Netlab Administrator Guide
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Ion TemciucNetlab Administrator Guide
Uploaded by
Ion TemciucAdministrator Guide
Document Version: 2014-09-16
This guide covers features available in NETLAB+ version 2014.R2.Beta.1 and later.
Copyright Network Development Group, Incorporated.
www.netdevgroup.com
NETLAB Academy Edition and NETLAB+ are registered trademarks of Network Development Group, Inc.
VMware is a registered trademark of VMware, Inc. Cisco, IOS, Cisco IOS, Networking Academy, CCNA, CCNP, and PIX are registered
trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc.
NETLAB+ Administrator Guide
1
2
Introduction.................................................................................................................. 5
Using the Web Interface .............................................................................................. 6
2.1 Remote Access Test ............................................................................................... 9
2.2 Maintenance Reminder ....................................................................................... 11
2.3 Administrative Alerts ........................................................................................... 12
2.4 NETLAB+ Event Log .............................................................................................. 12
2.5 Web Server Access Log ........................................................................................ 13
2.6 Web Server Error Log........................................................................................... 14
2.7 Backup Status ...................................................................................................... 15
2.8 Shutdown NETLAB+ ............................................................................................. 16
2.9 Reboot NETLAB+ .................................................................................................. 17
2.10
Configure Services .......................................................................................... 18
2.11
Software Updates ........................................................................................... 21
2.12
Set Date/Time ................................................................................................. 22
2.13
Administrator Profile ...................................................................................... 23
2.13.1 Change Administrator Password ................................................................ 24
2.14
Manage Communities .................................................................................... 25
2.14.1 Add New Communities ............................................................................... 26
2.14.2 Edit Community Records ............................................................................ 28
2.14.3 Delete Community Records ........................................................................ 29
2.14.4 Community Pod Assignment....................................................................... 30
2.15
Manage Accounts ........................................................................................... 31
2.15.1 Add Accounts by Importing Data From a File ............................................. 32
2.15.1.1
Example 1 - Import Accounts .............................................................. 33
2.15.1.2
Example 2 - Import Accounts .............................................................. 37
2.15.2 Add Accounts by Entering Data .................................................................. 42
2.15.3 Edit Accounts .............................................................................................. 46
2.15.3.1
Modify Instructor Privileges ................................................................ 49
2.15.4 Delete Accounts .......................................................................................... 51
2.15.5 Reset Account Passwords ........................................................................... 52
2.15.6 Performing Actions On Multiple Accounts ................................................. 53
2.16
Manage Classes .............................................................................................. 55
2.16.1 Add Classes ................................................................................................. 55
2.16.2 Edit Class Information ................................................................................. 61
2.16.3 Add Learners to the Class Roster ................................................................ 65
2.16.4 Manage a Class Roster ................................................................................ 71
2.16.5 Group the Class Roster Into Teams ............................................................ 75
2.16.6 Choose Lead Instructors for a Class ............................................................ 79
2.16.7 Delete Classes ............................................................................................. 80
2.17
System Banners .............................................................................................. 81
2.17.1 Login Banner ............................................................................................... 83
2.17.2 Login Box Colors .......................................................................................... 85
2.17.3 Login System Name..................................................................................... 86
2.17.4 Login Text .................................................................................................... 87
2.17.5 System Page Banner ................................................................................... 88
2.17.6 System MyNETLAB Welcome Message ...................................................... 92
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2.17.7 System MyNETLAB News and Announcements ......................................... 93
2.18
Enable/Disable User Logins ............................................................................ 95
2.19
Pod Assignment .............................................................................................. 96
2.20
Pod Rules ........................................................................................................ 97
2.20.1 Add a Pod Rule .......................................................................................... 100
2.20.2 Edit a Pod Rule .......................................................................................... 102
2.20.3 Delete a Pod Rule ...................................................................................... 104
2.21
Lab Designer ................................................................................................. 105
2.23
Managing Global Lab Authorization Options ............................................... 106
2.24
Pod Designer ................................................................................................. 110
2.25
Equipment Pods............................................................................................ 112
2.25.1 Adding New Pods ...................................................................................... 114
2.25.1.1
Select Control Switch ......................................................................... 116
2.25.1.2
Select Access Server(s) and Lines ...................................................... 117
2.25.1.3
Select Switched Outlet Devices ......................................................... 119
2.25.1.4
Select Device Types ........................................................................... 120
2.25.1.5
Generic Console Devices ................................................................... 121
2.25.1.6
Select Software Images and Recovery Options ................................. 123
2.25.1.7
Select a Pod ID ................................................................................... 125
2.25.1.8
Select a Pod Name ............................................................................. 125
2.25.1.9
Verify Your Settings ........................................................................... 125
2.25.1.10 Cable the Pod ..................................................................................... 127
2.25.1.11 Testing the Pod .................................................................................. 130
2.25.1.12 Select PC Type.................................................................................... 131
2.25.1.13 VMware Settings ............................................................................... 133
2.25.1.14 Testing the Pod (Test 2 after PC Implementation) ............................ 135
2.25.2 Modifying Device Settings ........................................................................ 140
2.25.2.1
Modifying Device Settings for Routers, Switches and Firewalls ....... 142
2.25.2.2
Modifying Device Settings for Routers Using Pagent IOS ................. 143
2.25.2.3
Modifying Device Settings for Cisco ASA Security Devices ............... 144
2.25.2.4
Modifying Device Settings for Generic Console Devices ................... 146
2.25.2.5
Modifying PC Settings ........................................................................ 148
2.26
Control Devices ............................................................................................. 149
2.26.1 Control Switches ....................................................................................... 149
2.26.1.1
Adding a Control Switch .................................................................... 150
2.26.1.2
Control Switch Management ............................................................. 151
2.26.2 Access Servers ........................................................................................... 155
2.26.2.1
Adding an Access Server .................................................................... 156
2.26.2.2
Access Server Management .............................................................. 157
2.26.3 Switched Outlets ....................................................................................... 163
