On Sat, Dec 27, 2008 at 8:23 PM, Luiz Felipe Martins <[email protected]> wrote: > OK, this is what I came up with, after some trial-and error. > > I could not run the image for the sage notebook server. This seems to be > because I am running the (free) VMware Server, which does not allow machines > with more than 2 cpus (and the server runs with 4 cpus). I don't know if > this is because my machine is using hyperthreading.
To change the number of cpus, just edit the text file "Debian 64.vmx" and change maxvcpus = "4" to maxvcpus = "2" That's it. > However, I was able to come up with a setup that runs the notebook server, > and I am including a PDF with what I did. I am no expert in this stuff, > though, so I don't know if this is flawed, or if it will work in other > systems. > > The main difference between my setup and the one suggested in the > notebook.py script given by W. Stein, is that I don't use the server_pool > option to start the notebook server. I assume that this causes the server to > run under the default user for the VM, which is a privileged account, that > can run sudo, for example. I don't know if this is a potential problem. I > could not start the server with the server-pool option as suggested. I > created a user called worksheet in the guest machine, but I don't know how > to set its privileges, so I get a socket creation error. It is a very (very!) bad idea to run a public notebook server without using server_pool. If you do that, then absolutely any user can trivially delete any file (including all data that defines the notebook server's state) by typing about 9 characters into any worksheet. > I only tested access to the server from the local network. I am asking a > student to attempt to access it from the outside world. > > Please send me any comments, suggestions. > > On Thu, Dec 4, 2008 at 12:54 PM, William Stein <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> On Thu, Dec 4, 2008 at 9:40 AM, mhampton <[email protected]> wrote: >> > >> > Having taught several classes using Sage, I highly recommend setting >> > up a server (or possibly more than one if you have a lot of >> > students). I tried setting up one sage instance per machine in a lab >> > with macs, and it was a real pain to administer. There are quite a >> > few advantages of having a small number of servers: >> > >> > 1) Remote access. In my experience students really like the option of >> > working outside of school, and being able to pick up where they left >> > off. Since we don't have a nice license for student copies of >> > mathematica, this is one area where students love Sage compared to >> > mathematica. >> > >> > 2) Group work. If you have small groups they have share worksheets if >> > they are on the same server. It also makes it easy for students to >> > remotely ask questions, i.e. they can share their worksheet with you >> > and you can troubleshoot or help from the comfort of your home or >> > office :) >> > >> > 3) Easier to maintain. If you want to upgrade the sage version, its >> > much easier with 1-4 servers than a sage copy per machine. >> > >> > 4) Might be faster than a VM version, although this of course depends >> > on hardware. >> > >> > I run my sage servers off of an aging mac pro (quad core 2.66 GHz with >> > 8 GB of RAM) and a couple of linux (AMD quad-core) workstations which >> > are also about 2-3 years old. Each of those can handle about 20 >> > students with no problem. If the load is spread out (i.e. not >> > everyone in a lab at the same time) they could probably handle 30-40 >> > students each. >> >> Hi, >> >> sagenb.org is also run using a quad-core 2.66Ghz 8GB mac pro, but it >> is run from a vmware machine running on the mac and that vmware >> machine has only 2GB allocated to it. Using a virtual machine has >> advantages regarding security -- also the virtual machine makes an >> automatic snapshot of its state once per day, and saves the last few >> days of snapshots. >> >> Here's the script to run the notebook. Note the aggressive memory and >> other limits given by ulimit below. >> >> s...@sagenb:~/sagenb$ more notebook.py >> from sage.all import * >> >> server_pool=['worksh...@localhost'] >> >> notebook('sage_notebook', port=8000, accounts=True, address='sagenb.org', >> server_pool = server_pool, ulimit='-u 400 -v 1000000 -t >> 3600', open_viewer=False, timeout=120, secure=False) >> >> >> Also, I specifically modify the nb.sobj so that it saves state once per >> day, >> instead of every 6 minutes or so. This is necessary since there are >> several >> thousand users, and saving state can take a noticeable amount of time. >> >> go to the sage_notebook directory (e.g., $HOME/.sage/sage_notebook), then >> >> sage: a = load('nb.sobj') >> sage: a.conf()['save_interval'] = 24*3600 >> sage: a.save() >> >> -- William >> >> >> > >> > One problem is that students tend to leave their worksheets running, >> > which starts eating into the RAM available. I should probably use the >> > "timeout" option in my notebooks, which would solve that problem. >> > >> > I email my students the IP address and port, or tell them during >> > class, and of course use the secure option, and I haven't had any >> > security problems yet. Some of my servers are on a VPN network which >> > makes them a little more secure too. >> > >> > Hope that helps, >> > M. Hampton >> > >> > On Dec 4, 10:59 am, "William Stein" <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> On Thu, Dec 4, 2008 at 7:50 AM, Luiz Felipe Martins >> >> >> >> <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> >> >> > Thanks for the response and the tips. I agree. When I saw the >> >> > notebook >> >> > server at work >> >> > I thought: wow, this is the way things ought to go. There's a lot of >> >> > stuff to digest on the threads you suggested, I'll tell how I'm doing >> >> > as I go along. >> >> >> >> Could you figure out if something very much like sagenb.org would >> >> work for you? If so, I can literally just give you a copy of >> >> sagenb.org, >> >> which is nothing more than a VMware virtual machine running on >> >> the desktop in my office using VMware workstation. I can delete all >> >> the particular user data from sagenb.org from it, change the password, >> >> and just give it to you (or anybody) to use. >> >> >> >> -- William >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> > BTW, I found the following in the Wiki: >> >> >> >> >http://wiki.sagemath.org/DanDrake/JustEnoughSageServer >> >> >> >> > Anybody had any experience with it? >> >> >> >> > On Thu, Dec 4, 2008 at 10:11 AM, kcrisman <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> >> >> >>> You didn't say if this is a classroom lab (so all of your students >> >> >>> will be using >> >> >>> Sage at once) or a math computer lab for out-of-class homework (so >> >> >>> students >> >> >>> will go in at random times, convenient for them). Others can answer >> >> >>> your >> >> >>> questions more definitively than I but I think their answer will >> >> >>> depend on the number of >> >> >>> students using Sage at the same time. >> >> >> >> >> I agree. Marshall, you've done the computer lab situation, right - >> >> >> any thoughts? >> >> >> >> >> The out-of-class-time situation definitely calls for the server, I >> >> >> think, because otherwise people have to make that trek to the >> >> >> computer >> >> >> lab without any real reason. As long as you have enough memory and >> >> >> are able to make sure not too many students use it at once, it >> >> >> should >> >> >> work; there are several threads on sage-support about this, e.g. >> >> >> >> >> >>http://groups.google.com/group/sage-support/browse_thread/thread/6735... >> >> >> or >> >> >> >> >> >>http://groups.google.com/group/sage-support/browse_thread/thread/b57c... >> >> >> the latter one addressing the possibility of having multiple ports. >> >> >> >> >>> > 3. Set up a Sage Notebook server. Pros: easy for students to use, >> >> >>> > access their work from anywhere in the world. Cons: have no idea >> >> >>> > how >> >> >>> > to do it. (I can get help setting up a web server, that is not >> >> >>> > the >> >> >>> > problem, the question is how to set up Sage and the notebook >> >> >>> > server. >> >> >>> > The web server, and Sage, would be running in a Ubuntu server). >> >> >> >> >> I agree with David on this one; I think it is the kind of thing that >> >> >> is not too hard (Sage is pretty robust, and so is VMWare). It will >> >> >> take a little effort to set up - but I think not too much, and once >> >> >> our sysadmin got it running he said even I could learn how to reset >> >> >> it >> >> >> in case something crashed, which is saying something. >> >> >> >> >> Good luck! The notebook server aspect is a really nice feature of >> >> >> Sage for education, because it makes things so convenient for >> >> >> students >> >> >> that they might actually do more than they expect... and that's a >> >> >> good >> >> >> thing. >> >> >> >> >> - kcrisman >> >> >> >> > -- >> >> > "The main things which seem to me important on their own account, and >> >> > not merely as means to other things, are knowledge, art, instinctive >> >> > happiness, and relations of friendship or affection." >> >> > -Bertrand Russell >> >> >> >> > L. Felipe Martins >> >> > Department of Mathematics >> >> > Cleveland State University >> >> > [email protected] >> >> >> >> -- >> >> William Stein >> >> Associate Professor of Mathematics >> >> University of Washingtonhttp://wstein.org >> > > >> > >> >> >> >> -- >> William Stein >> Associate Professor of Mathematics >> University of Washington >> http://wstein.org >> >> > > > > -- > "The main things which seem to me important on their own account, and not > merely as means to other things, are knowledge, art, instinctive happiness, > and relations of friendship or affection." > -Bertrand Russell > > L. Felipe Martins > Department of Mathematics > Cleveland State University > [email protected] > > > > -- William Stein Associate Professor of Mathematics University of Washington http://wstein.org --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "sage-edu" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sage-edu?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
