Senso Enterprise Cloud. Good / Bad

[mrbios]

Trialed NetSupport classroom.cloud for a couple of weeks and now bought it and transitioning over.

 

Comparing to senso:

Pros:

Far more user friendly for a teacher

Broadcast works! (Just make sure to add firewall rules to allow the media server IPs)

Feels quicker and defaults to thumbnail view for their class view.

We didn't pay for the full feature set of senso, we got a deal on classroom.cloud that's costing us the same as senso but with the full feature set. (3 year deal)

The AUP component is much better and easier to format.

 

Cons:

As a tech it's maybe not quite as user friendly for quick managing multiple devices. Will be sending some feedback to them related to this. We do have sccm remote control for us if we don't feel comfortable enough with it.

No unlock feature as far as I'm aware for unlocking a locked PC like senso has.

 

 

I'm still getting to grips with how to use classroom.cloud to its full effect, but it's been a very positive experience so far. I feel like senso is more tech friendly, while classroom.cloud is more teacher friendly, but you can still achieve the majority of tasks as a tech with ease.

[Matt_NetSupport]

(For disclosure I work for NetSupport)...

 

We are working hard to add more tech features to classroom.cloud with regular updates and new features based on feedback, myself and our product manager are really keen to share what we are working on currently so if you have time for a call please PM me.

[titch]

No unlock feature as far as I'm aware for unlocking a locked PC.

 

Sorry not wanting to derail the thread but does anyone know how this feature works. I use it all the time and it's really handy but it does scare me!

[mrbios]

Sorry not wanting to derail the thread but does anyone know how this feature works. I use it all the time and it's really handy but it does scare me!

 

Funnily enough, i had that answered for me only minutes ago:

"they do it be replacing the GINA (part of the Winlogon process that you can replace to customise functionality)"

 

See here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/archive/msdn-magazine/2005/may/security-briefs-customizing-gina-part-1

[titch]

Funnily enough, i had that answered for me only minutes ago:

"they do it be replacing the GINA (part of the Winlogon process that you can replace to customise functionality)"

 

See here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/archive/msdn-magazine/2005/may/security-briefs-customizing-gina-part-1

Interesting and clever but not sure I like it......

[supportman]

(For disclosure I work for NetSupport)...

 

We are working hard to add more tech features to classroom.cloud with regular updates and new features based on feedback, myself and our product manager are really keen to share what we are working on currently so if you have time for a call please PM me.

 

Does it work with Office 365 single sign on for teachers?

 

Is it price competitive with Senso? I know senso is pretty cheap so wanted to ask.

[mrbios]

Does it work with Office 365 single sign on for teachers?

 

Is it price competitive with Senso? I know senso is pretty cheap so wanted to ask.

 

Yes to the first, that's how i've got people logging into it.

 

It is price competitive depending on the packages you have with senso. Senso has a range of packages of various modules, classroom.cloud has one with and one without safeguarding basically (presumably due to data size of logs). I've personally paid for a 3 year deal which they've done a deal on for everything, they've also got an offer on if you buy before end of March, so I'm getting more features for the same price as i was paying for senso.

[Mattjones47]

Yes to the first, that's how i've got people logging into it.

 

It is price competitive depending on the packages you have with senso. Senso has a range of packages of various modules, classroom.cloud has one with and one without safeguarding basically (presumably due to data size of logs). I've personally paid for a 3 year deal which they've done a deal on for everything, they've also got an offer on if you buy before end of March, so I'm getting more features for the same price as i was paying for senso.

 

@supportman - @mrbios has answered perfectly (thank you) - you can also use Google, Clever or ClassLink for SSO - if you are interested, complete this form and we can give you a competitive price.

 

https://www.netsupportsoftware.com/quote/

Edited February 15, 2024 by Mattjones47

[bjeffery]

We have been using it for over a year now and runs perfectly. We did have issues at first but as soon as we turned off filtering in Smoothwall and moved to securly and adjusted firewall rules its runs without any issues for us.

[ColS]

We've had it for almost a year and are quite underwhelmed. The Teams integration is better than Impero but that is about it.

