How to sign in to and use FIT Remote Labs

IT Service article relates to: Software & Applications

This article is intended for:

Faculty,Student

Last Updated: Thursday, September 3, 2020

Instructions

Supported Browsers

FIT Remote Labs, powered by Leostream is compatible with most up-to-date browsers including Google Chrome, Firefox Safari, and Edge.

Sign in to FIT Remote Labs

Go to https://fitlabs.fitnyc.edu/
Sign in with your FIT username and password
Click the “Sign in” button

Duo Two-Factor Authentication

FIT Remote Labs Resources

Once you sign in and complete the two-factor authentication with Duo, you will be directed to the Resources window. The Resources section lists your offered desktops. Note: Message Board can be collapsed using the “X” button at the top-right of the Message Board.

Click Connect to launch a connection to a desktop.
Only connect to Classroom computers during the date and time of your course, the scheduled time you’d be in that room if the course was held in-person. If you are scheduled into the same room for multiple courses, you will only see one selection for that room.

Note: You do not have to connect to a computer with the same operating system as you are using (Macs can connect to “PC”, Windows can connect to Mac).

Tech Tips

You can filter the resource list
Use the Show drop-down menu inside the Resources list to filter the list of offered resources.
- - All Resources – Lists all your offered resources
  - Desktops – Lists only offered desktops
  - Desktops Pools – Lists only the desktops in the pool selected in the Desktop Pools drop-down menu. “Desktop Pools” for FIT have been set up by the classroom and labs that you have been scheduled/assigned to work in. There will be additional “backup pools” which may not correlate with a classroom assignment.
What to do if “no resources available”
If all resources are listed as “(no resources available)” click on “Refresh List” at the top of the screen.

If “Refresh List” does not resolve the resource list and you are attempting to access:
- A Classroom computer during your scheduled course time.
  - Inform your professor, they may be able to remove a student that is accessing a resource outside their course time.
- A Computer Commons computer (listed as Common Lab).
  - Ensure it is not during Maintenance Windows
  - Try again later as all resources may be in use by other students. Remember there is a 3-hour time limit.
Computer Commons Computers

The Computer Commons computers will display as “Common Lab”.

The Computer Commons, rooms CC15, and CC15A are available for remote access for all current FIT students except during maintenance windows.

Connecting

A new browser tab will open and the connection should begin loading.

Just like if you were at a computer on campus it may take several minutes for your profile and all the applications to load. Note you may see different images/pop-ups.

Once authentication and desktop loading is complete, you will see an FIT campus computer desktop in your browser tab.

If connecting to a Windows computer, you will automatically be signed in and may begin using applications on the FIT Remote Labs computer.

FIT Remote Labs logged in to a Windows computer

If connecting to a Mac computer, you will need to sign in to the computer with your FIT username and password.

FIT Remote Labs Mac Desktop Log in Screen

Sign out when finished

When your class or session time has finished, please sign out properly to ensure the next student is able to access the computer. Follow the instructions, How to sign out of FIT Remote Labs.

More FIT Remote Labs Tech Tips

Navigation
- Be careful not to confuse the startup and/or dashboard controls on your computer with those on the FIT Remote Labs computer in your browser.
- You may get a pop-up, fitlabs.fitnyc.edu wants to “See text and images copied to the clipboard”. Recommended: select “Allow” this will enable you to copy/paste from the FIT Remote Labs computer to your home computer and vise versa.
Saving Your Work

As of a reminder, over the summer of 2020 Home Directories—the networked personal storage space only accessible from workstations on the FIT campus were retired. The Home Directory were sometimes referred to as the N Drive, Y Drive, or Campus Drive. The decision to retire Home Directories was made during the Fall 2019 semester to further utilize cloud storage provided with Google Drive as part of our G Suite for Education agreement.

Please use your Google Drive to save any work. Students get unlimited storage with their Google Drive.

How to sign in to G Suite (Google Drive)

For more information about how to use Google Drive, please visit Google’s Learning Center.
Browser Tabs
- You will have two browser tabs, “Leostream” tab and the tab with the computer name you are connected to.
- When you have connected to a computer you will see all other resources as not available on the “Leostream” tab.
- If you close the “Leostream” tab, you will still remain connected to the computer.
- If you close the computer name tab, you will still be connected to the computer but reopening the tab will not automatically reconnect you and may not be able to reconnect with the Apache Guacamole window that appears. Instead, you must return to the “Leostream” tab sign back in, if necessary, then find the computer you are connected to and click “Reconnect”.
How to copy/paste text to and from a FITLabs Remote computer

On a Windows computer press Control + Alt + Shift and on a Mac computer press Control + Option + Shift to use clipboard tool. Note: you may not be able to use shortcuts with this option but will need to use menu options.

Alternative instructions
Verify you have Clipboard enabled in the browser by clicking on the lock icon next to the fitlabs URL. Navigate to “Clipboard” on the window that displays, then click on the arrow and select “Allow.”

When the clipboard is disabled the clipboard icon will display with a red box with an x.

Keyboard shortcuts may not work and you may need to use menu copy/paste tools.

Tech Tip: If you are using a Mac to connect to a FIT Remote Labs Windows computer, you will need to remember that the keyboard shortcuts will begin with ctrl not cmd. For example, if you wish to copy text from a FIT Remote Labs Windows computer, you’d select the text then press control + c to copy the text. Then place your cursor when you wish to paste the text if the location is the FIT Remote Labs Windows computer you will revert to the normal shortcut codes for Mac of cmd+v to paste.
What to do if you get “Error: “Fail: “Already at maximum desktops allow.”
Unable to Connect: Already at maximum desktops allowed or no resources available.

You can only be logged in to one computer at a time. If you attempt to access more than one computer, you will get the error message, “Error: “Fail: “Already at maximum desktops allow.”

You may get this error message or “no available resources” if you did not properly sign out of a previous session or you did not allow enough time for the previous session’s computer to log out or release.

To fix this error yourself:
1. On the Resources page, click ‘Refresh List”.
2. Find the computer you were connected to and click “Release.”
3. Click “Refresh List” again. You should no longer be connected to any computers and should be able to connect to an available computer.
General
- You may also get this error message if you did not properly sign out of a previous session or you did not allow enough time for the previous session’s computer to log out.
- The ability to shut down the computer has been disabled.
- There is a one-hour idle-time limit on all computers.
  - If you do not engage the mouse or keyboard for 1 hour, the FIT Remote Labs computer will be Released automatically. (Do not use the FIT Remote Labs computer for streaming or connecting to meetings – watching videos counts as idle time).