Understanding event types

Heropa supports three distinct types of events:

• Independent Environments

• Shared Environments

• Existing Environments.

Each event type caters to different use cases, ensuring that participants have the appropriate environment setup for their needs. This article provides an overview of each event type and guides administrators on how to configure them.

In this article: 

Independent Environments

Overview:
Independent Environments provide each participant with their own isolated environment. This setup is ideal for scenarios where users need to work without interference from others, ensuring complete privacy and control over their environment.

Key Features:

• Each participant has an isolated virtual machine (VM) or environment.

• No shared resources; full independence for each user.

• Suitable for training, testing, and development activities where individual progress needs to be tracked separately.

Configuration:

1. Create an event and select the Independent Environment type.

2. Select the Host Template with the necessary software and settings required by the event host.

3. Select the Participant Template with the necessary software and settings required by the event participants.

4. Configure the event settings and schedule to meet the needs of the event.

Note: Often the Host and Participant Template will be the same template

Shared Environments

Overview:
Shared Environments allow multiple participants to access a shared resource located within the event’s Host environment. This type is beneficial for tasks where interaction with a common server or other infrastructure is necessary.

Key Features:

• Supporting resources can be provisioned once in the host environment and shared with participant environments.

• Allows participants to securely access shared resources over the private event network such as license servers.

• Allows participants to share high VLU resources, such as database servers, with only a single server needed per event.

• The shared resource will only exist for the duration of the event.

• The shared resource will only be available to participants within the event.

• Participants have network connectivity to the Host environment.

Customization:

It is essential to customize and configure both the host and participant templates to ensure seamless interaction within the event.

Host template: Must be set up to allow connectivity to the shared server from the address range of the VPC where students will be placed. This ensures that all participants can access the shared resource without connectivity issues.

Participant template: Need to be updated to include DNS host files that map a friendly name to the IP address of the shared resource. This configuration replaces the need for participants to use the IP address directly, simplifying access and improving usability.

Proper setup of these templates guarantees a smooth and efficient shared environment experience for all participants.

Configuration:

1. Select the Host Template that has been configured to be used as the shared environment for the event.

2. Select the Participant Template with the necessary software and customization required by the event participants.

3. Configure the event settings and schedule to meet the needs of the event.

Existing Environments

Overview:
Existing Environments leverage already running environments within Heropa. This type is useful for scenarios where environments are pre-configured or need to be persistent across multiple events.

Key Features:

• Utilizes pre-existing environments within Heropa.

• Reduces setup time as environments are already configured and running.

• The shared resource will exist beyond the duration of the event.

• The shared resource will be available to participants within any event configured to use the shared environment.

• Ideal for ongoing projects, long-term training, or continuous integration scenarios.

Customization:

It is essential to customize and configure both the host and participant templates to ensure seamless interaction within the event.

Existing environment: Must be set up to allow connectivity to the shared server from the address range of the VPC where students will be placed. This ensures that all hosts and participants can access the shared resource without connectivity issues.

Host and Participant template: Need to be updated to include DNS host files that map a friendly name to the IP address of the shared resource within the existing environment. This configuration replaces the need for participants to use the IP address directly, simplifying access and improving usability.

Proper setup of these templates guarantees a smooth and efficient shared environment experience for all participants.

Configuring an existing environment

The environment must be configured to be “used in events” to be available for use in existing environment events.

To configure an environment to be used in an existing environment event:

1. Navigate to the event that you want to configure

2. Under actions, mark the environment as "use in events" to make it available for existing events.

Configuration:

1. Create an event and select the Existing Environment type.

2. Choose the existing environment to be used for the event.

3. Select the Host Template with the necessary software and customization required by the event host.

4. Select the Participant Template with the necessary software and customization required by the event participants.

5. Configure the event settings and schedule to meet the needs of the event.

Best Practices

• Choosing the right event type: Select the event type based on the activity’s requirements.

  • Independent environments are best for isolated tasks

  • Shared environments for sharing access to resources that only need to exist for the length of the event

  • Existing environments for long running environments that need to be used across multiple events.

• Resource Management: Consider the impact of event particiapants on the shared resource. Make sure that the shared resource is provisioned large enough to avoid performance bottlenecks for the participants.

• Security: Ensure appropriate security measures are in place, such as access controls and network security settings.

By understanding and correctly configuring these event types, administrators can provide a tailored and efficient experience for participants, ensuring that the right resources are available for each unique scenario.