Virtual Lab--Not Able to Reserve

[Liz373]

I have not been able to reserve time in the Virtual Lab since Saturday.  I opened a ticket then and received a response this morning, but the issue still hasn't been resolved.  I've contacted the 800 number and the live chat, but no one has called me back.  The live chat said that they are unable to resolve technical issues. 

I'm trying to reserve something in the future and I follow the steps outlined.  I've tried closing my session and opening a new one.  I've tried under chrome instead of Internet Explorer. 

[Cynthia_sas]

Hi:
We did have some intermittent problems over the weekend.

I do see a track from someone named Liz (hoping this was you). It looks like we sent a mail at 8:42 AM and explained that your server image had not been properly saved because of the problem.

I see a mail from Liz in response to the track that says she started from a fresh image and was able to get a reservation. If this is your track and you're still having issues since you made the reservation, then please respond to the mail you got and it will go directly to the group that is working on the problem with the weekend issue.

If this was NOT your track and you have not yet gotten a response from the Virtual Lab Support team, then please send mail to trainingtechsupport@sas.com or fill out the form that pops up when you click in the Need Help window inside the Virtual Learning Environment.

Cynthia

[Liz373]

Yes, I was able to get this issue resolved, but 2 days after I created my ticket. 

The take-away for me is that I may not be able to access the lab on the weekend if there are issues, because there is no technical support.  I work full-time, so I'm going through the classes nights/weekends (or the odd day that I have off of work).  I've created 2 tickets and they have been handled at 2 a.m. CST time.  They do get handled, but not in time for me to be able to get through the program that night (or weekend).

Other items:  When I reserve my slot, it can open early or up to an hour after the reservation time.  When I only have 2 hours in the evening to work on something, this does have an impact.

The time used is not counted to the minute.  It appears to be rounding to the nearest quarter hour. 

[Cynthia_sas]

Hi:

  If you do the "immediate" reservation, it can take a variable amount of time for the Virtual Lab image to start. The fastest it's come back for me is around 30 minutes, the longest about 45 minutes. I always do a "Reserve Later" reservation -- that takes some planning, but the reservation is ready exactly to the minute I ask for it.

  I am not sure of whether the time is rounded to 15 minutes or not. I will ask. As long as you remember to cancel your reservation at the end of your time to credit the unused hours back to your allotment, you should have enough time in all the modules. You should have enough time in each module to do the work in the classes.

  I'll check on the rounding and post back.

Cynthia

[Cynthia_sas]

Hi:

  Here's how the Virtual Lab rounding works. We always round in the student's favor. So let's say you start with a 50 hour allotment and in your first Virtual lab session, you use 3 hours and 20 minutes. This leaves you with a balance of 46 hours and 40 minutes remaining. However, we round the remaining hours UP to 46 hours and 45 minutes as your balance.

  The important thing is not to make your Virtual Lab reservation until you're ready to start working. In other words, don't let the Virtual Lab site idle while you are watching the class lectures. Listen to all the lectures in Chapter first. Then make a reservation for when you know you will have time to work. Then when your Virtual Lab starts, do all the demos/exercises for that chapter in a session. Don't do one exercise, then pause and listen to lectures while the Virtual Lab is waiting for you. You don't want to use the Virtual Lab time while you sit and watch the videos.

  Also, as soon as the Virtual Lab is ready on the Amazon server, your clock starts ticking. So if you do an immediate reservation and the lab is ready at 3:15 but you don't actually log on until 3:40 you get charged from when the lab is ready at 3:15, not when you log on. That's why I like making the future reservation, because then I know exactly when the lab starts and when the clock starts ticking.

  Hope this explains that the VL rounding is in the student's favor.

Cynthia

PS.. if you think that your balance is not correct, then there's a Need Help window inside your Virtual Learning Environment. Click for Contact Tech Support in that window and ask tor your balance of hours to be checked. The team that manages the Virtual Lab will get the request.

[Liz373]

Cynthia,

Feel free to call me--you can find my phone number linked to the ticket/my SAS account.

When I had the not being able to schedule issue last week, I tried the reserve now, but it never worked.  All my reservations have been scheduled ahead of time. 

For my reservation I had on Monday, I reserved ahead for 13:00 CST.  The reservation became active at 12:51 CST. 

For one of my other reservations, I reserved ahead for 19:30 CST and the reservation didn't become active at 19:30.  I ended up opening a ticket for that, because I thought there was something wrong.  I was told the reservations can take up to an hour to become active. 

[Cynthia_sas]

Hi:
I have never had a future reservation not ready when I asked for it. I will contact you offline.
Cynthia