AB Tutor or equivalent

[_Adam_]

For a while now we have been testing various Classroom Management systems after outgrowing Ranger. We have passed NetSupport, NetControl and Smart Sync over our test network but for various reasons we have not settled on them.

 

Only since joining this forum has AB Tutor and LanSupport come onto our radar (probably not a lot of advertising in Australia). Out of the two it seems AB Tutor has a huge fan base and V6 sounds fantastic.

 

So can I ask whoever is running it if they think it will work in the following enviroment?

 

We are a school where teachers are supplied a notebook and students have their own notebook. So there are no "fixed" computer pools but each classroom is equivalent to a pool. Teachers connect via a 1Gb wired connection and students via an 802.11n network (300Mb). Teachers and students are on different vlans but stay on them (ie. vlans do not change when roaming). We use Procurve switches which I believe do not multicast across vlans without the purchase of an expensive license.

 

So is it possible for a teacher to pull in a "class" at the beginning of a lesson without relying on students to connect manually? If the answer is no, then is it possible with students connecting manually across vlans?

 

Your answers may lead to other questions but thank you in advance for your time. We are looking at around 70 teachers and 750 students.

[mac_shinobi]

Impero is a good one - Impero Solutions Ltd - Network Computer Management and Monitoring

 

Seen it in action once and looked pretty darned good - feature packed

 

Video on youtube

 

[nomedia=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfS9PWK9AWE]YouTube- Impero vs Netsupport vs LanSchool vs Abtutor (file send/run)[/nomedia]

[_Adam_]

Thanks for bringing Impero to my attention. Will it operate across vlans in the way that I asked?

 

FYI - NetSupport does do what I asked before anyone jumps in, I am not prepared to pay 100% more in price for it when there are so many other options.

[rh91uk]

ABTutor will definetly do the trick, works incredibly well here......

[mac_shinobi]

Thanks for bringing Impero to my attention. Will it operate across vlans in the way that I asked?

 

FYI - NetSupport does do what I asked before anyone jumps in, I am not prepared to pay 100% more in price for it when there are so many other options.

 

I've never had the opportunity to work with VLAN's so I honestly could not tell you - if you do get a chance to download and use the 30 day trial ( from there website ) maybe you could post back and let us know ?

 

Anyway will leave it for everyone else to put there $0.02 in as I only wanted to post that as an extra option.

[ricki]

abtutor Is here its a good price and does whats on the tin.

 

Richard

[stariq]

we have it here on all pc's and laptops - a fantastic bit of software well worth its price

 

not sure if it will work on VLANs but will find out soon enough when I figure out how VLAN's work

[ninjabeaver]

AB Tutor is amazingly good. Does everything you could want. Thoroughly recommend it. All the clients are free, you just pay for how many tutor licenses you need. I've got 10 here and there's no yearly maintenance. You only pay (a small %) for say upgrading from V6 to V7, unless you are in your first year with it.

[marekbrad]

AB Tutor has been an absolute godsend here. We not only use it as a teacher/class mgmt tool but also as a remote support tool. We group classrooms with a specific password for each room so when a teacher loogs on they only see the room they are in and we even restrict the tools available to them depending in the level of training staff have completed.

[sj2780]

We use abtutor here aswel, it is a very good product.

 

Simon

[Theblacksheep]

Can anyone comment on AB across vlans?

does it work?

[_Adam_]

Can anyone comment on AB across vlans?

does it work?

 

Thanks to those who have commented so far, I know the following is strong for AB Tutor as I scanned the previous threads before posting. This would only occur with a quality product.

 

Theblacksheep beat me to it, can someone who has used it across vlans or can is running AB Tutor and can test it please comment on their results?

[Theblacksheep]

Adam,

 

The following post on the AB tutor board would suggest vlan trouble like most of them.

 

AB Tutor Control Forum and Message Board | ABTutor | View topic - AB tutor on multiple VLAN

[_Adam_]

Great find Theblacksheep. I noticed the discussion thread you found was 4 years old and thought surely its changed and a search revealed AB Tutor Control Knowledgebase :: Can AB Tutor Control monitor clients across different subnets?

 

So it can be done.

 

Another positive from this thread is mac_shinobi has brought Impero to my attention. Both this and AB Tutor will now go through testing.

[naturalbornchaos]

I too am looking for a new classroom management software. We currently use Synchroneyes 7.0 (the older version of SMART Sync). We've got it in ~8 labs, on about 200 machines. It seems to work fairly well. The teachers understand it, they can see the desktops, take control, block IE & Firefox, etc.

 

The issues I have are:

1) It is easily bypassed. All the kids have to do is yank the network cable, wait a few seconds, then plug it back in. Their connection is restored but the Synchroneyes "Teacher' does not recognize the interruption, so the thumbnail stays "frozen" at whatever was on the student's desktop before the cable was pulled.

 

2) It is a pain to install. I can't make it part of a Ghost image, and I can't push it out using Prism Deploy. So I have to manually install the "Teacher", then install the clients on the lab machines. And that requires a reboot, allowing the app access through the firewall, deleting the icon the program insists on putting in All Users > Desktop etc.

 

How does AB handle any attempts by students to get around it?

 

Is there an easy way to push it out from a central location?

 

We are a Windows Domain, workstations will be XP for one more year.

 

Thanks

[mac_shinobi]

support link from impero website

 

Impero - Support

 

quote from support section ref trying to bypass impero

 

How easily can my network users bypass Impero?

 

Impero has ungergone rigorous testing to ensure it is very robust and reliable.

Running as a protected system service Impero continues to function even in Safe Mode.

Pulling the network cable out from the Client computer also doesnt stop Impero from working - as soon as the cable is plugged back in, Impero will automatically connect back to and synchronise with the Impero Server.

 

All settings, blocks and logs are stored centrally on the Impero Server computer where they cannot be tampered with by network users.

 

Impero itself as well as all communication is encrypted using the 256bit AES standard.

 

Impero Console can only be opened using the password you specify on the Impero Server, or if configured only by the usernames or computernames you have specified on the Console Access Rights.

 

Also they have a chat live via skype and other methods so am sure you could chat with someone in support to find out ref the VLAN issue and other questions you have

[grdrager]

RE Impero -- we're using this on all 1250 of our machines. It works fine over VLANS but auto-discovery of the server won't work -- you'll need to set the IP address of the server in each machine. Not a big deal and there's a utility to do it for you.

[mac_shinobi]

RE Impero -- we're using this on all 1250 of our machines. It works fine over VLANS but auto-discovery of the server won't work -- you'll need to set the IP address of the server in each machine. Not a big deal and there's a utility to do it for you.

 

you on version 2 or 3 ??

[grdrager]

you on version 2 or 3 ??

 

I'm still on version 2. Planning to go to 3 this summer.

[_Adam_]

I am in discussion with Impero and if students have local admin rights they can stop the service (which ours will have). Impero have made a commitment to introduce password protection in a future patch so even a local admin cannot stop it, much the same way corporate anti-vitrus clients work.

 

This has earnt points in my book, but still setting up the test environment.

[mac_shinobi]

I am in discussion with Impero and if students have local admin rights they can stop the service (which ours will have). Impero have made a commitment to introduce password protection in a future patch so even a local admin cannot stop it, much the same way corporate anti-vitrus clients work.

 

This has earnt points in my book, but still setting up the test environment.

 

let us know how you get on

[_Adam_]

Just an update to conclude, we extensively tested Impero v3 and have decided to settle on this product. After testing nearly every product on the market this one had ticks for all our tests and service requirements.