Merge pull request #238501 from ntrogh/als-freshness-may

[Azure Lab Services] Content freshness May

Author: ttorble

articles/lab-services/class-type-pltw.md

@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ As you follow this recommendation, note the major tasks for setting up a lab:
     > When you install the Autodesk applications, the computer that you're installing them on needs to be able to communicate with your license server. The Autodesk installation wizard will prompt you to specify the computer name of the machine that the license server is hosted on. If you're hosting your license server on an Azure VM, you might need to wait to install Autodesk on the lab template VM so that the installation wizard can access your license server.
 
     b. [Install and configure OneDrive](./how-to-prepare-windows-template.md#install-and-configure-onedrive) or other backup options that your school might use.
-    c. [Install and configure Windows updates](./how-to-prepare-windows-template.md#install-and-configure-updates).
+    c. [Install and configure Windows updates](./how-to-prepare-windows-template.md#install-and-configure-windows-updates).
 
 1. Upload the custom image to the [compute gallery that's attached to your lab account](./how-to-attach-detach-shared-image-gallery.md).
 1. Create a lab, and then select the custom image that you uploaded in the preceding step.

articles/lab-services/hackathon-labs.md

@@ -1,83 +1,96 @@
 ---
 title: Use Azure Lab Services for hackathon
-description: This article describes how to use Azure Lab Services for creating labs that you can use for running hackathons.
-ms.topic: how-to
-ms.date: 11/19/2021
+description: Learn how to use Azure Lab Services for creating labs that you can use for running hackathons.
+services: lab-services
+ms.service: lab-services
+author: ntrogh
+ms.author: nicktrog
+ms.topic: conceptual
+ms.date: 05/22/2023
 ---
 
-# Use Azure Lab Services for your next hackathon
+# Guidance for using Azure Lab Services for running a hackathon
 
-Azure Lab Services is designed to be lightweight and easy to use so that you can quickly spin up a new lab of virtual machines (VMs) for your hackathon.  Use the following checklist to ensure that your hackathon goes as smoothly as possible. This checklist should be completed by your IT department or faculty who are responsible for creating and managing your hackathon lab.
+With Azure Lab Services, hackathon organizers can quickly create preconfigured cloud-based environments for running a hackathon with multiple participants. Each participant can use identical and isolated virtual machine (VM) for the hackathon.
 
-To use Lab Services for your hackathon, ensure that both lab plan and your lab are created at least a few days before the start of your hackathon. Also, follow the guidance below:
+Azure Lab Services is designed to be lightweight and easy to use so that you can quickly spin up a new lab of virtual machines (VMs) for your hackathon. This article provides guidance for configuring your labs in Azure Lab Services for optimally running a hackathon.
+
+Azure Lab Services uses Azure Role-Based Access (Azure RBAC) to manage access to Azure Lab Services. For more information, see the [Azure Lab Services built-in roles](./concept-lab-services-role-based-access-control.md). Using Azure RBAC lets you clearly separate roles and responsibilities for creating and managing labs across different teams and people in your organization. Depending on your organization structure and responsibilities, this guidance might affect different people, such as IT administrators or hackathon organizers.
+
+To use Lab Services for your hackathon, ensure that both lab plan and your lab are created at least a few days before the start of your hackathon.
 
 ## Guidance
 
 - **Create the lab in a region or location that's closest to participants**.
 
-    To reduce latency, create your lab in a region that's closest to your hackathon participants.  If your participants are located all over the world, you need to use your best judgment to create a lab that is centrally located.  Or, split the hackathon to use multiple labs based on the locations where your participants are located.
+    To reduce latency, create your lab in a region that's closest to your hackathon participants.  If your participants are located all over the world, use your best judgment to create a lab that is centrally located.  Alternately, use multiple labs based on the locations where your participants are located.
+
 - **Choose a compute size best suited for usage needs**.
 
