What to Expect at LabMan 2021

This year, LabMan will bring higher ed technologists from around the country together to collaborate and innovate. The 2021 LabMan Conference will be hosted by Virginia Commonwealth University on May 26-28. 

Here’s a quick overview of the theme, keynote and sessions:

LabMan Theme

In today’s technology support climate, maintaining academic computing resources at scale demands efficiency, repeatability, flexibility, and a whole host of other requirements. With a DevOps approach, it’s possible to gain valuable economies of scale, deliver stable solutions, and repeat releases of new software (updates, patches, upgrades, bug fixes) to mitigate potential downtime and increase uptime for end-users.

The theme for the LabMan 2021 Conference is centered on DevOps practices with respect to desktop and endpoint management, aptly titled “DevOps on the Desktop.” 

Conference presentations will focus on:

• automation and scripting
• software packaging and deployment practices
• infrastructure and deployments as code
• configuration management
• monitoring
• …and more

Keynote: Jake Kouns

Jake Kouns is the CEO and CISO for Risk Based Security, providing vulnerability intelligence and breach data. He previously oversaw the operations of the Open Sourced Vulnerability Database (OSVDB.org) and DataLossDB. Kouns has presented at many well-known security conferences, including RSA, Black Hat, DEF CON, DerbyCon, Bsides, CISO Executive Summit, IEEE, FIRST, CanSecWest, InfoSecWorld, SOURCE and SyScan.

He is the co-author of Information Technology Risk Management in Enterprise Environments, Wiley, 2010, and The Chief Information Security Officer, IT Governance, 2011. He holds both a bachelor of business administration and master of business administration degree from James Madison University, with a concentration in information security. In addition, he holds a number of certifications, including: ISC2’s CISSP, and ISACA’s CISM, CISA and CGEIT.

He has briefed the DHS and Pentagon on Cyber Liability Insurance issues and is frequently interviewed as an expert in the security industry by Information Week, eWeek, Forbes, PC World, CSO, and CIO Magazine. He has appeared on CNN as well as the Brian Lehrer Show, and was featured on the cover of SCMagazine.

Sessions

Project Management in a Galaxy Far, Far Away 

Craig Kilgo, Project Manager, Virginia Commonwealth University

Develop a project and product plan in small teams that can withstand first contact with the enemy.

Zero Touch Lab Management and Imaging with LabDash

Eddie Roadcap, Computer Lab Manager – James Madison University

Is comprehensive single-tool zero-touch computer lab imaging and management a pipe dream? Many of us utilize several disparate tools to provide and control endpoint imaging, non-persistence, facility and application utilization reporting, and real-time remote monitoring, management and control of endpoints. All of those tools can be quite expensive to purchase and maintain. They don’t integrate with each other, lack needed functionality, and sometimes actually reduce efficiency and productivity. What if there was one tool that could do everything?

MacOS. Imaging is dead. Now what? 

Chris Van Gorp, Senior Information Specialist – Butler University

Apple has moved away from thick imaging, so how do you wipe and re-image Macs?

Packless: A history of package management for Windows and macOS 

Houston Griffith, Senior Manager – Labs and Classrooms Computing – Virginia Commonwealth University

Software package management isn’t easy, that much has been known for some time. But it doesn’t have to be painful. In this presentation, members of the VCU Labs and Classrooms Computing team will debut a brand new package management technique that provides seamless, unified syntax for installing application software on both Microsoft Windows and Apple macOS from the command-line.

Moving to an Adobe ETLA: A Review of VCU’s Transition and Challenges 

Houston Griffith, Senior Manager – Labs and Classrooms Computing – Virginia Commonwealth University

Is your school considering moving to an Adobe Enterprise Term License Agreement (ETLA) to save on licensing costs? In this presentation, the project team from VCU will be explaining their process to migrate over 70+ VIP (Value Incentive Plan) agreements to a single ETLA with Adobe.

Puppet Introduction Hands-On

Chris Wieringa, Computer Science Lab Administrator – Calvin University

Puppet Introduction Hands-On workshop will allow you to get started with Puppet! We will work through the Puppet Learning-VM interactive tutorial and learning environment together. This self-paced workshop will allow participants time to start working through the Puppet Learning-VM. The speaker will wander around answering questions that may arise.

Linux Lab Management Redux

Chris Wieringa, Computer Science Lab Administrator – Calvin University

How to manage a Linux lab using DevOps! This talk with go over how Calvin University is managing their Computer Science labs using the Puppet open-source tool with the Foreman open-source front-end.

Kaltura Lecture Capture at VCU

Eric Harvey, Senior Manager – Learning Systems – Virginia Commonwealth University

Tomas Balciulis, Kaltura Administrator – Virginia Commonwealth University

Houston Griffith, Senior Manager – Labs and Classrooms Computing – Virginia Commonwealth University

Explore the world of lecture capture with the VCU Academic Technologies team! In the Fall of 2019, VCU began deploying the Kaltura Classroom Lecture Capture software solution to all centrally-managed classrooms. Come learn about the journey VCU went through and see how a solution like Kaltura can help bring lecture capture to more classrooms, more efficiently.

Managing Crestron with PowerShell

Mariusz Ostasz, Audio Visual Programmer – Virginia Commonwealth University

Jeremy Parker, Audio Visual Programmer – University of Virginia

Powershell is a free tool that can be used to gather data and perform actions across campus in minutes.

LabFind and LabStats Updates

Trevor Paesl, Director of Engineering – LabStats

John Felushko, Product Manager – LabStats

LabFind and LabStats product updates. Come see what’s new in LabFind and LabStats.

LabStats for Every Campus Stakeholder

Tyler Jacobson, Sr. Account Executive – LabStats

A high level view of how data from LabStats can be used to provide value to many departments on campus. How can Lab Management, DevOps and IT Administrators provide value to other departments on campus? 

Put LabStats in Your Corner

Josh Schofield, Customer Success Manager – LabStats

How can you best utilize all the resources available from the LabStats team? LabStats is in the business of helping our customers succeed: at their universities and in their careers. How can you utilize LabStats resources to help you and your organization win? 

Make the Future of LabStats

Trevor Paesl, Director of Engineering – LabStats

John Felushko, Product Manager – LabStats

This session is focused on gathering input, feedback and ideas from attendees that are freshly exposed to LabMan’s conference content. What did we learn at the conference that we can apply to LabStats? What would help attendees’ do their jobs better? How can we make a tool that will work better for the attendees? We’re seeking attendee input for the future of LabStats in this session.

Sessions are subject to change and the LabMan committee is still accepting proposals. If your presentation is approved your registration is free!

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