server will show you to the "desktop" you were already using, with all of the programs and files you had open. Whereas reconnecting to a SSH session on a UNIX or Linux server will be like logging in initially, any programs you had running previously will no longer be running. Modifying ReservationsOn the website:
You will only be able to extend the length if the computer your reservation is on has time available before the next reservation. The maximum time for a reservation (even with an extension) is typically 6 hours from the initial starting time of your reservation.
Deleting ReservationsYou will receive warnings at 10 minutes and 5 minutes before your reservation expires. Once time is up, you are disconnected and any unsaved changes you have made will not be recoverable. Reservation NotificationsEmail notification can be enabled/disabled under User Preferences->General Preferences. If email notification is enabled and you are not receiving emails, it is likely because the email address that the confirmation/notification emails are being sent to is not the email address that you primarily use. The email address that all VCL emails are sent to is the one listed in the NCSU online directory. To change what email address VCL related emails are sent to, look yourself up in the NCSU online directory and follow the information provided there on updating your information. Connecting to VCLDepending on the environment you will need to use a remote desktop connection client or a ssh client. The ssh (secure shell) client is native to the linux operating system, open a terminal window and use the command 'ssh'. The remote desktop client 'rdesktop' for Linux/Unix operating systems is a third party application downloaded from sourceforge: http://sourceforge.net/projects/rdesktop/. Depending on your distro, rdesktop may already be installed - open a terminal window and try to run the command rdesktop. A full list of options are documented in rdesktop man page, but a sample command line might look like the following: rdesktop -g 1024x768 -a 24 -r disk:home=/home/<userid> -r disk:root=/ -r printer:<localqueue> There is a nice GTK frontend called tsclient for rdesktop. It is likely available on your distro as well. If not, it can be dlownloaded from sourceforge as well: http://sourceforge.net/projects/tsclient If accessing a windows VCL resource from NCSU campus Linux and Solaris lab machines, rdesktop is available through the netutils locker. Run the command 'add netutils' in a terminal window to access the rdesktop command.
Depending on the VCL environment you will need to use remote dekstop connection or ssh (secure shell) client. Remote desktop connection can be freely downloaded from Mactopia. An ssh (secure shell) client is natively available in Mac OS X. Open a terminal window and use the command ssh. Yes. On the Solaris and Linux campus lab machines rdesktop is available via the netutils software locker:
Yes. Just run Remote Desktop Connection or SSH again and login with the same user name and password. You will have 15 minutes to reconnect, before your reservation is timed out. Reconnecting to a Remote Desktop session on a Windows server will show you to the "desktop" you were already using, with all of the programs and files you had open. Whereas reconnecting to a SSH session on a UNIX or Linux server will be like logging in initially, any programs you had running previously will no longer be running.
During periods of heavy utilization, it may take a minute between the time you hit 'Connect' and when you can actually connect; however, it will normally be ready by the time you try to connect to the computer. Usernames & PasswordsRevisit the VCL website:
Your connection details will be displayed. Remote DesktopMany applications read and write to files many times very quickly. When the file is on the same machine this is fine. Even if it is on the network, as long as there is a fast network connection, it will work, though with some degraded performance. However, the process by which you gain access to files on your personal machine through Remote Desktop is quite complicated. Therefore, it will not be fast enough for some applications. In these cases, it is recommended that you copy your files to the VCL machine, work on you files there, and then copy them back to your personal computer when you are done with your work. This is related to a security setting in Internet Explorer which for some reason does not allow file downloads over a secure connection (https). To fix this problem:
Attempt to get the RDP file again: click "Get RDP file". You should be able to save the RDP file to your local computer and open it to access the remote VCL machine.
An RDP file is a settings file that can be opened by the Remote Desktop Client to automatically open a connection to the reserved computer. For automatic login, provided your browser and operating system properly support the auto login feature. The RDP file can be used to automatically login you into the remote machine, just by simply clicking the Get RDP file button. On the website:
Here you can edit the default settings for your RDP file for the screen size resolution, local drives, and sound.
