Graduate Support

Most CMPT courses use resources in Computing Science Instructional Labs (CSIL). You need to have an access fob to gain access. All students enrolled in CMPT courses, all CMPT TAs and grad students have CSIL access.  

The Assignment Labs are ITS operated open computer labs in the Academic Quadrangle (AQ), Library and West Mall. These labs are open to all SFU students. There is no access fob needed to use these labs. Find out more information on SFU Labs.

The Computing Science research labs are the facilities for our faculty and graduate students to do their research. Each research lab has one or more lab directors and lab admins. The lab admin will help you use the computing resources within the lab.

Click here for the information on the research labs.

Please note: all the research labs are fob access only. And only the people within the research group have access to specific labs. Discuss with your supervisor to get access to a research lab. Your supervisor can have access added to your access fob by emailing helpdesk. You cannot make the request yourself.

• To log into any ADSFU domain binding Windows workstation: please use "ad.sfu.ca\username" as the username or explicitly set the domain name as "ad.sfu.ca"
• Your account may not be recognized by the authentication server (Linux only). So change the password to your SFU Computing ID if you haven't done so in a long time.
  *To change the password, go to the "MySFU tab" in "SFU Mail" webapp. The process results SFU AD can recognize you from Linux.
  *If you are a postdoc or an undergraduate research assistant (URA) working in a CMPT research lab, please ask your supervisor to inform helpdesk with the start and end date of your appointment - and include your official SFU Computing ID. There are some extra steps we should take to ensure your account is setup properly.

• You may not have been granted access to this lab. If you are new to this lab, this is the most likely cause.
  *Email helpdesk about this; your supervisor's confirmation is required. Contact the lab admin so your account (not alias) can be added to the lab's official maillist.

• You may have used up your disk quota for your profile under Ubuntu.
• The host may be on a different network. Be sure to use its FQDN when you access it remotely.

Check out this Q&A for more instructions.

If none of the above applies to you, please email helpdesk.

The account may be locked out for a period of time after multiple failed log in attempts. In general, the account will be unlocked automatically in an hour or so. 

Your account may also be locked without warning for the following reasons: 

• Excessive network traffic. 
• Connection to high risk internet sites. 
• Concurrent connections to multiple computers on the internet. 
• Copyright complaints. 
  
• Legal violations.
  

Your account will not be unlocked automatically in these cases. Contact ITS if you think this applies to you. If your research will require network traffic that would ordinarily be viewed with suspicion, email helpdesk in advance so we can help make arrangements for you.

If your account gets locked out regularly or without apparent reason, please contact helpdesk, there might be a security breach.

The most common cause of this issue is: you've used up your disk quota for your roaming profile under Ubuntu/CentOS.

For complete instructions on how to free up space, click here. And to avoid this issue in the future, please follow our guidelines below:

Please note: this is not on local hard disk, it is part of your profile. Since profile storage is very limited, NEVER save any files under profile.

"Desktop" (with the exception of shortcuts)

You may use all the "temp", "scratch" and additional storage units for intermittent data and scratch - but at your own risk!

The short answer is: no.

We need to keep our computing environment safe for every one and we have seen so many security breaches directly related to unpatched systems.

When your computer is pending for restart, please restart it at your earliest convenience (save all your work first).

• Restarts related to Microsoft Updates (Windows):

There is a 22-hour grace period before the restart after the installation of the updates. So pay close attention to the system notification area so that you can schedule the restart at your convenience.

In general, there are less than 14 Microsoft-updates-related restarts annually. Most likely, the updates are released on the second Tuesday of each month. Your computer may get these updates later in the same week.

• Running big experiments:

We recommend running the big experiments on servers. Please contact us if you need more computing power.

If the experiment must be run on a workstation, we would recommend making sure it has check-points so it could resume from the interrupted point due to the restarts and other unplanned interruptions.

Here is the workaround for a regular user to set user environment variables:

• Launch Control Panel
• Make sure set "View by" to "Small icons" ("Small icons" is the only valid viewing option for Control Panel)
• Click "User Accounts"
• Click "Change My Environment Variables"
• You can now edit the user environment variable list. To set a system environment variable, administrative privilege is a must.

This is by design. Due to the complexity of the computing environment of SFU, it is quite impossible to keep a single universal Windows environment for all SFU Windows hosts. In general, user's personal settings are consistent within a department, but not synchronized between different departments.

