RITlug Runbook

The Runbook is the primary resource to help executive board members of the RIT Linux Users Group manage and run the club. Different aspects of running the club are detailed in the Runbook. Different topics are sorted and organized below.

Managing CampusGroups

CampusGroups is the club management platform provided by RIT Clubs office. For RIT Clubs office record-keeping, CampusGroups is used. This article documents routine actions or maintenance work to manage the RITlug CampusGroups profile.

Home page of RITlug's CampusGroups page

Home page of RITlug’s CampusGroups page

Responsibilities

  • Update Officers
  • Maintain RITlug records for RIT Clubs office
  • Hold elections (Surveys)

Update officers

CampusGroups has an Officers page used by RIT Clubs office to recognize club leadership and assign RIT web service permissions (see RIT Event Management System) as needed. The page is under the Dashboard menu.

Update eboard officers from the Officers page

Update eboard officers from the Officers page

RITlug recognizes these positions on our executive board:

  • President (required)
  • Vice president
  • Treasurer (required)
  • Secretary
  • Officer (role varies)
  • Faculty advisor (required)

Permissioning

All eboard officers should be listed as Active Officer and Visible on Website.

The president, vice president, and faculty advisor(s) should be listed as Main contact.

An eboard officer and advisor permissions compared side by side

An eboard officer and advisor permissions compared side by side

Add eboard member

Begin from the Officers page for RITlug in CampusGroups. A member-elect must join the RITlug organization in CampusGroups first to appear in the interface.

  1. Click Add Officer in upper-right corner
  2. Search by name or RIT email address for the member-elect
  3. Check Notify each new officer by email, click Submit
  4. They should appear on the Officers page
  5. Update their position, custom position, and permissions as needed

Remove eboard member

Note

This has never been done before in CampusGroups! When done next, it should be documented here.

Maintain records

RITlug does not use many features of CampusGroups because we already have some tools or systems in place. However, RIT Clubs office uses CampusGroups as a primary electronic data source for RIT student organizations. Therefore, information should be current.

Address

  • Group email: Email alias to reach all eboard members
  • Address: Current club mailing address provided by RIT Clubs office
  • Phone: Phone number of current president
Update address settings for RITlug from CampusGroups

Update address settings for RITlug from CampusGroups

Other records

Other records are either not regularly updated or not used. Future eboards may choose to utilize CampusGroups in more detail.

Hold elections

Elections must be held via CampusGroups. This is to combat corruption and embezzlement of RIT Clubs funding. CampusGroups standardizes student organization elections for consistency and fairness.

Elections are a special type of survey in the Surveys menu. Refer to CampusGroups documentation to create elections in CampusGroups.

Election execution

See also

See Eboard transitioning for more information on election execution and policy.

Club binder

The RITlug club binder is a physical source of information about the club. It contains hard copies of the club documentation from GitHub, club accounts, and documentation from the RIT club office.

The RITlug club binder is passed from president to president during executive board transitions (see Eboard transitioning). Even though most of RITlug’s documentation is available or maintained as electronic records, the club binder should be updated annually.

Table of contents

See Club binder contents to see the table of contents in the club binder. This is maintained as a separate document to be printed and inserted into the physical binder.

Updating the binder

  1. Print documents (using instructions below)
  2. Replace updated pages in binder
  3. Update log (at front of section you updated) in binder

Printing updated documents

  • Club documents are printable via the rendered version of the Runbook
  • To save on paper, only print updated pages

Club governance

Part of the club binder includes the club governance, like the constitution. The club governance documents are hosted in a different GitHub repo, RITlug/governance. Follow these steps to generate updated versions of the governance documentation.

  • Clone RITlug/governance, install dependencies, compile documents into PDFs from LATeX
  • Print generated PDFs (print updated pages to save paper)

Club accounts

  • Request copy of RITlug budget report from Clubs office. Print sheets from document as needed.

Club binder contents

This document is a table of contents for the RITlug club binder in the RIT Clubs office.

Club Center info

History

At a future date, this may move into the Runbook.

Club info

Constitution

  • RITlug Constitution

At a future date, this may move into the Runbook.

Finances

  • RITlug budget report (from Clubs office on request)

Public relations

Eboard transitioning

This document explains how the exiting RITlug executive board (a.k.a. eboard) transitions to a new, incoming executive board.

On-boarding incoming eboard

These steps explain how to on-board new members to the RITlug eboard.

Hold elections

Elections are held towards the end of the spring semester. Running an annual election is required by the club office and should never be skipped. Follow these steps to execute an election.

Note: Elections can also be held in the fall if a seat is left vacant.

  • Week 10: Open call for nominations

    • Open call for nominations: club members nominate others in community for eboard positions
    • Verify / confirm nominations with nominees
    • Accept nominations in a Google Drive form

  • Week 12: Hold elections during club meeting

    • At start of Week 12 (Monday), open election with nominated candidates
    • Create CampusGroups survey to accept votes (see Managing CampusGroups for more info); remind club members that voting is anonymous
    • Close form at end of Week 12 (Sunday)
    • Current eboard members reach out to winning members to confirm their acceptance of role
    • At Week 13 meeting, announce results to club members in room; follow-up with an email announcment after

Congratulate all nominees for their participation in the election.

Update CampusGroups roles

RIT clubs are required to use CampusGroups and maintain records for the clubs office. After holding an election, update the incoming eboard members inside of CampusGroups.

Detailed documentation on CampusGroups can be found on the Managing CampusGroups page.

Update email aliases

RITlug uses different email aliases for different uses in the club. At the end of the semester, outgoing eboard members should replace their aliases with incoming eboard members. This is required for email aliases intended for a single role (e.g. president@ritlug.com, secretary@ritlug.com, etc.). For project aliases (e.g. tigeros@ritlug.com), it is up to the discretion of an individual and the project team if they wish to remain on the alias.

