Student Lab Monitoring Software

[elkhornps]

Does anyone know of a good lab monitoring software for use with a thin client and vmware view implementation? In our physical computer labs we currently use Synchoneyes and we have looked into using iTalc, but need to know if there is someone who has gotten one of those products to work, or if they have another product that works great.

Here's really all I need.

Having a teacher be able to view the computers of those in his or her lab.

Being able to lock users screens (Keep the students focused on the teacher if they are goofing off)

I think this would take care of the main features and then we can go there with any other features that may be a part of a working solution.

We are currently working on testing to see if this is something that is feasible to bring into our environment and this appears to be the last major item besides verifying all of the ThinApped programs.

Thanks in advanced for everyones help.

Jason Harris

Network Coordinator

Elkhorn Public Schools

Elkhorn, NE

[jbruelasdgo]

we have used Netop School (http://www.netop.com/products/education/netop-school6.htm)

very strong software

regards

Jose Ruelas

[tashby64]

Have a look at Dyknow software.

I just finished working with their Chief Technology Officer this morning at a client site (K-12) testing their monitoring software in a View 3.1 environment and it worked flawlessly.

[elkhornps]

Thanks for the information jbruelasdgo and tashby64. I was talking with NetOp earlier this year before we started looking heavily into view and have thier rep digging up information on their integration with view. I also have a call scheduled with Dyknow for later this week. I think the Dyknow system looks to have the most promise from what I've read up on it so far, especially since I would probably virtualize the back end server and therefore for keep the large ammount of data within my ESX hosts. I will reward some points after I get a little farther with testing depending on which option works the best.

Thanks Again!

Jason

[elkhornps]

Here is some extra information regarding NetOp for a vmware view environment.

From their rep:

Netop School is compatible with VMWare as long they do not connect via ‘RDP' to a XP or Vista operating system. If they want to do RDP or ‘thin client' connections using VMWare they can use a Termianl Server or Citrix Server operating system. I believe there are different ways to implement this VMware view but if they follow the guidelines above they should be fine. If they want to use a ‘thin client' I've attached a document that will help.

Since our implementation is setup to use the RDP protocol into a windows xp environment, this does appear to be a solution that will work for us in our environment, but it looks like there is some use if you are using Citrix or a Terminal Server. I have attached a word document that goes into more detail about Citrix and Terminal Server setup.

Jason

[DCasota]

Hi

We finished a class room project on a customers site with V10 wyse thin client devices and VMware View 3.1. However the (optional) goal to control the whole environment by a class room control software hasn't been achieved yet.

After trying vision6 from genevalogic, netop school, net control2 without success we did some research. The problem seems to be RDP itself: RDP - in the actual version 6.1 - doesn't support session screen sharing for XP/Vista. This is a feature announced for RDP 7 (windows 7: see ). So every class room software - even with a own video hook driver - will not be able to catch a session with a logged-on user. In the best (theoretical) case you will see the locked console screen by VMware View (see VM console in vCenter) ...

Have you done the setup with a separate Windows or Citrix Terminal server? Did it work?

For all: Is there another solution to integrate a class room software? I don't want to hijack this thread, so any answers should be related to the origin question.

Bye

Daniel

[DCasota]

In addition:

I think a setup of a class room with HP thin clients, HP RGS and VMware View 3.1 (which supports HP RGS) might work, because HP RGS supports screen sharing. But: I haven't tested it!

This autumn we might see the next version of VMware View with PCoIP and/or RDP7 integration for XP/Vista/Windows 7.

Bye

Daniel

[RaulJBA]

¿Jose pudiste hacer trabajar Netop con Vmware View?

SL2S

Raúl