Subject: Spring 2008 instructional computing 

This message includes information about the Spring semester instructional
computing:

        1. Changes from previous semesters 
           a. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
           b. Windows and Linux room and workstations changes
        2. Schedule
        3. Student accounts and registration
        4. Class Rosters
        5. Class volumes, accounts and AFS groups
        6. WWW Home pages for classes
        7. Class mailing lists archives
        8. Instructional Computing Resources
        9. Special Needs
        10. Unix Orientation Sessions

1. Changes from previous semesters

   There are two changes in the instructional computing environment to
   be aware of:

   a. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (RHEL 5)

      Instructional linux workstations are being converted from Centos 4
      (a Red Hat Enterprise 5 recompile distribution) to Red Hat
      Enterprise 5 (RHEL 5). Please login to one of the instructional
      Linux workstations and test your class software.

      More information about the CSL Red Hat Enterprise 5 support is
      online at http://www.cs.wisc.edu/twiki/bin/view/CSDocs/RhelFiveFaqs

   b. Windows and Linux room and workstation changes

      There has been a rearrangement of some of the instructional
      computing rooms. Here is the new lineup:

      Linux Workstations:
        Room 1350       emperor01.cs.wisc.edu - emperor40.cs.wisc.edu 

        Room 1351       king01.cs.wisc.edu - king12.cs.wisc.edu

        Room 1358       Collaborative Programming Lab 
                        starsky01.cs.wisc.edu - starsky04.cs.wisc.edu
                        hutch01.cs.wisc.edu - hutch04.cs.wisc.edu

        Room 1370       adelie01.cs.wisc.edu - adelie07.cs.wisc.edu
                        humboldt01.cs.wisc.edu - humboldt14.cs.wisc.edu
                        macaroni01.cs.wisc.edu - macaroni19.cs.wisc.edu

      Windows Workstations:
        Room 1366       storm01.cs.wisc.edu - storm30.cs.wisc.edu
                        Priority in 1366 should be given to computer
                        graphics students except during CS302 scheduled
                        labs 

        Room 1368       pane01.cs.wisc.edu - pane20.cs.wisc.edu

2. Schedule

   Here is a schedule for the pre-semester setup:

        class rosters:             available Tuesday, January 22

        class volumes:             available now

        student accounts:          available Tuesday, January 22

3. Student accounts

   New students will be able to activate their accounts on Tuesday,
   January 22.

   Only students registered for classes will be given an account, disk
   quota and paper quota. Students who have not yet registered, students
   "sitting in" on the class, etc, will NOT have an account or any
   additional resources.

   There is a delay of at least 1 working day from the time a student
   registers for a course to the time that the account is ready. This
   delay is due to the batch nature of data availability from the
   registration system, and then overnight account creation. Any student
   who is not registered for a course should register as soon as
   possible.

   Students with accounts from the Fall semester do not need to
   re-activate their account. They should login using the same CS
   username and password from the fall semester.

4. Class Rosters

   Class rosters will be produced from our database nightly. The roster
   for each class will be in the directory /p/course/rosters/csXXX-instructor

   There are two files for each section: 
        csXXX-NNN-DDD.logins
        csXXX-NNN-DDD.roster

        XXX is the course number, NNN is the lecture number, and DDD is
        the discussion number.

   The "logins" file contains a list of login names, one per line.

   The "roster" file contains a list of names, University ID numbers,
   and login names.

   The Access Control List for the directory is "read" for the
   instructor of the course, and for the instructor's ta afs group
   (instructor:csXXX-tas). The directories are recreated every night.

   NOTES: 
          1) TAs are NOT automatically added to the -tas groups. See
             below for how to add TAs to the -tas group.

          2) The rosters are not yet populated with students, and will
             not be until just before the start of classes, when we get
             the registration data from the registrar's database.

5. Class volumes, accounts and AFS groups:

   AFS "class" volumes have been created for every instructor teaching a
   course on our instructional systems this semester (if you already had
   a course volume for the course you are teaching this semester, we
   won't touch it).

   Your course volume is /p/course/csXXX-loginname (XXX is the course
   number, loginname is your login name). During the semester, you can
   also access the course volume as ~csXXX-N (N is the section number).

   You have all permissions on your course volume. AFS groups for your
   students and tas have been created (login:csXXX and login:csXXX-tas).
   The class group will be automatically populated with all enrolled
   students when we process the registration data. You will have to add
   your TAs to the ta group by hand.

   To add tas to you -tas group, use the "pts" command:

        % pts adduser loginname instructor:csXXX-tas

   For more information on AFS groups and the pts command, see the AFS
   FAQ in the CSL FAQ on the web.

   If you would like to share course volumes, please send mail to "lab"
   indicating which section you are teaching, and which course volume
   you want to use instead (the owner of that volume should also agree).

6. WWW Home pages for classes

   The "standard" location for course home pages either in:
          ~csXXX-N/public/html/csXXX.html, or in
          ~instructor/public/html/csXXX.html 
   (where instructor is the login name of the instructor, and XXX is the
   course number). Note that the home page name does not include the
   section name. 

   We encourage you to make a home page for your course. You can look at
   the existing course home pages for some examples. If you need help
   with making a WWW home page, look at "Using our webserver and cgi
   server" in the CSL FAQ on the web.

7. Class Mailing Lists Archives

   If you choose to use the DoIT Classlists class mailing lists, you can
   have a mailing list archive on the lists.cs.wisc.edu web server by
   adding the email address lists@cs.wisc.edu to the subscriber list.

   Archives are available at https://www-auth.cs.wisc.edu/lists/classes/
   A valid CS username and password is required to access these
   archives.

   More information on the DoIT Classlists service is online at
   http://www.doit.wisc.edu/lists/classlists/index.asp

8. Instructional Computing Resources

   The following courses are assigned by the curriculum committee to the
   various Windows XP labs:

           CS 302, CS304, CS 559, CS 635, CS 679


   All other class being taught "in Computer Sciences" (CS is the
   primary department) are assigned to the Instructional Unix
   workstations. Cross-listed courses not being taught "in Computer
   Sciences" are not provided CS instructional computing resources.

   All enrolled students are given an account with a disk quota (based
   on information from past semesters) and a paper quota (150 pages per
   course). If your class will need more disk space than in the past,
   please send mail to "lab@cs.wisc.edu" with the information and we
   will raise the quota.

   Students who are not officially enrolled in the class will NOT have
   accounts, disk space or paper quota, and will not be on the class
   mailing lists. This includes students who "audit" the course.

9. Special Needs

   If you have any special needs for your class, please send mail to
   lab@cs.wisc.edu with the information. We will attempt to meet your
   needs within the constraints of the instructional computing budget.

10. Unix Orientation Sessions and CS 1000 handout

   Unix Orientation sessions, for new Unix users and novice Unix users
   new to the CSL Unix facilities will be held the first two weeks of
   classes. Please encourage your students to attend an orientation
   session as early in the semester as possible. Please also encourage
   students new to Unix to purchase the CS 1000 handout at the DoIT Tech
   Store.

   Unix orientation sessions are in room 1325 at the following times:

        Wed January 23    4:00 pm        
        Thu January 24    4:00 pm        
        Mon January 28    4:00 pm

   Students only need to attend one orientation session.

If you have any questions, please send mail to lab@cs.wisc.edu.