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Sandbox : Policy Guidelines

SandBox : Policy Guidelines Some specific (but not all) Policy guidelines for the the Sandbox Lab (PA112) reviewed here. Questions can be addressed to the CSE Systems Manager. Observations concerning policies or their application can be addressed to the department's Facilities Committee or the CSE department chair.

This document discusses:

Resources

There are four reservable resources in the lab: scheduling, disks, lockers, and the in-room LAN configuration. Scheduling requests should be made with the CSE Academic Coordinator. Other resources can be reserved by the contacting CSE Systems Manager.

All requests for specific resources (disks, software, lockers, scheduling, LAN configurations) must be made at least four weeks prior to the start of classes for each term, and six weeks prior to the start of classes for the fall term. Requests received after that date will be addressed when all existing commitments for deliverables (including those NOT involving instructional labs) have been satisfied, and are subject to the availability of personnel. This means that late requests might not be satisfied for one or more weeks after your class has started.

General Guidelines

The lab and its equipment are intended specifically and primarily for the support of classroom instruction in the CSE department. This use of the lab and its resources is provided priority over all other competing uses. Any scheduled instructional use is given priority over other competing uses.

TAs may schedule review and support hours in either of the labs through the department Academic Coordinator. Scheduled TA hours are not exclusive nor a guaranteed reservation. Other TAs or students may use the lab for academic activities during scheduled TA hours. CSE faculty or staff may use the labs exclusively or non-exclusively in support of departmental activities (instructional or not) at any time (preferably with advance notice) during TA hours, including requiring that TA sessions relocate to a different venue.

The lab is available for use by other departments for instruction or research for LU students when appropriate and available. Appropriate uses are those which rely on features of the lab not present in standard instructional labs. Commitments outside of the CSE department are not made until CSE faculty have had opportunity to make reservations for each term. The lab is not available for use by external (non-LU) organizations.

The lab is not designed or configured for use as a standard-model Lehigh instructional classroom / laboratory facility. Machines in the lab are not and cannot be part of the LTS Active Directory domain; instructional activities requiring AD logins or the use of LU-licensed software which is restricted to LTS labs should use LTS facilities.

Sandbox lab equipment is available for use by LU students, undergraduate and graduate, at the request of CSE department faculty for any academic support use. CSE faculty may request the use of Sandbox resources for research or other activities which are not directly related to instructional or degree work, or for support of the work of students who are not seeking a degree within the CSE department. Such uses have a lower priority than any competing use.

Requests for non-instructional use of disks, lockers or other resources may be declined as needed to maintain an adequate inventory to support planned or potential uses by the CSE department or other departments.

When all else is equal, resources are assigned on a first-come, first-served basis.

Disks

There are approximately 170 disks in inventory. Hard disks are made available for check-out for either a single academic term or a single academic year.

It is required that all disks be checked to a responsible individual. Usually this will be the faculty who request disks.

Disks may be checked out:

  1. By students for use in a specific class or project with an identified instructor, with the student signing for the disk.
  2. Directly by an instructor for a class as a whole, with the instructor signing for the entire set of disks.
  3. By CSE department faculty on behalf of identified students. Disks are collected at the start of exams each semester. Other arrangements can be made when necessary.

Lockers

There are 98 lockers for use as storage for hard disks. Disk lockers are assigned on a first-come, first-served basis each term, subject to policy priority guidelines. Lockers may be reserved for an academic year to support specific academic activities. Current commitments can be reviewed at the 'locker inventory' tab at the top of this page.

Requests for disk lockers are ranked by these criteria:

  1. Student teams using a single team disk in regularly scheduled recurring instructional classes held in the lab.
  2. Student teams using a team disk for other academic projects (such as senior projects).
  3. Individual use by instructors holding classes in the lab.
  4. Use by individual students taking regular classes in the lab.
  5. All other uses, including all uses for research activities.

Disk lockers will hold eight disk trays. Teams are generally expected to use a single locker. Instructors will be asked to double-up single locker assignments when the number of spare lockers is expected to be low. Storage of other materials in disk lockers is discouraged.

Requests for lockers for individual use by faculty or students will not be made until each term has begun and the needs of higher priority instructional uses have been identified.

Local LAN

Alterations to the room-level RFC-1918 LAN configuration require prior approval of the CSE Systems Manager, without exception.

This policy is intended to avoid collisions between different LAN configurations. It is annoying to set up a LAN layout for your lab session, only to discover at show-time that someone has re-arranged everything.

Supported Operating Systems and Applications

Ubuntu and CentOS are the presently supported operating systems in the Sandbox. Requests for Windows are addressed on a case-by-case basis.

Various applications can be added to an operating system build upon request.

Reservations

Schedule reservations are made by contacting the CSE Academic Coordinator.

Lab Hours

The lab is open on weekdays and weekday evenings and Sunday afternoons during the spring and fall terms. Students may work in the lab when it is open and not in use for a scheduled class session. The lab can generally be opened at other times upon request.

If Lehigh University is closed, the labs are closed.