2.26.3.1
Add Switched Outlet Device .............................................................. 164
2.26.3.2
Switched Outlet Device Management............................................... 165
2.27
Lab Device Software Repository ................................................................... 168
2.28
Network Configuration ................................................................................. 171
2.28.1 General Network Settings ......................................................................... 171
2.28.2 Web Service Port Configuration - SSL is Available .................................... 174
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2.28.2.1
Generate a Certificate Request and Replace an Unsigned Certificate
with a Signed Certificate ....................................................................................... 176
2.28.2.2
Add a Certificate and Private Key to NETLAB+ .................................. 181
2.28.3 Interface Status ......................................................................................... 184
2.28.4 Kernel Statistics and Driver Statistics ....................................................... 186
2.28.5 Test Outbound Access .............................................................................. 187
2.29
Disk Status .................................................................................................... 188
2.30
Usage Reporting ........................................................................................... 190
2.30.1 Community Usage Reporting .................................................................... 190
2.30.2 User Usage Reporting ............................................................................... 192
2.30.3 Class Usage Reporting ............................................................................... 195
2.30.4 Pod Usage Reporting................................................................................. 196
2.31
Manage Curriculum ...................................................................................... 198
2.31.1 View a Curriculum Module ....................................................................... 200
2.31.2 Edit Curriculum Module Settings .............................................................. 201
2.31.3 Add New Curriculum Modules .................................................................. 202
2.32
Academy Sharing Portal ............................................................................... 205
Appendix A
Console Configuration ........................................................................... 208
Appendix A.1 Define Remote Access Ports .............................................................. 212
Appendix A.2 Outbound Firewall Test ..................................................................... 214
Appendix B
Upgrade a Router to Use Pagent IOS .................................................... 216
Appendix B.1 Obtain a Pagent IOS Image ................................................................ 216
Appendix B.2 Upload the Pagent Image to the NETLAB+ Server ............................ 217
Appendix B.3 Modify the Device Settings on the Router to Use Pagent ................. 217
Appendix B.4 Obtain a Pagent Activation Key ......................................................... 219
Appendix B.5 Verify that Pagent has been Successfully Loaded ............................. 223
Appendix C
Curriculum Management for Multi-Purpose NETLAB+ Systems........... 225
Appendix D
Global Lab Management for Multi-Purpose NETLAB+ Systems ............ 228
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NETLAB+ Administrator Guide
Introduction
NETLAB+ is an Internet based network lab for instructor led training developed by Network
Development Group, Inc. NETLAB+ allows organizations to use the power of the Internet to
teach students by facilitating direct interaction with real network equipment. Students
throughout the world have real-time access to the equipment in a training environment that
is easy to manage and allows students and instructors to share connections simultaneously to
the same equipment.
The NETLAB+ system is delivered as a network appliance and requires no customer
knowledge of UNIX, web server software, or other system administration functions.
The administrative tasks detailed in this guide are performed through two types of
interfaces:
System Console: Menu driven interface used to establish basic connectivity.
Web Interface: Almost all administrative tasks are performed through the webbased interface. Tasks performed using the web-based interface include viewing
logs and alerts, performing system maintenance, management of administrator
and instructor accounts and equipment configuration.
TCP/IP configuration must be performed from the system console to provide basic
network connectivity in order to access the Web-based interface. Please refer to the
Installation Guide or Appendix A of this document for information on console
configuration.
.
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Using the Web Interface
The web-based interface allows the administrator to monitor and maintain the NETLAB+
server and devices. This interface is accessible to the administrator. In order to use the
Web-based Interface, several basic installation tasks must be performed (See the
Installing the NETLAB+ Server section of the NETLAB+ Installation Guide). To access the
login page, direct a browser to the IP address of the NETLAB+ server.
Enter administrator and the factory default password, netlab.
Username: administrator
Password: netlab
The password must be changed during the initial login by the administrator. Usernames
and passwords are case-sensitive. Please record your new password in a safe place.
Changing the password is strongly recommended.
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After successful login, the Administration page will be displayed. The administrative
functions include displaying various logs and alerts, performing system and
configuration tasks and diagnostic tests. Select any task by clicking on the icon or the
function name. The administrative functions are shown on the next page.
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2.1
Remote Access Test
A Remote Access Test is performed during each user login. The purpose of the test is to
attempt to establish an outbound TCP connection. This connection is necessary for
remote device access, and remote PC access and access to chat functions.
This test will fail if a connection using the TCP port(s) defined by the NETLAB+
administrator cannot be established.
In this example, the Remote Access Test failed when instructor janedoe logged in.
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NETLAB+ now allows the administrator to define the Remote Access Port (or list of
ports) that may be used in place of the factory default.
The default port is TCP port 2201; this is a change from previous NETLAB+ software
versions. Existing systems with software prior to 2009.R1.beta.2 will continue to have
the former default setting of 23. The administrator may change this port and/or add
additional ports for remote users/sites that block the default port outbound.
It is critical that the ports specified are opened in the site firewall, or the client may
experience delays and/or port test failures during user login.
Please see the Remote Access Ports section of the NETLAB+ Installation Guide.
There are several reasons why the Remote Access Test may fail:
1) Personal Firewall settings on your computer: The personal firewall software on your
computer may be set by default to prohibit the port connection. This issue is routinely
resolved by selecting to allow the connection when prompted by a pop-up window from
your personal firewall software.
2) Security policy at your current location: It is possible that local security policy does
not allow outbound access using the port(s) chosen by the NETLAB+ administrator. This
is the most likely diagnosis if you are able to successfully access the system from
another location.
3) Ports have not been opened in the site firewall: As part of the installation process,
you must be certain to open the ports in the site firewall that have been designated
available for outbound client connections. This is only likely to be the problem if all
users are unable to establish a connection.
Use the Try Again option if you wish to repeat the test after adjusting your personal
firewall settings. You may select Skip Test if you prefer to proceed to your MyNETLAB
page without resolving the issue at this time. You will not have remote device access,
remote PC access or chat functions (chat functions will be available in a future software
release).
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2.2
Maintenance Reminder
For your convenience, your NETLAB+ system displays the status of your system
maintenance agreement. The maintenance fee covers the cost of technical support and
software updates.
The last day of your current maintenance agreement is displayed in the upper righthand corner main page when logged in to the administrator account. This notice will be
displayed in green until 60 days before the maintenance end date. The status message
will then change from green to yellow. You can review your renewal options by
selecting the How to Renew link.
If your maintenance agreement is not renewed by the maintenance end date, the
notification message color will change from yellow to red. You are strongly encouraged
to make immediate arrangements to continue maintenance to avoid any disruption of
services.
Software updates are made available only to systems that are current on their
maintenance.
You may find it helpful to enable the display of the maintenance reminder to instructors
who use the system on a regular basis. This is recommended particularly if you do not
log into the administrator account frequently. As the Administrator, you may enable
the display of the maintenance notification for an instructor by editing the instructor
account information as shown in section 2.15.3.
