Sponsored by the National Science Foundation Running a class: Account Management Sarah Edwards GENI Project Office

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation 2 Train the TA – Sept 13, 2012 Creating a GENI account GENI Portal is at: Anyone with an account at a supported identity provider (usually your school or employer) can log in, but they will have no privileges If you don’t have such an account, we will make you an account at the GPO Identity Provider You must be a member of a project to do anything interesting

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation 3 Train the TA – Sept 13, 2012 InCommon For many experimenters: no new passwords familiar login screens Leverage InCommon for single sign-on authentication Experimenters from 304 educational and research institutions have InCommon accounts

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation 4 Train the TA – Sept 13, 2012 Gaining access to GENI How will students login to the GENI Experimenter Portal? 1.If your institution is a member of InCommon and it releases the appropriate attributes … … then students can “just log in” using their institution username/password 2.If your school is a member of InCommon and it does not release the appropriate attributes (eg ) … … then we can work with your campus IT to enable the R&S Category so students can “just log in” 3.If none of the above apply, students can get accounts via the GPO Identity Provider (IdP)

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation 5 Train the TA – Sept 13, 2012 Projects Projects organize research in GENI Project Lead Members Slice Projects contain both people and their experiments A project is led by a single responsible individual: the project lead

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation 6 Train the TA – Sept 13, 2012 Creating Projects Only project leads can create projects. Project names are public, unique and permanent A project may contain many experimenters; an experimenter may be a member of many projects Projects have an optional expiration (e.g. for classes, tutorials) –For classes it is recommended to have the project expire at the end of the class.

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation 7 Train the TA – Sept 13, 2012 Project Membership example Projects have 1 Lead and any number of Admins, Members, and Auditors Typical Class Expiration

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation 8 Train the TA – Sept 13, 2012 Slice Membership example Slices have 1 Lead and any number of Admins, Members, and Auditors The Slice Lead defaults to the person who created the slice By default, the Project Lead is added to all slices as a Slice Member Research Asst Slice Lead Research Asst Slice Lead Post-Doc Slice Member Professor Slice Admin Professor Slice Admin

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation 9 Train the TA – Sept 13, 2012 Project and Slice Roles Create project Modify project & manage membership Create sliceView project Project Lead * ✔✔✔✔ Admin * ✔✔✔ Member ✔✔ Auditor ✔ Manage slice membership Act on sliceView sliceAccount/ keys loaded on slice Slice Lead ** ✔✔✔✔ Admin * ✔✔✔✔ Member ✔✔✔ Auditor ✔✔ * By default, Project Lead/Admins are added to all slices as a Slice Admin ** The Slice Lead defaults to the person who created the slice

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation 10 Train the TA – Sept 13, 2012 Join a project Two options for adding experimenters to a project 1.Member-initiated: Each experimenter requests to join the project and is approved one at a time Typically used for Research projects 2.Admin-initiated: Project Lead or Admin bulk uploads experimenters en masse Typically used for Classrooms or Tutorials Member-initiated On Home page, Experimenter selects “Join a Project” button picks a project to join and the Lead/Admin approves the request

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation 11 Train the TA – Sept 13, 2012 Bulk Upload Members to a Project 1.On the project page, the Lead or Admin clicks Bulk Add New Members 2.Then uploads a CSV file with one line for each student CSV file format: , name, [optional: role = Admin, Member(Default), Auditor] Example Niky Riga, Member Sarah Edwards Vic Thomas Admin-initiated bulk upload Added to project immediately Invited to join project

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation Running a class: Lab Management Niky Riga GENI Project Office

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation 13 Train the TA – Sept 13, 2012 Timeline/Checklist  1. Notify  2. Determine how your students will login to GENI  3. Create a project for the class  4. Choose exercises and test them  5. Decide what machine/software the students should use  6. Pre-work  7. bulk add attendees to the project  8. Do exercise

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation 14 Train the TA – Sept 13, 2012 Timeline/Checklist  1. Notify  2. Determine how your students will login to GENI  3. Create a project for the class  4. Choose exercises and test them  5. Decide what machine/software the students should use  6. Pre-work  7. bulk add attendees to the project  8. Do exercise

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation 15 Train the TA – Sept 13, 2012 Exercises – Assignments Available Exercises Create your own Slice setup Notify resource providers Student setup Debugging

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation 16 Train the TA – Sept 13, 2012 Available Exercises List of sample assignments and tutorials: –Use as they are –Modify to meet your needs Annotated: –Type –Purpose –Resources needed –Difficulty/Duration

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation 17 Train the TA – Sept 13, 2012 Available Exercises Each sample exercise has: –Handouts / Instructions for students –Further information about the instructors –For solutions Instruction format: –3 Steps based on standard experiment lifecycle

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation 18 Train the TA – Sept 13, 2012 Create your own 1.Figure out GENI Resources 2.Test your exercise 3.Adjust writeup

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation 19 Train the TA – Sept 13, 2012 Create your own: GENI Resources Compute resources: –Wired / Wireless –Are VMs ok? Networking requirements Tools –Flack, Omni, I&M List per student/group: GENI resources Tools

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation 20 Train the TA – Sept 13, 2012 Create your own: Test Run through the exercise Automate: –Install scripts (HowTo/WriteInstallScripts) –Custom Image RSpec for exercise Install scripts Custom image

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation 21 Train the TA – Sept 13, 2012 Create your own: WriteUp Decide what students should hand in: –Screenshots –Commands –Configuration Should they leave the slice up? –Login and test their environment Online template for instructions Remember to include clean up! Send us your exercise!