If you have suggestions on this issue, please make your voice heard by contacting IT Services of SFU.

Yes. We use local profile for all research labs' Windows workstations however, we recommend using roaming profile with folder redirection method. This is configured for everyone on every Windows computer in CMPT by default and it is the de facto standard for enterprise computing environment.

If you use the roaming profile with folder redirection method:

• All your settings are on the network storage, which have daily backup.
  
• All the data you saved on to default locations (Desktop, Documents etc.) are on the network storage, which have daily backup.
  
• The settings and data follow you when you move from one computer to another within CMPT.

On the contrary, if local profile is used:

• All the customization you have done on a computer will be on this computer only. If you move to another computer, you have to start from scratch.
• All the data you saved on to default locations (Desktop, Documents etc.) are stored on the local hard disk. If the hard disk is faulty/stolen, your data will be gone.

If you choose to use the local profile for your Windows computer, please contact helpdesk. Note that once you opt for the local profile:

• Helpdesk cannot assist you if there is any issue related to your user profile. (From our experience, a substantial portion of Windows issues are related to user profile)
• If there is any data loss on the local hard disk (e.g. your Desktop, Documents folder), helpdesk cannot assist you.
• Always save your valuable data to network storage - this holds for all situations.

The hostname of your workstation is formatted like this:

• "cs-<acronym of the lab>-##"
• "cs-<acronym of the lab>-##s" if this is a self-managed system

To know the full name (i.e. FQDN: Fully Qualified Domain Name) of a host, you need to know the exact DNS suffix for it. Here is how to determine the DNS suffix of your designated lab workstation:

• The FQDN would be:   cs-<acronym of the lab>-##.cmpt.sfu.ca

There is an exception if this workstation is on (retired, obsolete) FAS network. The DNS suffix wil be: cs.sfu.ca

• The FQDN would be:   cs-<acronym of the lab>-##.cs.sfu.ca

For the servers, the situation is slightly different and much more complex. Please contact the lab admin and/or your supervisor for more details.

Want to know more about the computing resources of the research lab you are in? Please login here.

Inform the lab admin first and then contact helpdesk to get basic system installed and configured on the network. Many commonly used software packages, like Matlab, Office suite will be installed by default.

Provide us with a detailed software list if you have specific requirements.

All of the desktop computers/workstations will be placed onto wired network (SFU Backbone network) by default. So, if the computer comes with a "Home" edition OS, it must be wiped/replaced before proceeding.

Do not hook up the computer to the network before helpdesk approves doing so.

Ensure the new computer has sufficient power source and wired network connection near the desk which it will be placed on. If you are not sure about these conditions, chat with the lab admin and contact helpdesk in advance.

If this is a laptop, you may ask helpdesk to have it configured. Here are some Q&As that should help you in the long run.

It is your choice. Please chat with your supervisor about this.

However, we recommend using the most secure and leading edge version of a specific OS; e.g. for 2023, the choices would be Ubuntu 20.04 LTS and Windows 10 with Feature Update 22H2.

And the OS must be enterprise-network-ready - e.g. any "Starter/Home" edition of Windows will NOT be accepted. Please note: this rule applies to laptops as well.

Due to the complexity and high maintenance cost, we do not recommend dual-boot your research workstation with Linux and Windows. Virtual machine is a better choice over dual-boot.

If you choose an Operating System other than those we recommend, we may not provide sufficient support for this system due to resource constraints. You may not be allowed to connect a system with this OS on a specific network.

We only recommend using 64bit operating system and applications. We no longer support 32bit operating system.

Make sure your final program runs under the 64bit operating system.

If you choose 32bit OS:

• We do understand that some of research tools may run better or run only on 32bit OS.
• Discuss with your supervisor about your OS choice before you make the decision to use 32bit OS for your research.
• For a system with 32bit OS on it, it must be on the SFU Backbone network or wireless network.
• You will be fully managing this system on your own; support from SFU IT people will be minimum.

Contact the lab admin; s/he will diagnose the issues.

If the lab admin is not reachable, please email helpdesk - don't forget to add your lab's acronym to the subject line.

Please note: if you like to change the Operating System (e.g. from Windows to Linux),

• we need the approval from your supervisor and lab admin
  
• and, we would proceed only after all data on local storage units have been backed up to network space.