Detailed documentation on updating email aliases is found on the Update email aliases page.

Introduce faculty adviser

Outgoing eboard members help incoming members maintain a relationship with the faculty adviser. Arrange a meeting time for the outgoing and incoming eboard members to meet with the faculty adviser.

See also

See Faculty advisor for more information.

Other on-boarding tasks

  • Share Runbook with incoming eboard members, encourage questions and feedback on improving the Runbook

  • Incoming eboard members must take financial certification test from RIT clubs office (all eboard members must be certified to use club funds)

  • Add incoming eboard as Slack organization admins

  • Add incoming eboard to private Slack channel for eboard discussion

  • Add incoming eboard to new eboard team in GitHub organization, archive old eboard team, grant ownership privileges to president / vice president (see GitHub organization)

  • Add incoming eboard to RITlug GitLab eboard team.

  • Add incoming eboard members as collaborators with write access to the RITlug Google Drive folder

  • Transfer ownership of RIT computer account for RITlug (i.e. ritlug at rit dot edu)

  • Grant operator privileges to incoming eboard members in IRC channel (see IRC channel).

  • Add incoming eboard members as admins to Telegram group (optional, Telegram is no longer promoted)

  • If new president:

    • Pass off club binder at club office to new president
    • Transfer ownership of RITlug Slack to new president
    • Transfer ownership of Google Drive folder to new president’s RIT email

Off-boarding outgoing eboard

These tasks are done at the discretion of incoming eboard members. All steps are recommended and encouraged, but not required. Use best judgment for whether access should be revoked (especially if outgoing members remain active members of RITlug).

  • (Required) Remove permissions / roles in CampusGroups (see Managing CampusGroups)
  • Downgrade outgoing members from Slack organization admins to regular members
  • Remove outgoing members from private Slack channel for eboard discussion
  • Remove outgoing members from current “Eboard” team in GitHub, remove ownership rights if they have it (see GitHub organization)
  • Remove outgoing members from eboard GitLab group.
  • Revoke privileges in RITlug Google Drive folder
  • Transfer account ownership of RIT computer account, update any info, reset password (if necessary)
  • Remove channel operator privileges on IRC (optionally can grant voice privileges) (see IRC channel)
  • Revoke admin privileges on Telegram group (if applicable)
  • Revoke account privileges from any RITlug-owned machines or servers (see Hosted server)

Faculty advisor

This document explains the role of the faculty advisor in RITlug and how to on-board and off-board a faculty advisor.

About faculty advisor

All recognized RIT clubs must have a faculty advisor. The faculty advisor is a permanent position and not subject to annual elections.

Responsibilities

Faculty advisors can take a hands-on or hands-off role. Historically, RITlug’s advisor is hands-off. This assumes the club is in good standing and is in regular communication with the advisor. If a new advisor is selected, they should meet with the current eboard and discuss expectations.

The advisor is a point of contact for the club and RIT clubs office. Thus, there are a few forms that the advisor must sign annually (usually at the beginning and end of the year). Periodically, the advisor may need to resolve issues with the clubs office or with renewing club resources.

Changing advisors

The faculty advisor may change at any time during the year. If this happens, a new advisor must be found immediately (or else the club risks losing recognition by student government). RITlug is an officially-recognized club and is required to have a faculty advisor at all times. Once found, off-board the outgoing advisor and on-board the incoming advisor.

Off-board outgoing advisor

  • Request RIT clubs office to remove former advisor from CampusGroups
  • Follow eboard off-boarding procedures for faculty advisor (see Eboard transitioning)
  • Thank your outgoing faculty advisor for their support (physical gifts, like a thank you card signed by club members or a gift card, are nice gestures)

On-board incoming advisor

  • Request RIT clubs office to add new advisor to CampusGroups

    • Office sends email invitation to new advisor
    • Ask if other steps should be followed to bring in new advisor, in case requirements change [1]

  • Instruct new advisor to contact RIT clubs office (they will be sent paperwork to formally accept role)

  • Follow eboard on-boarding procedures for faculty advisor (see Eboard transitioning)

  • Organize formal meeting between current eboard and new advisor to communicate expectations and/or concerns

[1]Always ask – RIT clubs office does not directly communicate changes to requirements

GitHub organization

This page explains how the RITlug GitHub organization is organized and how to manage it.

Purpose

The GitHub organization is a central place to manage club projects, membership, and infrastructure. Most data is static and does not change often. Setting up club projects or adding a new member is when you usually need to interact with the GitHub organization.

Repositories

There are no restrictions on repositories allowed. Repository creation permission is granted only to eboard members as a precaution. This approach was decided to ensure that the current eboard has a chance to review a project before officially endorsing it underneath our GitHub organization.

Generally, repository creation should be encouraged rather than discouraged.

Adding new members

There is no criteria for adding new members to the RITlug GitHub organization. There are no requirements to add new members to the RITlug GitHub organization other than being an active community member. In the future, if a membership criteria is developed, this section should be updated.

Active community members of RITlug should be added to the GitHub organization. Adding a new person to the GitHub organization validates their contributions and activity in the club and helps others be included with projects. Past eboards intentionally chose a loose definition of membership in GitHub for this reason.

These steps should be followed to add a new member:

  1. Add them to organization via GitHub
  2. File new issue in RITlug/tasks to welcome them
  3. Add them to an appropriate GitHub Team (detailed below)
Add a new member to the GitHub organization from the People page

Add a new member to the GitHub organization from the People page

Welcome message

Welcome new members to GitHub and notify them of why they were added. To do this, file a new issue in RITlug/tasks to explain why they were added and how to set their membership status to public. Past examples can be used as references ([1] [2] [3]).

Telling the person how to set their membership as public is important. This instruction should always be included in the welcome message.

