Starting this fall, a new "virtual computing lab" (VCL) pilot will allow students in the Nicholas School of the Environment to reserve a computer with specialized software and access it remotely over the Internet.
The pilot, which leverages hardware donated by IBM and software developed at N.C. State University, enables "anytime, anywhere" access to expensive, license-restricted software packages such as ArcGIS, NVivo and Stata for more than 250 students in the Master of Environmental Management (MEM) and Master of Forestry programs.
The project is part of a larger initiative by the Office of Information Technology (OIT) and the Provost's Office to explore new models for enabling broader access and more efficient use of Duke's server infrastructure, officials said.
Students can access the 3-D modeling tools and advanced statistical programs they need for courses. But instead of running on desktop or laptop machines, those programs now run on a "cloud" of powerful computer servers behind the scenes.
"Students used to have to come to campus and use the labs, which often involved waiting for a computer. If they went out of town for an internship or to do fieldwork, their only option was to check out a laptop," said Susan Gerbeth-Jones, Nicholas' assistant dean for information technology. "Now they can use VCL and remotely connect."
Authenticated users can request access to a desired application environment -- one of three computer images, based on the software they need -- via a Web interface.
They can reserve a certain amount of time (up to four hours). At the scheduled time, the image is loaded onto one of 16 virtual machines (VMs) that they can access from any computer with a high-speed Internet connection.
Growing enrollment has placed an increasing demand on the Nicholas school's two 34-seat computer labs. The VCL will ease that load and provide better utilization of the current pool of restricted licenses, Gerbeth-Jones said.
"By remotely connecting to the server, you have access to a computer with a lot more processing power," said Matt Kudla, a Nicholas alumnus and teaching associate in the geospatial ecology program. "This gives people more flexibility to access specialized scientific software like GIS from their home, or the field, and it will make it more convenient for students who may commute from Raleigh or other places."
The VCL also simplifies maintenance for IT administrators. Instead of maintaining rows of PCs, upgrades can be made on templates, and application usage can be easily tracked.
OIT staff adapted the open-source code developed at N.C. State to work with enterprise-grade virtual computing software to make more efficient use of Duke's servers. Duke's VCL runs on servers that are part of the Duke Shared Cluster Resource, a high-performance network of about 800 Linux machines used by more than 400 researchers across campus through the Scalable Computing Support Center.
"With virtual ‘cloud' computing, a user can allocate a virtual server on demand and configure it to order. That's the key to unlocking the shared server pool for a broader set of uses," said Jeffrey Chase, computer science professor and chair of Duke's Scalable Computing Advisory Committee. "The cluster was the first step, and what we're doing now is a significant expansion of that effort to provide broader access and better efficiency."
The VCL enables new possibilities in managing increasing demand and limited lab resources across Duke, said Julian Lombardi, assistant vice president in OIT. "With our advanced networks and our ability to virtualize computing, we can leverage a set of centralized resources and provide the lab experience anywhere," Lombardi said.