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2.3
Administrative Alerts
The status of system events, such as software upgrades are detailed in
the Alert log. The alerts that are tracked by NETLAB+ can be used by the
administrator or central support team as needed, to track user access
and server processes to aid in troubleshooting or device configuration.
The log is generated by NETLAB+ automatically. Events and errors are dated and timestamped. The interface includes an option to delete some or all of the alert entries.
2.4
NETLAB+ Event Log
The NETLAB+ Event Log contains entries for each event occurring in the
NETLAB+ system, including changes to system configuration, user logins,
user authentication issues, automated processes, creation and deletion
of accounts and classes. The events that are tracked by NETLAB+ can be
used by the administrator or central support team as needed.
The log is generated by NETLAB+ automatically. Events and errors are dated and timestamped. You may select the time-period of events to view.
Select to display the log.
Select to return to previous screen.
All events are dated and time-stamped.
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2.5
Web Server Access Log
The NETLAB+ Web Server Access Log lists a dated and time-stamped
entry for each web server action. When troubleshooting, the log entries
may be helpful to determine if a user is making contact with the web
server. The file can also be used by the Technical Support Team to
diagnose any web server problems. Similar to the NETLAB+ Event Log,
you may select the time-period of entries to view.
All entries are dated and time-stamped.
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2.6
Web Server Error Log
The NETLAB+ Web Server Error Log lists a date and time-stamped entry
for each web server error. While the Web Server Access logs contain
entries for all events, the Error Log contains entries for errors only.
When troubleshooting, the file can be used to diagnose any web server
problems. Similar to the NETLAB+ Access Log, you may select the timeperiod of entries to view.
.
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All entries are dated and time-stamped.
2.7
Backup Status
NETLAB+ Central Services stores backup files of the data necessary to
rebuild your NETLAB+ system, to be used only in the case of a
catastrophic event such as system disk failure. The NETLAB+ system
performs system backups transparently, by selecting Backup Service (see
section 2.10). If no backup files are listed on this page, data files are not being backedup to the Central Support Site. Backups will not occur if Backup Service has been
disabled on the Configure Services page.
Up to five backup files will be stored, with the newest files replacing the oldest files.
These backups are used only to restore a non-functioning system, not to restore
accidentally deleted student or class information. At this time, due to data integrity
issues, NETLAB+ has no facility to restore accidentally deleted student or class
information.
Central Support Services (CSS) are required for backup services to operate. If your
system is not communicating with the NDG CSS support server, your system will not be
backed-up (see section 2.10).
Select to return to the previous page.
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2.8
Shutdown NETLAB+
Using the Shutdown NETLAB+ function, the administrator can perform a
graceful shutdown of the NETLAB+ server. Do not shutdown the NETLAB+
server using the power switch, since this may cause data integrity
problems by forcing processes to suspend abruptly.
Once the system is shut down, it cannot be brought back up through the administrators
interface, since the server will not be operating and the interface will not be available
through a browser. To restore operation, it will be necessary to press the reset button
or cycle the power switch on the NETLAB+ server.
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2.9
Reboot NETLAB+
Use this task to reboot the NETLAB+ server. Performing the reboot
procedure does not require a physical power up to restore the system,
but bear in mind that the administrator will be disconnected from the
server during the reboot and will need to login again when the reboot
has completed. The reboot process will cause any users connected to the NETLAB+
server to be disconnected.
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2.10
Configure Services
The Configure Services page allows the administrator to configure
several services to run automatically. These services are available to all
NETLAB+ systems with a current support agreement with the
NETWORK DEVELOPMENT GROUP, Incorporated. If Backup Service,
Software Update Service, and Time Service are enabled, your NETLAB+
database will be automatically backed up, software upgrades will be installed, and the
system clock will be updated daily These services are enabled by default. You must
select Update Settings at the bottom of the page to save any changes made to these
settings.
It is strongly recommended that these services remain enabled.
The Technical Support Over Remote Access Ports Service is used for troubleshooting
only, and should only be enabled at the suggestion of the product vendor.
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The NETLAB+ license agreement requires the system to have Internet connectivity and
access to the NETLAB+ Central Server Center. In order to meet this license requirement,
NETLAB+ must be able to send outbound HTTP requests through the Internet to a
central server using the HTTP protocol.
More information on NETLAB+ Central Support Services is available at this address:
http://www.netdevgroup.com/support/netlab_css_connect.html
Also available on the Configure Services page, the HTTP Proxy section allows the
administrator to enter an IP address and TCP port number of a non-transparent proxy server,
if one is used on the network. These values are only required for proxy servers that are nontransparent. If the proxy server at your site does not require manual client configuration, the
fields should be left blank. If changes are made to the proxy server settings, click the Update
Settings button to apply the new values.
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NETLAB+ may not function properly with every proxy server. It may be necessary to find
an alternate location for the NETLAB+ server within your network
NETLAB+ performs SMTP services to deliver email as part of the configurable services
offered to administrators and instructors. The administrator may also enter the IP
address for an alternate SMTP mail server, if needed. Some mail servers only allow mail
from designated servers. Using an alternate SMTP mail server has not been tested for
all configurations or servers.
Select to save any changes made on this page.
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2.11
Software Updates
The administrator may use this function to manually check for an
updated software version and perform an upgrade. This is accomplished
by first selecting the Check Availability option. The NETLAB+ system will
query the Central Support System to see if an update is available and
display an informational message indicating whether an update is
available. If an updated version is available, you may select Perform Upgrade Now to
perform the update.
If the administrator wishes to perform all software updates manually, the Software
Upgrade Service (see 2.10) can be disabled. A link to these services is provided on the
page.
It is recommended that the Software Update Service be enabled rather than performing
manual updates. (See 2.10).
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2.12
Set Date/Time
The administrator may use this function to display the currently
configured date and time. This information is displayed in UTC format.
Allowing the NETLAB+ server to configure the date and time through
Central Services makes certain that the NETLAB+ server maintains
accurate time settings.
To perform manual date adjustment the administrator must first disable the Time
Service (see 2.10). A link to these services is provided on the page.
If the Time Service has been disabled, the Set Date/Time page will display a form
allowing you change the system date and time manually.
It is recommended that the Time Service be enabled rather than setting the clock
manually (see 2.10).
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2.13
Administrator Profile
Selecting this function will display a form allowing the administrator to change the
contact information for both the business and technical contacts for the
NETLAB+ system. The Administrator will be prompted to update this
information during the initial login to the system, and subsequent 90-day
intervals. Keeping this information updated will enable NDG to contact
the appropriate parties quickly should any issues arise.
