EECS Technical Database

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===== What's New In Labtest =====

====== 2017 ======

Various changes were made to labtest over the summer of 2017:

  * During labtest, in /eecs/dept, you will only see "www" and "course" directories.  For example, you no longer have access to /eecs/dept/dist in labtest mode.

  * Outside of labtest mode, /eecs/dept/course contains the course archive by session and term.  /eecs/course is a symbolic link to the course directories for the current session and term.  In labtest mode, both /eecs/dept/course and /eecs/course will only contain your single course directory, and no other directories.  For example, if your course is "9999", it will be available in labtest mode as /eecs/course/9999 or /eecs/dept/course/9999.  No other course directories will be available in labtest mode. 

  * If your course directory contains material that you don't want to be available during labtest, you can now create a "labtest" directory in your course directory.  This subdirectory of your course directory will **become** your course directory in labtest mode.  For example, if your course is 9999, and you have solutions in /eecs/course/9999/solutions that you don't want to be available in labtest mode, then create /eecs/course/9999/labtest.  Now, /eecs/course/9999/labtest will become /eecs/course/9999 in labtest mode, and students will not see the "solutions" directory in labtest mode.   Be aware that if you do this, you need to create a submit folder in the labtest folder for student submissions because a submit folder in the main course directory would be hidden.

  * Outside labtest mode, /eecs/dept/www contains many web directories.  /eecs/dept/www/course_archive contains all course web directories by session and term.  /eecs/dept/www/course is a symbolic link to the course web directories for the current session and term.  In labtest mode, /eecs/dept/www  contains a few directories that are part of labtest - "cgi-bin", "images", and an "index.php" file.  These files and directories can be safely ignored.  /eecs/dept/www also contains a directory called "labtest".  This is where your course labtest web directory will be mounted.  For example, if your course is 9999, then your course labtest web directory is /eecs/dept/www/course/9999/labtest. Students will only be able to access the contents of your course labtest web directory via the web.  That is, they won't be able to "cd /eecs/dept/www/labtest".  No other course web directories will be mounted during labtest.  No other web sites will be mounted (eg. dept. web pages) during labtest.  

  * When you book a deferred test, you must let tech know the session, term, and course so that the proper course and web directory will be made available during the test.  Do not create a symlink from the current course directory to an old course director from a previous session and term or it will fail to mount in labtest mode.

  * In labtest mode, some APIs are commonly made available to students.  The common APIs which are available outside of labtest mode here: http://www.eecs.yorku.ca/teaching/docs will be available as "/common" in labtest mode.  In order to link to the common APIs on your web page, you may include a link like this:<code><a href="/common">Common APIs</a></code>

  * When a user logs into a machine in labtest mode, a web browser opens, and the labtest landing page is displayed.  When the user clicks "Start the Test", they are send to "http://localhost/labtest" - the start page for your test.  You can no longer call the labtest start page with the ID of a different labtest since no other course or web folders are mounted at this time.

  * Labtest machines are running a later version of Apache (2.4) than other EECS systems.  As a result, the format of .htaccess has slightly changed.  mksecureq will generate the proper formatted .htaccess, but for your reference, in order to require an EECS login on your page, your .htaccess must contain:<code>
AuthType Basic
AuthName "Authorization Required"
AuthBasicProvider external
AuthExternal eecs
Require valid-user
</code>
 
  * If you're using the optional "user restriction setup" on labtest, users.allow files can no longer contain the "#includedist" directive.  This is because /eecs/dept/dist is no longer available in labtest mode.  Copy the users from the distribution list to your course directory prior to the test.

Once you have finished setting up your labtest page, please mail tech, and we can schedule a machine to go into labtest mode for you to test that everything works.  This will help to resolve problems that may otherwise only show up during your test.