-    Generally, the larger the compute size, the faster the virtual machine will perform. However, to limit costs, you'll need to select the appropriate compute size based on your participants’ needs. See [VM sizing information in the administrator guide](administrator-guide.md#vm-sizing) for details on the available compute sizes.
+    Generally, the larger the compute size, the faster the virtual machine performs. However, to limit costs, you might select the appropriate compute size based on your participants’ needs. See [VM sizing information in the administrator guide](administrator-guide.md#vm-sizing) for details on the available compute sizes.
+
 - **Configure RDP\SSH for remote desktop connection to Linux VMs**.
 
-    If your hackathon uses Linux VMs, ensure that remote desktop is enabled so that your participants can use either RDP (remote desktop protocol) or SSH (secure shell) to connect to their VMs. This step is only required for Linux VMs and must be enabled when creating the lab. Also, for RDP, you may need to install and configure the RDP server and GUI packages on the template VM before publishing.  For more information, see the [how-to guide on enabling remote desktop for Linux](how-to-enable-remote-desktop-linux.md).
+    If your hackathon uses Linux VMs, ensure that remote desktop is enabled so that your participants can use either RDP (remote desktop protocol) or SSH (secure shell) to connect to their VMs. This step is only required for Linux VMs and must be enabled when creating the lab. Also, for RDP, you might need to install and configure the RDP server and GUI packages on the template VM before publishing.  For more information, see the [how to enable remote desktop for Linux](how-to-enable-remote-desktop-linux.md).
 
 - **Install and stop Windows updates**.
 
-    If you're using a Windows image, we recommend you install the latest Windows updates on the lab’s [template VM](how-to-create-manage-template.md) before you publish it to create labs’ VMs. It's for security purposes and to prevent participants from being disrupted during the hackathon to install updates, which can also cause their VMs to restart. You might also consider turning off Windows updates to prevent any future interruptions. See the [how-to guide on installing and configuring Windows updates](how-to-prepare-windows-template.md#install-and-configure-updates).
-- **Decide how students will back up their work**.
+    If you're using a Windows image, we recommend you install the latest Windows updates on the lab’s [template VM](how-to-create-manage-template.md) before you publish the lab. Install the latest updates for security purposes, and to avoid that hackathon participants are disrupted during the hackathon to install updates, which can also cause their VMs to restart. You might also consider turning off Windows updates to prevent any future interruptions during the hackathon. See the [how-to guide on installing and configuring Windows updates](how-to-prepare-windows-template.md#install-and-configure-windows-updates).
+
+- **Decide how participants back up their work**.
+
+    Hackathon participants are each assigned a virtual machine for the lifetime of the hackathon. Instead of saving their work directly to the virtual machine, participants can back up their work outside of the VM, which also enables them to access the data after the hackathon is over. For example, participants can save to OneDrive, GitHub, and so on. To use OneDrive, you may choose to configure it automatically for participants on their lab virtual machines. See the [how-to guide to install and configure OneDrive](how-to-prepare-windows-template.md#install-and-configure-onedrive).
 
-    Students are each assigned a virtual machine for the lifetime of the hackathon. They can save their work directly to the machine, but it’s recommended that students back up their work so that they have access to it after the hackathon is over. For example, they should save to an external location, such as OneDrive, GitHub, and so on. To use OneDrive, you may choose to configure it automatically for students on their lab virtual machines. See the [how-to guide to install and configure OneDrive](how-to-prepare-windows-template.md#install-and-configure-onedrive).
 - **Set VM capacity according to number of participants**.
 
-    Ensure that your lab’s virtual machine capacity is set based on the number of participants you expect at your hackathon. When you publish the template virtual machine, it can take several hours to create all of the machines in the lab. That's why we recommend that you do it well in advance to the start of the hackathon. For more information, see [Set lab capacity](how-to-manage-vm-pool.md#set-lab-capacity).
+    Ensure that your lab virtual machine capacity is set based on the number of participants you expect at your hackathon. When you publish the template virtual machine, it can take several hours to create all of the lab virtual machines. It's recommended that you create the lab and lab VMs well in advance of the start of the hackathon. For more information, see [Set lab capacity](how-to-manage-vm-pool.md#set-lab-capacity).
 