The information includes Contact Name, E-mail Address, Phone Number and AOL
Instant Messenger ID for both business and technical contacts. There is an option to
receive NETLAB+ system alerts by E-mail. Selecting to receive NETLAB+ News allows
NDG to send general announcements (such as version upgrade notifications) to the
specified E-mail address. We recommend that you enable this option so we can keep
you informed of new features.
Select Update Contact Info to open the update screen to make any changes to the
profile information.
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2.13.1
Change Administrator Password
The administrator may elect to change his password by selecting Change Admin
Password on the administrator profile page. See section 2.13. The Change Password
screen will also be displayed during the initial login into the administrator account,
changing the password during the initial login is mandatory.
To change the administrator password, enter the current password, and the new
password. The new password must then be retyped. Select OK to change the
password.
Usernames and Passwords are case-sensitive.
Passwords must meet the following requirements:
Not found in the English dictionary and not too simple
Between 7 and 16 ASCII characters
Contain both numbers and letters
An error message will be displayed if the new password does not meet these
requirements.
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2.14
Manage Communities
A community is a distinct group of instructors, students, and classes.
Instructors may only manage students and classes within their own
community (unless they are granted system-wide privileges by the
administrator). See section 2.15.3.1 for information on instructor
privileges. Each community reflects a separate autonomous group using the NETLAB+
system. There is no sharing of accounts or class records between communities.
The ability to support multiple communities on NETLAB+ is designed to facilitate the
sharing of a NETLAB+ system among several different groups (schools, institutions
academies, etc.). Blocks of time on equipment pods may be allocated by community to
ensure that each community receives a predetermined share of lab resources.
Each school using your system should be defined as a community. If the system is being
used by a single school, the default community assignment should be used.
Multiple communities are optional. Keep in mind that each instructor, student and class
can belong to only one community. If you do not wish to use communities, all of your
accounts and classes must reside in the default community.
Administrator
Community
Leader(s)
System
Leader(s)
Instructor(s)
Classes
Community
Leader(s)
Students
Instructor(s)
Classes
Community
Leader(s)
Community B
Students
Instructor(s)
Classes
Default Community
Students
Community A
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2.14.1
Add New Communities
Only the NETLAB+ system administrator may add new communities to the system.
Select Add Community to display the Add Community page.
Enter information and change default settings as needed for the fields on the page.
Descriptions of each field may be displayed by selecting show help tips.
Community ID: A numeric identifier for this community. This value determines
the order in which this community is displayed in the community list. You may
accept the default, or select a different number. Other communities will be
renumbered relative to your selection.
Name: A name for this community.
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Account Logins: Enable or disable logins by users in this community.
Maximum Length of Reservations: The maximum length of time a reservation
can be scheduled by an individual student or team. This setting does not restrict
reservations made by instructors. Instructors can establish lower (more
restrictive) maximums for a class by setting a lower number for Preferred
Maximum Length of Reservation in the class settings (see section 2.16.1).
Instructors cannot establish higher (less restrictive) maximums for a class than
this community maximum, which is enforced for all classes within the
community.
Minimum Time Between Reservations: The minimum time that must elapse
before an individual student or team in a class can make successive reservations.
This setting does not restrict reservations made by instructors. Instructors can
define higher (more restrictive) minimums for a class by setting a higher number
for Preferred Minimum Time Between Reservations in the class settings (see
section 2.16.1). Instructors cannot establish lower (less restrictive) minimums
than this community minimum, which is enforced for all classes within the
community.
Welcome Message: You may set a welcome message that appears on top of the
MyNETLAB page for all users in the community. You may apply NETLAB+
embedded markup (see section 2.17) to the text.
News and Announcements: This information will appear on top of the
MyNETLAB page, below the welcome message for all users of the community.
You may apply NETLAB+ embedded markup (see section 2.17) to the text.
If you set Welcome and/or News and Announcement banners for a community, users in
the community will see these banners instead of the ones set for the entire system (see
sections 2.17.6 and 2.17.7).
After entering information into the fields on the page, select OK to add the community
to the system.
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2.14.2
Edit Community Records
To edit a community record, select the
button to the left of the community ID and
name. The community record will be displayed.
Select the
button to edit any of the fields in the community record.
The edit screen will be displayed.
Descriptions of each field (see section 2.14.2) may be displayed by selecting show help
tips, in the lower right-hand corner of the page.
Select
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to save changes to the record.
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2.14.3
Delete Community Records
To delete a community record, select the
button to the left of the community ID
and name. The community record will be displayed.
Select the
button to delete the community record.
A confirmation screen will be displayed.
You must select
to confirm that you wish to delete the record.
All classes and accounts for the community must be deleted prior to deleting a
community record. See sections 2.15.4 and 2.16.7 for details on deleting classes and
accounts.
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2.14.4
Community Pod Assignment
Community Pod Assignment is a resource management feature that grants exclusive
access to a pod. At the community level, you can assign pods to a class, user or team.
Pods may also be assigned at the system level, as discussed in section 2.19 and class
level.
Select the
button to display the community pod
assignment page, which will include a list of the pods on the system with their
assignment status.
Please refer to the Pod Assignment Guide for details on community based pod
assignment and other pod resource management features.
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2.15
Manage Accounts
This function is used to add, delete, and modify account information for
both student and instructor accounts. At least one instructor account
must be setup by the NETLAB+ Administrator in order to access the
scheduler for lab reservations. A student account should be created for
each student to allow them to participate in labs as part of an instructor-led session, a
team session, or an individual reservation.
You can now import account information from a file into NETLAB+. Details are provided
in section 2.15.1.
As the NETLAB+ Administrator, you may manage accounts for any community. You may
also allow instructors to manage accounts for all communities by granting them systemwide privileges (see section 2.15.3.1 ).
Manage Accounts functions include adding new accounts to the system and making
modifications to existing accounts after selecting them via the account search function.
These functions are described in the subsections below.
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2.15.1
Add Accounts by Importing Data From a File
Beginning with NETLAB+ version 2012.R1, user account information can now be
imported into NETLAB+ from a comma or tab delimited file (*.csv or *.txt) . An account
should be created for each user to allow them to participate in labs as part of an
instructor-led session, a team session, or an individual reservation.
Account information may be imported into NETLAB+ from a file with these
characteristics:
1. The file must be in a comma or tab delimited file format (*.csv or *.txt).
2. The first row of the file may contain column headers that identify each field to
import.
3. The file may contain additional, extraneous columns of data. You will select
which columns are used by NETLAB+.
