Departmental Computing Facilities

The department Linux lab is located in rooms ET 213 and ET 214. All machines in the lab as well as departmental servers run Fedora 10 Linux. The lab uses a proximity card reader for access with your Boise State identity card. You will also need a login name and a password to use the machines. Normally your should get the login name and password from your instructor. Your instructor should also be able to help you with setting up lab access.

The main server for the lab is named onyx.boisestate.edu. There are 32 workstations in the lab, which are named node01, node02, $\ldots$, node32. The name node00 is an alias for the main server onyx. The workstations in the lab are connected with a private Gigabit Ethernet switch with the main server and each other.

The lab is especially setup for Computer Science classes. Depending upon the Computer Science class you are taking, you will learn to use various features of the lab. The 32 machines in the lab are clustered together so you can use them as a single machine if need be! That is why the lab is named the Linux Cluster Lab. Since the machines in the lab are part of a cluster, it is important not to power off any machine or disconnect the network cables. You may disrupt the work of another student!

The machine onyx is the main server and the only one that is on the public Internet, that is, visible from outside the lab. The figure below shows the layout of the Linux Cluster Lab.

A penguin cluster

To use the lab over the Internet you must login to onyx.boisestate.edu. Your home directory resides on the main server, which is the file server for the lab. Thus you have the same home directory on all machines in the lab. So in the lab you can work on any PC and you see the same files in your account.