Remote Access - Remote Lab Access

Remote Lab Access

The Computer Science and Data Science departments offers course software and lab machines for remote use. Please read the following FAQ completely, and let Chris Wieringa, CS Lab Manager, cwieri39@calvin.edu know if you have further questions.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does it work? You may access a lab machine using a web browser, by visiting: https://remote.cs.calvin.edu/ You will be prompted to log into the website using your Calvin credentials (username ONLY, not full email address) and passphrase. You will need to complete DUO authentication as well. Once you are logged in, you will see an "ALL CONNECTIONS" section. Find and expand the "Calvin CS Labs" label, and then you can choose to connect to either a Linux machine, a Windows machine, or a Linux SSH terminal. After making your selection, you will be logged into the remote machine just like you were logging in at the lab.

Who can use this? Students enrolled in CS100, CS104, CS106, CS108, CS112, any CS200-level, any CS300-level, any DATA-level sections will have access to this service.

How do I close a session? Please properly "log out" of your remote computer just as you would in the lab today. Properly logging out frees the computer to be used by another individual. Do NOT just close your web browser, as this will leave your session logged in and reserving a resource.

Are there limitations? Yes there are. These are the following limitations:

Total number of simultaneous users is limited; only a few machines for Windows are available. If all the seats are full, you may need to wait to utilize the service. For access to Linux, please utilize the Coder service.
Performance is dependent on the load on the server, the remote machine you are using, and your internet connection. While all your computations will be done on the lab machine, the user interface is being dynamically rewritten to be streamed to your web browser, and can be "laggy". Do not attempt any video watching or 3D graphic accelerated programs using this service. An internet connection >5Mbps is required, and a wired (not WiFi) connection is strongly encouraged for best performance..
Audio is turned off. To reduce load on our servers, no audio will be sent from the remote machine to your web browser.
Copy and paste may or may not work. We have had reports that copy and paste from things like LastPass does not work correctly.

Anything else I should know? Apache Guacamole has a context menu that may be useful to you while using this system. It can be accessed by pressing the keyboard combination "Ctrl" + "Shift" + "Alt". The menu can be hidden by once again pressing the "Ctrl" + "Shift" + "Alt" menu.

How do I transfer files to or from the CS servers? The answer here is dependent on operating system.

Windows - Utilizing OneDrive is the easiest way to move files to or from the Windows lab machines.

Can I get some software on my own machine? Yes! We highly encourage you to install any free and open source software that is utilized in our classes on your own machine. Your instructor may have resources available to assist in this process. In addition, some licensed software, such as the Microsoft Office suite is available through the Microsoft Office365 portal (your email); visit your account settings to download and install Microsoft Office on your own machine. Other licensed software is available only on our lab machines, and is accessible using the remote system described in this email.

Any more questions? Please contact your instructor or Chris Wieringa, CS Lab Manager, at cwieri39@calvin.edu or in Microsoft Teams.