 - **Decide whether to restrict lab access**.
 
-    When adding users to the lab, there is a restrict access option that's enabled by default. This feature requires you to add all of your hackathon participants’ emails to the list before they can register and access the lab using the registration link. If you have a hackathon where you don’t know who the participants will be before the event, you can choose to disable the restrict access option, which allows anyone to register to the lab using the registration link. For more information, see the [how-to guide on adding users](how-to-configure-student-usage.md).
+    By default, access to the lab is restricted. This feature requires you to add all of your hackathon participants’ emails to the list before they can register and access the lab using the registration link. If you have a hackathon where you don’t know the specific participants, you can choose to disable the restrict access option. In this case, anyone can register directly to the lab by using the registration link. For more information, see the [how-to guide on adding users](how-to-configure-student-usage.md).
 
 - **Verify schedule, quota, and autoshutdown settings**.
 
-    Lab Services provides several cost controls to limit usage of VMs. However, if these settings are misconfigured, they can cause your lab’s virtual machines to unexpectedly shut down. To ensure that these settings are configured appropriately for your hackathon, verify the following settings:
+    Azure Lab Services provides several cost controls to limit usage of VMs. However, if these settings are misconfigured, they can cause your lab’s virtual machines to shut down unexpectedly. To ensure that these settings are configured appropriately for your hackathon, verify the following settings:
 
-    **Schedule**: A [schedule](how-to-create-schedules.md) allows you to automatically control when your labs’ machines are started and shut down. By default, no schedule is configured when you create a new lab. However, you should ensure that your lab’s schedule is set according to what makes sense for your hackathon.  For example, if your hackathon starts on Saturday at 8:00 AM and ends on Sunday at 5:00 PM, create a schedule that automatically starts the machine at 7:30 AM on Saturday (about 30 minutes before the start of the hackathon) and shuts it down at 5:00 PM on Sunday. You may also decide not to use a schedule at all and rely on quota time.
+    **Schedule**: A [schedule](how-to-create-schedules.md) allows you to automatically control when your labs’ machines are started and shut down. By default, no schedule is configured when you create a new lab. However, you should ensure that your lab’s schedule is set according to what makes sense for your hackathon.  For example, if your hackathon starts on Saturday at 8:00 AM and ends on Sunday at 5:00 PM, create a schedule that automatically starts the machine at 7:30 AM on Saturday (about 30 minutes before the start of the hackathon) and shuts it down at 5:00 PM on Sunday. You might also decide not to use a schedule at all and rely on quota time.
 
-    **Quota**: The [quota](how-to-configure-student-usage.md#set-quotas-for-users) controls the number of hours that participants will have access to a virtual machine outside of the scheduled hours. If the quota is reached while a participant is using it, the machine is automatically shut down and the participant won't be able to restart it unless the quota is increased. By default, when you create a lab, the quota is set to 10 hours. Again, you should be sure to set the quota so that it allows enough time for the hackathon, which is especially important if you haven't created a schedule.
+    **Quota**: The [quota](how-to-configure-student-usage.md#set-quotas-for-users) controls the number of hours that participants have access to a lab virtual machine outside of the scheduled hours. If the quota is reached while a participant is using it, the machine is automatically shut down and the participant is unable to restart it, unless the quota is increased. By default, when you create a lab, the quota is set to 10 hours. Configure the quota to allow enough time for the duration of the hackathon, especially if you haven't created a schedule.
 
-    **Autoshutdown**: When enabled, the [autoshutdown](how-to-enable-shutdown-disconnect.md) setting causes Windows virtual machines to automatically shut down after a certain period of time once a student has disconnected from their RDP session. By default, this setting is disabled.
+    **Autoshutdown**: When enabled, the [autoshutdown](how-to-enable-shutdown-disconnect.md) setting causes Windows virtual machines to automatically shut down after a certain period of time once a participant has disconnected from their RDP session. By default, this setting is disabled.
 