GitHub Teams

GitHub Teams are a tool to organize members inside of a GitHub organization. This also allows for permission matrices for different repositories and projects.

GitHub Teams in our organization

GitHub Teams in our organization

There are four teams:

  1. Eboard: Club leadership (grants admin access to all repositories)
  2. Friends of RITlug: Active participants with the club from outside RIT or other friends of the club (does not include permissions)
  3. Members: RIT students, faculty, and staff participating in RITlug (does not include permissions)
  4. TigerOS Team: TigerOS project team (grants write access to TigerOS repositories)

Anyone added to the GitHub organization should belong to at least one team.

[1]https://github.com/RITlug/history/issues/12
[2]https://github.com/RITlug/history/issues/13
[3]https://github.com/RITlug/history/issues/18

Club fairs

RIT hosts several club fairs throughout the year. Since RITlug is a recognized student organization, RITlug can attend to attract new members. Event attendance is optional, but must be organized by the eboard.

Incoming students club fair

Three to four club fairs are held around the year. However, the club fair held for incoming students at the beginning of fall semester is the largest. This is the best way to attract interest from incoming freshmen or transfer students. This is an important event for RITlug to participate in.

The incoming students club fair is usually held the weekend before the first day of classes. This falls towards the end of the week for freshman orientation. Participating members should plan an arrival to Rochester in time for the fair.

To attend, clubs must fill out a registration form sent by the RIT clubs office towards the end of spring semester. The content of the form varies, but usually requests the following information:

  • Name / information about club
  • Number of participants at table (for chairs)
  • Whether power is needed

The form is not complex, but must be filled out on time. Typically, the deadline is in the middle of summer. Watch for communication by the RIT clubs office towards the end of spring semester for more information.

Staffing

Two eboard members are required to staff a table at a club fair. Three members are recommended, to better handle questions and take breaks. Additionally, general members can participate at the table as an involvement opportunity. Any number of members may participate, depending on the size of the fair.

Anyone staffing the table should be prepared to speak to people. It is a good idea to think about the “elevator pitch” for the club before the fair. This can include what RITlug focuses on, what we do in our meetings, and any active projects in the club.

Preparation and setup

Register for fair

Follow these steps to register and prepare for the club fair first:

  1. Register for club fair (watch for RIT clubs office newsletters to register)
  2. Request chairs and access to power
  3. Create sign-up form on Google Drive to collect email addresses of anyone interested (include name, email, year, interest areas)

Packing list

Prepare for the club fair by assembling these items:

  • Tablecloth (x1)
  • Printed RITlug banner (x1)
  • Laptops (x2)
  • Monitors (x2)
  • USB keyboard (x1)
  • USB mouse (x1)
  • Printed brochures / handouts
  • Any projects to display

Day-of setup

On the day of the club fair, follow these steps:

  1. Spread out tablecloth across table
  2. Hang RITlug banner across table
  3. Set up monitors and connect them to laptops
  4. Display club website on one monitor, Google Drive form on other
    • Keyboard and mouse should be attached to laptop with Google Drive form

Post-fair follow-up

  • Write personal email to new addresses to introduce them to club, website, how to get involved (as a one-time message)
  • Add email addresses from Google Drive form to Google Groups mailing list (see How to send email announcements)

Be careful about sending too many emails. Too many emails may have the inverse effect.

Additionally, the RITlug eboard should hold a retrospective in the next eboard meeting to evaluate how it went. This Runbook page should be a part of the discussion. Be sure to update anything on this page based on how a club fair went or improvements for next time.

Eboard Meetings

This page documents RITlug executive board (eboard) meetings. Topics include room booking, preparation, and running of the meeting.

Meeting checklist

Pre-meeting

The President will triage the RITlug operations board, looking for tasks that require attention. The label review at meeting should be assigned to tasks that need explicit review by eboard.

Each topic to be discussed at an eboard meeting must have a corresponding issue.

Meeting

  1. Designate a notetaker, typically the secretary, to record discussion points and action items for each task. The notetaker should record their notes in the comments section of each task. At the end of each eboard meeting every task should have a clear set of action items to be worked on.
  2. A member will lead the meeting by reviewing the tasks assigned the review at meeting label.

If new work is discussed during the meeting then a task should be created to track the work within the RITlug operations board.

Date and time

At the start of the semester, a day of week and time should be decided upon by the eboard members during which they are all free to meet on campus. Eboard members who are on co-op or otherwise unavailable for in-person meetings during the semester have the option to be videoconferenced into the meeting.

Holding an eboard meeting several days ahead of the general meeting provides eboard the time to react to last-minute issues, such as speaker cancellations or content review.

Booking a room

A room equipped with a projector or shared display is useful for displaying the RITlug operations board. Booking a room for the semester is recommended.

If this is not an option then a library study room can be reserved on behhalf of the club using EMS. The room WAL-3570 is a large study room with a VGA-powered TV that past eboard meetings have been held in.

RIT Event Management System

This page documents the RIT Event Management System (EMS). EMS is the system RIT offers to students and student organizations to make room reservations and requests.

When it is used

RIT EMS is used when you need to make a reservation for a room on RIT’s campus. Extra options are enabled on student accounts linked to a student organization.

Hint

The official name for our club in RIT’s system is Linux Users Group. Events should be entered as “Student Org Space Confirmed” to signal club office to approve them, at which point they will change to “Student Org Event Approved” (or similar). FYI, at time of writing the process for rooms not available normally (such as Golisano labs) is being changed, specifics unknown.

Account privileges are managed through CampusGroups (see Managing CampusGroups). Make sure eboard members are current for grant or revoke privileges.

Booking options from RIT EMS with student org privileges

Booking options from RIT EMS with student org privileges

Contacts

Issues with EMS should be emailed to studentevents@rit.edu which is maintained by a student worker. When an event is approved you will be emailed different addresses to contact should changes be needed. Beyond that the Tiger Suite should be visited in-person.