 

The updater is telling us that we are on the latest client version (2021.11.15.0) but the version available in downloads appears to be much more recent and the couple of devices we've tried this on seem to perform better. There is also no release notes for the newer client version.

[supportman]

Yeh v2023.12.11.0 is the latest I think.

 

Same here no update notification on clients.

 

EDIT: I asked live chat and the 2023 version is just an API release update so no new functionality. Apparently needs to be installed manually to update but shouldn't be needed.

 

Also has some new firewall exceptions which might help:

 

Senso Support | Cloud Classroom and Network Management Solution

Edited March 15, 2024 by supportman

[Sean]

We've used Senso across our whole MAT for a number of years but at this site it seems to have taken a turn for the worse since we upgraded to Aruba 6300Ms and 6100s and went over to a VLAN scheme rather than being flat - now broadcast seems to miss 2 to 4 computers per class at random and WoL doesn't work at all (although, to be fair, I can seem to get alternative, specific WoL apps top work either now)

so.. it's always awesome when an upgrade makes things worse!

 

I notice, though that the last time Senso released a client update was back in December 2021 which is a while ago now!

I'm thinking one of 3 things

- They think the product is pretty much fully mature now / they've taken it as far as they can

- The company is circling the drain and has no money to spend on development

- they are working on a major update like a full rewrite on a new framework or something

 

anyone know?

Thanks

[mrbios]

We've used Senso across our whole MAT for a number of years but at this site it seems to have taken a turn for the worse since we upgraded to Aruba 6300Ms and 6100s and went over to a VLAN scheme rather than being flat - now broadcast seems to miss 2 to 4 computers per class at random and WoL doesn't work at all (although, to be fair, I can seem to get alternative, specific WoL apps top work either now)

so.. it's always awesome when an upgrade makes things worse!

 

I notice, though that the last time Senso released a client update was back in December 2021 which is a while ago now!

I'm thinking one of 3 things

- They think the product is pretty much fully mature now / they've taken it as far as they can

- The company is circling the drain and has no money to spend on development

- they are working on a major update like a full rewrite on a new framework or something

 

anyone know?

Thanks

 

Been a long time since I've done it but i think you need ip helper addresses with specified port of 7 or 9 depending on which the app is using. Can't remember if it has to be on the sender vlan or on the receiving one..... or both.

 

The way senso is made, the client is very small and almost single purpose. It just downloads the modules you use E.G broadcast is its own module and the client just downloads the updated modules as and when something changes, which is why the client rarely receives any updates.

[abtutor1]

Have you tried AB Tutor?

[EduBadger]

Not personally - unfortunately i'm stuck with senso for another 2 years as bought a 3 year subscription but they are unlikely to retain our business.

[Alastairb25]

The support side is very poor, I did see it work at a previous school I worked at. They had

 

HP Switches

Fortigate onsite firewall

Connections via Lancaster University Network Services

 

At my current site it is very hit and miss and certain functions do not work at all, ie remote control. we are

 

Cisco switches

Mikrotik CPE

VDOM Fortigate and Netsweeper via Talkstraight

 

The Cisco network is massively better than the previous HP network, however this seems to make no difference, it is very hit and miss and more often miss

 

Its been very disappointing

[Sean]

I looked on the Senso help pages and on the one about 'Broadcast Screen'

https://support.senso.cloud/support/solutions/articles/79000116199-broadcast-screen

it said

**It is highly recommended for the Broadcast module to function correctly that you refer to this article about WEBRTC and make these changes. The article contains information for setting making this change for both Windows and Chrome devices.**

Then there was a page about WEBRTC here

https://support.senso.cloud/support/solutions/articles/79000118118

But like, wut? Has anyone heard of this and tried it? Did it help? I couldn't work out if it was saying that if not having the policy settings in place was an issue for you that you would be gettng these intermittant issues with Broadcast / Lock Screen or if it just would not work at all, even...

[machy]

We needed to mess about with this policy to get thumbnails working.

It's one of those policy's that's named badly in GPO, Where you have to enable it to disable it. Anonymize local IPs exposed by WebRTC.

