Henry E. SchafferCoordinator of Special IT Projects & Faculty Collaboration/OIT
Professor Emeritus of Genetics and Biomathematics
Sarah R. SteinVCL Academic Outreach and Collaboration/OIT
Associate Professor of Communication
NC State University
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Origins
• Problems we faced at NC State
– Timely inclusion of new software in lab image · relationships between instructors and lab
staff – Conflicts between 50+ apps in lab image (".dll
wars")• Resulting effort → delays (sometimes months)
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Problems
• Costs to students of high-end apps - making them dependent on labs – Assumption: students don't all have the newest, most
powerful personally owned computers – Reality: students (nearly) all own or have access to some
computer – Reality: many different
models/configurations/ages/capabilities of student computers
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Problems
• Access at night - 24 hour access - safety issues • Distance students can't get to the campus labs
(actually we didn't think of that at first. Why not? :-)
• New software versions - instructors affected by move/don't-move decisions – Early adopters vs. caution
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Problems
• Installation differs due to non-uniformity of lab computers
• Additional work for staff• Instructors expect uniformity
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Considerations
• very low project budget → maximize use of Open Source software – write "glue code" in LAMP environment – remember important engineering principle ~ KISS
• had IBM Blade Center in use for HPC – CapEx vs. OpEx – CapEx amortization - i.e. lifetime
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Considerations
• had expertise in Engineering - Computer Science and central IT
• Team includes Sam Averitt, Mikhail Bugaev, Marc Hoit, Andy Kurth, Aaron Peeler, Henry Schaffer, Sarah Stein, Eric Sills, Josh Thompson, Mladen Vouk - but only 3+ FTE
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Overview of the VCL (the Virtual Computer-Lab) Solution
• bring the lab to the student - over the internet ("virtually") – Anytime, anywhere – From any user computer - Windows/Mac/Linux
• focus on high end software - works well with almost any software – make an image with one major app - always
works! :-)
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Overview
• extra privileges - incl. root / Administrator, with extra security
• http://vcl.ncsu.edu/
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Architecture - an overview
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Architecture
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Architecture - Uses
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Architecture - Flexibility
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What is the Result?
• Students get– Anytime, anywhere– Regardless of user platform– Same app for all– Choice of apps– Can use both networked and local storage
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What is the Result?
• Instructor gets– Uniform platform for all students– Multiple version availability– Quick changes/updates/customization• Instructor can do it herself
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What is the result?
• Staff gets– Smoother operation• Fewer compatibility problems• More satisfied instructors
– Fewer customization requests– Good or better security with fewer restrictions
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What is the result?
• Campus gets– Support for on campus and distance learning– Longer life cycle– Lower TCO
• Economies of Scale• More effective license administration
– Greater Flexibility– Open Source benefits
• Cloud Computing in 2004
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Advantages
• How/Why we get improved service at lower cost (costs include personnel, hardware, software)– Self-service to faculty - very low training need– Responsiveness to faculty/class needs• With minimal staff load
– 7x24x365
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Advantages
– Sharing infrastructure (and costs) with HPC (out of phase use!)
– Operations and Maintenance experience - economies of scale!
– Multiple software version availability – Availability of root/Administrator– Additional features - clusters, semester long
reservations, etc. (opens new pedagogical opportunities)
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Limitations
• Network latency/speed video – Video editing is not a good fit – Some applications require specialized computer
hardware (e.g. graphics cards)– Cultural acceptance of remote shared provision
(more below) • (Offsetting this are opportunities for IT to move up "the
food chain", partnership in pedagogy)
• Open Source support
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Barriers - especially Cultural Barriers
• Adoption of the new – Cloud - can't touch it, feel it, see it – Changes relationships with instructors and users
• Need to let go of the traditional – Traditional methods are comfortable – Moving to the new, but don’t get the economies if
keep all the traditional
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Opportunity for a Walk-Through
• http://vcl.ncsu.edu/– FAQ – on left– The Info Corner – lower right
• See it as a user– Select login with non-NCSU account– Create an account– Make a Reservation, etc.
• Instructor View has more options
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VCL Screen Grabs – Home Page
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New Reservation Page
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Reservation Page – Image Menu
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Conclusions
• Economical, affordable, scalable, shareable– Broadly useful – not a panacea
• Open Source - Apache – http://vcl.ncsu.edu/apache-vcl/
• Production status plus many pilots moving to production – NC State - Spring Semester 2009 61,862
reservations - 107,139 hours - 6,336 unique users
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Conclusions
• You are welcome to try! • Get involved in the Apache VCL Community!– http://cwiki.apache.org/VCL/
• VCL Home Page http://vcl.ncsu.edu/• IEEE Computer July 2009 pp 94-97 “NCSU’s
Virtual Computing Lab: A Cloud Computing Solution”
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Thank You!
NC State University• Henry Schaffer– [email protected]
• Sarah Stein– [email protected]
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