E-marker Proxy settings

[chrispounds]

Hey guys,

 

Does anyone use E-marker and happens to know the routes it takes?

 

I've used NetMon on my machine and can see it goes to xxxxx.e-marker.co.uk which i have allowed on our UTM, but still connection is proving difficult and getting an answer from AQA is proving...challenging.

 

Our web logs also show no blocked / unblocked activity, which has me at an impasse.

 

Wireshark also just shows it going to our proxy address and going no further.

 

:thinking:

[noelmm]

I'm having nothing but problems with e-Marker at the moment. I have installed it on to a standalone device on an open network and the software works perfectly, installed the same software onto an identical device and the software fails and the error message is basically useless. I have been able to install the software onto one of our domained machines and it works however on another 3 identical devices the software again doesn't work.

 

Like you I have contacted AQA and had no response so i'm stuck waiting at the moment.

[chrispounds]

Same here Noel, my machine with Firewall rules in the backend letting me through - not a problem, anything else, no sir no such luck! Quite annoying. Interestingly their FAQ suggests NOT using it in a school / education environment due to "the troubles they had" getting it to communicate, can't be that hard, just let us know the IP's/URLS! Which is daft, because it's marking software .

 

When (if) i hear anything, i will post it here, good luck!

[chrispounds]

So i got a reply,

 

Hello Chris,

 

Thank you for your e-mail.

For the programme to operate, the school/network IT staff will need to allow/unblock ports HTTP 80 and HTTPS 443 to e-marker.org and e-marker.co.uk.

 

We would not recommend that examiners install CMI+ or QMS software on a school / work laptop. We recommend that examiners install CMI+ or QMS on their own PC where they are the main administrator.

 

Kind Regards

 

Daniel Fletcher

AQA Customer Services

 

 

Not the most helpful, as we have already undertaken this basic step, im awaiting further info.

[noelmm]

Hi Chris,

 

I got a reply from their helpdesk last night and their answer is to install the software following the instructions on the website. The install procedure is that simple that I don't understand how they think anyone can get it wrong. I've asked them for an alternative installer that I can test with however I don't think I'll have any luck with getting one.

[chrispounds]

Hi Noel,

 

I basically received 3 e-mails, one saying how to install it (duh) One saying test your internet connection, (gigabit so i think we pass) and another saying they stipulate NOT to use it on school systems......sigh, i don't want to go back to the user and tell them they can't use it, down to AQA not knowing their products technical info!

[noelmm]

Hi Chris,

 

I exchanged a few more emails yesterday with them and told them how unhappy I am with both the product and service and they agreed to raise my call to the next level, within 15 minutes I had a call from someone who said they could resolve the problems (I've sent you a pm with the person contact details), you will need the teachers examiner number when you contact them. By this time I had managed to get the software to work on a windows 10 device (personal laptop) so our teacher is just going to use this.

[chrispounds]

Hi Noel,

 

Oh great stuff, appreciate that i will give them a contact and see if they can assist! Glad you got it working at least, appreciate your help!

[chrispounds]

Hi Noel,

 

I spoke to a chap who actually rang me, who was quite adamant that it wouldn't work in a school environment and said it wasn't worth my time or his to get it to do so, especially on school equipment, due to the program needing so much admin access. So that would explain why it works on personal laptops. He did say that he couldn't disclose what ips/urls the program tried to go to for security reasons. So i still can't help the user who want's to at least use it in college! Shame, but maybe we just have to say - If you are making money from it, don't use college resources!

[noelmm]

Hi Chris,

 

I have been able to get the software to work on a school device although it did take some work. I used a piece of software called Fiddler 4 to see what url's the software was accessing and added these into our allow list however this still didn't fix the problem for the other school devices. I also had little luck with getting the software to work consistently on personal devices, in the end it took me around 10 devices to get it working for only 3 members of staff however one of our teachers has spoken to someone from another school where they have around 30 users attempting to use this software and not 1 will work.