 

or for testing you can set "Anonymize local IPs exposed by WebRTC." to Disabled in edge://flags or chrome://flags

EDGE

GPO

 

Broadcast works for us, but is far far to slow (up for 40 seconds to start showing on all pcs) at times, and then doesn't show on all of them at times too.

We also had to add far to many URLs to bypass smooth wall completely to get "my computer" to show up in the broadcast sources.

 

 

These settings have not improved the experience for us

 

We have had many tickets with Senso about our issues, but we end up going in circles and the teachers have just given up hoping for a fix...

[Matt007a]

We've been fairly happy with Senso since moving from Impero, but the new version with TLS 1.3 has ruined that unfortunately. Basically if you use HTTPS inspection and decryption in Smoothwall, which we do, then Senso's Dedicated Teacher PC function breaks. This is because Smoothwall don't support TLS 1.3 and Senso won't roll back to 1.2.

 

Their tech support tried to convince me that most schools don't use the Dedicated Teacher PC function and are not affected by the change, but I find that hard to believe. The teachers in computer suites here really want those features and the software is useless to them without it.

 

Looks like one of them will have to go and lets be honest it's not going to be Smoothwall!

[Sylv3r]

We've been fairly happy with Senso since moving from Impero, but the new version with TLS 1.3 has ruined that unfortunately. Basically if you use HTTPS inspection and decryption in Smoothwall, which we do, then Senso's Dedicated Teacher PC function breaks. This is because Smoothwall don't support TLS 1.3 and Senso won't roll back to 1.2.

 

Their tech support tried to convince me that most schools don't use the Dedicated Teacher PC function and are not affected by the change, but I find that hard to believe. The teachers in computer suites here really want those features and the software is useless to them without it.

 

Looks like one of them will have to go and lets be honest it's not going to be Smoothwall!

 

They are looking at bringing out a v2 of SENSO - I am not sure if that resolves the issue you mention. I would like to think that SENSO move with the times and look to support TLS 1.3 especially with a new release.

[Matt007a]

Other way around. Senso have moved to 1.3 already but Smoothwall do not support it.

[broadld]

This is quite an interesting thread. We have been having a trial of Senso over the last couple of weeks. The feedback we got from teachers is that the broadcast function is very temperamental. I have done quite a lot of testing on this and can't get it to work consistently. Sometimes it works on all PCs in a suite. Sometimes it misses 10+ machines out of a suite of 30. The first time you broadcast it seems to sit for 40 seconds on a black screen then starts the broadcast. Then subsequent broadcasts seem to be much quicker.

We have been in touch with their support and they are trying to say it is an internal network issue and other customers aren't facing this issue. Which is obviously not true finding this thread.

Our network is monitored for throughput and latency on all our switches and uplinks and had no spikes or latency.

I am certain I haven't missed any ports, URL or HTTPS inspection exemptions as I have checked them multiple times.

If I get anything from their support that is of any use I will let you know.

They have said they are working on a V2 of Senso but unsure of a release date yet. If the broadcast worked consistently from our testing all the other features just seemed to work.

[Alastairb25]

Pretty much my experience. We are all Cisco, I know from testing bandwidth and latency is pretty much bang on and yet Senso broadcast is very hit and miss

[machy]

The feedback we got from teachers is that the broadcast function is very temperamental. I have done quite a lot of testing on this and can't get it to work consistently. Sometimes it works on all PCs in a suite. Sometimes it misses 10+ machines out of a suite of 30. The first time you broadcast it seems to sit for 40 seconds on a black screen then starts the broadcast. Then subsequent broadcasts seem to be much quicker.

Our trust have sent several tickets to Senso saying the exact same thing

Have got pretty much no where with support on this

 

They take a few logs, say they are working on it and hear nothing afterwards.

[Iain.Faulkner]

I know I've posted on this thread previously, but annoyed that Senso are still rolling out the "no other school is having these issues line" Senso remains poor at both our secondary schools and we've given up raising it with their support team as we simply get told "It's your network". I don't see how we can keep it beyond the end of our current contract as it's so lacking in the fundamental areas of classroom management.