Use Lab Services for your next Hackathon

[TanmayeeKamath]

Azure Lab Services is designed to be light weight and easy to use so that you can quickly spin up a new lab of virtual machines (VMs) for your next hackathon.  Let’s use the following checklist to ensure that your hackathon goes as smoothly as possible. This checklist should be completed by your IT department or faculty who are responsible for creating and managing your hackathon lab. 

Before the Hackathon

To use Lab Services for your hackathon, you should ensure that both lab account and your lab are created at least a few days prior to the start of your hackathon.  In addition, you should follow the below guidance:

1.)   Create lab in region\location closest to participants

To reduce latency, a general rule of thumb is to create your lab in a region\location that is closest to your hackathon participants.  If your participants are located all over the world, you need to use your best judgment to create a lab that is centrally located.  Or, split the hackathon to use multiple labs based on the locations where your participants are located.

2.)   Choose a compute size best suited for usage needs

Generally, the larger the compute size, the faster the virtual machine will perform; however, to limit costs, you will need to select the appropriate compute size based on your participants’ needs.  Refer to VM sizing information in the administrator guide for details on the available compute sizes.

3.)   Configure RDP\SSH for remote desktop connection to Linux VMs

If your hackathon uses Linux VMs, you need to ensure that remote desktop is enabled so your participants can use either RDP (remote desktop protocol) or SSH (secure shell) to connect to their VM.  Note that this step is only required for Linux VMs and must be enabled when creating the lab.  In addition, for RDP, you may need to install and configure the RDP server and GUI packages on the template VM before publishing.  For further information, refer to the how-to guide on enabling remote desktop for Linux.

4.)   Install and stop Windows updates

If you are using a Windows image, we recommend that you install the latest Windows updates on the lab’s template VM before you publish to create the labs’ VMs.  This is for security purposes and to prevent participants from being disrupted during the hackathon to install updates which can also cause their VMs to restart.  You might also consider turning off Windows updates to prevent any future interruptions.  Refer to the how-to guide on installing and configuring Windows updates.

5.)   Decide how students will back up their work

Students are each assigned their virtual machine for the lifetime of the hackathon.  They can save directly to the machine, but it’s recommended that students back up their work so that they have access to it after the hackathon is over.  For example, they should save to an external location, such as OneDrive, GitHub, etc.  To use OneDrive, you may choose to configure this automatically for students on their lab virtual machines.  Refer to the how-to guide to install and configure OneDrive.

6.)   Set VM capacity according to number of participants

You need to ensure that your lab’s virtual machine capacity is set based on the number of participants you expect at your hackathon.  When you publish the template virtual machine, it can take several hours to create all of the machines in the labs which is why we recommend that you do this well in advance to the start of the hackathon.  For further information, refer to the how-to guide on updating lab capacity.

7.)   Decide whether to restrict lab access

When adding users to the lab, there is a Restrict access option that is enabled by default – this requires you to add all of your hackathon participants’ emails to the roster before they can register and access the lab using the registration link.  If you have a hackathon where you don’t know who the participants will be prior to the event, you can choose to disable the Restrict access option which allows anyone to register for the lab using the registration link.  For further information, refer to the how-to guide on adding users.

8.)   Verify schedule, quota, and auto-shutdown settings

Lab Services provides several cost controls to limit usage of VMs.  However, if these settings are misconfigured, they can cause your lab’s virtual machines to unexpectedly shutdown.  To ensure that these settings are configured appropriately for your hackathon, verify the following:

• Schedule: A schedule allows you to automatically control when your labs’ machines are started and shut down.  By default, no schedule is configured when you create a new lab.  However, you should ensure that your lab’s schedule is set according to what makes sense for your hackathon.  As an example, if your hackathon starts on Saturday at 8:00 AM and ends on Sunday at 5:00 PM – you could create a schedule that automatically starts the machine at 7:30 AM on Saturday (about 30 minutes before the start of the hackathon) and shuts it down at 5:00 PM on Sunday.  Alternatively, you may also decide not to use a schedule at all.
• Quota: The quota controls the number of hours that participants will have access to a virtual machine outside of the scheduled hours.  If the quota is reached while a participant is using it, the machine is automatically shut down and the participant is not able to restart it unless the quota is increased.  By default, when you create a lab, the quota is set to 10 hours.  Again, you should be sure to set the quota so that it allows enough time for the hackathon – this is especially important if you have not created a schedule.
• Auto-shutdown: When enabled, the auto-shutdown setting causes Windows virtual machines to automatically shut down after a certain length of time once a student has disconnected from their RDP session.  By default, this setting is disabled. 

9.)   Configure firewall settings to allow connections to lab VMs

You need to ensure that your school’s or organization’s firewall settings allow connecting to lab virtual machines using RDP\SSH.  Specifically, refer to the how-to guide on configuring your network’s firewall settings.

10.)           Install RDP\SSH client on participants’ tablets, Macs, PCs, etc.

Hackathon participants must have an RDP and\or SSH client installed on the tablet, Mac, PC, etc. that they will use to connect to the lab virtual machine.  You may choose from a variety of RDP\SSH clients, such as:

• Microsoft’s Remote Desktop Connection app for RDP connections.  Note that the Remote Desktop Connection app is supported on a variety of platforms, including Chromebooks and Mac.
• Putty for using SSH to connect to a Linux VM.

11.)  Verify lab virtual machines

Once you’ve published the lab virtual machines, you should verify they are configured properly. You only need to do this verification for one of the participant’s lab virtual machines:

• Connect using RDP and\or SSH.
• Open each additional application, tool, etc. that you installed to customize the base virtual machine image.
• Walk through a few basic scenarios that are representative of the activities that participants will do to ensure virtual machine performance is adequate based on the compute size selected.

Day of the Hackathon

This section outlines the steps to complete the day of your hackathon.

1.)   Start lab virtual machines

Depending on your OS, your lab machine may take up to 30 minutes to start.  As a result, it’s important to start the machines before the hackathon starts so that your participants don’t have to wait.  If you are using a schedule, you will want to ensure that the virtual machines are automatically started at least 30 minutes earlier as well.

2.)   Invite students to register and access their lab virtual machine

For your participants to access their lab virtual machine, you need to provide your participants with:

• The lab’s registration link. 
• Credentials that should be used for connecting to the machine (this only applies if your lab uses a Windows based image and you configured all virtual machines to use the same password).
• Instructions on how participants SSH and\or RDP to their machine.

Refer to the how-to guide on sending invitations to users and connecting to Linux VMs for more information.

We hope you find this checklist helpful in setting up a lab for your next Hackathon event. 

Let us know if you have any feedback or questions for us in the comments section. 

-Lab Services team