 

Hopefully the software writers will begin to listen to all of the complaints I am sure they must be receiving and fix the problems in the future.

 

We might have to do the same as you in the future and say we don't support the software as it is not something we install.

[TheCrust]

Hello folks!

 

A little late to this thread, but we too are having difficulty with this CMI Plus e-marker software. We've realised it's a bag of [rubbish] but are inevitably caught up in the middle between those exam markers who want to use it and the exam boards. So far, we've not got it to work on any of our school devices, local admin or not, compatibility settings or not, filtered internet connection or not. The only success we've had is the one laptop that came in from outside. Instead of using our filtered BYOD network, we put it on the main network as a completely unfiltered "pass through" device - and it worked.

 

The examiners are saying that nobody else in their teams have reported any difficulties, but this clearly cannot be the case if there are staff in other schools trying to use school devices or their own devices on school BYOD networks in the first instance and their experiences are as you've seen yourselves. It is frustrating!

 

@noelmm Are you able to share those contact details you have for AQA?

 

 

 

Jim

Edited June 27, 2017 by TheCrust
Can't seem to spell!

[chrispounds]

Hi TheCrust,

 

I've PM'd you the details.

[kerryturner]

I'm an exam board examiner and really do appreciate all the work which goes with trying to balance network security, filtering requirements, and requests to use software like this on a school network or device. The exam boards really do need to play ball, and their responses sound very frustrating.

 

Just to put a few things into context: none of us do this for the money. Whatever stories you may have heard, getting £3.25 per script (which can take ages to assess) and then be taxed on it, is not the best way to get rich. Exam marking usually comes at the end of a long year when we're all tired, but we do this so that we can be better prepared to teach our (and perhaps your) children, and get their passes and grades, spot on. The boards like to employ current teachers for exactly that reason, and we don't all have the money for our own devices (I have a chromebook, which is the best that I could afford).

 

So, in all, I suppose I'm trying to say - thanks for your efforts on this. Perhaps if enough technical staff complain, the exam boards will change the software so that it's more easily accessible in future.

Edited June 27, 2017 by kerryturner

[noelmm]

Hi TheCrust,

 

Hopefully you'll be able to get this resolved. In the end I just installed the software onto as many devices as needed until I had enough working laptops for our 3 staff members to use. Our Head of English who is an examiner has reported this back to the exam board however I doubt they will listen.

[TheCrust]

Thanks @noelmm and @chrispounds - your input is much appreciated.

 

As Kerry said: if enough technical staff and examiners complained to the exam boards, sooner or later they have to start getting the message, surely....?!

[ClassroomCaptain]

Hi all,

 

I've had some issues too. Support on the website is pretty poor.

 

I used one Win10 PC on a home network, then switched to another.

 

The first PC had no issues. The second would struggle to connect.

 

I managed to get it to connect by:

1.) Going into the Windows Firewall settings and explicitly setting "allow" for all applications in the marking software folder. - Didn't work.

2.) Running the program as Administrator. - This worked.

 

I now remember that I actually run as the Administrator on the 1st PC (family PC which I don't often use), and have a seperate Admin account on my Personal pc...

 

So, I guess, check whether you are running as Admin.

 

FYI, this was CMI+ .

[HelpImAnAdmin]

Our issue was firewall decryption. Once I'd put *.e-marker.co.uk in a no decrypt rule our login issues were resolved.

[bigt_csgo]

Exams have rolled around again and some of our staff members are wanting to use E-Marker.

 

Has anyone get any further information and how we can unblock it?

[noelmm]

I've been in contact with them again this year and the answer is the same as last year, to use a standalone device. As a result I have had to take around 6 laptops and put their original OS back on and let the teachers use that.