First, consult your supervisor.

Due to the complexity and high maintenance cost, we do not recommend dual-boot research workstations with Linux and Windows.

Fortunately, there are other ways to gain access to both OSes.

For Windows Desktop

• Access the RCG Linux terminal server rcga-linux-ts1.dc.sfu.ca.
  
  • Warning: This is a console server for lightweight tasks shared by many people; it is NOT the appropriate place to host long-running CPU/memory intensive jobs.
  • Tip: To have X running, please configure a VNC session.
• If you need a dedicated system for non-graphics tasks, a virtual machine may be a better choice.
  
• There are High Performance Computing clusters for researchers; please check out this site.

For Linux desktop

• Contact your supervisor to request building a Windows Terminal Server (for general use) for the School.

This server will be for lightweight tasks shared by many people; it is NOT the appropriate place to host long-running CPU/memory intensive jobs.

The following two options are always available:

• get a second physical workstation with alternative OS on it (ask your supervisor about spare hardware).
• place the workstation on the SFU Backbone network you build, secure and manage this one on your own (self manage).

RCG provides Ubuntu 20.04 for all researchers.

However, if this system is for teaching:

The system will be more stable with more proven (but possibly old) applications. The ssh port will be set to a non-standard one. Basically, it will be very similar to our CSIL Ubuntu workstations.

If you prefer to build a workstation from ground up (self-manage), please let us know your plan - we will register this computer on the SFU Backbone network and you will be responsible to make it work and secure.

 Do NOT do this.

Once a computer is hooked up to wireless network, it is considered a mobile device, also a self-managed system. Please read our FAQ page  for more information.

Here are some important notes if this is a must for your research:

• You will not be able to remotely connect to this computer.
  
• Please always use regular account for daily tasks and use administrative account for system maintenance only.
• Any datum on the local hard disk is considered volatile. Please always use network storage provided by SFU to store your research data/codes.
• If this computer is using Microsoft Office, the activation will expire every180 days. It must be activated manually; please contact helpdesk for this.
• Supports from helpdesk (including CSTS and RCG) will be minimum. In general, we will only rebuild the system to its initial stage. You will be personally responsible for maintaining a healthy system

Register the MAC address of your lab computer's network interface on SFU Backbone network by emailing helpdesk.

For many researches around BigData and DeepLearning, utilize GPGPUs on workstations would be a good low cost option or as prototyping.

A few things to note:

• the onboard Intel graphics won't be sufficient.
• determine which kind of GPU card to use: "a low-end GPU & tons of  RAM" or "a high-end GPU" or "a high-end GPU & tons of  RAM".
• place a discrete graphics card into a regular desktop system (e.g. Optiplex line) probably won't work well either.
• place a new GPU card into an old chassis or place an old GPU card into a new chassis won't work great either. we don't have much good experience with upgrades in this field.
• place a discrete graphics card into an existing running system won't work right away - re-configuration must be done first.

To know more about CUDA, TensorFlow and Keras etc., please check out SFU's supercomputer Cedar.

Please confirm this with your supervisor and contact helpdesk. Someone from helpdesk will discuss this with you.

Maintaining your own computer will take time from your research so please only start this discussion if you absolutely must have full control. Helpdesk will be less able to help you with a self-managed system. We would prefer you use one of our fully managed OS installs, if there is software you need that is not already available ask helpdesk for help and we will do our best to get the software working for you promptly. You will become the primary person responsible for any self-built and self-maintained systems - this is the cost of having admin access to the machine. Helpdesk will not be able to provide the same level of support for you.

Even if you only connect to SFU wireless, please do inform helpdesk promptly. Be aware that the system will be blocked from SFU wireless without warning should it cause problems on the wireless network or be identified as a source of undesirable network traffic. Your authentication to SFU wireless will associate the system with you personally.

To build or take admin control of a wired desktop on any of the networks in our research labs you must go through helpdesk. We will help get the system registered and depending on your needs assist with the initial setup. If you are not already comfortable installing and securing operating systems, applications and services, then maintaining your own system is NOT for you.

No. 100% not.

If you need a different kernel on an RCG Ubuntu workstation for your research, please email us so we could work with you to get it configured.

