itgeek Posted October 11, 2021 Posted October 11, 2021 Hi All, Just looking at our new image and how are other schools deploying python for coding lessons are you using a virtual machine, raspberry pi or with the software installed or locally on the PC. Just thinking about the security. Thanks in advance
paulkerton Posted October 11, 2021 Posted October 11, 2021 We're pushing replit.com Its about £550 for a year, but the features it has make it super simple.
itgeek Posted October 11, 2021 Author Posted October 11, 2021 Thanks for the suggestion. I have talked to our ICT teacher and he has said that the students wont be able to use this for the exam work as they are not allowed any internet access at all, even if we only allow the one website. Thanks
jthompson Posted October 11, 2021 Posted October 11, 2021 Using VirtualBox here, with immutable, non-networked VMs. Don't let users run Python code directly on your PCs. As well as the security risk, it's also a pain if they run prank code that endlessly spawns calc.exe or something. The ungraceful shutdowns that result from that stuff will make work for you. If that happens in an immutable VM, it's not going to bring the host down or cause anyone else any bother. Just restart the guest. We use the local folders feature of VirtualBox to make students' user folders available to them in the VM. This gives them somewhere to save their work outside of the VM, even though the guest system itself has no network connectivity. The VirtualBox GUI is locked down for students, to prevent them adding network connections or their own VMs. 2
paulkerton Posted October 12, 2021 Posted October 12, 2021 Thanks for the suggestion. I have talked to our ICT teacher and he has said that the students wont be able to use this for the exam work as they are not allowed any internet access at all, even if we only allow the one website. Thanks I think they aren't reading the criteria correctly there. Plus, are they literally coding in exam conditions? I'm pretty sure they're not treating exams like a speed coding competition. Surely the coding part is delivered as coursework?
NotSoFast Posted October 12, 2021 Posted October 12, 2021 The new Edexcel GCSE requires you to program "live" under exam conditions. There's no coursework in any GCSE CS spec now.
paulkerton Posted October 13, 2021 Posted October 13, 2021 It is entirely possible to create a replit.com instance for students under exam conditions using a tool like ChromEx to do so. Though the idea of speed coding in an exam is a farce, frankly.
lcrowther Posted November 3, 2021 Posted November 3, 2021 We simply push Python to the computers and have it installed on all the machines.
supportman Posted November 8, 2021 Posted November 8, 2021 I've been hearing great things about http://www.replit.com recentley from our CS teachers. Its really good value as well.
WhiteStar1 Posted January 28, 2022 Posted January 28, 2022 I like replit.com but for an annual cost compared to using a virtualbox image, I will go with the work it entails with the latter. Although I find the staff unappreciative of the savings my hard work as made for them!
dmj Posted January 28, 2022 Posted January 28, 2022 Run it in a browser from your python server:) https://github.com/ethanhs/python-wasm Demo: https://repl.ethanhs.me/
WhiteStar1 Posted January 28, 2022 Posted January 28, 2022 Using VirtualBox here, with immutable, non-networked VMs. Don't let users run Python code directly on your PCs. As well as the security risk, it's also a pain if they run prank code that endlessly spawns calc.exe or something. The ungraceful shutdowns that result from that stuff will make work for you. If that happens in an immutable VM, it's not going to bring the host down or cause anyone else any bother. Just restart the guest. We use the local folders feature of VirtualBox to make students' user folders available to them in the VM. This gives them somewhere to save their work outside of the VM, even though the guest system itself has no network connectivity. The VirtualBox GUI is locked down for students, to prevent them adding network connections or their own VMs. Same here. Been using Virtualbox for years now. I remember one morning I brought the network to a standstill when I deployed a 35GB Windows 7 Python image to 8 computers. Thought if I started early I would avoided the peak logons. Big no-no. Anyhow its the safest way to sandbox and have complete control of computers for coding in a school. The RM blueprint for Virtualbox has been a lifesaver for me. Still using it. All my deployments are from a shared image off the server.
MYK-IT Posted January 28, 2022 Posted January 28, 2022 @WhiteStar1 @jthompson Just wondered if either of you could PM me some instructions, hints/tips on how you went about setting up this kind of configuration? Would be appreciated, as I've looked at (and budgeted for) replit.com and thought great, however Computing department claim otherwise... Thanks,
jthompson Posted January 28, 2022 Posted January 28, 2022 @WhiteStar1 @jthompson Just wondered if either of you could PM me some instructions, hints/tips on how you went about setting up this kind of configuration? Would be appreciated, as I've looked at (and budgeted for) replit.com and thought great, however Computing department claim otherwise... Thanks, PM sent 1
WhiteStar1 Posted March 17, 2022 Posted March 17, 2022 @WhiteStar1 @jthompson Just wondered if either of you could PM me some instructions, hints/tips on how you went about setting up this kind of configuration? Would be appreciated, as I've looked at (and budgeted for) replit.com and thought great, however Computing department claim otherwise... Thanks, PM sent 1
Jay-Dee Posted July 15, 2022 Posted July 15, 2022 Good morning, I am also facing some issues with python. We have blocked the IDLE version but computing staff wanted us to deploy MU, as the GUI version didn't offer full functionality. But we found yesterday that students could run programs via cmd by using the python command 'import os'. We have obviously blocked 'Do not allow access to command prompt', but the command will run and then it displays 'command prompt has been blocked by your administrator' which is useless. Therefore I was hoping that @WhiteStar1 or @jthompson could also share a guide about how to to create a VM for use with python, etc? Or if anyone else for that matter has any information it would be much appreciated. Thanks a lot
georgeescott Posted July 15, 2022 Posted July 15, 2022 But we found yesterday that students could run programs via cmd by using the python command 'import os'. We have obviously blocked 'Do not allow access to command prompt', but the command will run and then it displays 'command prompt has been blocked by your administrator' which is useless. What kind of commands are they running? Most built-in .exe’s can be run from the start menu or shortcuts unless blocked by SRP/AppLocker anyway. Do you have ‘Disable the command prompt script processing also?’ enabled too?
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