[CHiLL]

I've just raised this issue myself through the WJEC E-Marker support emails and received a reply. They have simply forwarded me a message that they've received from DRS:

 

Marking from school is always likely to be a problem with each school having different internal security policies, so the only information we would supply would be that the marking server is a HTTPS site so the examiner needs to be able to access these types of sites. Also we communicate via port 80 and 403 so these need to be open on the firewall to allow communication to the marking servers.

 

Unfortunately we cannot supply the IP address of the server so if the above doesn’t help then the school would have to create a connection for the examiner that bypasses their normal firewall policies etc so they can mark at school.

 

I hope this helps, if you have any questions regards to this let us know.

I've forwarded this onto Smoothwall, who I'm hoping will provide some insight on whether we can get this working.

[stgoodyeara]

Our issue was firewall decryption. Once I'd put *.e-marker.co.uk in a no decrypt rule our login issues were resolved.

 

+1 for adding e-marker.co.uk to whitelist, this will have had a similar effect to bypassing decrypt and inspect.

[johnM_]

Just for clarity and correctness ( maybe save others finding this and using the information ).

 

Firewall rules need to be set by adding to the whitelist:

*.e-marker.co.uk

This website will require access on ports: 80 (HTTP) & 443 (HTTPS).

 

Where "Personal" computers are used this is unlikely to be an issue. Using borrowed computers configured by corporate/School IT, may need the exceptions adding to the computer but more likely to the School Firewall whitelist (or ISP, to at least check it is not blocked there).

[johnM_]

Also we communicate via port 80 and 403 so these need to be open on the firewall to allow communication to the marking servers.

 

Just for clarity and correctness ( maybe save others finding this and using the information ).

Firewall rules need to be set by adding to the whitelist:

*.e-marker.co.uk

This website will require access on ports: 80 (HTTP) & 443 (HTTPS).

 

Where "Personal" computers are used this is unlikely to be an issue. Using borrowed computers configured by corporate/School IT, may need the exceptions adding to the computer but more likely to the School Firewall whitelist (or ISP, to at least check it is not blocked there).

[tom_newton]

One option might be a VM with full admin rights, and that bypasses the majority of fiewall and filter? Use Faronics Deep Freeze or similar to "revert to factory" every day so it doesnt become malware hell, and only allow RDP access to it?

 

Noel, I think you are on the right track with fiddler. Maybe break out wireshark as well, see if there's any non-http traffic. Systinternals processmonitor is another good tool for trying to find where some opaque horror is failing to load.

[johnM_]

One option might be a VM with full admin rights, and that bypasses the majority of firewall and filter?

Not necessarily. A simpler option can just be to create a new user account, add it to the local administrators group then login with that account and install use the software. In some rare circumstances this has resolved login/connectivity issues where the original profile was corrupted somehow.

 

VM's can also work, but not all users are tech savvy enough to install/maintain this type of setup inclusive of additional licences where 3 month trial versions need activation etc.

 

As a general rule of thumb, if the PC is a users PC ( not corporate/School owned ) then it's unlikely that local firewall will be the issue as default rules are to allow outgoing traffic by default. However School machines will most likely have policies/whitelists in place for Security policy of the school admins where changes could be requested.

 

 

Use Faronics Deep Freeze or similar to "revert to factory" every day so it doesn't become malware hell, and only allow RDP access to it?"

 

If using VM, then install the OS, software get it working then snapshot it, you can always revert back to this state if there is an issue. Usually built in functionality at least in Open-Box and VMWare workstation.

But as above, a clean new local account maybe a better way forward depending on why communication is blocked.

 

Noel, I think you are on the right track with fiddler. Maybe break out wireshark as well, see if there's any non-http traffic. Systinternals processmonitor is another good tool for trying to find where some opaque horror is failing to load.

 

Set an allow rule for *.e-marker.co.uk. port 80 & 443 should be all that is required though this would be more likely needed on the ISP/School Network policy rather than a personal Pc.

Edited May 13, 2024 by johnM_
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