Department Services

• 1: Content Management
• 2: Facilities
• 3: People
• 4: User Accounts
• 5: Virtualization
• 6: Academic Alliances
• 7: Durian GPGPU Server
• 8: Google Apps

1 - Content Management

Temporary Hosting using a VM

For students doing project work, we can provide temporary virtual machines running on VMWare or Windows Hyper-V. These VMs can be configured with a web server that is visible internally to Loyola. See Virtualization for additional information.

Alternatives

We encourage those who need to set up web sites to consider establishing web hosting account via one of the many providers out there.

Blogging platforms

If you are just looking to maintain a simple site that allows for page creation and blog posts, the best options are blogging platforms, such as Wordpress, Ghost, Micro.Blog.

Linode

We actually use dedicated virtual machines for some department hosting needs. A particularly nice option is Linode. For as little as $5-$10 a month, you can get a dedicated virtual machine with any Linux distribution you like.

This option is primarily for more technical users who know Unix/Linux system administration (and commands).

Google Apps

We do have Google Apps available in the department, which includes Blogger and Google Sites. While both of these options are starting to look/feel a bit dated, they nevertheless are easy to use and require virtually no configuration (except for us to enable your site).

2 - Facilities

General Computing Labs

The department has general computer laboratories at the Lake Shore and Water Tower Campuses. They are three windows labs and one free/open source laboratory (at Water Tower Campus only) running Ubuntu Linux. The Windows labs are managed by Information Technology Services (ITS) with software requests submitted regularly by the department.

::: index pair: research; Internet-2 :::

Internet-2

The CS Department was part of a successful team that received funding to bring Internet-2 to Loyola University Chicago as a whole. This next-generation Internet allows students within the department to explore ideas such as cluster computing, grid computing, Internet telephony, and distributed scientific application development. In addition to Internet-2, the university maintains a high-speed optical network/ring that connects all of the Loyola campuses (LSC, WTC, and Loyola University Medical Center).

::: index pair: research; Windows HPC Cluster :::

Windows HPC Cluster

Drs. Putonti and Thiruvathukal operate two Windows HPC clusters: an 80-node dual-core Opteron cluster by Rackable Systems and a 24-node dual-core Xeon cluster by Dell. Both clusters feature high-speed Ethernet and/or Infiniband. These clusters are housed in the ITS data center.

::: index pair: research; GPGPU pair: Emerging Technologies Laboratory; GPGPU :::

GPGPU Server

Our new GPGPU Server was set up at our ETL. It is SuperServer 7046GT-TRF-TC4 with 2 x Intel Xeon Quad-Core (16 logical processors), 96GB RAM, 4 x NVIDIA® Tesla C2075 GPUs. Please read our gpgpu-server{.interpreted-text role=“doc”} guide on how to get started.

::: index single: Emerging Technologies Laboratory :::

Emerging Technologies Laboratory

The ETL is a growing presence for experimental computer science and engineering projects. This laboratory supports many experimental computing needs and is a place where students can explore ideas not covered directly in any particular class. Virtualization, embedded systems, green computing, and mobile development take place here.

::: index single: wireless :::

Wireless

The entire department (faculty offices, computer labs, emerging technologies lab, and halls) are covered by 802.11g Wireless LAN.

Research Data Center

Loyola University Chicago’s Research Data Center (RDC) is a 1,000-square-foot facility dedicated to support research and funded grants projects, provides a secure home for the computational clusters and related equipment used by our research community.

The RDC (opened in 2010) delivers a high availability computing environment for research projects. This facility is equipped with power protection, including an uninterruptible power supply and a back-up generator. Multiple computer room air conditioner (CRAC) units provide redundant cooling for the space, and a structured cabling design allows for high-speed network connectivity. In addition to fire protection, additional safety and security elements for the RDC include keycard access, camera surveillance, and environmental monitoring.

Sized to accommodate moderate growth, several research initiatives are currently taking advan- tage of the space, which at present houses three research clusters and over 100 nodes. Additionally, collaborative research efforts with other participating institutions and/or organizations have full access and connectivity to Internet2 via the Metropolitan Research & Education Network (MREN) to accommodate high bandwidth applications, data transmissions, and computational require- ments.

