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Department of Computer Science

Technical Services and Support

Instructional Lab

Last modified:  Aug 29, 2024

Announcements

  • 🆕 As of July 2025, we will no longer provide VMPlayer on our system. Please see Running Virtual Machine using KVM. 

  • 🆕 Aug 6, 2024: Windows 10/11 users may encounter an error message about a “Corrupted MAC on input” or “message authentication code incorrect.” when opening an SSH connection.  This error is due to an outdated OpenSSL library in Windows and a security requirement on CS machines.

    Adding -m hmac-sha2-512 to your SSH command will resolve the issue for command-line and Powershell SSH users. For example, ssh -m hmac-sha2-512 your_netid@ilabu.cs.rutgers.edu

    For VSCode SSH extension users, you must create an SSH config file on your local computer (~/.ssh/config) with a host entry for your connecting host. For example:

    Host ilabu
   HostName ilabu.cs.rutgers.edu
   MACs hmac-sha2-512
  • July 23, 2024: iLabU is now running Ubuntu 24.04 LTS. It is intentionally set up so users have a place to test their software for compatibility. Other iLab machines remain on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS until Summer 2025.  This new installation could cause the following errors when you log in via SSH client: 
    This is a normal issue as the new installs have new keys.  To fix this problem on a Linux/MacOS machine, type:
    ssh-keygen -f ~/.ssh/known_hosts -R "ilabu.cs.rutgers.edu"
Past Announcements
2023
    • Jan 16, 2024:  As of June 2024, ScarletMail/Apps Account will be limited to 30GB of space. There is no more unlimited ScarletMail storage.
    •  Jan 5, 2024:  Due to a recent OS security upgrade, certain SSH Clients may be complaining about the authenticity of SSH keys as follows.
      This is expected as your SSH client may not recognize the new ED25519 fingerprint. So, it is safe to enter ‘yes‘ to continue.
    • 🆕 Aug 7, 2023: Due to a recent OS upgrade to Ubuntu 22.04, iLab{1-4}.cs may be complaining about SSH keys as follows:

      This is a normal issue as the new installs have new keys.  To fix this problem on a Linux/MacOS machine, type:
      ssh-keygen -f ~/.ssh/known_hosts -R "ilab.cs.rutgers.edu"
2022
2021
    • On Sep 23, 2021, the latest version of  Netbeans, IntelliJ IDEA, and PyCharm IDEs were added to all iLab machines.  Students learning how to program in  Java may want to check Netbeans.
    • As of Aug 31, 2021, access to Windows Remote Desktop Gateway requires NetID+. If you have not done so, please activate your NetID+.
    • All iLab machines have been upgraded to Ubuntu 20.04.
    • If you are NOT seeing your iLab files in /common/home home directory, please look in ilabfolder. All users who had used /common/home before the move had all files from /ilab/users moved toilabfolder to avoid data loss.
    • Saturday morning, May 29, all ilab and grad systems will change to new home directories. Downtime will start around 9 am. It may only take an hour but plan for the systems to be up by noon.WARNING: For a few hours on Saturday, your directories may be missing files you created recently. We’ll update them within a few hours of bringing the systems back up. The current home directories are being merged into /common/home. While most people probably don’t care what the name of their home directory is, if you do, it will be /common/home/NETID rather than /ilab/home/NETID.* If you haven’t already used /common/home, your current home directory will be moved to it. You shouldn’t see anything different unless you have scripts with absolute file names. If you don’t know what /common/home is, this alternative applies to you.* If you have files on /common/home, we’ll leave them alone and put your ilab home directory into a subdirectory called “ilab.” Depending on how you have used/common/home, you may want to move startup and configuration files, such as .bashrc, from that ilab subdirectory to your home directory. In most cases, this will result in a larger quota since the quotas on /common/home are
      * Undergrads and masters: 50 GB
      * PhD and faculty: 200 GB. Later this summer, we will migrate/common/users to a new file system. It will get larger quotas. The difference between the two is that /common/home is on SSD disk, while /common/users is on conventional disk. So /common/home should be faster. The difference may not be apparent because the limit is the network protocol. But we would ask that you do I/O intensive jobs such as AI training using /common/home if possible.
    • As of Jan 19. 2021, /filer/tmp2 has been removed as announced. Please use /filer/tmp1 (bigger, newer, and SSD based). See  Storage and Technology Options for more info.
    • As of Jan 15, 2021, iLabU machines have been upgraded to Ubuntu 20.04 LTS for those who want to run the latest version of Ubuntu. All other CS machines will be upgraded to Ubuntu 20.04 LTS in late Summer 2021.
    • Please note /filer/tmp2 will be discontinued on Jan 18, 2021. All users should move essential data to /filer/tmp1(bigger, newer, and SSD-based). We won’t be doing our semesterly wipe of /filer/tmp1 this semester to speed up this transition to /filer/tmp1.
2020
    • On Nov 12, 2020, Apple released a new MacOS BigSur. There are many issues with this update. See Mac OS BigSur FAQ for more details. Please do not update your Mac mid-semester unless you can live without it.
    • We added a new file server based on NVMe memory (SSD). It is called /common/home. It’s also being used for /filer/tmp1. For more details, see  Storage and Technology Options
    • If you use MacOS X 10.15 (Catalina), update to the latest version. MacOS X 10.15 Catalina has bugs causing problems with XQuartz, control keys, key mapping, X2Go, and many others.
    • On  Mon, Aug 31, 2020, by noon- 1 p.m., the policy README file will remove all your files from /freespace/local on all iLab machines. If you need to keep anything, please copy it elsewhere — for example, to /common/users, which has a 100GB quota.
    • iLab machines are being converted from Centos 7 to Ubuntu 18.04 LTS system this summer to bring us closer to more recent software releases. If you are having issues connecting via ssh client, try updating your client.
    • During the Summer of 2020, all CS CentOS7 Linux machines will be upgraded to Ubuntu 18.04. Please expect downtime.  We will post notices on the LCSR Twitter site. Machines in Hill 248 and Hill 252 will not be upgraded until after the Summer session.
    • On Memorial Day, Mon, May 25, 2020, by noon-1 pm, all your files will be removed from /freespace/local on all iLab machines by the policy README file. If you need to keep anything, please copy it elsewhere — for example, to /common/users, which has a 100GB quota.
    • April 1, 2020:  OIT wrote, “Due to recent and increasing exploits utilizing RDP, a decision was made to block this port from the internet into Rutgers University address space.” This means to use Remote Desktop service to connect to iLab machines; you need to utilize a VPN service or Remote Desktop Protocol Gateway Service. OIT recommends the latter for better performance.  You can also utilize the macgateway described in the Working at Home document to connect using Remote Desktop Protocol
2019
    • As of October 1, 2019, we have enabled access to /dresden/users home directory on iLab machines. This means CBIM users with access to /dresden/users home directory can access their data from iLab machines without copying them locally, saving everyone time and disk space.
2018
    • Dropbox is not supported as of Oct 15, 2018. Use Scarletmail Google Drive. You have unlimited space there instead of 2GB from Dropbox.
    • Starting in Fall 2018, all users should be using a machine named ilab.cs.rutgers.edu, which will randomly pick iLab1.cs, iLab2.cs or iLab3.cs. See iLab Machine Status to find the status of all iLab servers and iLab desktop machines.
    • For those users who use emacs on x2go, please use: emacs-23.1 to avoid compatibility issue.

