Remote Access for the NCSU Virtual Computing Lab Robert E. Young The Virtual Computing Lab (VCL) allows students and faculty to work remotely on a computer located at NCSU. This is done via a high-speed Internet connection. A DSL line, a cable modem, or a fixed network connection is used to connect to the VCL machine through the Remote Desktop Connection client available in Windows Vista and XP or downloadable in Windows 2000, and the Remote Desktop Connection client for Mac OS X. The Remote Desktop Connection client appears on your PC as a complete image of what would appear on a monitor connected to the machine at NCSU that you are running remotely. In this way, you have your own machine at the university exactly as if you were sitting in an Eos laboratory logged onto an Eos machine. All your afs directories and files are available as well as all the directories and files on your own PC. In addition, the software available on Eos is installed on the VCL remote computer. This extends the Eos moniker of Where ever you go, there you are to offcampus. In addition, it extends it to anywhere in the U.S. or world where you have access to an Internet connection. The VCL is accessed through the Virtual Computing Lab website. Go to http://vcl.ncsu.edu and choose the Make a VCL Reservation link. This will take you to a logon page. You must logon to the website in order to gain access to the VCL site needed to use the system. When you have logged on you will be at the VCL home page. The link for the VCL home page is http://vcl.ncsu.edu/scheduling/index.php 1.0 CONFIGURING THE REMOTE DESKTOP CONNECTION CLIENT To use the VCL you must first configure the Remote Desktop Connection client. Section 1.1 in this document describes how to set up the Remote Desktop Connection client for a MSWindows-based PC. For other operating systems you need to go to the VCL home page and select Help. For a Windows machine select Windows help and for a MacIntosh machine select Macintosh help. Each has step-bystep instructions explaining how to set-up your computer so you can access and use the VCL machines. 1.1 SETTING UP THE REMOTE DESKTOP CONNECTION SOFTWARE FOR AN MSWINDOWS PC Start the Remote Desktop Connection software. For Windows XP users, this is found under Start > Programs > Accessories > Communications > Remote Desktop Connection. For Windows 2000 and before, you will need to download and install the software from Microsoft: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/tools/rdclientdl.mspx Page 1
Start the Remote Desktop Connection software and once the Remote Desktop Connection client window appears, open the Options (To access the options tabs click the Options button before clicking the Connect button) and you will see the following window. Options window General tab screen Leave the General tab screen blank. Only exception is when you are having password problems as described in Section 2.2, Password Issues Options window Display tab screen Screen Resolution Select a screen resolution less than or equal to the resolution of your computer screen. We recommend something less so you can see your own screen as well as the remote screen. This gives you easier access to your own computer screen. Colors Select True Color (24 bit) Page 2
Options window Local Resources tab screen Select Disk drives and Printers so you can access your own files and can print on your own printer or any printer connected to your own PC. Options window Programs tab screen Leave this screen blank. Page 3
1.1.1 NETWORK Connection Speed Options window Experience tab screen Leave the connection speed to the default Modem (56 Kbps). This does not affect communication speed. Instead it leaves the three boxes Desktop background, Show contents of window while dragging, and Menu and window animation unchecked. Leaving the specification as shown optimizes your interaction with the VCL remote computer. Checking any or all of the three unchecked boxes will slow down your system. These settings will be saved so you don t have to do it again unless something changes. Page 4
1.2 SETTING UP THE VCL USER PREFERENCES Once the Remote Connection Desktop client is completed go back to the VCL website homepage and select User Preferences to get the User Prefernces webpage. User Preferences Webpage Set this up to match what you specified for the Remote Desktop Connection client. This information will be saved so you don t have to do it again unless you need to change the specifications. You are now ready to work on a VCL computer remotely. Section 2 describes how to request a VCL computer and how to connect to it. Page 5
2 Using the VCL Remote Computer The VCL is accessed by going to the VCL website and selecting Make a VCL Reservation. This takes you to a logon window where you use your UNITY logonid and password to gain access to the reservation window. When in this window select the New Reservation button to get to the reservation webpage. New Reservation Webpage In the drop-down window select the application set. For IE417 or IE719 use Access, Visio & Excel (Windows XP) as shown. Next, move to the reservation time portion of the webpage as shown below. Reservation time portion Select Now for immediate use or Later to schedule a time for yourself in the future. Select the duration of time you want to reserve up to a maximum of 4 hours. Page 6