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation 22 Train the TA – Sept 13, 2012 Slice Setup: Student Setup Slice Research Asst Slice Lead Post-Doc Slice Member Professor Slice Admin Need to provide: RSpec: –Students might create their own (e.g. LabZero) –URL, File, Upload it in Portal AMs for students to use Preferred tool –Flack, Omni, Portal

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation 23 Train the TA – Sept 13, 2012 Slice Setup: Premade slices Lab Exercises: Resource reservation might take time Assignments: Resource reservation is complicated/unique or out of scope 1. Create a slice per student/group 2. Make the student(s) member of the slice Ensure they have keys ( us if needed) 3. Reserve resources from the Portal

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation 24 Train the TA – Sept 13, 2012 Load Balance the students Split students/groups between equivalent resources (e.g. racks) to avoid resource contention If using scarce resources consider a rolling deadline

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation 25 Train the TA – Sept 13, 2012 Notify Resource GMOC GMOC: GENI Meta-operation Center Keeps track of outages Notification system for resource reservation GMOC Google Calendar keeps track of reservations/outages

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation 26 Train the TA – Sept 13, 2012 Exercises – Assignments Student setup Native Setup Setup using a VM How to chose Debugging

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation 27 Train the TA – Sept 13, 2012 Native Setup: Student’s laptop If students will use their personal computer, (e.g. laptop): Make a list of all tool requirements (e.g. Flack needs Flash installed) Ensure that they can install/use all tools needed for exercise (e.g. they can ssh) Make sure they test it early in the class. LabZero is a good way to do this!

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation 28 Train the TA – Sept 13, 2012 Native Setup: Lab Computers If students will use lab computers: Install and test tools in the machines –Go through the exercises in the lab If there are specific times the lab is open, stress-test the resources or split students

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation 29 Train the TA – Sept 13, 2012 Setup using a VM You can create a VM: install all tools –Go through the exercises from the VM students use VirtualBox to load the VM –You can use any Virtualization solution you want –

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation 30 Train the TA – Sept 13, 2012 VM or not? How to chose Use a VM if: Want to use Omni – coming soon windows Students are not very familiar with computer admin (e.g. offering a cross-discipline course) This is a one-time tutorial Uniform environment Easier to help students Easier to write instructions Use native setup if: Students will use GENI for research Students in class are future TAs

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation 31 Train the TA – Sept 13, 2012 Exercises – Assignments Student setup Debugging Slice access Common problems

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation 32 Train the TA – Sept 13, 2012 Slice Access Research Asst Slice Lead Post-Doc Slice Member Professor Slice Admin Members of all slices: Project Leads (Professor) Project Admins (TAs, Graders) – coming soon!

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation 33 Train the TA – Sept 13, 2012 Slice Access Being a member of a slice means you can act on a slice: –Add resources –Check status –Delete resources –Renew resources With any tool!

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation 34 Train the TA – Sept 13, 2012 Slice Access: Logging in to resources Slice membership does not guarantee ability to login to resources! To ensure access in student’s resources: Option 1: Make resource reservation from Portal fix the membership of the slice Use the add resource button in the portal Option 2: Ensure common public key is loaded distribute common public key to students ask students to upload it in their profile use corresponding private key to login Ability to login can help in debugging!

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation 35 Train the TA – Sept 13, 2012 Hands On Test Slice access Test access to compute resources using both methods First step when debugging students’ problems

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation 36 Train the TA – Sept 13, 2012 Common Problems Problem: Can’t login to a node

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation 37 Train the TA – Sept 13, 2012 Can’t login to nodes: SSH Login to all GENI compute resources using ssh keys – no password If you are ever prompted for a password during login to GENI nodes something is wrong Using key-pair to SSH: –Public key: is public to everyone, loaded to nodes Private key: kept private in your computer, provided to SSH to verify it matches the loaded public key

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation 38 Train the TA – Sept 13, 2012 SSH Challenges Students might not be familiar with CLI Students might not be familiar with public key cryptography –Hard to distinguish between private and public –Hard to distinguish between password and passphrase Consider a brief SSH tutorial/intro