Meetings

This page documents RITlug general meetings. Topics include meeting format, meeting topics, how to plan a meeting, and what to do after a meeting. Occasionally, there are “special” meetings or project meetings, which may follow a different format (TigerOS meetings, game nights, etc.). Special meetings are not covered by this page.

Meeting checklist

Pre-meeting

  1. Plan topic(s) for meeting
  2. Announce meeting and topic
  3. Prepare presentation, slides, or handouts
  4. Advertise special topics (e.g. posters)
  5. Create sign-in form on CampusGroups

Meeting

  1. Ensure at least one eboard member is present prior to meeting start time (15 minutes preferably)
  2. At start, share any announcements and introduce presenter
  3. Ensure at least one eboard member is present until the end of the meeting

Post-meeting

  1. Collect slides as PDF from presenter, post to RITlug website
  2. If guest speaker, be sure to thank them
  3. If no other classes after, notify a lab assistant at The Cage [1] that the room is no longer in use

Date and time

At the start of each semester, eboard members decide a date and time for RITlug general meetings. A date and time should be selected based on availability of all eboard members. Times with better availability for all eboard members are preferred. This helps build in flexibility in case of illness or unexpected circumstances, if someone is unable to attend.

If possible, a consistent date and time across semesters is preferred. This helps eboard and club members plan their semester accordingly. However, if a changed time cannot be avoided, it is better to choose a more flexible time than the same time as a previous semester.

Historically, RITlug meetings are held on Friday evenings, from 4:00pm until 6:00pm.

Pre-meeting preparations

Planning ahead for a meeting is the most important step to run a successful meeting.

Generally, meetings should have a topic five days before the meeting. Once a topic is decided, an email announcement and Slack announcement should be sent (see How to send email announcements). The sooner an announcement is shared, the better probability of better attendance.

Choosing meeting topics

There are no explicit restrictions for meeting topics. Topics are usually related to Linux. However, open source technology or general technology are also acceptable. It is best when topics are something an eboard member is genuinely interested in.

Sometimes, a guest speaker or club member may propose a topic. If it is someone outside of the eboard, they should submit a talk title and a 3-4 sentence abstract of their talk. Use best judgment if the topic is a good fit for RITlug. All talks should aim to teach and share knowledge. Anything that creates humor at the expense of someone else or a group of people, or contradicts RIT student behavior policy is not acceptable.

Additionally, consider breaking the idea of a “traditional” talk or presentation. Sometimes the best RITlug meetings were not talks or presentations, but game nights or lightning talks. What is detailed here is not the limit to your creativity.

Reusing presentations

Generating new content every week for two semesters is hard. There is a large archive of past presentations by RITlug eboard members in the RITlug Google Drive folder. Reusing past presentations is acceptable, assuming they were not recently given. Avoid giving the same presentation more than once or twice a year.

Posters

Surprisingly, posters are wildly effective for advertising and promoting an event. For special topics or more detailed presentations, RITlug prepares and hangs posters around campus (not only GCCIS). These are usually effective for drawing interest and building some “hype” for a presentation.

In the past, we tried hanging posters every week, but for the small size of our eboard, this is challenging. If possible, try to involve club members to help with this task. If not, prioritize topics that may be interesting to outsiders. Then, try to hang posters two weeks ahead of a presentation or meeting. Posters are not as effective if posted during the same week as a scheduled presentation.

Running the meeting

This section covers both the general schedule of a meeting and the format of how they run.

Schedule

Exact structure and order of events depends on the semester.

In the past, RITlug met late on Friday evenings, and sometimes people had classes that ended in the middle of a RITlug meeting. Because of this, we chose to follow this structure:

  • 30 minutes: General discussion / announcements
  • 1 hour: Presentation / workshop
  • 30 minutes: General discussion / Q&A

Format

Meetings are usually split into the two parts: presentation and general discussion.

Presentations

The presentation or workshop is the core part of the meeting. Speakers should expect to have a full hour and try to fill that time. To help with this, questions and comments are generally encouraged during the meeting, so long as they are on topic and courteous. Questions help fill the time and help build better understanding of the topic as we go.

This format may be foreign to a guest speaker. Sometimes, club members may have a question or comment, but it may come across as an interruption. If hosting a speaker who is not a regular attendee of meetings, advise them about this ahead of time. You may also suggest they explicitly mention they will take questions and comments at the end of the presentation.

This format has not been problematic. However, the “interruptions” are usually on topic and courteous. As an eboard member, if a side conversation stretches out of hand, do not be afraid to help the presenter and remind attendees there is time for questions at the end.

General discussion

The general discussion parts of the meeting are unstructured. This time is helpful for deeper questions on what was presented or for club members to get help with Linux or other tech problems. Other times, wider discussion on Linux, its community, or open source fit into this time.

As an eboard member, this time is ideal for sharing club announcements or updates. For example, advertising events in the FOSS community, upcoming hackathons, or announcing elections are good topics. Sometimes, the best way to convey information is in person. Do not hesitate to take advantage of the time to talk about RITlug too.

Additionally, this is a great time to get to know the community better. If you notice a new attendee or even a regular, try to include them in a conversation. Ask them how their semester is going, see if they are working on any fun projects, or let them bring something up too. If only a few people are present, it can also be a good opportunity to solicit feedback on how members think things are going.

Post-meeting wrap-up

There are three steps to wrapping up a meeting:

  • Collect PDF copy of slides from speaker
  • Thank guest speaker and escort them out, if applicable
  • Notify lab assistant that room is no longer in use, if applicable

RITlug typically collects PDF slides from speakers to share on our website. If the presenter is not a member of eboard, ask if they would like to share their slides with the club community. If so, request a PDF copy of their slides or presentation material to share. After, post the PDF slides to the website as a new talk (see The Website).