 - **Configure firewall settings to allow connections to lab VMs**.
 
-    Ensure that your school’s or organization’s firewall settings allow connecting to lab VMs using RDP\SSH. For more information, see the [how-to guide on configuring your network’s firewall settings](how-to-configure-firewall-settings.md).
+    Ensure that the firewall settings of your organization, or the location where you're hosting the hackathon, allow connecting to lab VMs by using RDP or SSH. For more information, see the [how-to guide on configuring your network’s firewall settings](how-to-configure-firewall-settings.md).
 
 - **Install RDP/SSH client on participants’ tablets, Macs, PCs, and so on**.
 
-    Hackathon participants must have an RDP and/or SSH client installed on their tablets or laptops that they'll use to connect to lab VMs.  For more information about required software and how to connect to lab VMs, see [Connect to a lab VM](connect-virtual-machine.md).
+    Hackathon participants must have an RDP and/or SSH client installed on their tablets or laptops to connect to lab VMs.  For more information about required software and how to connect to lab VMs, see [Connect to a lab VM](connect-virtual-machine.md).
 
 - **Verify lab virtual machines**.
 
-    Once you’ve published lab VMs, you should verify they're configured properly. You only need to do this verification for one of the participant’s lab virtual machines:
+    Once you’ve published lab VMs, verify that they're configured properly. As all lab VMs are identical, you only need to do this verification for one of the lab VMs:
 
-    1. Connect using RDP and\or SSH.
-    2. Open each additional application and tool that you installed to customize the base virtual machine image.
-    3. Walk through a few basic scenarios that are representative of the activities that participants will do to ensure VM performance is adequate based on the selected compute size.
+    1. Connect to the lab VM by using RDP and\or SSH.
+    1. Open each application and tool that you installed to customize the base virtual machine image.
+    1. Walk through a few basic scenarios that are representative of the hackathon activities to ensure that the VM performance is adequate, based on the selected compute size.
 
 ## On the day of hackathon
 
 This section outlines the steps to complete the day of your hackathon.
 
 1. **Start lab VMs**.
 
-    Depending on your OS, your lab machine may take up to 30 minutes to start. As a result, it’s important to start machines before the hackathon starts so that your participants don’t have to wait. If you're using a schedule, ensure that the VMs are automatically started at least 30 minutes earlier as well.
-2. **Invite students to register and access their lab virtual machine**.
+    Depending on your OS, your lab machine might take up to 30 minutes to start. As a result, it’s important to start machines before the hackathon starts so that your participants don’t have to wait. If you're using a schedule, ensure that the VMs are automatically started at least 30 minutes before the beginning of the hackathon.
+
+1. **Invite hackathon participants to register and access their lab virtual machine**.
 
     Provide your participants with the following information so that participants can access their lab VMs.
 
     - The lab’s registration link.  For more information, See [how-to guide on sending invitations to users](how-to-configure-student-usage.md#send-invitations-to-users).
-    - Credentials that should be used to connect to the machine. This step applies only if your lab has configured all VMs to use the same password.
-    - Instructions to connect to their VM. For OS-specific instructions connection to a lab VM, see [Connect to a lab VM](connect-virtual-machine.md).
+    - Credentials to use for connecting to the machine. This step only applies if the lab was configured with the same credentials for all lab VMs.
+    - Instructions on how to connect to the lab VM. For OS-specific instructions, see [Connect to a lab VM](connect-virtual-machine.md).
 
 ## Next steps
 
-Start with creating a lab plan in labs by following instructions in the article: [Quickstart: Set up a lab plan with Azure Lab Services](quick-create-resources.md).
+- Get started by [creating a lab plan](quick-create-resources.md)