RLES Guide

GCCIS's Remote Laboratory Emulation System (RLES; pronounced "are-less") is a virtual private network that's not accessible to the outside world, with an environment set up just for our class.

Getting Started

Access RLES at https://rlescloud.main.ad.rit.edu/vcac/#csp.cs.ui.catalog.list

(Deprecated: Access New RLES at https://rles-cloud.rit.edu/automation/#/service/catalog/)

Sign in with your RIT computer account credentials.

You can use VMRC to access your VMs. Download the VMRC installer for your OS:

• Windows
• MacOS

Note that Those VMRC downloads are on the Solace web server, which is restricted to the RIT network. You just need to connect to the RIT VPN before you can download them: https://www.rit.edu/its/virtual-private-network-vpn

Provisioning a VM

When you first log into RLES, you'll land on the Catalog, where you'll see all of the virtual machine images that you have access to. Click on 'Request' to provision a VM instance.

On the next screen, note the option selected in the "Business group" dropdown. If you're going to be using this VM in a group project, make sure your group's name is selected in this dropdown.

Update the "Description" field with a meaningful value. For example, if you're going to use this VM to test out building a LAMP stack for ISTE-444, you could enter a description of "LAMP stack for ISTE-444". Having useful descriptions will really help you out when you've got multiple VMs provisioned.

Hit the "Submit" button to send the request to have your new VM provisioned. It should take a few minutes before the new VM is ready.

Note: RLES VMs only persist for two months (so we don't end up with a ton of unused VMs hanging around). If you need yours longer than two months, you'll have to extend the VM's lease.

Accessing a VM

RLES VMs are, by default, only accessible within RLES. To access a VM that you've provisioned, go to the "Deployments" tab and find the entry for the VM that you're looking for.

RLES VMs typically automatically suspend after 6 hours in order to conserve RLES resources, so if the status of your VM is "Off", click the "Actions" dropdown (on the top right) and choose "Power on deployment" (then click "Submit" on the next screen). It should take a minute or so for the VM to turn back on.

Once a VM is powered on, click the VM's name (not the network), and then click the "Actions" (gear) dropdown to see available options (see image at right).

To access a VM, you can use a browser, or you can use VMware's Remote Console (VMRC). Using a browser to access the VM is quick and easy, but it won't allow for copy/pasting from your host computer. To use the browser, click "Connect to Remote Console" in the context menu.

To use VMware's Remote Console, click "Connect using VMRC" (see above for links to the VRMC download). A new browser tab will open with a link for connecting to the VM. Click the "Connect to console using VMRC" to open your VM using the VMRC application.

Access Outside of RLES

You can request that your VM be accessible outside of RLES. To do so, send an email to gccisit@rit.edu that includes:

1. The name of your VM (e.g. "ubuntu-1234")
2. What port(s) your web server is listening on (e.g. 80, 443, 3000, etc.)
3. What hostname you want in DNS (e.g. "awesome-site", which will become "awesome-site.webdev.gccis.rit.edu")

Once an entry has been made in the RLES reverse proxy, you'll be assigned an IP address that is mapped to your DNS name. Set that static IP address on your VM, and set the subnet mask to 255.255.254.0 and gateway to 172.16.1.254, like so:

Once the setup is complete, you'll be able to access your site from any browser outside of RLES at:

https://[hostname].webdev.gccis.rit.edu

Note that a TLS certificate is automatically added by the RLES reverse proxy, so you'll access your site over HTTPS even though you haven't configured your web server for it, and port 443 will be mapped to the port that your web server is listening on. That means that if you can access your site on your VM at "http://localhost:3000" and "http://172.16.0.1:3000", and 172.16.0.1 has been mapped in the proxy to awesome-site.webdev.gccis.rit.edu, you would access your site outside of RLES at "https://awesome-site.webdev.gccis.rit.edu" (note the 's' in 'https' and that no port is specified).

You can SSH into your VM too (as long as SSH is enabled on the VM), but you must be on the RIT network to do so (note that there'll be a custom port for each VM):

ssh [username]@[hostname].webdev.gccis.rit.edu -p[port]

Group Work

You should all be able to see your groups VMs; if, on the Deployments page, you don't see a VM that someone else in your group created, click the filter icon next to "Deployments" and clear the checkmark next to your name.

Troubleshooting

VM loses connectivity
If your VM loses connectivity, try toggling the wired connection: Click the power icon in the top right corner, click "Wired Connected", and click "Turn Off". Then again click the power icon, click "Wired Off", and then "Connect".

Freezing
If your VM appears to freeze, try exiting VMRC or your host computer's browser tab, and then reconnect to the VM.

No VM access outside of RLES
If you've followed the steps above for "Access Outside of RLES", and you're still not able to access your VM outside of RLES, try these steps:

1. First, make sure that you're able to access your application inside the VM on localhost (and specify the port). E.g., http://localhost:3000. If you can't access your app on localhost, then you've got something wrong with how you're serving your app - you need to look at your server code or web server.
2. Still inside the VM, make sure that you can access your application on the assigned IP address (with the specified port. E.g., http://172.16.0.1:3000. If you can't access your app on the assigned VM, then you probably have the network settings misconfigured. Check out the steps above, under "Access Outside of RLES", for setting a manual IP address.
3. Once you've confirmed that you can access your app by IP on your VM, ensure that you can access it on other VMs in RLES. Spin up another VM and try to access your app on the specified IP and port. If your app won't load, then you probably have a firewall issue on your app's VM.
4. Finally, test out accessing your app outside of RLES by using the assigned DNS name, e.g., https://awesome-site.webdev.gccis.rit.edu. Do not specify a port. If you can access your app inside RLES but not outside, then there's probably a configuration issue in the reverse proxy, and you should email gccisit@rit.edu.