Lab Availability

Instructions for connecting to CS resources from off campus are available here: https://my.cs.ubc.ca/docs/connecting-vpn.

For additional assistance, please email help@cs.ubc.ca.

DO NOT open an exterior door for anyone. Everyone that should have access to the building has an access fob or card. To help make the building safe ensure that all exterior doors close behind you as you enter and exit the building. Close any exterior doors that you see left open. Report unusual behavior to either the RCMP (at 911 or 822-1322) or to Parking & Security (at 822-2222).

Door Alarms

The door can remain open for 30 seconds after which an alarm will sound. If you hear the alarm when you are in the lab, please close the door. Problems should be reported via this form.

Are the labs really available all of the time?

General Information

Although every attempt is made to create a reliable facility that is available on a 24 hour basis, students should expect some downtime due to a variety of reasons. The facilities may be unavailable due to scheduled system maintenance, minor system corrections, power outages, special events, and scheduled labs. Although assignment schedules are coordinated for all labs, students should be aware that the labs will have peak times when several large courses have assignments due. Students should not rely on completing their work in the evenings, weekends or holidays when the lab systems are unattended. The plea of the system being down the night before the assignment or project is due, may not be accepted as an excuse for late submission.

Scheduled System Maintenance and Minor Corrections

System maintenance may be scheduled any Thursday at 07:00 am, following one week notice. A maintenance notice will be posted in the ubc.cs.undergrad newsgroup. In some cases, the entire system may be down, while in others, some services or machines will be unavailable. An estimate of the impact and down-time anticipated will be posted. Minor corrections such as reboots may be scheduled any day between 18:00 to 20:00, after a one day notice. Please watch for notices and schedule your time accordingly.

Power Outages

Power outages are something that the department has little or no control over and when they occur the system or parts of the system may be unavailable until the next working day.

Scheduled Labs

If extra terminals are available during regularly scheduled lab sessions, teaching assistants will often permit other students to work quietly in the lab.