This page is a simplified version for faculty members who are new to labtest.

   Please continue to read the detailed documentation page on Lab test for specifics 
   on  particular functions. LABTEST has many features but only the basics are 
   simplified here. 

Labtest Documentation (https://wiki.cse.yorku.ca/dept/tdb/services:labtest:start)
Eshrat Arjomandi Prism Lab - August 2016 NEW As of August 2016, this lab has been reorganized to host 75 desktops running our supported linux systems (CentOS 6.8). The desktops will also hosts VMs (windows virtual machines) for courses that require that interface .

Prism Lab

 

It is important to know the computers default operating systems
This makes it easy for Faculty to request the mode they want the
host in for teaching

    Room Numbers Name   No of hosts  Mode
    LAS1006      EA lab  75hosts     Linux

    LAS1004      GSP     32 hosts    Linux/Windows(dualboot) - default Linux

    LAS1002      Jupiter laptops



   LABTEST was designed to provide 
           a.  Test environment for students to write a exam.
           b.  Submit their work electronically during and after the test.
    
   In Labtest mode, users are restricted to a temporary home directory.
   They do not have access to the internet externally, no email,printing.
   No usb, cdroms, external devices will work in this environment for most 
   courses

   All programs accessible to students in regular linux mode
   are still available to students in labtest mode.

      Requirements  - You need a directory to host your files with the proper permission
                      in the web area 
                    - An html file for start up instructions
                    - Another html file hosting the questions for the test

      YOU CAN REQUEST tech@cse.yorku.ca TO ASSIST in creating course/web directory
      or do it yourself

How to Proceed

Step 1

       $  /eecs/dept/www/course/{course-number}  hosts the html files presented to 
          the students during labtest
                   This is a symbolic to the actual area on disk 
                   /eecs/dept/www/course_archive/{CurrentYear}/{Session}

                   eg: For Fall 2012-13/F
                   /eecs/dept/www/course_archive/2012-13/F is 
                    symlinked to 
                   /cse/dept/www/course 

            As a faculty member, you have permission to write here. Our web pages
            are displayed from this directory

  To simplify the instructions we will use a real course CSE1020
        
         $ cd /eecs/dept/www/course
         $ mkdir  1020
         $ cd 1020
         $ mkdir labtest
         $ chgrp labtest labtest
         $ chmod 750     labtest
         $ cd labtest
         Now you need to create an index.html file. Click on the link to
         see example  

https://wiki.eecs.yorku.ca/dept/tdb/services:labtest:sample_index

    $ chmod 640 index.html
          $ chgrp labtest index.html

          If you make a directory "Lab1" under labtest, you can place your questions.html
          Here /eecs/dept/www/course/<course no>/labtest/Lab1/questions.html

     Once completed , you have now setup the web area for viewing labtest.

     
     
     

Step 2

     In labtest mode the students submit their work electronically.
     You will need to set up this workspace as well
     
     The submitted files are sent to another location on the server
     /eecs/course. Again this is a symbolic link to the current semester
     /eecs/dept/course/2012-13/F/
     This is how you would set up the submit are on disk. (/eecs/course/<course no>)
     You would need to create  a subdirectory called submit
                               b Under that subdirectory an assignment directory
      Group permissions are very important or else students will not be able
      to submit their work in an exam

           $  cd /eecs/course
           $  mkdir 1020
           $  chmod 755 1020  
           $  cd 1020
           $  mkdir submit
           $  chmod 755 submit
     
           Now  Create a lab submission directory inside the submit

           $ cd submit
           $ mkdir a1
           $ chgrp labtest  a1
           $ chmod 770  a1
         
          VERY IMPORTANT "MAKE GROUP LABTEST instead of SUBMIT"

          Students will now be able to submit their work during labtest
          eg:   $ submit 1020 a1 testfile (file)
                or
                $ submit 1020 a1 <dir>    (directory)

Once a student logs into a host running labtest , their home directories
are mounted under /lt/home. This temporary home on the local host and is only for the duration of the test.
The data is saved into the following networked  directory every 15 minutes during
a test