4. The file must include the data fields as described below.
You will achieve the best possible results with NETLAB+ recognizing your input data by
using the specified field names (bolded below) as column headers, although some
variation is acceptable.
Fields:
User ID: A user identifier that is unique to each user. REQUIRED
The User ID may contain up to 16 ASCII alphanumeric characters, and the
underscore "_" character. Alphanumeric characters include A-Z, a-z, 0-9. The
specified ID must be unique to the NETLAB+ system. You may wish to establish
standards for account creation. The User ID is case sensitive. No duplicate User
Ids are permitted.
Name Information for each user. You have several options as to how this
information may be imported, depending on the data available in your input file.
REQUIRED (choose Option 1, 2 or 3).
Option 1: Your file includes the following fields:
o Given/First Name: The name given to a user at birth.
o Family/Last Name: The name shared by the user's family.
o Display Name: Typically some combination of the user's given and family
names.
Option 2: Your file includes the following fields:
o Given/First Name: The name given to a user at birth.
o Family/Last Name: The name shared by the user's family.
NETLAB+ can automatically generate the Display Name using the
Given/First Name and/or Family/Last name fields.
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Option 3: Your file includes the following field:
o Display Name: Typically, some combination of the user's given and family
names contained in a single field.
NETLAB+ can automatically generate the Given/First Name and
Family/Last Name based on the Display Name.
Email: An email address for the user. OPTIONAL
To import a file:
1. Select a comma or tab delimited file, from the local file system, that contains the
account data to be imported. Files used for importing accounts must contain
lines with an equal number of commas or tab separated values and carry a ".csv"
or ".txt" file extension.
2. Select a Display Name Format (optional). This setting is used only if a Display
Name is not included in the input data. Select an option to indicate your
preference for the format of the display name to be generated for each user.
3. After the account information has been imported from the file, you will
complete the process of adding accounts on the Enter New Account Information
page (see section 2.15.2) where you will have the option to change the
community setting and modify the account type (student vs. instructor) as
needed, depending on your instructor privileges.
2.15.1.1
Example 1 - Import Accounts
In this example, we will import account data from a comma-delimited file. Let's
take a look at the file using a spreadsheet program, so we can view the data and make
the appropriate choices for importing account information.
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Notice a few important things about this file:
The file name acct_import_test_a.csv is a comma delimited file, which is an
acceptable format for importing.
The file includes the required User ID field.
The file includes name information, in a format meeting one of the three
acceptable options (see above). In this case, the fields, Given/First Name and
Family/Last Name are present, which meets the requirements for Name
Information Option 2.
An additional field, Housing, is present in the file. This data has no relevance to
this process, however, it is not necessary to remove this data from the file, it will
simply be ignored.
To Import the data:
1. On the accounts page, select the option to Import Accounts.
2. Select the Choose File button.
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3. Navigate your file system and select the file that includes the data that you want
to import. Here, we will import acc_import_test_a.csv. We will leave the
setting for display name format to Given/First Family Last. Since our file does
not include the display name field, the program will build the display name
based on this setting.
4. Select the Submit button.
5. The data that NETLAB+ was able to extract from the file is shown in a table.
Notice that the last column, which contains the unneeded housing data, is
grayed out and the check box at the top is not selected. This is fine, since we do
not want to import this data.
The import process is designed to behave in an intuitive manner. It will examine your
file to draw logical conclusions regarding the data you will be importing. If necessary,
you may make adjustments by selecting/deselecting the check boxes indicating each
column of data to be imported and resetting the drop-downs indicating the field that
the column contains.
6. Select the Submit button.
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7. The imported information will be included on the Enter New Account
Information page. The process of adding the new accounts will be completed
here.
a. An initial password must be entered; it will be used for all new accounts
being created on this page (see section 2.15.2 for password rules).
b. The import process has generated display names and populated the
display name field for each record, so we will leave Name Generation
Type set to Generate None - Manual Entry, since no further action is
needed in order create display names.
c. Also, we modified the type of one of the accounts from student to
instructor.
d. We did not import email addresses, nor have we entered them here.
Assume for this example that students will enter their email addresses
themselves when they initially access their accounts.
8. Once again, select the Submit button. This will complete the process of adding
accounts to your system.
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2.15.1.2
Example 2 - Import Accounts
In this example, we will again import account data from a comma-delimited file. Let's
look at the file using a spreadsheet program, so we can view the data and make the
appropriate choices for importing account information.
Notice a few important things about this file:
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The file does not include the recommended column headings. As you will see,
we can still use the file "as is", however, the import process may require user
intervention to determine the appropriate data to import.
The file includes a column with a unique identifier to be used as User ID.
The file includes name information, in a format meeting one of the three
acceptable options (see above). In this case, a single name field containing both
Given/First Name and Family/Last Name is present, which can be used as Display
Name, Name Information Option 3.
Two additional columns are present in the file. This data has no relevance to this
process, however, it is not necessary to remove this data from the file, it will
simply be ignored.
1. As in Example 1, select Import Accounts-> Choose File. Navigate your file
system and select the file that includes the data that you want to import. Here,
we will import acc_import_test_b.csv.
2. Select the Submit button.
3. The data that NETLAB+ was able to extract from the file is shown in a table.
All of the table data is grayed out, since the import process did not have
sufficient information to determine what fields contain input data.
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4. Select the checkbox at top of the first column. This column includes the data for
User ID (as indicated in the dropdown).
5. Select the second column and set the dropdown to Display Name.
6. The other data columns that are still grayed out are not needed and will not be
imported. Click the Submit button.
7. The imported information will be included on the Enter New Account
Information page. The process of adding the new accounts will be completed
here.
a. An initial password must be entered; it will be used for all new accounts
being created on this page (see section 2.15.2 for password rules).
b. The import process populated the Given/First Name and Family/Last
Name fields using the data from the imported Display Name field.
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c. We did not import email addresses, nor have we entered them here.
Assume for this example that students will enter their email addresses
themselves when they initially access their accounts.
8. Select the Submit button. This will complete the process of adding accounts to
your system.
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2.15.2
Add Accounts by Entering Data
An account should be created for each user to allow them to participate in labs as part
of an instructor-led session, a team session, or an individual reservation. NETLAB+ now
supports importing accounts as described in the previous section, or accounts can be
entered into the system as shown here.
To add instructor and/or student accounts to the system, select the community from
the drop-down community box on the Account Search page. Simply accept the default
selection for community if your system has only one community.
Select the
button to display the add accounts screen.
As the NETLAB+ Administrator, you may add both instructor and student accounts.