A steering committee, made up of senior administrators, faculty, and ITS professionals, is re- sponsible for reviewing, evaluating, and recommending strategies, plans, and policies governing the use of the RDC resources. Loyola’s RDC is managed by Information Technology Services (ITS) in partnership with the university’s Facilities Department.

Drs. Thiruvathukal, Läufer, and Putonti have a general-purpose 80-node computing cluster that runs a mix of Windows HPC Server and the ROCKS clustering software.

3 - People

We pride ourselves in paying attention to human interaction. While the support aliases described in the previous section must be used whenever you want something to be done, you may want to know something about the major roles in our department that are applicable to computing.

• Chairperson: Konstantin Läufer. Please contact the Chairperson with any suggestions you have for improvement, especially when itcomes to computing matters. The chairperson has the ultimate reponsibility for all department matters, especially the departmental computing budget.
• Computing Director: George K. Thiruvathukal. Pleasecontact the Computing Director with any suggestions you have for improvement or with technical support questions. The Computing Director is ultimatelyresponsible for the implementation of all computing initiatives for the department, in particular those that support our teaching and research missions.
• Lab Manager: Miao Ye. The Lab Manager is ultimately responsible for the implementation of the intiaitives as defined by the Computing Director (who consults with the Chairperson). Because there is onlyone Lab Manager at the moment, it is important to recognize that he/she works to support all requests in a timely manner but may not be ableto resolve your problem immediately. Please allow 24-48 hours for a response to any non-emergency need.
• Computing Committee: George K. Thiruvathukal (Computing Director and Committee Chair), Konstantin Läufer, Prof. Stephen Doty, and two new members to be determined (one more faculty and one more student member). The Compting Committee meets at least twice per academic year and drafts recommendations and resolutions for future computing initiatives that support the department's teaching and researchmission and those of collaborating departments. The commitee's proceedings are reported to the Chairperson.

In most cases, you should contact the Lab Manager

4 - User Accounts

All students and faculty are given accounts in the CS department. Your account is intended for your use only. Please change your intial password immediately on first use to improve security. (We are able to determine when a password has not been changed from the default and will lock accounts after a certain period.)

We presently lack a self-service mechanism to the PAM service maintained by ITS for resetting your password. In any event, given the manageable number of users, you can send a request to the accounts alias to have your password reset for you. Since we set up all of our accounts to match your university login ID, it is our policy to send your replacement password to your Loyola e-mail address. You may also opt to meet the lab manager in person but must show your Loyola or a government-issued id with your photo on it.

To reset your password, you should log into random.cs.luc.edu using a secure shell client (a.k.a. SSH) and use the passwd program to reset it. We recommend that you are on campus when you need to change your password.

5 - Virtualization

We are now able to host Xen and Windows Hyper-V virtual servers in the department. We can host these with a dedicated public IP address (justification is required to obtain one) or private IP addresses which would be visible when you connect via the Loyola VPN. Given our present resource limitations, we can only provide virtual machines on a limited basis, primarily for faculty and student research/outreach projects. Please send your requests to the vm alias (see getting-help{.interpreted-text role=“doc”}) and make sure you include the following information:

• name: your full name
• university e-mail address: we will not give virtual machines to anyone who is not part of the Loyola community, although we will allow same to be used by outsiders, provided there is a Loyola contact.
• alternate e-mail address: where we can find you in case you decide not to read your Loyola e-mail (or you're not getting your messages!)
• duration: amount of time in months for your project, or permanent (in general, permanent machines will be given only with highly sound justification.
• RAM: required RAM in 256MB increments; large allocations are rarely given. We'll prioritize requests that are smaller than 512MB.
• disk space: required storage in 10GB increments
• desired OS: We recommend Ubuntu server edition but can support many others. At present, we do not support any OS that requires a license key or activation (except Windows on our new Hyper-V racks).
• desired hostname: may be requested in one cs, math, etl, cslabs (a private zone), all of which are subdomains of luc.edu. For example, if you want the hostname gkt in the domain etl.luc.edu, you would ask for gkt.etl.luc.edu
• public or private static IP: You must say public or private. We will generally be asking you (especially if you're a student) to start with a private IP address. This in most cases will require you to choose the domain cslabs.luc.edu, which only resolves within Loyola proper.
• type of virtual machine: Xen, VMware, Hyper-V program. You would only need VMware if you want to host a Windows VM but we presently have no plans to support Windows, per our emphasis on freely available OS technology without activation requirements.
• number of CPUs: we are only able to support 1 for most requests at this time.

