cs2500-server

This package is currently unstable, and mostly unusable. Some of the scripts and configuration files may be out of date or otherwise broken; I have done my best here to point to those that work as of this writing.

This package contains scripts and configuration files to run and administer the student-facing and grader-facing handin servers, as well as to transfer files between those two servers.

See the companion package, cs2500-client, for information on the client software that submits to this server.

Overview

The cs2500 servers consist of a student server and a grading server. The student server is used by students to turn in assignments and check grades. The grading server is used by staff to return graded assignments, exams, etc.

Note that this is a bit of a hack: the two servers are really just two instances of the same "handin" server, originally intended for submission only, but the code has since been repurposed for grading as well.

Dependencies

gregor (Racket package; only needed for auto-deactivate)

Initial Server Setup

TODO

(should include notes on opening up the firewall, running the server itself, installing the handin project (Leif's "multi" branch), setting config files, generating SSL keys/certs, xvfb-run)

Creating Users

The users.rktd file records information on each user. It takes the form of an S-expression which is a list of user S-expressions. For example:

((asmith ((plaintext "password1") "Alice Smith" "" "" "")) (bjones ((plaintext "password2") "Bob Jones" "" "" "")))

In the above, "asmith" is a username, "password1" is their password, and "Alice Smith" is their full name. The other fields record other user metadata (not documented here, but empty strings are valid default values).

The script bin/gen-users.rkt can help generate this file. See the top of that file for usage details.

Assignment Workflow

At a high level, the workflow for each assignment is this:

Create and activate the assignment on the student server.
Wait for the assignment submission deadline to pass, then deactivate the assignment on the student server.
Distribute the submissions from the student server to appropriate graders in the grader server (requires creation and activation of the assignment in the grader server)
Wait for the grading deadline to pass, then deactivate the assignment on the grader server.
Transfer the graded assignments back to the student server.

Sections below give details for each of these steps. (TODO)

TODO: a section on assigning pairs, or the pair file in general

Creating Assignments

Run the bin/make-assignment script with appropriate arguments (see the top of that script for usage details). This creates a new directory under student-server for each part of the assignment.
Make sure that the pairs.rktd file in student-server is up-to-date for the current assignment.

The above steps do not "activate" the assignment; that is, they do not make it available for students to submit to. To activate an assignment's part, add the name of the part's directory as a string in the active-dirs list in student-server/config.rktd.

Deactivating a part (i.e. putting it into the inactive-dirs list) makes it available for viewing on the webisite, but does not allow students to submit to it.

OLD NOTES

##Updating Each semester, you should update the server certificate. The script bin/gen-key will generate and install the certificates, but you need to update the handin clients manually.

##Student server The student server includes checker scripts for checking that assignments are in the right language. These scripts need to be copied into the appropriate homework folder and renamed to checker.rkt.

The init folder contains various scripts to automatically start/restart the server. These scripts may need to be modified to point to the right server configuration directories and to run as a valid user.

##Grades server The grades server includes checker scripts for checking that grades are returns in the right format. These formats are crucial to automatically updating grades. The checker scripts need to be copied into the appropriate homework, quiz, or exam folder and renamed to checker.rkt.

The grades server does not allow users to sign up for obvious reasons. Use the gen-graders.rkt script in bin to

##Automation ###Gradebook The server uses Eli's grading scripts to parse annotations and manage the gradebook automatically. They are copied and distributed with permission. These scripts require server users have certain fields, which are included in config.rktd.default.

The location of the student server needs to be configured in bin/utils/sh-init to use Eli's scripts.

###Due dates The server can automatically manage due dates and send assignments to graders. These require some configuration. Each student must assigned a grader in the student server's users.rktd file. The cs2500-lib project includes examples for batch updating the server's users. Due dates can be managed by via cron, and using the cs2500-lib interface to the student server's configuration.

Further more grader information needs to exist in graders.rktd. An example exists as graders.rktd.default.

###Posting and updating grades Grades can be automatically posted to the student server from the grades server. The script update.sh in bin can be modified to do this. It assumes the grades are submitted in a particular format which is enforced by the grades server.

schuster / cs2500-server