Instructors may also add new accounts; depending on the privilege setting of their
account (see section 2.15.3.1)
Assign an Initial Password to the accounts by entering a value for initial password. The
account users will be required to change this password during their initial login.
Passwords must meet the following requirements:
Not found in the dictionary and not too simple
Between 7 and 16 characters
Contain both numbers and letters
Retype Initial Password: Enter the initial password again.
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Enable Auto-Generation: Auto generation uses the name information that is available
to populate the remaining name field(s). For example, if Given/First and Family/Last
names are entered, the auto-generation process will concatenate these fields to create
the Display Name in the format indicated by the settings below.
Name Generation Type: If Enable Auto-Generation is checked, this setting is used to
indicate the source fields and the field(s )to be generated. Select an option:
Generate Display Name from Given/First and Family/Last Names.
Generate Given/First and Family/Last Names from Display Name.
Generate None - Manual Entry - No auto generation, all name field are entered.
Display Name Format: Indicate the format of the Display Name. This field will be used
to display the user's name in the roster, scheduler and other areas within NETLAB+.
There are several format options:
Given/First Family/Last
Family/Last, Given/First - Notice this option includes a comma separator.
Family/Last Given/First
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Specify information for each user account:
NETLAB+ User ID: A user ID that will be used to log in to the NETLAB+ system.
May contain up to 16 ASCII alphanumeric characters, and the underscore "_"
character. Alphanumeric characters include A-Z, a-z, 0-9. The specified ID must
be unique to the NETLAB+ system. You may wish to establish standards for
account creation. The User ID is case sensitive. No duplicate User Ids are
permitted.
Given/First Name: The name given to a user at birth.
Family/Last Name: Typically, the name a user shares with their family.
Display Name: Typically, some combination of the user's given and family names
contained in a single field. This field will be used to display the user's name in
the roster, scheduler and other areas within NETLAB+. This field may be entered
or generated by the system, depending on the Name Generation Type that is
selected.
Account Type: The account type, student or instructor must be selected for
each account. Once an instructor record is created, the instructor may be
assigned as a lead instructor for a class or may join a class as a learner. A class
may contain one or more lead instructors (trainers). All other users in the roster
(who are not leads) are learners (see section 2.16.3).
E-mail Address: Any valid e-mail address associated with the account. Entering
an email address is optional, account users will be prompted to add/update their
email address and time zone information when they initially log in to their
account.
Select
at the bottom of the page to add the new accounts to the system.
A confirmation screen will indicate that the accounts have been successfully added.
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You have the option to assign the newly entered accounts immediately to a class by
selecting the Add These Accounts to a Class button (see section 2.16.3). Select Im
Done if you prefer to assign the accounts to a class roster at a later time.
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2.15.3
Edit Accounts
As the NETLAB+ administrator, you may edit information in any instructor or student
account in any community. You may also grant system-wide instructor privileges to
allow an instructor to manage accounts in any community. Granting an instructor
community-wide privileges will allow the instructor to manage student and instructor
accounts within their community. Instructors with normal privileges can only manage
student accounts within their own community. See section 2.15.3.1.
You may also enable the maintenance reminder message for an instructor account as
described in this section, below.
To edit accounts, use the account search function to locate the record(s) you wish to
edit. You may select a community, an account type, and/or a full or partial User Id or
name to narrow down your selections.
The results of your search query will be displayed in a list.
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Select an account by clicking on the User Id. The account detail page will be displayed.
To proceed to the edit page for this account, select the Edit button. The account edit
page may be used to modify the account name, email address and to enable and disable
account logins. When account logins are disabled, the user will not be able to login to
the NETLAB+ system.
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For instructor accounts, account privileges may be modified. In this example, instructor
Jane Doe has been granted community privileges. (See section 2.15.3.1) Another
option that may only be updated by the administrator is enabling the display of the
maintenance renewal reminder. Enabling this reminder for instructors who use the
system on a regular basis is recommended, particularly if you do not log into the
administrator account frequently.
Select Update to save changes to the account record.
The renewal reminder will be displayed in the upper right-hand corner of the main page
of the instructor account if the option to show the renewal reminder is selected. Please
see section 2.2 for more information.
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2.15.3.1
Modify Instructor Privileges
As the NETLAB+ administrator, you may edit information for any instructor or student
account in any community. If you have multiple communities on your NETLAB+ system,
you may wish to grant system-wide privileges to an instructor (see section 2.15.3.1 for
an example) to allow the instructor to act as a System Leader. This will allow the
instructor to manage accounts and classes in any community without accessing the
administrator account.
Granting an instructor community-wide privileges will allow an instructor to act as a
Community Leader, able to manage both student and instructor accounts within their
own community. Instructors with normal privileges (the default) can only manage
student accounts within their own community.
Administrator
Community
Leader(s)
System
Leader(s)
Instructor(s)
Classes
Community
Leader(s)
Students
Instructor(s)
Classes
Community
Leader(s)
Community B
Students
Instructor(s)
Classes
Default Community
Students
Community A
Only the NETLAB+ administrator can grant community-wide or system-wide privilege to
an instructor account.
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2.15.4
Delete Accounts
Use the account search page to search for and select a record (see section 2.15.3)
that you wish to delete. Keep in mind that accounts may be assigned to multiple
classes, rather than being bound to a specific class as in previous versions of NETLAB+.
If the accounts are for students who will continue to use your NETLAB+ system in other
classes, you can keep the accounts and add them to the class roster of other classes as
needed (see section 2.16.3)
Select the Delete button. The page will indicate if the selected account is eligible for
deletion. Eligibility for deletion is dependent upon the privilege level of the user
performing the deletion (see section 2.15.3.1). The NETLAB+ administrator may delete
any account, in any community.
Select Yes to proceed with the account deletion.
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The account delete function may also be performed as an action on multiple accounts,
see section 2.15.6.
2.15.5
Reset Account Passwords
It may be necessary to reset an account password if a user has lost or forgotten their
current password. You may use the reset password function. Upon initial login, the
user will be required to change the password.
Use the account search page to search for and select a record (see section 2.15.3).
Select the Reset Password button to display the password reset screen. Enter the new
password for the account.
Passwords must meet the following requirements:
Not found in the dictionary and not too simple
Between 7 and 16 characters
Contain both numbers and letters
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A confirmation message will be displayed.
The password reset function may also be performed as an action on multiple accounts,
see section 2.15.6.
2.15.6
Performing Actions On Multiple Accounts
Several account functions may be performed on multiple records at one time.