If the presenter is a guest speaker, be sure to thank them for their time and participation in RITlug. Offer to help them to their next destination if they are leaving the meeting. A small token of appreciation can also be nice (e.g. a thank you card), especially if it is someone who made a special visit or is a regular supporter of RITlug. Of course, it is also a good idea to thank your fellow eboard members for their time on a presentation too!

Lastly, notify a lab assistant in The Cage [1] if there are no scheduled classes or meetings after RITlug. In the past, RITlug was the last scheduled session in the lab we used. The GCCIS administrators request RITlug to notify a lab assistant when we are finished, so they can lock the room for the night. The administrators usually remind eboard members at the start of the semester, but be mindful whether there is anything after a general meeting.

[1](1, 2) “The Cage” is the equipment closet room for IST lab courses. It is located on the second floor of GCCIS towards Slaughter Hall. GOL-2320 is the System Administration Lab, which has direct access to The Cage.

Hosted server

RITlug has a hosted server in the Institute Hall data center. It is currently owned and maintained by Solomon Rubin (Serubin). It is permanently on lend to RITlug. He remains the primary contact for any major issues. RITlug-related use is maintained by the RITlug President, Vice President, and Project Coordinator.

Specifications

PowerEdge R410 Server

  • Storage:
    • 4TB x2 (only 2TB usable due to RAID card)
    • 1TB x2 (in RAID 10 for 3TB)
  • Memory: 32GB RAM
  • CPU: Intel Xeon 6500
  • Software: Proxmox

Management

This section is for management of resources on the hosted server. Some parts of RITlug’s infrastructure are hosted in GitHub, like our website (see The Website).

Create new VM

When creating a custom VM or a new template, use this set of instructions.

  1. [General] Set Resource Pool to RITLUG
  2. [General] Set VM ID using the following notation:
    • 3xx: Student VMs
    • 2xx: RITlug club VMs
    • 1xx: Solomon’s private VMs (not for club use)
    • Keep IDs incremental if possible
  3. [General] Give it a clear name!
  4. [OS] Select OS
  5. [CD/DVD] Select your ISO from the local storage.
  6. [Hard Disk] Set Bus VirtIO and 0
  7. [Hard Disk] Set Format to QEMU
  8. [Hard Disk] Do not change the Cache item
  9. [Hard Disk] Select Size
  10. [CPU] Set Type to host
  11. [CPU] Set Cores. Do not change Sockets
  12. [Memory] Use fixed size memory
  13. [Network] Set Model to VirtIO
  14. [Network] Set MAC Addr as necessary
  15. Profit!

Create VM from Template

When creating a new VM from a template…

  1. Right click on desired template and click “Clone”
  2. Set VM ID using the following notation:
    • 3xx: Student VMs
    • 2xx: RITlug club VMs
    • 1xx: Solomon’s private VMs (not for club use)
    • Keep IDs incremental if possible
  3. Set Mode to Full Clone
  4. Set Resource Pool to RITLUG
  5. Set name and continue
  6. Resize disk, modify resources as needed
  7. Change MAC address in network settings. Use an unallocated MAC from the list on the eboard GitLab and record the new use in the list.
  8. Start VM, follow any setup scripts
  9. Profit!

Use and Access

Use and access of Titan is limited to the President, Vice President, and Project Coordinator. In the future, there may be opportunities for club members to participate in managing RITlug’s infrastructure.

How to Gain Access to Titan

Access to Titan first requires access to the VPN, as Titan’s Management Interface (Proxmox) is IP restricted. To get on the VPN, Solomon needs to give you the OpenVPN file to initiate the connection. This VPN does not allow anything but local traffic through, so tunneling does not work.

Lastly, Proxmox itself needs an account. Proxmox is used in order to avoid unnecessary unix accounts. This requires a username, and Solomon provides a temporary password that should be changed upon log in. So, for approved users, this is the process for gaining access to Titan:

  1. Start a conversation with Solomon Rubin
  2. Give Solomon a username and PIN to be used with the OpenVPN connection.
  3. Give a username to be used with Proxmox

Contacts

IRC channel

The purpose of this document is to inform and instruct how to manage the RITlug IRC channel on the Freenode IRC servers.

Overview

RITlug maintains a public IRC channel on Freenode. The channel is available on Freenode as #ritlug. Additionally, it is bridged to the #general channel on Slack. Interactions and behavior for IRC adhere to all existing university and club policies. These policies are not defined in this document.

Join the IRC channel

Riot

For more information about using Riot as an IRC client, read this article on how to use Riot for IRC.

Web chat

A short-term chat session in your browser is possible. You will only remain connected as long as you are online. Join the channel via the Freenode web chat bridge.

IRC client

These instructions apply if you are using a more traditional IRC client.

  1. Connect to Freenode using the client of your choosing (IRSSI, HexChat, Pidgin, etc)
  • Server: irc.freenode.net
  • Username: preferred public username in chat
  • Protocol: IRC
  • Password: None
  1. Register your nick, or username, with NickServ (required for operator privileges, highly recommended for all)
  • /query NickServ register <your email> <your password>
  • NickServ emails a confirmation code
  1. Join the RITlug channel: /join #ritlug

Add a new operator

An operator is IRC lingo for a channel administrator. An operator can kick, quiet, and ban other users in the channel. They also have other permissions, like changing the channel’s topic and adjusting other channel metadata. New operators may only be added by current operators.

First, sign in to IRC and ensure you identify your username with NickServ. After, run the following command to add a new operator:

/query ChanServ ACCESS #ritlug ADD <Freenode username> +AORfiorstv

The flags (letters following the +) are detailed in Flags. Some flags can’t be granted due to permissions, such as Founder.

