DammitKid Posted July 3, 2021 Posted July 3, 2021 Hi all, Has anyone else had the request to allow students in computing (Y11 and Y13) to install EXE files? It's apparently part of the curriculum now but I've not heard of it. It's a very random end of year request! Now, the obvious security issues aside; Realistically, as programming and so on continues to be taught and the subject matter increases in complexity this will be needed if not now but in the future. Rather than work against the curriculum being taught, I'm exploring options to work with them in a controlled way and to implement it with security as the key design point. I'm considering implementing windows sandboxing but this will mean upgrading to Pro or Enterprise which is fine but I'd be interested to know how others have/would deal with this? The areas I'm also looking at is completely offline devices that can be used, GPOs with accounts only allowed to work on certain machines and only for allocated times and having a mini switch with select numbers of devices VLANed off in an isolated and filtered way (I'm tempted to do this as I'm going to be creating a privileged access VLAN for admin works so can use it as a test). I may even do a combination of them all. Cheers
3s-gtech Posted July 3, 2021 Posted July 3, 2021 The last time this was all coming in, many of us implemented VMs (typically via VirtualBox) which gave the students complete control, but on isolated boxes. These didn’t have internet access, but could have mapped drives allowing the user to get exe files onto the machine where necessary, and save the work back out. We went a step further and hosted the VMs on a dedicated server which the students RDP’d to (which a VBox extension). Needs to be a bit of a beast! It all went a bit quiet since, but is now coming back (especially in Wales). Difference is, much more can be done within a browser now. 1
3s-gtech Posted July 3, 2021 Posted July 3, 2021 I should add, given that my post is broad, that given enough time and a bit of tinkering, the server version can be automated as it has good scripting support. We created a little program in VS which the students ran. This allowed them to choose the type of VM (Windows or Debian). It then stored their username in a MySQL DB against the VM ID. The server built their new VM from a base image. When finished, they had the option to start their VM, and the program fired up an RDP session to that VM, connected the network drive to their home area, and away they went. It was very clever stuff, for which I can’t take any credit! 1
Primus Posted July 3, 2021 Posted July 3, 2021 I should add, given that my post is broad, that given enough time and a bit of tinkering, the server version can be automated as it has good scripting support. We created a little program in VS which the students ran. This allowed them to choose the type of VM (Windows or Debian). It then stored their username in a MySQL DB against the VM ID. The server built their new VM from a base image. When finished, they had the option to start their VM, and the program fired up an RDP session to that VM, connected the network drive to their home area, and away they went. It was very clever stuff, for which I can’t take any credit! Share it!
3s-gtech Posted July 4, 2021 Posted July 4, 2021 I’ll try to find the source. You’ll need: A VM host server (you’ll need 1-2GB of RAM per VM minimum) As many CPU cores as possible (which is a lot easier now than it used to be) SSDs, with enough storage for each OS for each student. This should be a separate array to the host OS. VirtualBox Server https://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch07.html Optional: An onsite MySQL DB (but not much power behind it needed) A way to combine the scripts needed into a UI for the students (we used VS). You can do everything without the automation parts, but it’s more work for you. You may find that it’s easier and cheaper to do this with Azure now - especially if you don’t have the server already. Strongly recommend you check that route first.
mrnoisy Posted July 6, 2021 Posted July 6, 2021 We’ve been using ms labs for about 3 years, cost about £100/month to run 2 labs. https://azure.microsoft.com/en-gb/services/lab-services/ 1
mdking Posted July 7, 2021 Posted July 7, 2021 - - - Updated - - - We’ve been using ms labs for about 3 years, cost about £100/month to run 2 labs. https://azure.microsoft.com/en-gb/services/lab-services/ Hi, Could I ask a question? You mentioned its around £100 per month.. How many VMs is this for? How many hours is this for per day / Month? Whats the Sepc of the VMs? Thanks
mrnoisy Posted July 7, 2021 Posted July 7, 2021 - - - Updated - - - Hi, Could I ask a question? You mentioned its around £100 per month.. How many VMs is this for? How many hours is this for per day / Month? Whats the Sepc of the VMs? Thanks 2 labs of 30 machines, I’ll have a proper look tomorrow re hours/ spec really good setup though
mdking Posted July 8, 2021 Posted July 8, 2021 2 labs of 30 machines, I’ll have a proper look tomorrow re hours/ spec really good setup though Thanks
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