Category: CLSE Release Notes

Now available in CAEN computer labs for the start of the Winter 2019 term is a new release of MATLAB that includes access to all available MathWorks toolkits. This new release of MATLAB can be accessed by selecting the version that starts with “MATLAB 64-bit R2018b” (note the “R2018b” in the name).

Later this term, ITS will make this version of software available for download and installation on student-owned computers. See the ITS MATLAB License for Students website (requires login) for details.

A new CAEN software listing website is available for the Fall 2017 term. This website offers an improved search for finding and viewing CAEN licensed software. It is now possible to search for software applications that match titles as you type them in real time, as well as obtain application version numbers, supported operating systems, and details about the licensing restrictions on usage.

Updated 9/29/2017 – The full suite of Adobe Creative Cloud applications have been deployed to the following locations:

• Duderstadt Center 3rd Floor East Alcove
• EECS 1230
• IOE G610
• LBME 1310
• NAME 134

The available applications in the suite include:

• Adobe Acrobat
• Adobe Audition
• Adobe Dreamweaver
• Adobe Illustrator
• Adobe InDesign
• Adobe Photoshop
• Adobe Premiere Pro

Adobe Creative Cloud and Adobe Acrobat Pro DC are replacing the older Adobe applications in the new 2017 CAEN Lab Software Environment (CLSE). The new software will be available in late September due to licensing delays. GIMP has been installed in CAEN labs as an alternative to Adobe, and is available today in all labs. Those needing Adobe Creative Suite or Acrobat Pro can still use the old versions which are available in the Duderstadt Center Lower Level, and via the Windows remote access service by connecting to the CAEN Labs 2016 pool. These computers will run the older 2016 CLSE for legacy access until October 3.

Important: When installed, the new Adobe Acrobat Pro DC will be available on all computers in CAEN labs, however the new Adobe Creative Cloud will only be licensed to run on 160 specific CAEN lab computers. Once available, a list of locations for those computers will be updated here, and provided in the CAEN software listing website.

Beginning with the Fall 2017 term, students will no longer be assigned a “roaming profile” when using Microsoft Windows 10 on CAEN lab computers. With this change, students should see a more consistent and improved user experience with the Microsoft Windows 10 environment on CAEN lab computers.

After this planned change takes place, students can expect to see the following:

• Desktop and Documents folders will continue to follow the student from computer-to-computer
• Applications settings for some applications will no longer follow the student between computers
• Validation to the CAEN software web page (Cloudpaging) completes more consistently
• The Windows Start Menu will be customized by CAEN for a better user experience

If you have any questions concerning this change, please Contact CAEN.

The OpenAFS client for Windows will no longer be included as part of the CAEN Lab Software Environment (CLSE) beginning in the Fall 2017. Usage of the AFS service (a.k.a. the “H:” drive) has been steadily declining for several years, and after reviewing the usage statics form the last academic year, we believe the software should be retired. College of Engineering students will continue to receive a 50 Gigabyte Windows-based home directory (a.k.a. the “N:” drive); that is not affected by this change. This space is also accessible from the CAEN Linux hosts. Other storage services, such as U-M Box and U-M Google Drive, will also continue to be available from the Kumo Client, and may be a useful alternative.

Students will still be able to access their U-M AFS space by connecting to MFile: http://mfile.umich.edu/

Accessing U-M AFS as the home directory on the CLSE Linux environment will not change.

CAEN is piloting a service called Kumo which allows you to map your cloud-based storage drives such as U-M Box and U-M Google Drive to a CAEN lab computer. Originally developed by Indiana University, it is simple to use and allows easy access to your Box and Google drives.

Setup is easy; just authorize your cloud storage accounts, and they’ll show up as a network drive on any CAEN lab computer. To start using the service, simply go to the website kumo.it.umich.edu and sign in with your uniqname and UMICH password. You can then authorize your account to access any or all of the available cloud storage services. You only need to authorize once. After authorizing, the next time you sign into a CAEN lab computer you should see those cloud storage options appear as network drives under the “Computer” icon.

See our poster about Kumo from the 2016 Michigan IT Symposium:

(Click image to view full size)

Important Notice: The Kumo service is in a pilot deployment state. CAEN is in the process of finalizing software licensing for the Kumo service, which is expected to be completed by the end of January 2017. Students can register and use the Kumo service normally today, and should not notice any difference in the service once the software licensing is finalized and the service moves from pilot to production.

Changes to the CLSE this summer included upgrading the base operating systems to Microsoft Windows 10 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.3, as well as removing the “I” (Instructional) or “R” (Research) computer designations. For further details on these changes, and more, refer to our recent CAEN News Article.

When logging into CAEN Windows lab computers, ITS AFS home directories will no longer be automatically mounted to the H: network drive. This change is being made due to a number of compatibility problems associated with AFS storage technology and the Windows operating system (see this previous news article for more information about the problems). Students are encouraged to instead use their CAEN Windows home directory (N: drive) to store all of their class work. Recently, the CAEN Windows home directory quota was increased to 50 GB.

While the ITS AFS home directories are no longer automatically mounted, they can be mounted manually by double-clicking on the Mount AFS (IFS) Drives desktop icon: