Keating:Lab Workstations


 * written by Shaun
 * edited 09/13/06

Lab Workstations
Most of the lab workstations are set up as dual boot Linux and Windows machines.

Windows
Currently we are running Windows XP SP2 on lab machines. The machines are all part of the DNA-NET windows domain. The BioMicro Center manages this domain. The DNA-NET domain will be decomissioned at some point in the semi-near future. Our plan is to move to the win.mit.edu domain. This domain is centrally managed by MIT IS&T.  However, we will be in our own container and thus have control over our machines.

Transition to Win.mit.edu
Moving machines is a work in progress:
 * Machines changed: Shaun's, Christy's, Alex's, Nora's, Aaron's, Xiaoran's
 * Machines to change still: James

Current plans:
 * Push out the following MIT supported software: VirusScan Enterprise 8.0i, SecureCRT 5.1, SecureFX 3.1, X-win32 7.1
 * Have OpenAFS running. This will give each user drive letter access to their Athena space.

MIT Documentation
 * End-User Help
 * Managing Your User Profile

LogIn: Log in with your Athena username and Password. Make sure the dropdown box is set to Athena (Not Win).

On logging into one of our lab machine (or any win.mit.edu machine), the user will have at least 3 drives mapped for them.
 * DFS Space. This is 1GB managed by IS&T and geared for use in this environment
 * AFS Space. This is your normal Athena file space [woohoo, finally got this working!]
 * Bionet drive. This is your home directory on bionet.  This will need to be mapped the first time you log in.

User Tips
 * Don't leave much stuff on your desktop when you log out as this will all have to be copied to a server, and copied back the next time you login.
 * Be Careful, keatinglab members all have admin rights on the machines

Windows/Office security Updates
The machines are all set to get updates for Windows and MS Office automatically. These updates come from an MIT server, so are checked for compatibility with the MIT environment before they are made available. While logged in, you may be notified that updates are ready to install by a little yellow shield and message by system clock. You can go ahead and install these then or wait. They are installed automatically around 2am if you don't do it. If the machine then needs a reboot, it will reboot itself. BUT, if you are logged in, it won't auto reboot.

Software Install / Computer Logins

 * All members of the keatinglab should have full administrative control over their machines. This means you can install any software you want installed.  Under the old DNA-NET system, it was a problem to install your own software.  This shouldn't be the case anymore.
 * Anyone with an MIT Kerberos account can log in, but only keatinglab members have admin rights on the machines.

SecureCRT / SecureFX Tips
For logging into athena, you can use the kerberos credentials already acquired at login. This means you don't need to type in your password. On your first login, do the following. Now, when you run SecureCRT, just click the athena link and it will log you right in. The above can be done for SecureFX also.
 * Go to Start->Programs->MIT SecureCRT->Tools->Create Athena Shortcut
 * Open SecureCRT, a window should be there with the Athena link.
 * Right click Athena and click on Properties
 * Click on SSH2 on the left side
 * Type your username in the username box on the right
 * Under Authentication on the right, scroll down until you see GSSAPI, click on it
 * Make sure the little box is checked, then click on the up arrow to move GSSAPI to the top of the list.
 * Click OK to save settings
 * Note: this won't work for logging into our linux machines or the clusters