Pre-announcement

To be sent on 2/6/2017 to all current Workbench users and the ndslabs Google group update.

2-6: re-revised given in-office discussion

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Subject: NDS Labs Workbench Update Notification

To all NDS Labs Workbench account-holders, cc: ndslabs Google group subscribers.

NDS Labs Workbench is scheduled to be off-line for a system upgrade  Friday, February 10th through Tuesday, February 14th.

The NDS Labs Workbench service will be upgraded during this time to enhance stability and improve system performance,

A post-upgrade email will announce the resumption of service, and include any important notes about the upgrade.

Impacts:  

• Workbench user accounts will be maintained across the upgrade, access to your account will continue without change.
• All existing services, files, and data in accounts will be discarded. While Workbench should not be used for storing data, if you have any data on the system please download it before Friday.

Actions Required:

• No action is necessary.  Your account will be accessible as usual but will be in a clean state with no data or services.

Contact ndslabs-support@nationaladataservice.org for questions

Post-announcement

To be sent on 2/15/2017 to current Workbench users and the ndslabs Google group.

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Subject: RE: NDS Labs Workbench Update Notification

To all NDS Labs Workbench account-holders, cc: ndslabs Google group subscribers.

The NDS Labs Workbench upgrade is complete.  This release (v1.0.8) resolves stability and performance problems. For more information, please see https://nationaldataservice.atlassian.net/wiki/display/NDSC/Feature+Overview

Please contact ndslabs-support@nationaladataservice.org with any questions.

Thank you for using NDS Labs Workbench and we look forward to your feedback about the improved system

NDS Labs Team

Release Notes

Below is a preliminary readout of our beta release notes:

• Labs Workbench now runs on Kubernetes 1.5
• Allow for optional account registration, to better support future workshops and iSchool partnerships
• Allow admin user to shut down user services, in case of emergency
• Fixed multiple major stability problems in infrastructure (GlusterFS, K8 master, out of disk, etc)
• Fixed some egregious bugs in Password Recovery and the launching of the FileManager
• Added cluster backup procedures to perform nightly saves of critical data and user files
• Added several automated Selenium browser testing suites for the UI
• Added some new Python developer environments (based on Cloud9 and Vim)