Finding a Computer to Use

  • For direct connection using Weblogin, SSH, X2GO, and Windows Remote Desktop, we recommend remote users use a machine named ilab.cs.rutgers.edu, an alias for  iLab1.cs, iLab2.cs, iLab3.cs or iLab4.cs. If you prefer other machines, please look at the list of iLab machines and  their status to find the best iLab machines to use.
  • If you have an issue with a specific iLab machine, report it or check the Status of iLab Machines and pick a different machine.
Hints
  • Access iLab machines

    To access iLab machines, see Using CS WebLogin to Access iLab Machines

  • Running out of space

    We provide at least 50GB of storage in /common/home/your_netid and 100GB in /common/users.your_netid. If you still need more storage space, see  Storage and Technology Options.

  • Browser Asking for password.

    Some people are having keyring issues when opening a browser.  If you have forgotten your keyring password, the fix is to delete your saved password by typing this in a terminal window.
    rm ~/.local/share/keyrings/*.keyring . You will be asked again to create a new password when you re-run the browser.

  •  Login issue on locked screen

    If you changed your password while a session is locked, you may get this error,
    “Authentication Required! The password you use to log into your computer no longer matches that of your login keyring.” to fix your problem, log on to the text console and type:
    killall -9 gnome-keyring-daemon
    rm   ~/.gnome2/keyrings/*.keyring

    To get a text console, type:  + of the machine.
    To return to Graphical console, type:  +

  • I am a new user. Help!

    If you are new to CS Resources, see Introduction and  General Computing page

  • Please consult Working at Home page to assist you with your computing need at home.
  • Please follow us on X/Twitter @RutgersLCSR for up-to-date announcements
About iLab

The iLab cluster includes remotely accessible machines via Weblogin, SSH, X2GO and Windows Remote Desktop and 3 publicly accessible rooms (Hill 248, Hill 252, or Hill254)

Class Programming and System Specific Notices
Using iLab Machines

To use CS iLab Machines, we recommend users to check list of available machines and their status first then:

Home Pages for Students
You can setup iLab home pages. This homepage needs to be stored in world readable public_html folder within /common/home/web, i.e. /common/home/web/$USER/public_html and is accessible via http://people.cs.rutgers.edu/your_netid. See Publishing web pages or CS Homepage Manager for more details.
Trouble logging

For help with our systems or If you need immediate assistant, visit LCSR Operator at CoRE 235 or call 848-445-2443. Otherwise, see CS HelpDesk. Don’t forget to include your NetID along with descriptions of your problem.