Re: icon on the desktop access to VCL
Georgia State is likely interested in this IF it doesn't reduce security. I presume icon would be clickable and then one VIOLA, logged in? If so, there is presumably no login per se. Perhaps some time-out on the ICON would be valuable then - e.g. you have x minutes to click or else (something happens... goes away? expires? prompts for PW after all?) Maybe recommended only where there is at least some login (to VCL menu at least) so there is a reasonable accountability? I am going to send this to our engineers and ask for their input (I think the read the posts, but will be direct.) Art On Feb 8, 2012, at 11:56 AM, Josh Thompson wrote: I've been hearing interest in an icon on the desktop type of access to VCL. The idea being that you could have some kind of broker script/ app that can be run which will interact with the VCL API to create a VCL reservation, wait on it to be deployed, and then connect to the reserved system (ideally without requiring the user to log in to the reserved system). That app could then just be launched through an icon to gain access to a VCL provisioned system. Several years ago, I wrote something along the lines of this in python/tk. That was more of a proof of concept and would need a good bit of work to be useful to others. I'm starting this thread to start gathering information on who is interested in this idea and what requirements you would have for it. I'd also like to know if anyone would be interested in helping with the development of it. So, if you have any interest in this, please reply to this thread with -requirements you would have -how you would envision it to work -any interest in development of it Thanks, Josh --- Josh Thompson VCL Developer North Carolina State University Art Vandenberg Account Manager/Research Function Customer Relations, IST Information Systems Technology Georgia State University avandenb...@gsu.edu +1 404 413 4743 MS Information Computer Science, Georgia Tech MVA Painting Drawing, Georgia State Web page: http://www.gsu.edu/ist/acs/25735.html smime.p7s Description: S/MIME cryptographic signature
Re: icon on the desktop access to VCL
On Wed, Feb 8, 2012 at 11:56 AM, Josh Thompson josh_thomp...@ncsu.edu wrote: I've been hearing interest in an icon on the desktop type of access to VCL. I've also heard about interest - but there are several different venues in which this might be used. The idea being that you could have some kind of broker script/app that can be run which will interact with the VCL API to create a VCL reservation, wait on it to be deployed, This covers at least two different situations. For classroom use, there is usually going to be a block reservation and so there will no waiting for deployment - and this may be the optimum situation for an icon. If there is a substantial waiting time for an ad hoc reservation (possibly over 10 minutes) then I think the icon approach loses some of its value. and then connect to the reserved system (ideally without requiring the user to log in to the reserved system). This is almost true with the RDP Client (obtained from Microsoft.com) which I use on my Mac. I just double click the RDP file icon and it takes care of the login. I'm not sure why this doesn't seem to work on Windows computers. (There are a number of versions of the RDP client and of the operating systems involved and I haven't checked them all.) That app could then just be launched through an icon to gain access to a VCL provisioned system. Several years ago, I wrote something along the lines of this in python/tk. That was more of a proof of concept and would need a good bit of work to be useful to others. I'm starting this thread to start gathering information on who is interested in this idea and what requirements you would have for it. I'd also like to know if anyone would be interested in helping with the development of it. So, if you have any interest in this, please reply to this thread with -requirements you would have As Art pointed out, there are security aspects to consider. From the classroom aspect - we have to be concerned about whether this is a multi-user machine, or a single-user machine. -how you would envision it to work Will it be set to login to a pre-assigned image, or will the user be free to select? -any interest in development of it --henry schaffer
Re: icon on the desktop access to VCL
On Wed, Feb 8, 2012 at 11:56 AM, Josh Thompson josh_thomp...@ncsu.edu wrote: I've been hearing interest in an icon on the desktop type of access to VCL. I've also heard about interest - but there are several different venues in which this might be used. The idea being that you could have some kind of broker script/app that can be run which will interact with the VCL API to create a VCL reservation, wait on it to be deployed, This covers at least two different situations. For classroom use, there is usually going to be a block reservation and so there will no waiting for deployment - and this may be the optimum situation for an icon. If there is a substantial waiting time for an ad hoc reservation (possibly over 10 minutes) then I think the icon approach loses some of its value. and then connect to the reserved system (ideally without requiring the user to log in to the reserved system). This is almost true with the RDP Client (obtained from Microsoft.com) which I use on my Mac. I just double click the RDP file icon and it takes care of the login. I'm not sure why this doesn't seem to work on Windows computers. (There are a number of versions of the RDP client and of the operating systems involved and I haven't checked them all.) That app could then just be launched through an icon to gain access to a VCL provisioned system. Several years ago, I wrote something along the lines of this in python/tk. That was more of a proof of concept and would need a good bit of work to be useful to others. I'm starting this thread to start gathering information on who is interested in this idea and what requirements you would have for it. I'd also like to know if anyone would be interested in helping with the development of it. So, if you have any interest in this, please reply to this thread with -requirements you would have As Art pointed out, there are security aspects to consider. From the classroom aspect - we have to be concerned about whether this is a multi-user machine, or a single-user machine. -how you would envision it to work Will it be set to login to a pre-assigned image, or will the user be free to select? -any interest in development of it --henry schaffer
Re: icon on the desktop access to VCL