In the similar token, if you want to have a newer release of Ubuntu, please email us.

In short, please leave the crucial updates of the Operating System to us - we are here to provide a suitable computing environment for your research.

No. 100% not.

If you need a different/new device driver for GPU (e.g. NVidia driver for Geforce/Quadro GPU) on an RCG Ubuntu workstation for your research, please email us so we could work with you to get it configured.

In short, please leave the crucial updates of the Operating System to us - we are here to provide a suitable computing environment for your research.

Here are some known issues:

• CUDA 10 (the old version) is NOT available for Ubuntu 20.04 - it is more than 36 months old and it is at end of its life.
  

RCG people have compiled PyTorch 1.5 against CUDA 11 on Ubuntu 20; it is now a loadable module.

• Tensorflow 1.x is a lost cause. RCG folks are focusing on newer releases.
  

If your current research projects depend on older Tensorflow (1.x), older PyTorch, or old CUDA (10.0 or earlier), contact helpdesk.

For every software package you need which depends on any of these old libraries, let us know the package's name and the exact version.

Once we have these info, RCG will try their best to compile the package from source against CUDA 11; and make the newly compiled package available for all RCG Ubuntu 20 users.

Since we don't have the manpower to compile every old package, we recommend people try newer releases, and/or seek alternative ones.

Once you finish up with these old software packages, please inform helpdesk - upgrade to Ubuntu 20 is in order.

No. In most of the cases, the applications you need might have been installed or configured on the system :)

On a Windows workstation, here is a list of basic set of applications. You could easily find this out by searching within the start menu.

On an RCG Ubuntu system, here is a list of basic set of applications, and you could execute "module avail" to check the application availability. If the application you need is on the list, you could load and use it without installation. Click here for more details on the modules we provide.

• If you need to compile your own software, use something like
       ./configure --prefix=/cs/<thislab>/software
  ... so that you can maintain the software you need without requiring sudo/root privileges.
• If the "installation" needs huge storage space for scratch (and/or intermittent data, original datasets), please consider using "/local-scratch" for the installation. Always keep your own codes and irreplaceable data on network storage. 
• If you could not find the applications on the system, contact your lab admin for this. If the lab admin is not reachable in time, email helpdesk - put the lab's acronym on the subject line.
  
• If your research involves constant system changes, email helpdesk - with the confirmation from the your supervisor, other arrangements could be made.

To better serve SFU community, Applocker is now implemented on all of managed Windows workstations in SFU.

If some of the applications you were using now become blocked, the most likely cause would be: they were "installed" under user space (e.g. under user profile), not system space.

Remove these non-standard "installations" and the shortcuts point to them; then email helpdesk so we could install them for you on your designated workstation.

The IT people in SFU are working hard to ensure all the systems are secure and up to date. The software updates are investigated and approved for installation regularly.

As a regular user, you may not be able to upgrade/patch the applications on the spot. But there are ways to proceed:

• reboot the computer, this may trigger the installation of the updates.
• contact the lab admin to perform an out-of-bound update - if this is a Windows system.

For Windows Workstation:

• We use MiKTeX as the basic LaTeX tool. We will install a few popular TeX tools on the systems too.
• For technical reasons, on all managed Windows systems, MiKTeX must be installed by helpdesk. So, if you don't see MiKTeX on your lab workstation, just email us.
• You may also use the MiKTeX portable package on our Windows systems. The vendor has the instructions on how to use this tool. If you noticed that any tool which does not work with MiKTeX portable, please contact the vendor for updates.

For Linux Workstation (running RCG Ubuntu):

• We have the latest TeX Live suite.
• PDFlatex (part of TeX Live) is the most common command-line tool for generating output from TeX source. TeXStudio, a nice TeX IDE

Special notes on ShareLaTeX (a web application, as well as software-as-a-service, for editing & sharing TeX documents):

• Register your SFU email address on the vendor's site. If your SFU email address had been registered for the free license, the School's subscription will unlock the professional version features for you. A lab director could submit a single request for all incoming new researchers of the lab.

On an RCG Ubuntu box:

• The default "matlab" executable is actually a symlink.
• You can easily access older versions of MATLAB by running e.g., "matlab-2022b".