Check channel access

ChanServ allows you to check (if you have permissions) who has what access to the channel. Run either of the following commands to see the access list for the entire channel or for a specific user:

/query ChanServ ACCESS #ritlug LIST
/query ChanServ ACCESS #ritlug INFO <user to check>

Manage channel access and permissions

You can update a user’s access levels after adding them via ChanServ. Access levels are controlled using flags.

Add permissions to user

/query ChanServ ACCESS #ritlug ADD <Freenode username> +<your flags to add>

You can add or remove multiple flags at once by appending them:

/query ChanServ ACCESS #ritlug ADD <Freenode username> +Vv

Remove permissions from user

Remove a user from the access list and all of their permissions:

/query ChanServ ACCESS #ritlug DEL <Freenode username>

Flags

Flags grant and revoke access to the channel.

Flag     Description
+v       Enables use of the voice/devoice commands.
+V       Enables automatic voicing.
+o       Enables the use of the op/deop commands.
+O       Enables automatic op
+s       Enables the use of the SET command
+i       Enables use of the INVITE and GETKEY commands.
+r       Enables use of the KICK, KICKBAN, BAN and UNBAN commands.
+R       Enables use of the RECOVER and CLEAR commands.
+f       Enables modification of channel access lists.
+t       Enables use of the TOPIC and TOPICAPPEND and TOPICPREPEND commands.
+A       Enables viewing of channel access lists.
+S       Marks the user as a SUCCESSOR.
+F       Grants full founder access.
+b       Enables automatic kickban.
+e       Exempts from +b and enables unbanning self.

How to respond to conflict

This section explains how to respond to conflict in the IRC channel. Sometimes it may be from club members. More likely, it will be from spammers or groups not associated with RIT.

For RIT students, faculty, and staff, their behavior in the channel is governed by RIT and RITlug club policy. Policy is not defined in this document. As a reminder, RIT policies apply to all students whether or not they are on campus at the time of the offense, if it is against another RIT student or RIT.

It can sometimes be difficult to identify users in IRC. If their real life identity is known and they are a current RIT student or faculty and they repeatedly violate RIT policies, they should be reported to the proper RIT authorities (Public Safety, Student Conduct, or for cases of academic dishonesty, their department).

Kick out a user

Kick out a user from the IRC channel with this command:

/kick <username>

Kick and permanently ban a user

If a kick does not end the conflict, a user may be banned from the channel. When banning a user, IRC does not typically remove them from the channel. The recommended action is issuing a kick-ban. The following command kicks out and bans someone from the channel by their name or hostmask:

/query ChanServ akick #ritlug ADD <username OR hostmask>

It is recommended to add a reason to a ban for archive purposes. Append a reason to a permanent ban with this command:

/query ChanServ akick #ritlug ADD <username OR hostmask> !P Permanently banned for harassing other RITlug members

Kick and temporarily ban a user

Set a ban with a time expiration with this command:

/query ChanServ akick #ritlug ADD <username OR hostmask> !T 5d Banned for five days: Rude behavior towards others

List all banned users

/query ChanServ akick #ritlug LIST

Unban a user

/query ChanServ akick #ritlug DEL <username OR hostmask>

Channel configuration

Note

This section will explain how the channel is configured, in light of the August 2018 Freenode spam attacks. It will be added soon.

Telegram

Telegram is a messaging client similar to WhatsApp, GroupMe, Messenger, etc. This document explains the infrastructure and management of the RITlug Telegram group, @ritlug.

Screenshot of the @ritlug Telegram group

Screenshot of the @ritlug Telegram group

Background

Today, the Telegram group is left online as a convenience to older members who choose to use it. However, it is not officially advertised or endorsed by RITlug eboard.

Before switching to Slack, RITlug advertised a Telegram group and IRC channel. After switching to Slack and setting up a bridge, RITlug only advertised the Slack. However, the Telegram group and IRC channel were kept online for convenience. The work to maintain a bridge across all groups was simple: run a bot and forget. Since this is easy to maintain, we chose to support the bridge.

Teleirc bridge

The IRC bridge uses RITlug/teleirc to run the bridge. This service is run off of RITlug infrastructure. See documentation for the Teleirc bridges for more information.

Note

Once Teleirc bridge documentation is written, a cross-document link should be added to this section.

Moderation policy

RIT and RITlug club policy determine moderation policies. This document is not a policy document, so it is not covered.

Note

Once available, a link to those public policy documents should go here.

Administrator action

Warning

The following instructions are shown on the official Telegram Desktop application. If you are using another platform (iOS, Android, web, etc.), the instructions may differ.

There are two types of administrator actions: updating administrator list and taking moderation action.

Update administrator list

Existing administrators with the correct permission can add other administrators. See the Administrator list for a list of existing administrators.

Follow these steps to add a @ritlug new administrator.

Open the group overview, then click the three-prong button towards the top right to open "Manage group"

Open the group overview, then click the three-prong button towards the top right to open “Manage group”

Open the Administrators menu, click Add Administrator button in bottom-left corner

Open the Administrators menu, click Add Administrator button in bottom-left corner

Search for a new administrator by their Telegram username

Search for a new administrator by their Telegram username

Select permissions to grant user (past precedent is current eboard receives all)

Select permissions to grant user (past precedent is current eboard receives all)

Take moderation action

If you need to take moderation action (e.g. banning a user or deleting spam messages), use Telegram moderation tools. The quickest way to open the moderation tools is by right-clicking or long-pressing on a specific message in Telegram. If these options do not appear, try deleting the message first. If successful, an interface appears with three options to enable:

Options to enable when deleting a message: ban user, report as spam, delete all messages from user

Options to enable when deleting a message: ban user, report as spam, delete all messages from user [1]

Administrator list

  • Mark Repka (@Repkam09) (creator) [2]
  • Nate Levesque (@thenaterhood)
  • Solomon Rubin (@Serubin)
  • Tim Zabel (@Tjzabel21)
  • Christian Martin (@ctmartin)
  • Josh Bicking (@jibby0)
  • Ian Flournoy (@icflournoy)
[1]Be careful about IRC spam – if you ban from the IRC spam messages, you may disable or ban the IRC bridge. Only delete individual messages or bulk-delete.
[2]Creator status is equivalent to super admin - this admin can update privileges for all other administrators.