For use in our production environment some authentication would be needed: - for any environment with licensed software we would need to be able to ensure that the terms of the license agreement were being satisfied - just for access to university resources would need to be able to show that resource was not being 'given' away However, would be highly desirable there to be only one login and even better if previous logins during same session would carry over.. e.g. I need to use matlab - click matlab icon and login, I'm done with matlab but now want to use solid works - would be ideal if didn't have to login to solid works but rather it still remembered I was authenticated from having logged into matlab. Would like for process that installs the icon to also install whatever other software is required to run the app (or ensure the other software already installed). e.g. ssh client and maybe X Windows server for Linux based app, or RDP client for Windows based app, etc. Also, I believe that to support icon on desktop type launch there would need to be reasonably high assurance that an instance of the app would be available. Would like to be able to specify that minimum of n instances of an app should be kept ready for new reservations - when available number falls below n AND idle resources are available (where idle would not count instances of images that are there to meet minimum requirements) reclaim an idle resource and load another instance of the app. Generally I expect n=2 or even n=1 would be sufficient to ensure app instances available. -Eric On Feb 8, 2012, at 11:56 AM, Josh Thompson wrote: I've been hearing interest in an icon on the desktop type of access to VCL. The idea being that you could have some kind of broker script/app that can be run which will interact with the VCL API to create a VCL reservation, wait on it to be deployed, and then connect to the reserved system (ideally without requiring the user to log in to the reserved system). That app could then just be launched through an icon to gain access to a VCL provisioned system. Several years ago, I wrote something along the lines of this in python/tk. That was more of a proof of concept and would need a good bit of work to be useful to others. I'm starting this thread to start gathering information on who is interested in this idea and what requirements you would have for it. I'd also like to know if anyone would be interested in helping with the development of it. So, if you have any interest in this, please reply to this thread with -requirements you would have -how you would envision it to work -any interest in development of it Thanks, Josh --- Josh Thompson VCL Developer North Carolina State University
RE: icon on the desktop access to VCL
I think this question was sparked from my idea. I was wondering if an VCL image could be used as a virtual desktop via PXE boot or some other boot process. After reading the posts, I might want to rethink that due to security reasons. I do like the aspect of having an basic image on the PCs with nothing but Office, virus protection, and an VCL icon that an user would click on and authenticate with the credentials they used to login into the lab computer or Shibboleth. Arbin Darren Sanders Information Technology Manager - Academic Computing Information Technology Services North Carolina Central University 712 Cecil Street Suite 3033 Durham, NC 27707 919.530.6307 919.530.5097 (Fax) Want to know more about me.Click Here For the Latest ITS Updates and Tips Join Us Online CONFIDENTIALITY: This email (including any attachments) may contain confidential, proprietary and privileged information, and unauthorized disclosure or use is prohibited. If you received this email in error, please notify the sender and delete this email from your system. -Original Message- From: Eric D Sills [mailto:edsi...@ncsu.edu] Sent: Wednesday, February 08, 2012 3:05 PM To: vcl-dev@incubator.apache.org Cc: vcl-u...@incubator.apache.org Subject: Re: icon on the desktop access to VCL For use in our production environment some authentication would be needed: - for any environment with licensed software we would need to be able to ensure that the terms of the license agreement were being satisfied - just for access to university resources would need to be able to show that resource was not being 'given' away However, would be highly desirable there to be only one login and even better if previous logins during same session would carry over.. e.g. I need to use matlab - click matlab icon and login, I'm done with matlab but now want to use solid works - would be ideal if didn't have to login to solid works but rather it still remembered I was authenticated from having logged into matlab. Would like for process that installs the icon to also install whatever other software is required to run the app (or ensure the other software already installed). e.g. ssh client and maybe X Windows server for Linux based app, or RDP client for Windows based app, etc. Also, I believe that to support icon on desktop type launch there would need to be reasonably high assurance that an instance of the app would be available. Would like to be able to specify that minimum of n instances of an app should be kept ready for new reservations - when available number falls below n AND idle resources are available (where idle would not count instances of images that are there to meet minimum requirements) reclaim an idle resource and load another instance of the app. Generally I expect n=2 or even n=1 would be sufficient to ensure app instances available. -Eric On Feb 8, 2012, at 11:56 AM, Josh Thompson wrote: I've been hearing interest in an icon on the desktop type of access to VCL. The idea being that you could have some kind of broker script/app that can be run which will interact with the VCL API to create a VCL reservation, wait on it to be deployed, and then connect to the reserved system (ideally without requiring the user to log in to the reserved system). That app could then just be launched through an icon to gain access to a VCL provisioned system. Several years ago, I wrote something along the lines of this in python/tk. That was more of a proof of concept and would need a good bit of work to be useful to others. I'm starting this thread to start gathering information on who is interested in this idea and what requirements you would have for it. I'd also like to know if anyone would be interested in helping with the development of it. So, if you have any interest in this, please reply to this thread with -requirements you would have -how you would envision it to work -any interest in development of it Thanks, Josh --- Josh Thompson VCL Developer North Carolina State University __ This email has been scanned by the Symantec Email Security.cloud service. For more information please visit http://www.symanteccloud.com __ __ This email has been scanned by the Symantec Email Security.cloud service. For more information please visit http://www.symanteccloud.com __