For a full list of available versions of Matlab, you may key in "matlab" then press TAB key in the shell or in the shell, execute command: ls -1a /cvmfs/rcg.sfu.ca/sw/local-linux/bin/matlab*

If your lab workstation runs managed Windows, please email helpdesk so we could install it for you.

If Docker is a must for your research projects, be sure to secure it tight. It has more security exposure than many other environment.

You must configure Docker's "default-address-pools" to avoid any conflict/interference with SFU enterprise computing environment.

Warning: The default private address range of Docker will conflict with SFU VPN. When such conflicts occur, you will not be able to remote access your computer from off-campus, i.e. you must edit file: /etc/docker/daemon.json on the workstation.

If you need more than 254 private addresses, you may increase the private address pool size (e.g. change the "/24" to "/23").

   * Do restrict the pool size to "/20". If you need more than 16K pivate addresses for this Docker instance, email helpdesk in advance.

If you are not sure which private IP address range to use for your Docker instance, please feel free to contact us.

Technical details:

• This Wikipedia page has more details on private IP addresses:
• The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) has directed the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) to reserve the following IPv4 address ranges for private networks: 10.0.0.0/8; 172.16.0.0/12; 192.168.0.0/16
• But, SFU IT have reserved big portion of 172.16.0.0/12 for infrastructure use. To avoid potential IP conflict, please do not use 172.16.0.0/12 or its sub networks.

The Linux terminal server: rcga-linux-ts1.dc.sfu.ca

Warning: The termianl servers are for lightweight tasks shared by many people; please do NOT place long-running CPU/memory intensive jobs on them.

Tip: To have X running, please configure a VNC session.

You may also access SFU's supercomputer Cedar.

Please be sure to use FQDNs for all hosts while you make the connections.

This happens when the remote system is running Windows XP. Assume the credentials have been accepted, but screen shows as nothing - sometimes not even the cursor.

Here are some of the steps you may want to give a try (in order):

• Wait for a couple of minutes; it might be just waking up.
• Launch the Task Manager on the remote system and attempt to bring back desktop:
  • maximize the remote session window.
  • within this window, hit "Ctrl-Shift-ESC" - this should bring up the Task Manager for the remote system.
  • If the Task Manager is up, you may start a new explorer.exe and in general, your desktop will show up.
•  change the connection parameter on the home computer to use less resources:
  
  • close the current non-working remote session window.
  • when launching the "Remote Desktop Connection", click "show Options"
  • now, click the "Experience" tab, select "Low-speed broadband (256kbps - 2 Mbps)"
    
  • click "Connect" button; maybe you will get better result.
    
• log in into another account if you have a second account on the system.
  • if you have a local account on the system, you need to try "hostname.cmpt.sfu.ca\specialusername" in the username field.
• physically log in from the console of the system when you come to the lab.
  

Reboot the system if none of this works.

First of all, make sure the FQDN of the remote system is correct. Only if it is correct, you could proceed with the following workaround:

While you connect from a Windows system using Remote Desktop Connection (aka mstsc), please do the following:

click: show Options > advanced > server authentication > connect and don't warn me (if server authentication fails) > connect.

Basically, this will give you the real login screen and you could be sure you are connecting to the host you are trying to reach. This is the recommended setting to use for all Windows users.

You can find similar option within the remote desktop client you are using. If the client does not offer this option, please use alternative client tools.

For connecting to most recent Ubuntu systems, you need a modern SSH client too. You may try MobaXterm (portable version) or puTTY.

* IMPORTANT * For security reasons, direct SSHing to your lab host is only available on SFU wired network. To SSH to your lab Linux host: SSH to a Linux terminal server (e.g. rcga-linux-ts1.dc.sfu.ca); then SSH to your workstation (using its FQDN) from within the sessions on this server. And please use compression to speed things up.

Click here for more tips from the experts of RCG.

Here are some steps for you to connect to a Linux box from a Windows device.

Make sure you have latest SSH client and VNC viewer on your Windows device (we recommend MobaXterm & TightVNC viewer).

Do not add any firewall exceptions and do not allow VNC server to be installed.

Please note: the "vncserver &" command will show a virtual display number which you must memorize for future use, we assume it is "1" in this Q&A.