The Website

RITlug’s website is powered by GitHub Pages and stored in a repository in the RITlug Github organization.

Please refer to the README and CONTRIBUTING in the site repository

Eboard: President

The president is one of the elected members of the executive board (i.e. “eboard”). The president is directly responsible for managing the club and coordinating with other eboard members. This page explains more about the responsibilities and role of the president.

Description

The president acts as a leader for the club to help determine strategy and focus for each academic year. The president uses the RITlug/tasks repository as their primary organizational tool. This includes updating the RITlug project board The president works together with the eboard to work towards the goals and strategies for each semester. Additionally, they can pick up tasks from other eboard members if they are overloaded.

While it is the job of the president to carry out the main administrative tasks listed above, it is the vice president’s job to assist where possible. These items are the primary responsibilities of the president. The president is the main point of contact for all club-related functions.

Eligibility requirements

  • Must be involved in the club for at least a year prior to election
  • Must be a full time student on main campus for at least one semester
  • Cannot be on academic probation
  • Must be present for 75% of weekly club meetings and eboard meetings

Responsibilities

  • Updating the RITlug project board and following up on current tasks
  • Liason for club conflicts
  • Reaching out to potential guest speakers
  • Creating and managing semester schedule
  • Reviewing and aiding in weekly presentations
  • Setting strategic direction and goals for an academic year (with input from other eboard members)
  • Acting as a liason between RITlug and other entities inside or outside of RIT
  • Sending / reviewing weekly announcements
    • Vice president assists with this responsibility as needed
  • Maintaining semester presentation schedule
    • Coordinating with eboard and club community to find potential guest speakers, reaching out to speakers
  • Planning internal / external events
    • Club fair
    • eboard / general meetings

Resources

  • […]

Eboard: Project coordinator

The project coordinator is one of the elected members of the executive board (i.e. “eboard”). The project coordinator is directly responsible for managing different projects in the club. Sometimes, the project coordinator may act as a project lead for a specific project. This page explains more about the responsibilities and role of the project coordinator.

Description

The project coordinator is responsible for ensuring that all club projects have the resources needed to continue developing. This may include monetary resources, connections to mentors or the like and infrastructure to host the projects.

Eligibility requirements

The project coordinator must maintain good academic standing as defined by RIT to remain a member of eboard. Due to the hands on nature of the role, the project coordinator must be available in person during club and eboard meetings. If needed, a temporary replacement may be appointed to fill the role while the project coordinator is out on co-op. In that case there should be good communication between the the two people in order to facilitate a smooth transition.

Responsibilities

  • Act as liason between project leads and the rest of eboard
  • Mediate disputes between project leads and team members
  • Encourage members to start and participate in club projects
  • Assist project leads in managing their projects
  • Assist project leads in establishing project-specific meetings
  • Provide general support to project leads and participants

Resources

Eboard: Secretary

The secretary is one of the elected members of the executive board (i.e. “eboard”). The secretary helps with written communication and keeping club records updated and current. This page explains more about the responsibilities and role of the secretary.

Description

The secretary is responsible for record maintenance and for keeping RITlug organized. Their primary tool as an eboard member is the Runbook. Part of their role is to monitor the Runbook and ensure current practices by RITlug eboard members are accurately documented in the Runbook. They do not exclusively write documentation, but work with other eboard members to identify areas of need. Additionally, the secretary also builds the agenda for eboard meetings. This role can be considered the “librarian” or “information architect” of RITlug.

Eligibility requirements

  • Must be a full time student on main campus for at least one semester
  • Cannot be on academic probation
  • Must be present for 75% of weekly club meetings and eboard meetings

Responsibilities

  • Weekly Presentations
    • Review of presentations
    • Addition of presentations to RITlug website
  • Set up sign-in form for upcoming meetings
  • Set up live stream or video conference for meetings and presentations that require remote participants or viewers
  • Record meeting minutes during eboard meetings
  • Prepare the agenda for eboard or special meetings
  • Manage calendar events for meetings
  • Manage club’s presence on CampusGroups

Eboard: Treasurer

The treasurer is one of the elected members of the executive board (i.e. “eboard”). The treasurer is directly responsible for managing the club’s financial resources and budget. The treasurer also helps plan financial purchases for the club. This page explains more about the responsibilities and role of the treasurer.

Description

The base responsibility is managing and maintaining club budget throughout the academic year. Other responsibilities are included in this role. These aspects are…

  • Organizing fundraiser activities
  • Record-keeping for club expenses (e.g. project materials)
  • Ordering club-branded merchandise as necessary (including shirts, posters, banners, stickers, etc.)

Eligibility requirements

The treasurer must be in good academic standing to maintain their position. A club treasurer should be available in-person for club and eboard meetings. However, as treasurer is a mandatory position per club guidelines, the treasurer may be remote and participate remote (e.g. co-op, study abroad, etc.).

Responsibilities

  • Work with club office to manage and maintain club budget
  • Organize financing and fundraising for club projects
  • Organize the purchase of, and aid in the design, of club swag
  • Help create, and purchase, club promotional materials

Eboard: Vice President

The vice president is one of the elected members of the executive board (i.e. “eboard”). The vice president is directly responsible for helping the president carry out their responsibilities and help manage the overall club. Usually, the president and vice president maintain a close relationship where responsibilities often swap between the two. This page explains more about the responsibilities and role of the vice president.