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation 39 Train the TA – Sept 13, 2012 SSH from Windows SSH with keys from Windows is non-trivial –No standard ssh client that support keys (like openSSH) Possible Solutions Need to address this early! –Pay software – eg SecureCRT –Linux VM – make use of a slim OS –Lab machine/campus resources –cygwin –FireSSH – javascript plugin for Firefox –PuTTy (private key format different)

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation 40 Train the TA – Sept 13, 2012 Common Problems Problem: Can’t login to a node Possible causes: –Wrong username –Public key isn’t loaded, Private key is wrong or non-existing –Private key has wrong permissions (it should have 0600) –Slice/sliver expired –Technical issue with node Debug strategy: –Try logging in to the node yourself If successful look for the student account –cd..; ls Look for loaded keys –sudo cat /.ssh/authorized_keys –Ask them to use ‘-v’ option ssh –v

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation 41 Train the TA – Sept 13, 2012 Common Problems Problem: Can’t access AMs Possible causes: –Firewall issues –AM is down Debug strategy: –Check the GMOC calendars for planned/unplanned outages calendars.html –Verify access from campus (check the wireless!) –Have the student try to telnet to the port: e.g. telnet

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation 42 Train the TA – Sept 13, 2012 Common Problems Problem: Slice did not come up Possible causes: –Student did not wait long enough –Problem with rspec Debug strategy: –Check slice/sliver status yourself –Ask students to tell you the exact steps and try to replicate it –Use rspeclint on your rspecs

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation 43 Train the TA – Sept 13, 2012 Common Problems Problem: Omni is not working Possible causes: –Computer is not connected to the internet/behind firewall –PATH/PYTHONPATH is not correct Python error –omni is not configured Debug strategy: –Check their PATH and PYTHONPATH variables: echo $PATH echo $PYTHONPATH –Verify connectivity to: The internet (ping To the AMs (telnet ch.geni.net 8443, telnet

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation 44 Train the TA – Sept 13, 2012 General debug advice Ask students to be specific about what is not working –Step-by-step run through usually helps Ask for what they see: –screenshots –omni output errors Gather as much information as you can –get slice name –tool they used –rspec Remember you have access to their slices, check for yourself! Contact for Register for resource mailing lists –Better that you contact resource owners and not the students

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation Running a class: Timeline

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation 46 Train the TA – Sept 13, 2012 Timeline/Checklist Early, at least two weeks in advance of class  1. Notify that you will be using GENI  2. Determine how your students will login to GENI  3. Create a project for the class  Professor requests project lead permission in the portal  Professor creates a project in the portal Set project expiration time!  Professor adds other instructors/TAs to project and makes them Admins  4. Choose exercises and test them  Create GMOC ticket reserving resources  5. Decide what machine/software the students should use 1x

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation 47 Train the TA – Sept 13, 2012 Timeline/Checklist At least one week in advance of class  6. pre-work to students  Invite students to login to the portal Students may need to request an account from the GENI IdP  Setup their machine for the exercise Before first exercise  7. bulk add attendees to the project Do exercise!

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation Running a Class: Getting Help

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation 49 Train the TA – Sept 13, 2012 Answer is Have a question? Sarah Edwards Niky Riga Vic Thomas which is an list which only goes to members of the GPO including… (However, the archive of the list is public)

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation 50 Train the TA – Sept 13, 2012 Considering using GENI in the classroom? Reasons to let us know you are using GENI in the classroom… … especially if this is your first time. Accounts Whether they access GENI using InCommon or the GENI IdP, we can make sure students are able to login easily and quickly Sign up for an account: Resources We can help you select resources and reserve resources for your exercises. Always OK to just say "I'm thinking of teaching a class using GENI this semester”

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation 51 Train the TA – Sept 13, 2012 Ways to Get Help Use #geni IRC chatroom Sign up for mailing lists

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation Wrap Up Sarah Edwards GENI Project Office

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation 53 Train the TA – Sept 13, 2012 Finding other resources GENI wiki –Pages for Instructors and Experimenters

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation 54 Train the TA – Sept 13, 2012 Available Exercises and tutorials Assignments under the Instructors tab on the wiki Recommendation: Start with Lab Zero Second assignment: Understanding AM API Get solutions by ing Tutorials under the Experimenters tab on the wiki

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation 55 Train the TA – Sept 13, 2012 “How To” pages Listed under the “Experimenters” section Each “How To” is a short descriptions of how to do various tasks New entries being added all the time

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation 56 Train the TA – Sept 13, 2012 Ways to Learn More GENI Engineering Conference (GEC) 3x a year –GEC18 is at the end of Oct at NYU Poly in Brooklyn –“GENI in the Classroom” workshop on day before GEC18 GREE Workshop in March 2013 –Co-located with GEC19 at Georgia Tech in Atlanta –Submit papers using GENI GENI Summer Camp

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation 57 Train the TA – Sept 13, Thank you for coming! Please fill out the survey