/eecs/ltsave/course/<course_number>

Each scheduled labtest is given an id. This id is created after the course directory
If you have 3 labtests scheduled, then there will be 3 id's created automatically
If you need to restore any student data while the host was in labtest mode, 
here is where you would look. This directory is only readable by group faculty.
If you ever need to recover files from this area, any tech member will be able
to do this for you.
VERY IMPORTANT     This data is kept for 60 Days only
IMPORTANT          To stress to the students to save their work often while in labtest mode
                   Snapshots are taken every 15 minutes to avoid data loss. 



====Testing  Labtest Setup====
<code>

Two options available
   1  Schedule a booking for a labtest via tech@cse.yorku.ca
   2  You can access the page by specifying the  URL

Option 1

Request a Lab or host to be put into labtest mode. Email tech@cse.yorku.ca to do this.
Once the schedule is put into place , from any browser

https://labtesteval.eecs.yorku.ca?id=110 where 110 is the id number

You will need to use your EECS login and password here

This will connect you to your labtest

Option 2

Specify the URL

 eg

https://labtesteval/course/2021/labtest

 Login 
 
  This service will only work on any computer in our department's subnet
  locally and is only available to faculty.

http://www.eecs.yorku.ca/schedule/pcmode

If there is a hardware failure while a student is writing an exam you can safely move the student to another available seat in labtest mode and have the student login. The faculty member or TA in the admin list will be asked to enter their user name and password and asked to select the directory with the latest files . This will transfer the students files from the saved area back to the new host IF YOUR EXAM IS SCHEDULED DURING 8:30 to 5:00 tech can try to allocate another host quickly and put it in LABTEST MODE

Sometimes it is important to extend a labtest but you must be aware if there is another exam immediately after you in the same room ,this may not be possible.

You can extend the time on a labtest for up to 2 hours using the pcmode webapp.

Login to the pcmode webapp here: https://webapp.cse.yorku.ca/pcmode

Select the seat you want to extend the hold on and apply the change

THIS WILL ONLY WORK IF THE JOB IS STILL ON THE QUEUE SO YOU HAVE TO DO IT BEFORE THE SCHEDULED END TIME

If you proceed to schedule a test to run in labtest mode, you are required to send tech@cse.yorku.ca a message request the lab you want in labtest mode Details are incorporated on the main labtest page documentation. Briefly what is asked is that

Faculty should contact tech with the following information.

• Faculty Name
• TA(s) names or login id's
• Your Course Number
• Date eg Mon Oct 5th
• Time eg 9:30am to 11:20am
• Duration of test (eg 45 minutes)
• Room number (defaults to CSEB 1006 )
• Number of Special access hosts for students with disabilities
• Additional time needed for these hosts- Start-End Time
• Mode (labtest, linux, windows, virtual host)
• User restriction (only if necessary)
• Room number (defaults to CSE1006)

This is a new feature added in 2012. Sometimes faculty members want to restrict their test only to registered students. This requires additional setup by the faculty member. If you request user-restriction for your lab booking, you will need to

• Create a file users.allow in your course directory (/eecs/course/<C-N>/users.allow)
• The permissions on the file should be readable by others(644) (chmod o+r /cs/course/<C-N>/users.allow)
• Add the login names of the registered users (eg seela) one per line
• Alternatively you can specify a file with the users name or the course distribution file.More details are given on the Labtest Documentation page
• To understand if the hosts are reserved for your students only, you will see “RESERVED” on the login screen
• To test if a user has permission eg /xsys/pkg/pcmode/bin/pcmode-allow cse1234 6 jun01 where 6 id the job id and jun01 is the hostname
• For tech setup in schedule eg:

12/03/2015      11:22    3      labtest @,miss 01-33
12/03/2015      12:45    5      default   miss 01-33

      NOTE the @, on the first line. This indicates that the lab is restricted 
      to students in the course only

Two options

• Using a custom script
• Placing files into a directory with special permissions

• Use secureQ