Here, we select all accounts for XYZ Technical College.
A list of all the instructor and student accounts is displayed. To the right of each
account in the list is a selection box. To perform an action on multiple records, you may
select individual records, or use the Select All and Unselect All buttons as needed.
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Selecting the Add to Class Roster action will allow you to assign the selected accounts to
a class (see section 2.16.3). You may also reset the password (see section 2.15.5) of the
selected accounts or delete the account records (see section 2.15.4).
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2.16
Manage Classes
The Class Manager is used to manage classes and rosters. Information for
each class using the system must be entered into the Class Manager. As
the NETLAB+ administrator, you may manage classes for all the
communities you have added to your NETLAB+ system. You may grant
system-wide and community-wide privileges to instructor accounts as appropriate (see
section 2.15.3.1) to allow instructors to manage classes.
A list of the classes that have been entered for the selected community will be
displayed. Classes are listed with the start date of the class (if any), the class name, lead
instructor, class type, number enrolled, and end date.
2.16.1
Add Classes
To add a class to the system, select the
button at the bottom of the
Class Manager page and enter the class information into the form. The Class Name field
is required; other fields may be filled out now, or later through the Edit Class function
(see section 2.16.2).
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Fields are described on the next page.
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Class Edit/Add Field Descriptions
Class Name: The name of the class must be unique on the NETLAB+ system.
Lead Instructor(s): Instructors who are trainers in this class. Only lead instructors can
schedule instructor-led lab reservations for a class. Lead instructors may schedule
instructor-led lab reservations for this class. A lead instructor may also join any
student or team reservations in progress that are associated with the class.
Global Labs: Select lab exercises and content that can be accessed by users in the class
roster. This also affects the pod types that users can access. This setting does NOT
control access to curriculum. Global labs are available to all instructors on the system
(if authorized by the administrator).
Private Labs: Private labs are available only to the original installer. If you have
created lab designs using the Lab Designer, they will be available for selection in this
section. Please refer the NETLAB+ Lab Design Guide for details.
Starting Date: An optional starting date for the class. New pod reservations for this
class may not be made before this date.
If the starting date is changed later, existing equipment resource reservations
are not affected.
Ending Date: An optional ending date for the class. New pod reservations for this
class (student or instructor) may not be made after this date.
If the ending date is changed later, existing lab reservations are not affected.
Self Study Lab Access
Individuals: If selected, individual users in the roster can schedule lab reservations.
Teams: Enabling this option allows learners to work in groups for self-study lab
reservations and share access to equipment at the same time. Before enabling this
option, place each user in the roster into the desired team (A to Z).
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Allow multiple labs in the same reservation: Enabling this option allows student and
team reservations to change the lab exercise to a different exercise during a lab
reservation. The Exercise tab will be displayed during lab access. Only labs
compatible with the reserved pod type will be available for selection. A new archive
entry is not created when lab exercise is changed. This feature should not be enabled
if you want the archive to contain one entry per lab.
This option only affects Student or Team reservations (ILT reservations always
allow the lead instructor to change exercises). Currently, this option does not
start a new archive entry. The final archive will contain combined device output
for all labs. The final configuration files will reflect the state of the pod at the
end of the pod reservation.
If you use the archive feature for assessment and want each lab's device output
and final configuration files to appear in a separate archive entries, you should
select "No" to disallow multiple labs in the same reservation.
o Predetermined Lab Time Limits
o Enforce lab author's time limits (if any): When a lab author specifies a
time limit for a lab exercise, NETLAB+ will always use this limit to
determine the length of an individual or team reservation. When a lab
time limit is enforced, the Maximum Length of Reservation setting
(described below) will have no affect on the reservation length. The time
limit is only imposed upon learners making their own individual or team
reservations. Individual or team reservations created by the lead
instructor on behalf of individual learners or teams in the class are not
restricted by the lab authors time limit.
Do not enforce lab author's time limits: NETLAB+ will disregard any time limits
set by lab authors. Individuals and teams may determine how much time is
allocated for any lab, up to the Maximum Length of Reservation setting (see
below).
Preferred Maximum Length of Reservation: Sets the maximum length (in hours) of an
individual or team lab reservation. Lab exercises can also have a time limit. The lower
of the two times is used. The maximum time lengths of lab reservations for all classes
within a community are subject to community maximums, if a community maximum
has been set (see section 2.14). You may not establish a higher (less restrictive)
maximum for the class; it will not override the community maximum.
A lower (more restrictive) maximum time length for the class may be enforced by
setting a value that is lower than the community maximum.
Lead instructors and instructor-led reservations are not bound by this restriction.
Preferred Minimum Time Between Reservations: Sets the minimum amount of time
between successive reservations made by an individual or team. This setting can be
used to prevent excessive scheduling of labs. For example, a setting of 48 hours
prevents the same individual or team from scheduling lab exercises less than 48 hours
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apart. The default value, no limit will allow a student or team to make unlimited
reservations. The minimum time between reservations for all classes within a
community is subject to community minimums, if a community minimum has been set
(see section 2.14). You may not establish a lower (less restrictive) minimum for the
class; it will not override the community minimum. A higher (more restrictive)
minimum time between lab reservations for the class may be enforced by setting a
value that is higher than the community minimum.
Lead instructors and instructor-led reservations are not bound by this restriction.
Console Password (Cisco devices): Cisco courses only. The password that students
and instructors are expected to assign to all device consoles, 'line con 0'. When
NETLAB+ performs an automated operation, it will try this password to gain access to
the console. Some automated operations may abort if the device's console is not set
to this value.
Enable Secret Password (Cisco devices): Cisco courses only. The password that
students and instructors are expected to assign as the privileged (enable secret)
password on all devices. When NETLAB+ performs an automated operation, it will try
this password to gain access to privileged exec mode. Some automated operations
may abort if the device's enable password is not set to this value.
E-mail Configs/Logs: After a reservation has completed, a copy of the final
configuration files and session logs can be automatically e-mailed to lead instructors.
Please Note: E-mail can be unreliable. This option will only work if the lead instructors
have a valid e-mail address set in their profiles. System settings, port filters and/or
anti-spam software may interfere with e-mail from NETLAB+ (even if other e-mail from
the NETLAB+ site may be working). Alternatively, you can access configuration and log
data using the archive feature.
Retain Configs/Logs: After a reservation has completed, a copy of the final
configuration files and session logs can be retained in the NETLAB+ archive. Since this
information consumes disks space and increases the size of backups, please retain
only the data you need.