Step 1:  

• connect to the remote system via SSH using MobaXterm, within this SSH window, type the following commands in order:
• vncpasswd > vncserver &. If using tsch, run: setenv DISPLAY :1. If using bash, run: export DISPLAY=:1 > mate-session & exit

Step 2:

• launch MobaXterm on your Windows device, click "Start local terminal", from the "local terminal" window, run a command like:
• ssh -L <VNC port number>:<FQDN>:<VNC port number> <username>@<RCG TS FQDN>. e.g. ssh -L 5901:server1.cs.sfu.ca:5901 psudoname@rcga-linux-ts1.dc.sfu.ca
• The VNC port number is 5900 plus whatever is your virtual display number. Complete the command line with your own username and the FQDN of one of the RCG Linux Terminal Servers .)

Step 3:

• launch TightVNC Viewer on your Windows device, make the connection to: 127.0.0.1:<VNC port number>. e.g. 127.0.0.1:5901
• Note: You must set up a local SSH tunnel of TCP port from your Windows device to the remote system through one of the RCG's Linux Terminal Servers - NO exceptions.
• You will have to repeat these steps if the remote Linux system is rebooted.

YES! But only on the RCG Ubuntu 20.04 (and later release) workstations.

First detailed instructions provided by RCG, please click here.

First of all, we are using a special port for Remote Desktop access, click here to find out which one.

From your own devices, you could use these tools:

Mac OS X: freerdp from Homebrew or latest Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection 10 from the app store
Windows: Remote Desktop Connection
Linux: Remmina

Just a reminder: please always use the FQDN of the host to make the connection.

So, prepare your workstation (backup everything) and ask for OS upgrade now!

When your xrdp session gets stuck, please ssh into the workstation and run the following command: pkill -u username

Use your own SFU Computing ID in place of username

Just a reminder: xrdp session consumes quite a lot resources, we recommend SSH when you don't need GUI.

Docker does have more security exposure than other environment, please avoid using it.

If it is a must for your research, please secure it tight. When it interferes with remote access to the workstation, it is a configuration issue - please see this Graduate Q&A for a workaround.

How to determine if a network configuration issue on this specific workstation caused the SFU VPN trouble?

1. if Docker network interface uses its defaut IP range (i.e. in the 172.17.x.x range).

  - no one can access this computer with SFU VPN.

  - please check out see this Graduate Q&A for the workaround

2. run "ip addr" commend on the workstation, if the results show a bridge

  - if docker is present, please check out see this Graduate Q&A for the workaround

  - it might be a KVM (like VirtualBox/VMware)) network bridge, please destroy and recreate the bridge with a different IP (whic have no conflict with SFU VPN).

We have many techniques to keep our Windows hosts up to date; for most applications, we are using MEM. The default setting was: the maintenance task runs every night. 
Since we are using WSUS for monthly updates on our Windows systems. The reboot after these updates should trigger the maintenance task. 
The maintenance task may take about 2 minutes to more than 30 minutes; so plan ahead.

Please email helpdesk with the name of the host and the name of the applications if this don't work.

As a Computing Science graduate student, you have (at least) 2 home spaces.

SFU home

from an RCG Ubuntu workstation, you could SFTP to rock.its.sfu.ca

from a Windows system, you should map U: to \\sphinx.sfu.ca\username

(please use "ad.sfu.ca\username" and SFU Mail password to gain access)

from any CSIL Linux system, it is auto-mounted as /sfuhome for you

Research Network Home (formerly known as FAS Home)

from an RCG Ubuntu workstation, you could simply visit /net/home/username

- please check out RCG's Kerberos page if there is any trouble.

from a Windows system (regardless of the network location), you could map Z: to \\rcga-bluebell.dc.sfu.ca\username

(please use "ad.sfu.ca\username" and SFU Mail password to gain access)

From this index page, you could check out network storage for the specific research group you are a member of.

Here is a simple matrix to help:

Please save all of your study & research work on network storage.

The quota for your SFU home is 10GB (Giga Byte) as of October 2015.

The quota for your Research Network Home is 10GB (Giga Byte) as of October 2022.

Also, the research lab may have dedicated space for your research, please chat with the lab admin and your supervisor for more details.

Please save all of your study & research work on these spaces.

About SFU Vault: it is retiring. Please try using Microsoft OneDrive within the SFU's Microsoft 365 implementation.

You should store all of your data (especially study/research work) on a backup-enabled, secured network file space. The data on network file space are being backed up regularly and monitored regularly by IT professionals.

