Using a NetSupport Connectivity Server to find Students

The NetSupport Connectivity Server or Gateway provides a simple and reliable method of locating and connecting to Students in LAN/wireless LAN environments.

Note: The NetSupport Connectivity Server must be installed on a Windows machine.

Once configured, Students connect to the NetSupport Connectivity Server on start-up and register their availability and current IP address with the Server. At the Tutor end, when browsing to locate Students, a search of the NetSupport Connectivity Server is performed rather than a UDP browse across the network. The Tutor program uses the IP address registered with the NetSupport Connectivity Server.

The advantages of using a NetSupport Connectivity Server over traditional browse options are:

  • Negates the need to browse the network to locate Students.

  • Reduces the time taken to locate Students.

  • Reduces the need to configure and maintain broadcast range entries in the Tutor configuration.

  • More reliable connection method in wireless LAN environments. The Tutor uses the current IP address when establishing connections. Avoids problems in Wireless environments where Student devices change access points and are assigned new IP addresses.

The basic requirements for using a NetSupport Connectivity Server are:

  • It needs to be installed on a Windows machine that is accessible to all Tutors and Students.

  • It needs to have a static IP address.

  • The Tutor and Student devices need to be configured to use the NetSupport Connectivity Server.

The NetSupport Connectivity Server, NetSupport School Tutor and NetSupport School Student must have a matching NetSupport Connectivity Server Security keyClosed An additional level of security that requires both the Tutor and the Student to have the same encrypted key before the Student allows a connection. configured.