For Faculty & InstructorsSimply send a email request to vcl_help@ncsu.edu. Please state the course number section and the desired application environment for your course. All appilcations on the Linux and Solaris platforms are already available to NCSU students, staff and faculty. The only requirement for access to custom environment is the course will need to be active in Wolfware. This advanced feature is reserved for Faculty or support staff of a course such as a TA, system administrators for a College or Department, or researchers. The ability to create and or update VCL environments requires Image Creation privileges. Due to the storage limitations, Image creation privilege is not generally available and must be requested by Faculty or departmental systems administrator. Updating image (or environment) is similar to Image Creation process. The owner of an image is the only one who can update a VCL environment. Applications & ImagesNote: Click on the lab environment links below to view available lab software. To view the complete list of available software and directions on how to run it, enter the add command after making a reservation for a lab machine image and connecting to it. Access Visio Excel 2003 (WinXP) The purpose of each VCL environment is to provide someone access to an application or group of applications that the person wouldn't have access to already. There are many Office/Productivity Suites available that can be installed on each user's machine that will be used to connect to the VCL system. OpenOffice is available for free and is compatible with Microsoft Office. Files & DataFor remote access to a Windows XP VCL environment there are 3 options for saving your files:
Note: DO NOT leave your work on the hard drive of Windows XP environment. What happens when I leave my work on the server?
When connecting to a Realm Unix/Linux computer your current working directory is your AFS home directory. So any data generated/modified will reside in your campus file space. Most of the non-Realm Linux environments have openAFS installed and configured for NCSU acounts. If you are using a NCSU account, simply transfer you data from the remote machine to a location in /afs. If AFS or some other network share is not mounted. Then you will need to transfer your data using sftp(secure file transfer protocol) or scp(secure copy). This requires you to copy it to your local machine or another machhine you have access to. Copying data from the remote computer to your local machine:
Traditional ftp (file transfer protocol) is not recommended. It does not support encyrption or secure authentication, basically passes your password in clear text to the remote machine. Also, some locations actually block ftp network traffic.
This depends on what operating system you are connecting from and to. See 'Where to save my files' for a detailed explanation. Windows XP and custom Red Hat Enterprise Linux computers are reloaded after your reservation has completed or your session has timed out. Therefore, any work left on the server is erased or lost. Make sure you save your work to the network filespace (AFS), a thumb drive, or your local computers hard drive. VCL WebsiteThe following URL will allow you to change your selection: This is often caused by using Back/Forward in certain web browsers (particularly Safari on Macintosh). In order for the web application that is the scheduling interface for VCL to work correctly it must know what web page you were referred from when showing you any page except for the entry page. Some web browsers (Safari in particular) tend to forget exactly how you came to a given webpage. Thus when your web browser tries to load a given page in the scheduling interface and cannot remember how you can to be at that page, the scheduling web application sends you back to the entry page. Common ProblemsApplication ProblemsThe technologies employed in VCL to provide applications remotely are fairly network intensive. It is recommended that a Cable/DSL connection be used. Additionally, even in scenarios where Cable/DSL is provided by your Internet Service Provider, there can be connection/configuration issues that slow down your network connection to a crawl. Please run one of the Bandwidth Speed Tests to see how fast your connection is operating at the moment. Rates at or above 1Mbit are acceptable for Cable/DSL. If you are testing at or above 1Mbit and still having extreme slowness, contact VCL Support. Many applications read and write to files many times very quickly. When the file is on the same machine this is fine. Even if it is on the network, as long as there is a fast network connection, it will work, though with some degraded performance. However, the process by which you gain access to files on your personal machine through Remote Desktop is quite complicated. Therefore, it will not be fast enough for some applications. In these cases, it is recommended that you copy your files to the VCL machine, work on you files there, and then copy them back to your personal computer when you are done with your work. Performance ProblemsMany applications read and write to files many times very quickly. When the file is on the same machine this is fine. Even if it is on the network, as long as there is a fast network connection, it will work, though with some degraded performance. However, the process by which you gain access to files on your personal machine through Remote Desktop is quite complicated. Therefore, it will not be fast enough for some applications. In these cases, it is recommended that you copy your files to the VCL machine, work on you files there, and then copy them back to your personal computer when you are done with your work. |
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Raleigh, NC 27695 Phone: (919) 515-2011 |
VCL is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You can access lab software any time you need it! 