Harrisburg University IT Helpdesk

Please note: Lab creation is limited to teaching faculty and access must be requested from IT.  Once access is granted, you may follow the steps below to setup your lab.  

Create a classroom lab

In this step, you create a lab for your class in Azure.

1. Navigate to Azure Lab Services website. Note that Internet Explorer 11 is not supported.
2. Select Sign in and enter your credentials. 
3. Select New lab.

4. In the New Lab window, do the following actions:
   1. Specify a name for your lab, and select Next.
   2. Specify which version of Windows or Linux you would like to use in your lab.
   3. Choose the size of the Virtual machine

    NOTE: HU is charged on the size and runtime of a Virtual Machine.  Please choose the minimum size you think will fit the needs of your class.  IT provides reports on lab spending and will investigate usage that exceeds normal costs.

On the Virtual machine credentials page, specify default credentials for all VMs in the lab. Specify the name and the password for the user, and then select Next.

 Important: Make a note of user name and password. They won't be shown again.

On the Lab policies page, select the quota hours assigned to each student for the entire duration of the class.

NOTE: Please make sure the Auto-Shutdown feature is ENABLED

5. You should see the following screen that shows the status of the template VM creation. This operation takes up to 20 minutes.

6. On the Templatepage, do the following steps:
   1. Connect to the template VM by selecting Connect. If it's a Linux template VM, you choose whether you want to connect using SSH or RDP (if RDP is enabled).  The template must be running to connect.
   2. Install and configure software required for your class on the template VM.
   3. Stop the template VM.

 Note

Template VMs incur cost when running, so ensure that the template VM is shutdown when you don’t need it to be running.

Publish the template VM

In this step, you publish the template VM. When you publish the template VM, Azure Lab Services creates VMs in the lab by using the template. All virtual machines have the same configuration as the template.

1. On the Template page, select Publish on the toolbar.

 Warning

Once you publish, you can't unpublish.

2. On the Publish template page, enter the number of virtual machines you want to create in the lab, and then select Publish.

3. You see the status of publishing the template on page. This process can take up to an hour.

4. Wait until the publishing is complete and then switch to the Virtual machines pool page by selecting Virtual machines on the left menu or by selecting Virtual machines tile. Confirm that you see virtual machines that are in Unassigned state. These VMs are not assigned to students yet. They should be in Stopped state. You can start a student VM, connect to the VM, stop the VM, and delete the VM on this page. You can start them in this page or let your students start the VMs.

 Note

When an educator turns on a student VM, quota for the student isn't affected. Quota for a user specifies the number of lab hours available to the user outside of the scheduled class time. For more information on quotas, see Set quotas for users.

Add users to the lab

1. Select Users on the left menu. By default, the Restrict access option is enabled. When this setting is on, a user can't register with the lab even if the user has the registration link unless the user is in the list of users. Only users in the list can register with the lab by using the registration link you send. In this procedure, you add users to the list. Alternatively, you can turn off Restrict access, which allows users to register with the lab as long as they have the registration link.
2. Select Add users on the toolbar, and then select Add by email address.

3. On the Add users page, enter email addresses of users in separate lines or in a single line separated by semicolons.

4. Select Save. You see the email addresses of users and their statuses (registered or not) in the list.

You will see names of users in the list after they are registered to the lab.

Send invitation emails to users

1. Switch to the Users view if you are not on the page already, and select Invite all on the toolbar.

2. On the Send invitation by email page, enter an optional message, and then select Send. The email automatically includes the registration link. You can get this registration link by selecting ... (ellipsis) on the toolbar, and Registration link.

3. You see the status of invitation in the Users list. The status should change to Sending and then to Sent on <date>.

Please reach out to IT support with any issues or questions regarding Azure Lab Services.