Description

The vice president assists the president where possible. This includes…

  1. Writing and reviewing weekly announcement emails
  2. Managing the presentation schedule
  3. Writing meeting agendas
  4. Interacting with guest speakers / visiting companies

There is a lot of overlap between the president and vice president. These four items are the primary responsibilities. There are other secondary tasks outlined below.

The vice president also supports the president when they need additional help. This could include anything from fundraising to event planning. Historically, the vice president takes on external event planning, like fundraising and coordinating conference presentations / booths.

Eligibility requirements

  • Must be a full time student on main campus for full academic year
  • Cannot be on academic probation
  • Must be available for 75% of weekly club meetings and eboard meetings
  • Must participate in the club for longer than full semester

Responsibilities

  • Sending / reviewing weekly announcements
    • If president is unable to write, vice president assists
  • Maintaining presentation schedule
    • Coordinating with club community to find speakers, engaging with outside visitors to the university
  • Planning external events
    • Fundraising
    • Conference presence
    • Hackathon planning
  • Assisting president with their responsibilities

Resources

  • […]

How to send email announcements

As of 2018, there is only one place to write announcements: CampusGroups. Announcements are generally sent to RITlug club members at the beginning of each week. These weekly emails inform club members about the topic of the upcoming general meeting.

In order to post a club-wide announcement, you need to navigate to the RITlug CampusGroups page. On the main club page, go to the Emails drop-down, and select the Mailing Lists option. To send an email from here, one must:

  1. Select mailing list
  2. Choose sender email address
  3. Select email template
  4. Compose email
  5. Send email

Selecting mailing list

Here, you will be asked which mailing list you would like to send the email to.

Default mailing list

Default mailing list

Choose a “from” email address

Weekly emails should always be sent from the eboard [at] ritlug [dot] com email address.

Choosing sender email address

Choosing sender email address

Note

For debugging purposes, it is good to know this is technically a “Reply-To” header

Composing weekly email

  1. Add a title ( usual format: RITlug Week # Meeting – Meeting Topic )
  2. Select email template

Currently, there are two templates: RITlug Welcome Email, and RITlug Newsletter. For general RITlug meetings, choose RITlug Newsletter

Selecting email template

Selecting email template

At this point, you are free to create the RITlug General Meeting email from the given template.

Composing the email

Composing the email

Adding events

After the email is all drafted and completed, it is a good idea to have a RITlug Meeting Event to add to the email.

Adding RITlug Event

Adding RITlug Event

Sending email

The last step is sending out the email. CampusGroups has the nifty option to send the email out at a certain time (This can be helpful if the email is being composed in the middle of the night). The Hide default signature option should be selected so there is no odd Linux Users Group footer at the end of each email.

Selecting delivery options

Selecting delivery options

Lastly, at the very bottom, the option exists to send a test email, preview the composed email, save as draft, or send! Congratulations, you’ve now successfully sent out an email to all RITlug members!

How to create a meeting sign-in form

This guide explains how to create a meeting sign-in form on CampusGroups. Every meeting should have a sign-in form to track attendance and log club activity. This activity is used by RIT clubs office to determine club engagement (relevant for budget allocation).

How to create a meeting

Sign-in forms are tied to CampusGroups Events (found under the Events tab on the organization page). Regular meetings are created automatically via RIT’s Event Management System (see RIT Event Management System). RITlug eboard members do not need to manually create meetings.

Semester Checklist

A quick checklist of tasks that need to be completed at the start of every semester.

Before Semester

Tasks to do during the break.

  • Get all eboard members financially certified through Campus Life. (Fall Semester Only)
  • Hold weekly/bi-weekly eboard meetings.
  • Discuss plans and brainstorm for next semester.
  • Reserve meeting space.
  • Triage and review tasks from previous semester to plan for coming semester (see project board).
  • Plan for the Activities Gala. (Fall Semester Only)
  • Complete any outstanding eboard transition tasks

At Start of Semester

Tasks for last few weeks of break.

  • Set up a meeting with the club faculty adviser to discuss plans for the semester.
  • Create a poster for the start of the semester.
  • Present at Activities Gala (fall semester only).
  • Send out a welcome email to people from the gala and returning members.
  • Find a weekly eboard meeting time based on schedules of all eboard members in Rochester.

First Week of Semester

Tasks which should be done the first few weeks of classes.

  • Have an eboard member attend the All Clubs Meeting.
  • Get ready for the first few meetings.
  • Send first meeting emails.
  • Verify budget allocation from campus life.

Update email aliases

RITlug eboard members use various email aliases for communication. Most of these emails are used for external communication outside of the RITlug community. This procedure explains how to change or add email aliases and point them to different emails.

Pre-requisites

  • Namecheap access to ritlug.com domain [1]
  • Preferred email address for anyone being added to an alias

Locate alias configuration

These instructions explain how to find email alias configuration in the Namecheap interface. Further instructions assume you know how to find these.

After logging in to Namecheap, locate the Domain List. Click the Manage button next to the ritlug.com domain. The domain overview page, shown below, will appear.

Domain overview, with different configuration options and service plans below

Domain overview, with different configuration options and service plans below

Scroll down the page until you see the Redirect Email section. All email aliases are configured in this list.

Redirect Email section - all existing aliases shown here

Redirect Email section - all existing aliases shown here

Change existing alias

  1. Find (or Ctrl+F) for email address to remove
  2. Replace old email address with new address and press enter
  3. Refresh the page to manually validate the request (new email should be present)

Add new alias

  1. Scroll towards bottom of Redirect Email section
  2. Click Add Forwarder
  3. Enter email address username in first field, enter forwarding address in second field
  4. Click the checkmark icon to save

The redirect should work in an hour or less.

[1]Currently, the domain is owned by Mark Repka. The domain is shared with Christian Martin, Justin W. Flory, and Solomon Rubin on their personal accounts. Eventually, this will change once the domain is migrated to the RITlug Namecheap account.

Indices and tables