Installing and configuring the NetSupport Connectivity Server

A 'NetSupport Connectivity Server The NetSupport Connectivity Server (Gateway) is a component in NetSupport School which provides a stable and secure method for connecting Students and Tutors via the internet using HTTP and delivers web-based remote control without the need for modifications to existing firewall configurations.' or 'Gateway' is designed to run on a machine that is accessible from both the Tutor and Student PCs. It must, therefore, have a fixed or static IP address. The Connectivity Server can be installed as a standalone component on the machine you wish to use, or along with other NetSupport School components.

When performing a NetSupport School installation, select the Name and Connectivity Server component from the Custom Setup screen. You will also need to configure the Server (Gateway) properties. At the end of the installation the NetSupport Connectivity Server Configuration dialog will appear or after installation, you can launch the dialog by right-clicking on the Connectivity Server icon in the system tray, or from the NetSupport Connectivity Server Console File menu.

The Connectivity Server is configured with the IP address of the Connectivity Server machine and a security key. This same information must also be entered at both the Tutor and Student machine, thus validating connections between the various components.

Once the Tutor and Student connectivity options are set to use the designated Connectivity Server, each time the Student machine starts up, its current IP address will be registered with the Server. In turn, the Tutor will check the currently defined method for browsing for Students at start up but rather than performing a UDP browse of the network it will poll the Connectivity Server to find Students matching the criteria.