When the application software set, the reservation time and the duration have been selected you mouseclick Submit and see the following webpage. Select the Current Reservation button to open the screen shown below. Current Reservations Webpage Remote Computer being prepared This screen shows that a computer is being prepared for your use and displays the estimated time it will take to complete the preparation. Current Reservations Webpage Remote Computer Available for Use When this screen appears your computer is ready for you to connect. Select the Connect! button Page 7
2.1 LOGGING ONTO THE REMOTE COMPUTER The Connect! button will take you to the Connect! webpage. This displays the information you need to log onto the remote computer. Connect! Webpage Remote Computer Identification Number (IP Address) The information you need to log onto the remote computer Put the IP address of the Remote Computer in the Computer: box of the Remote Desktop Connection window. Page 8
Connect! Webpage Remote Computer Logon Password Put the password of the Remote Computer in the Password: box of the Remote Desktop Connection Log On window. Password is case sensitive so you must use upper and lower case characters exactly as shown on the webpage. This is a special password generated for this particular session. It cannot be copied into the Password box, it must be typed. If you have problems with the password please see the next section. Page 9
2.2 PASSWORD ISSUES Often you will have difficulty with the password and may see the password error message as shown below. This is usually the result of the password being case sensitive and difficulty distinguishing between certain characters. In this example the password appears to be F4cKld6i. When you type this password you will get the following error message. This error message means that an incorrect password was used. It usually means that you interpreted a character incorrectly. SOLUTION POSSIBILITY 1 Here the password is actually F4cKId6i (note it is KI and not Kl ). Unfortunately, in the font selected for the website the characters 1, l, I (one, l as in level, and capital i ) are indistinguishable from one another. If you receive the logon error then press the Ctrl key and the + key simultaneously several times to enlarge the text on the webpage. This should allow you to determine what characters comprise the password so you can correctly enter it. Page 10
SOLUTION POSSIBILITY 2 Close down the Remote Desktop Connection window and restart the Remote Desktop Connection. When the Remote Desktop window appears then select Options exactly as you did in Section 1.1. Open the General tab and you will see a window similar to that shown below. Copy the password from the webpage and past it into the Password box on the General tab window. Close the Options window and initiate a connection to the remote computer. The password will appear correctly in the remote connection window. Copy and paste the password from the VCL Connect! webpage into the password box. Page 11
When you successfully use the correct password you will see the following on your computer. Remote Desktop Window Inside the Remote desktop window is the remote computer. It behaves exactly like your own PC. Page 12
3 USING THE REMOTE COMPUTER 3.1 PRINTING To print something you do so as you would print something on your PC. The print job will go to whatever printer is the default printer on your PC. The printers available in the example are shown below. By bringing up the Printers and Faxes window from the start menu you can see what printers are available. In this example, I have an HP Laser Jet 5 connected to my notebook computer. pdfactory Pro allows you to generate pdf files. 3.2 ACCESSING YOUR FILES If you open the VCLA1-4 icon on the remote desktop screen you will see the directories on the remote desktop and the directories on your computer. Logging onto Wolfcall will load your afs drives also. Below is an example showing the remote computer s C and D drives, the A through R drives on my notebook computer, and the K and J drives of my afs files space. You move files between your PC, afs space and the remote computer exactly the same as on any PC. The VCL remote computer s disk drives are available to use. Your own directories are available. In the example you see disk drives A through R on my PC. Log onto afs using Wolfcall and your K and J afs drives are available. Page 13
4 DISCONNECTING FROM THE REMOTE DESKTOP COMPUTER To disconnect open the start menu within the Remote Desktop window and select the Disconnect button next to the Log Off button and your session with the remote computer will be terminated. Be sure you have saved your work on either your PC or in your afs space. Anything left on the remote computer s C or D drive will be lost when your session is ended. Current Reservations Webpage Ending a Remote Computer Session If you finish a lot earlier than the total time of your reservation then please go back to your Current Reservations, click the End button beside the current reservation. Release Reservation Webpage Remote Computer Session Termination Select Yes to release the remote computer so someone else can use it. 4.1 RECOVERY FROM A DISCONNECT If you disconnect and forget to move files from the remote computer s C or D drive to your own PC or afs space then you can re-connect to the remote computer by logging back onto it immediately using the same IP address and logon password. You have approximately a 15 minute grace period. After that the remote computer s disk drives are wiped clean and your files are lost forever. However, once you have gone to the Release Reservation Webpage and terminated your remote computer s session, the remote computer s disk drives are immediately wiped clean and your files are gone forever. So be careful! Page 14