Workshop management¶

You can manage your workshops conveniently with SimpleVM. Create workshops in your SimpleVM project, add users and administrators, and launch virtual machines for your users with a few clicks.

On this page, you learn:

• How to create and manage a workshop.
• How to start instances for your workshop participants.
• How to inform your participants about their machines.
• Good general practices and tips for workshop and vm management.

Requirements¶

Only administrators in a SimpleVM project with workshops activated can use the workshop tools.
If you have no SimpleVM project, you need to apply for a SimpleVM project with Workshop marked, see the Portal wiki page for more information about the application process.

If you have a SimpleVM project without workshop activated, but would like to conduct one in the context of your project, contact the de.NBI helpdesk at cloud-helpdesk@denbi.de.

Manage workshops¶

All project administrators can manage workshops within the portal once your SimpleVM project got approval.
To get to the workshop management page, click Manage workshops in the sidebar.

On this page, you can:

• Create workshops
• Clean up workshops
• Get information about the participants and their instances
• Email participants with information about their instances

Create a new workshop¶

Select the project you want to manage a workshop for. The dropdown only displays projects with workshop activated.
Click New Workshop, enter a descriptive name, and a project-intern unique shortname.
You can create as many workshops as you want and use them to create different configurations.

Selected workshop overview¶

Select the project you want to manage a workshop for. The dropdown only displays projects with workshop activated.
A list of all workshops within the selected project appears, and an overview of all participants. Select a workshop to load the list of the participants' virtual machines and their details.

To add participants and administrators to your project and workshops, you need to add them in the project overview.

Inform participants about their instances¶

Click Send VM info Mails to inform every participant with a virtual machine about their virtual machines details and how to access it.
Click Send Mail or (Re)Send Mail to inform selected participants about their virtual machines details and how to access it.

Clean up a workshop¶

Select the project you want to manage a workshop for. The dropdown only displays projects with workshop activated.
Select the workshop you want to end and click Cleanup workshop. This deletes the workshop and all instances started for this workshop. Created volumes and snapshots remain.

Manage workshop vms¶

All project administrators can manage workshop vms within the portal once your SimpleVM project got approval, and at least one workshop got created.
To get to the workshop vm page, click Add workshop VM in the sidebar.

On this page, you can:

• Start virtual machines for your participants

Start virtual machines for your participants¶

Select a workshop.

Select a flavor. See Flavors for more information about flavors.
Select an image. See Images and Snapshots for more information about images and snapshots.
Optionally, select a research environment template. See Research environments for more information about browser-based research environments.

Select the participants and administrators you want to start vms for. You may start as many virtual machines for a participant as you have resources.

The machine name, and the research environment URL, have the form <WORKSHOP-SHORTNAME><PARTICIPANT-LASTNAME><PARTICIPANT-FIRSTNAME>, and have a maximum of 25 characters.
The startup process puts the public SSH key of your project administrators on every workshop vm. This enables your project administrators to connect to a workshop vm if required.
The research-environment is accessible by the participant, and the administrator who started the virtual machine.
Before starting the workshop vms, you need to confirm your responsibility for the machines. After starting, a redirect takes you to the instance overview where you find more information about the status of your machines.

Prepare data for your participants¶

Often, workshop participants need access to the same data. SimpleVM projects can't duplicate or snapshot volumes yet.
Because it's important that your participants can access the same data, and creating each volume is time-consuming, you can contact us at cloud-helpdesk@denbi.de. We create copies of your prepared volume for you and assign them to your project.

Best Practices¶

Add participants beforehand¶

You should add participants to your project a couple of days before your workshop starts. They need an account for the de.NBI Cloud Portal, otherwise you can't add them. You can send them a link to the registration wiki where they can read about the registration process.
Sometimes, participants can have trouble registering. Having them register beforehand, so you can add them, helps for a smoother workshop start.

Start machines before the workshop starts¶

You should start machines for your participants before your workshop begins. Depending on your vm configuration, starting many vms can take a couple of minutes. In rare cases, starting a vm can fail, or a snapshot can be faulty. Starting them beforehand, and making sure they run correctly, helps for a smoother workshop start and prevents troubleshooting when you actually want to conduct your workshop.

Explain SSH keys¶

You should explain to your participants the basics of an SSH keypair. Many participants don't know what an SSH keypair is. It may happen that participants lose their private key, mix up public and private keys, or try to use unrelated private and public keys. This can lead to your participants losing access to their vm.
Your participants can set their public key or create a keypair on their profile page. Make sure they download the private key when they create an SSH keypair and save it on their computers, the de.NBI Cloud Portal only stores the public key.

Troubleshooting problems¶

If you experience troubles, have feedback, or have a special request, contact us at cloud-helpdesk@denbi.de.