When you login to any RCG Ubuntu system:

• You could visit /net/home/username folder for your Research Network Home
• You could SFTP to rock.its.sfu.ca for your SFU Home

When you login to a CSIL Linux system:

• You will see the network storage space (SFU home space) which is provided by IT Services as the directory /sfuhome

When you sign in to any ADSFU Windows computer:

• You could map Z: to your FAS network home which is \\rcga-bluebell.dc.sfu.ca\username.
• And you also have your SFU home (\\sphinx.sfu.ca\username) mapped to U: (by default)
  

* The research lab you are in may have special network storage for you to use - check them out.

You may store shortcuts on your desktop. You may store unimportant files on local storage space and remove them after you've done with them. You may have to store intermittent computational data on a local drive for speedy access... read the following warnings.

Warning: Regular maintenance of the lab computers may wipe out the data on local storage - this may happen without advance notice. So, do not store anything valuable on local storage.

Warning: Although not often, but the computers did occasionally get stolen at SFU. So, do not store anything valuable on local storage.

You should NOT store anything illegal or stolen on the systems provided by SFU or the School of Computing Science.

To ensure the best system stability and data integrity, please follow this guide:

When you log in to any ADSFU Windows system, do NOT store anything valuable on local storage.

When you use any Linux system, do NOT store anything valuable on local storage; e.g. NOT under any of these folders:

/local-scratch, /local-scratch2, /local-scratch* (basically, any folder with a name has"scratch" in it), /tmp, /temp, /data1, /local-home

Please note: this is not on local hard disk, it is part of your profile. Since profile storage is very limited, NEVER save any files under profile.

"Desktop" (with the exception of shortcuts)

You may use all the "temp", "scratch" and additional storage units for intermittent data and scratch - but at your own risk!

It depends.

First of all, you may not use cloud to store any personal data that is protected under the Privacy Act. Research data of a student that does not contain any private information about others should be OK.

We advise anyone that wants to capitalize on their research to be wary of the end user agreements for many of these services - many of the agreements give the company unlimited rights to use, copy and benefit from any file you store with them.

Please find out more on SFU's IT Services page.

Email your personal cloud storage request for cloud storage to research-support@sfu.ca . This makes it a more visible need for SFU which helps to drive the IT force to provide such service.

Yes! SFU has a new agreement with Microsoft so all of SFU users will be able to use OneDrive storage for free. Please click here for more details.

You may want to try out the storage provided by WestGrid and ComputeCanada:

To gain access to this service, the leading faculty member of a specific research group must register first. This will subsequently allow the other members of this research group to register and gain access.

Also checkout the IT Services' take on cloud computing. If you need further clarification, please feel free to contact helpdesk!

On an RCG Ubuntu workstation, you could access your Research Network Home  (formerly known as FAS Home) and you SFU Home.

To access your SFU Home, please follow the instrcutions on this how-to page but just use server rock.its.sfu.ca

You could easily map a network drive (we highly recommend using U: - it is the de facto SFU standard) to your SFU home:

the share: \\sphinx.sfu.ca\username

the username: ad.sfu.ca\username

the password: (your SFU Mail password)

If you plan to use it later, please check the re-connect checkbox and save the credentials.

On some of the systems, this mapping has been configured for you by default.

Please find the storage for your research group on this password-protected page:

https://www.cs.sfu.ca/research/resources.html

To connect to these shares from RCG Ubuntu systems, please simply cd to it - i.e.. use command "cd /cs/thislabspace" and it will be automounted in a few seconds.

To connect to these shares from Windows systems, please use "ad.sfu.ca\username" and password for your SFU Mail account.

If you have no access to any network storage for your lab, please let your lab admin know.

And you could find more information on this page about the storage provided by RCG. Please let us know if there are lab specific storage you are using but they are not listed. TIA!

Please email helpdesk to get the new disk installed; and we will help you get it mounted properly.

If you have to mount the new disk yourself in a hurry, please ask your lab admin to help (since this needs sudo access on this specific workstation.) And please email helpdesk so we could update our records for future use.

The sample commands:

sudo  mkdir  /mnt/local-scratch9
sudo  mount   /dev/sdf1    /mnt/local-scratch9

(please specify the volume name and a desired the new mount name on your workstation.)

Please note: this mount will not be accessible remotely.

