Lab - User Guide

Accessing your Labs

Click on the Labs tab and you will be presented with the Labs that you have available to you.

My Labs

On the My Labs page select the lab you wish to access by clicking the course title.

After you select your course title you will be presented with three options:

      •  Home

      •  Labs

      •  Reports

On the labs page you will have the following three options:

      •  Launch your lab

      •  View your progress report

      •  Cancel the lab

Navigating the portal

There are three main areas in the portal. These are:

      •  Dashboard

      •  Help/Support

By selecting one of these options you will be presented with a number of options.

Dashboard

This option provides you details of the following:

      •  System notifications

      •  Your activity

      •  Open support calls

Help / Support

Select this option for the following details:

      •  FAQ

      •  Technical information

      •  Log support call

Accessing your courses

Click on the Courses tab and you will be presented with the courses you have been allocated based on your subscription.

Select the course you wish to access by clicking on the course title. There will be a number indicated alongside the title, this references the number of time you have accessed this particular title.

Once you enter the course you will be presented with a list of available modules to complete. In the details of each module you will shown:

      •  The objectives

      •  Structure

      •  Typical learning time

      •  How many times you have accessed this module

Select the module you would like to access.

You will now be taken into the module and be presented with the content and lab devices required to complete required objectives.

As you can see from the layout this is where the majority of changes have taken place.

Primarily there are two major areas of control.

      •  Content window

      •  Device list

Viewing Content

Let us explore the content window in more depth. There is now a lot more flexibility in how you access and view your lab content. The main components are broken down and defined below:

      •  Central panel - This is where the introduction, exercise and summary details are displayed.

      •  Bottom left - Navigation between module content.

      •  Bottom right - Module download links.

      •  Top right - Window management, use these icons to manage your content viewing preferences. If you select the cross icon the window will become free form and you can manipulate the location and size of the panel. The arrows icon allows you to launch the content in a new window.

The following example is our recommended layout for device and content access on a single screen.

There are some additional icons that in the content window that do the following:

      •  Minimise window

      •  Expand window (used if you minimised window)

      •  Snap left - This sends the exercise detail back to the central console.

      •  Popup content window

NOTE: You must save the configuration settings once you have customized the layout to your preference.

Accessing Devices

The devices required for each module are now presented on the left hand side of the console.

Based on the detail in the Introduction select the device which you are required to configure.

Then select the Power On icon located in the tool bar.

You will notice the Power On icon now rotates while the device is booting up as well as an Orange indicator located in the top left corner of the device name.

Once the device successfully powers on your central console will automatically connect to the remote desktop console. This will also be indicated by a Green indicator located in the top left corner of the device name.

The same process is in place for both Microsoft Windows devices and Cisco networking equipment.

Once your console becomes active there are a number of other device functions available in the Tool bar.

The Tool Bar

The options available in the Tool Bar give you the ability to manage your device connectivity and power management.

Server / Workstation Functions

The existing device functions still exist in the new user interface as in the current portal as well as some additional new features. The functions are broken down as follows:

      •  Power off (Shut down the device, this will cause all your changes to be erased)

      •  Reboot (Restart the device while maintaining changes. Use this function instead of the operating system version as we can then detect when the device becomes available)

      •  Reset (Restore device back to default configuration, great if you have made a mistake)

      •  Connect (If you remote session does not automatically connect in the central console you can manually initiate a connection)

      •  Pause (If you want to take a device "offline" but still maintain your changes)

      •  Refresh (If you have used the reboot or reset function you can use this to check the state and availability)

      •  Default user details (These are the default account details that automatically login to the remote desktop session)

      •  Auto login (If you want to specify an account to login with then disable this feature and you will be prompted to insert the user details)

      •  Lab time (Defines how long you have been connect in this lab session)

      •  Client switch (There are now two supported connection methods HTML5 and Java. Click in this area to switch between clients  NOTE: Remember to save your configuration if you do switch.

Cisco Functions

The Cisco device functions are not exactly the same as the server devices. Some options are removed and two new ones added..

      •  Reset (Restore device back to default configuration, great if you have made a mistake)

      •  Connect (If you remote session does not automatically connect in the central console you can manually initiate a connection)

      •  Copy (You can now copy configuration from the Cisco terminal, this option available in Internet Explorer browser)

      •  Paste (You can now paste configuration into the Cisco terminal, this option available in Internet Explorer browser)

      •  Lab time (Defines how long you have been connected in this lab session)

NOTE: The Cisco devices do not utilize either the HTML5 or Java clients.

User Settings

There are a number of icons located in the top section of your screen..

Among these is Settings, as shown here:

Select this to manage the following areas:

      •  Display name - This is optional.

      •  Email address - This is optional.

      •  Open Microsoft devices in a popup window - Use this to launch Microsoft devices in their own window and not in the central console.

      •  Device screen resolution - Use this to select the device screen resolution preferred.

NOTE: Any changes made with these options must be preserved by clicking "Save my settings and screen layout"..

The objective of Module Zero is to:

  Familiarize new users with our platform before heading off to their first lab.

  Ensure all Practice Labs learners are aware of all available functionalities, right from the start.

  Reduce support tickets by including the answers to commonly asked questions in this module.