6 - Academic Alliances

The department has active memberships in various academic alliance programs:

Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN AA)

The Computer Science Department is a member of the MSDN Academic Alliance.

If you already know your login info, visit http://bit.ly/msdn-loyola-chicago-cs.

With this membership, any student who takes a computer science course will have an account to download the latest development tools, operating systems, server software, documentation, and technical references at his/her fingertips for free.

If you need to retrieve your username and password, try this:

• Username and Password: Your username is your Loyola email address. The email address must be entered in the form of xyz@luc.edu.
• Click the Sign In button on the top right. Click the button in forgot your username or password? section for a reminder. Check your Loyola email to get your password.

Please note that the MSDNAA excludes Microsoft Office. All Loyola University Chicago students have access to Microsoft Office 365. See http://www.luc.edu/its/exchange/about_office_365.shtml for details. (This does not cover faculty and staff, who need to get their own subscription.)

If you have a Mac running OS X, you can download VMware (see below) and install it. Then install Windows and other Windows applications as usual.

VMware Academic Program (VMAP)

The Computer Science Department is a member of the VMware Academic Program (VMAP).

VMware provides VMware Workstation and other virtualization products, which are helpful for users who may want to run Windows, Linux, and other operating systems on their Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux computers.

• Mac users should download VMware Fusion.
• Windows or Linux users should download VMware Workstation.

If you already know your login info, visit http://bit.ly/vmap-loyola-chicago-cs.

Apple Developer Program

The Computer Science Department is a member of the Apple Developer Progarm.

Information can be found at https://developer.apple.com/programs/ios/university/gettingstarted/.

This program requires a bit of special handling, so please contact the lab manager at people{.interpreted-text role=“doc”} to be enrolled.

7 - Durian GPGPU Server

The CS and Mathematics departments subscribe to Google Apps for Your

GPGPU Server

1. After you log in the server, please run the following command to install the SDK in your home directory:

   $ cp_gpusdk
   

   This will result in a folder being created in ~/NVIDIA_GPU_Computing_SDK,

2. Compiling the examples:

   $ cd ~/NVIDIA_GPU_Computing_SDK/C
   $ make
   

3. Run the deviceQuery demo to see the GPGPU device(s).

   ::: literalinclude devicequery.txt :::

4. See http://developer.download.nvidia.com/compute/cuda/3_2/docs/Getting_Started_Linux.pdf for additional details.

8 - Google Apps

The CS and Mathematics departments subscribe to Google Apps for Your Domain. Among other things, we can host sites, e-mail, documents, calendaring, etc. Our primary use at the moment is for Google Sites, which allows individuals, workgroups (e.g. project teams in classes), research groups, and other collaborations to host their own private or public web sites. While this software is officially in beta, it's already proving to be a winner for many needs. Moreover, we can assign you your own hostname within one of the 3 domains. Examples include www.etl.luc.edu, gkt.etl.luc.edu, doty.math.luc.edu, and tonyg.math.luc.edu.

We reserve the right to terminate any Google site that contains inappropriate content or is reported to Google or us as being offensive. So we ask that if you have such uses in mind to consider setting up your own Google Site that is not connected to LUC or the department proper. We are not generally taking advantage of e-mail and other services at this time and reserve these address for faculty and researchers officially connected to the department. To request a Google Site or other service, please see getting-help{.interpreted-text role=“doc”}.