• If the move is within the lab (could be different rooms; but not in different buildings, not across campuses), you could inform the lab admin and you may do the move yourself. The lab admin will/shall document the changes accordingly.
• If the move involves another lab or across different campuses (or different buildings on same campus), please inform the lab admin, your supervisor and email helpdesk in advance. This is to ensure the safety and functionality of the equipment. No exceptions.
  
• Please note: if this is a network device, it may not function normally after the move. In this case, please always email helpdesk in advance.
• Do not move any computer from another campus. They will not work.
• Discuss with your supervisor if you will need to move a lab computer home for your research

The School provides some space in the server room for rack mount devices. It is FCFS.

If the system is rack-mount ready and IPMI ready, please send your request to helpdesk so we could get approval from your supervisor.

If the compute is not rack-mout ready, it will not be moved into our server room.

And any computer goes into the server room must have redundant power supply (at least 2 PSUs).

Yes for some of the packages.

Through the SFU's subscription to "Microsoft Azure Dev Tools for Teaching" program, any student enrolled in at least one CMPT or DDP course in the current semester is eligible to get selected Microsoft software for free.

For many years, The School of Computing Science was member of this MSDNAA (Microsoft Developer Network Academic Alliance) program.  (MSDNAA) program. Although it is not a carbon replacement, we have access to "Microsoft Azure Dev Tools for Teaching" program.

Please visit the "how to get software for CMPT courses" for more details.

The School of Computing Science is currently partnered with VMware Academic Program (VMAP). This program provides access to licenses for select products for use in instruction and research. Please visit the "how to get software for CMPT courses" page for more details. The full details about this program can be found here.

* Important* IT Services provide some specialized software for researchers as well; you may find more information here. For most of the packages, your supervisor must register first then grant access to you. Please note: ITS will provide support. The helpdesk of CMPT could not assist you in this case.

In general, you may use room TASC1 9204 on Burnaby campus (or ? on Surrey campus). Please contact the Graduate Program Assistant for this matter - especially when other resources are needed for your presentation, before booking the room.

And please make the reservation early to avoid disappointment.

To find out more information on meeting rooms of CMPT, please contact the Graduate Program Assistant. You may want to check out SFU's Meeting, Event and Conference services for more options.

Here are some tips that may help:

• Contact the Graduate Program Assistant and then book the room and other equipment well in advance.
  • It is highly recommended: discuss resource requirements before booking a room.
• Prepare a computer which is free of malware, up-to-date.
  • you may book one from helpdesk
• Consider backup plans while you plan the presentation.
• Please book equipment through the Graduate Program Assistant. A complete list of equipment and detailed procedures would be very helpful.
  
  • Book the conference phone - the backup in case Skype is not working.
    
  • Book a laser pointer.
    
  • Book a portable projector if necessary, most of our meeting rooms have projectors installed.
    •  One thing to be noted: the projectors only have VGA/HDMI connector; it is your own responsibility to bring any adapters your laptop may require.
  • If you need Skype for this event, please setup Skype for video conference with people offsite. In general, you should use your own laptop and Skype accounts. Warning: if you use Skype, there is no guarantee in quality and reliability.
    
• Please come to the specific room at the previous workday to test everything.
  • There are multiple incidents that the user's laptop could not connect to the projector in the room.
• Arrive in the room at least 30 minutes early and test everything before the presentation.

If you are not sure about the equipment, please email helpdesk.

You may want to check out SFU's Meeting, Event and Conference services for more details.

Please book a video camcorder with SFU's Audio Visual Services in advance.  There may be a charge for this service.

In Burnaby campus, you may book the Polycom telephone conference equipment (voice only) with the Graduate Program Assistant in advance if you plan to make conference calls. Here is the manual for this equipment.

If the call is long distance, please book the room TASC1 9204W and hook up the conference-call-ready phone (to wall jack 10-28).

Using Skype is not recommended since the quality is not guaranteed. And we are not able to guarantee the wireless access either. Please always book specialized conference equipment in advance.

If you prefer a location outside of the School of Computing Science, here are some other choices:

• the Meeting rooms at the ASB 10000 level (There may be a charge for using this service.)
  
• The Thesis Defense Room of SFU library which can be booked. You may want to check out SFU's Meeting, Event and Conference services for more details.