Lanschool - Anyone that uses it please help

[mattmoo]

Hello Everyone,

We are just trialing what i thought was a great product.
It installs like a dream, is super easy to use and ticks all the boxes we need.

However, when using it we found that it couldn't find our wireless laptops and then discovered the broadcast / multicast settings that are needed. This doesn't work for a few reasons,

a) we have 5 vlans, student desktop/wireless, staff desktop/wireless and server network.
so straight away the 3 network options means we cant run it on all 5 vlans
b) Broadcast traffic, it says in a manual I have been sent that my managed switches need to be configured to allow this traffic.
Are you for real? Do i need to change all my switches for your software to work?
c) If I am a techie who wants to use the tool for remote access I can use channel 0 (great stuff) but the the above vlan issue will stop it working how i need it to.

Now I am wondering if I am completly wrong about all this and there is something I am missing, if anyone works in environment where you have this working, working well in a managed switch VLAN environment please let me know how you overcame these issues.

Thanks

Matt

[mattmoo]

Really no one with any thoughts?

[maniac]

Hello Everyone,

We are just trialing what i thought was a great product.
It installs like a dream, is super easy to use and ticks all the boxes we need.

However, when using it we found that it couldn't find our wireless laptops and then discovered the broadcast / multicast settings that are needed. This doesn't work for a few reasons,

a) we have 5 vlans, student desktop/wireless, staff desktop/wireless and server network.
so straight away the 3 network options means we cant run it on all 5 vlans
b) Broadcast traffic, it says in a manual I have been sent that my managed switches need to be configured to allow this traffic.
Are you for real? Do i need to change all my switches for your software to work?
c) If I am a techie who wants to use the tool for remote access I can use channel 0 (great stuff) but the the above vlan issue will stop it working how i need it to.

Now I am wondering if I am completly wrong about all this and there is something I am missing, if anyone works in environment where you have this working, working well in a managed switch VLAN environment please let me know how you overcame these issues.

Thanks

Matt

That problem is not unique to Lanschool - any of these sorts of products won't work across V-Lans properly (as far as I know) without some configuration to make it work.

I think the key factor is the ports the product uses - if you are able to forward these so they are available between V-lans then it should work from any V-LAN to all the others. (I don't know much about V-Lans, but I sort of assume this can be done with some sort of routing?)

Broadcast addresses are sometimes disabled on managed switches to stop DOS attacks using them. They would need to be turned on for this product to work properly, same as they would if you were using any other multicasting service. Without the use of the broadcast address, the program would have to scan every IP address individually instead of just sending out a multicast packet triggering the clients to register - which I believe is how it works. Certain other services like 'Show' probably wouldn't work properly without the use of the broadcast address. Again I think other simelar products would need the same.

Unfortunitely we just run a 'flat' network here, no Vlans as not all our switches support them yet - so I can't actually help you get it working, only a few words of advice based on what I think I know about V-Lans.

[mattmoo]

thanks maniac, thats what i thought its just i know theres products out there that dont work like this at all, either with some kind of server product that they point to or via port 80. I guess the functionality of them is reduced given the broadcast nature of the school based products but its just a shame if I have to use two products one for classroom management and one for network management.

Matt

[FN-GM]

There is an option to select try this:

Open LanSchool

Administrator > Preferences > Network Tab > Select IP-Multicast

This is how we see our machines on other V-lans. We select Channel 0 and and use this option in the office to see all computers on the network.

All of our Cabs are on there own V-lan.

There is no need to change anything on switches

[mattmoo]

Yeah that is clearly not going to work across multiple vlans in a managed switch environment surely? Correct me if I am wrong. I would imagine the switches wouldnt like it or the wireless controller.

Will try it tomorrow though.
Matt

[FN-GM]

Yeah that is clearly not going to work across multiple vlans in a managed switch environment surely?

It works prefect with us...........
We have multiple V-Lans to be exact we have 25. It is a managed switch environment with. Also works on the managed WIFI.

There was no need for that tone either. I don't appreciate sarcasm when i am trying to help you.

[maniac]

How does that work thou unless the V-LAN you're in is confugured to be able to talk to all the others? I thought the idea of V-LANs was to segment the network so it couldn't talk directly to the other segments unless approperate routing is setup between them - or am I woefully wrong on this??

[FN-GM]

How does that work thou unless the V-LAN you're in is confugured to be able to talk to all the others? I thought the idea of V-LANs was to segment the network so it couldn't talk directly to the other segments unless approperate routing is setup between them - or am I woefully wrong on this??

We use layer 3 switches so there is routing between them. I think its called inter V-lan routing. Im not an expert of this kind of thing but i know what i need to.

Unless you have totally separate V-lans? So essentially its like having separate switches and totally separate networks.

Maybe someone can elaborate on this?

[mattmoo]

There was no need for that tone either. I don't appreciate sarcasm when i am trying to help you.

Are you for real?

Firstly it wasn't sarcasm, it was a genuine comment of "correct me if I am wrong" as I am quite aware I am not right all the time and am happy to be corrected.

EDIT: on second reading maybe it was the first bit I was being sarcastic with it but even that has a question mark which shows that I was unsure of the answer.
....

Secondly, the internet has no context so your either in a bad mood or you have clearly read that as you felt it was meant, which is not how I meant it which shows your issues not mine.

I really despair!

Matt

[FN-GM]

Ok maybe i took it wrong but this sounded like sarcasm to me. It also sounded patronising and underminding towards me.

Yeah that is clearly not going to work

Apologies for any mixup

[mattmoo]

Ok maybe i took it wrong but this sounded like sarcasm to me. It also sounded patronising and underminding me.

Apologies for any mixup

No worries, to be honest, I'm a brutally honest person at times and if I thought you was being an idiot I would call you an idiot, however, it was me that I thought was being an idiot thats why i added the "surely" at the end as I was sitting there thinking, did i not try that? haha

Wouldn't partonise or undermine a fellow IT professional either.

Thanks

Matt

[FN-GM]

Try that and let us know how you get on. Might be worth contacting LanSchool support. They are pretty good.

[mattmoo]

Hey FN-GM

multicast does work across the different vlans but is not talking to the wireless controller at all so maybe it needs to be configured to allow that broadcast traffic which in all fairness, is not so bad as its just 1 controller.

I am going to test a bit more and also giv ethe teachers a different bit of software (smart sync, net support school) in the other two classrooms and see which they prefer. Its the only good way to do it in my opinion.

Thanks for your help and I do agree about the support, they have been helpful so its a +1 for that

Thanks

Matt

P.s. Anyone with a Cisco wireless controller who has this working please let me know as it would be nice to see what you had to change before I go investigating more.

[FN-GM]

Hey FN-GM

multicast does work across the different vlans but is not talking to the wireless controller at all so maybe it needs to be configured to allow that broadcast traffic which in all fairness, is not so bad as its just 1 controller.

I am going to test a bit more and also giv ethe teachers a different bit of software (smart sync, net support school) in the other two classrooms and see which they prefer. Its the only good way to do it in my opinion.

Thanks for your help and I do agree about the support, they have been helpful so its a +1 for that

Thanks

Matt

P.s. Anyone with a Cisco wireless controller who has this working please let me know as it would be nice to see what you had to change before I go investigating more.

Can you tell us a little more on the Wireless setup you have going?

Thanks