Instructor-led reservations: If checked, NETLAB+ will retain configs and logs from
instructor-led class reservations.
Individual or team reservations: If checked, NETLAB+ will retain configs and logs from
student or team reservations.
Retention Period This pull down lets you control the length of time NETLAB+
will retain configuration files and session logs in the archive for this class. Since
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this information consumes disks space and increases the size of backups, please
retain the data only as long as needed.
After entering information on the page, select OK. A confirmation message will be displayed.
You may now choose lead instructors for the class (see section 2.16.6), or select Exit if you
prefer to enter this information at a later time.
If you complete the process to choose lead instructors, you will then be prompted to add
learners to the class roster (see section 2.16.3).
You may also choose to add learners to the roster at another time.
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2.16.2
Edit Class Information
Edit the information for an existing class by clicking on the class name displayed in the
class list displayed on the class manager page. Here, well select the record for Jane's
CCNP Class.
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A page displaying the current settings for the class will be displayed.
Several function buttons are displayed below the class settings information.
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Select the Settings button to make the information for the displayed class available for
editing. The class edit page is identical to the add class page. Please see section 2.16.1
for a detailed description of each field on the page.
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After updating information, select the OK button at the bottom of the page.
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2.16.3
Add Learners to the Class Roster
A class roster is a list of members, which may include student accounts, instructor
accounts, or both. All members must belong to the same community.
A class may contain one or more lead instructors (trainers). All other users in the roster
(who are not leads) are learners. Select the Roster button on the class page to add
learners.
A list of learners assigned to the class will be displayed, or a message stating that no
learners have yet been added to the class.
Selecting Add Learners will display the Add Learners to Roster page. This page allows
you to select from 3 methods to add learners to the class.
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The first method, Select from a list of all existing users in this community is an ideal
choice when:
You will be selecting learners for which accounts already exist.
The list of all existing users in your community is relatively small. (Since this
option displays all the accounts, from which you can make your roster
selections).
Select the learners you wish to add to the class roster from the list displayed. Notice
also that the list shows that instructor Jane Doe has already been selected as a class lead
(see section 2.16.6).
Click the Add Selected Learners button to add the learners to the class roster.
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The second method, Create new user accounts and add to class is an ideal choice when:
You need to add learners to a class and have not yet set up accounts for them
(typically, if this is a group of first-time users of your NETLAB+ system).
You prefer to do this process in one-step rather than first adding the accounts
using the Account Manager (see section 2.15.22.15.2).
Enter the new account information for each user (see section 2.15.2).
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The third method, Search for and select existing users in the account manager, then
invoke Add to Class from the action menu at the bottom of the search results page is an
ideal choice when:
You will be selecting learners for which accounts already exist.
The options on the account search page will allow you to select conveniently a
subset of the accounts from which you may make your selections. This may
allow you to avoid scrolling through a long list if there are a large number of
accounts in your community.
Here, we will use the show option to display only student accounts.
The result of the account search displays all of the student accounts in the community.
Select the students you wish to add to the class roster. (Notice that student Ida Lerner
has been selected, although she is already indicated to be a member of the class. For
the purpose of this example, lets imagine that this record was selected in error). Select
the Add to Class Roster action and click Go.
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Next, you will be prompted to select the class to which you wish to add learners. Here,
well select the CCNP Route Class
The status of the accounts added is shown. Notice that Bob Miller is flagged as already
in the roster, thus illustrating that selecting accounts more than once to add to a roster
will not result in duplicates on the roster.
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To view the class roster, select the
button.
If your class roster will consist of both new users (for which you need to create a new
account) along with previous users, (already having an account on your NETLAB+
system) you will need to use more than one of the methods described above to add all
of the learners to your class roster.
In addition, you can add learners to a class by moving or copying a class roster from one
class to another (see section 2.16.4).
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2.16.4
Manage a Class Roster
As students join and withdraw from a class, you will need to make periodic changes to
the class roster. Select the class record for the class whose roster you need to update
(see section 2.16.2). You may also wish to review the statistics on lab usage provided
for each member of the class roster.
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Select the Roster button to display the class roster, the option to add learners, the
manage accounts option and the manage roster option.
By selecting the link next to the count of the labs attended for a learner, a list of the labs
will be displayed including the status of the reservation. Notice that lab hours are not
accumulated for lab reservations that are not attended.
Returning back to the Class Roster page, you may continue by selecting Manage Roster.
Actions on the Manage Roster page may be performed on several selected accounts at
one time.
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The Remove from Roster action results in the removal of the selected accounts from
the class roster. The accounts remain on the system and may be added to other class
rosters.
The Copy to Another Class action will add the selected accounts from the currently
displayed class roster to another class roster. You will be prompted to select the class to
which the accounts will be added.
Selecting the Move to Another Class action will remove the selected accounts from the
currently displayed class roster and add them to another class roster. You will be
prompted to select the class to which the accounts will be added.
The Manage Accounts option is also included on the class roster screen.
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Select Manage Accounts to display the accounts page, listing all the accounts assigned
to the class roster. See section 2.15 for details on managing accounts.
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2.16.5
Group the Class Roster Into Teams
Classes can be configured to allow students to have Self Study Lab Access both as
individuals and as part of an assigned team.
You may place class members into teams labeled A to Z. Teams allow students to work n
groups for self-study resource reservations and share access to equipment at the same
time. If teams are not used with the class, all students should be assigned to the
default, team A. Students may not change their own team assignment; however, the
lead instructor(s) can adjust team assignments as needed.
Lead instructors are not assigned to a team and may participate in the lab reservations
for any team. Please see the NETLAB+ Instructor Guide for more information.
Here, well group the 6 members of the CCNP Router class into 3 teams.
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Select the Teams button. The current team assignments will be displayed. In this
example, previous team assignments have been made. Otherwise, all team members
would have been in the initial default assignment of Team A. The count of labs and
lab hours per team are also displayed.
By selecting the link next to the count of the labs attended for a team, a list of the labs
scheduled will be displayed including the status of the reservation
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After returning to the Class Teams list page, select the Define Teams button in order to
modify the current team assignments. Notice also that this class roster happens to
include an instructor who is enrolled as a learner. This instructor participates in the
class identically to the other student learners. Use the pull-down box to the left of each
user name to make team assignments.
After selecting the Apply button, the class list will be sorted in team order.
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Please Note: After initial team assignments have been made, you must return to the
class edit screen and enable the option to allow teams to schedule lab time.
You may select the option to allow team reservations for a class at the same time you
add a class record to the system (see section 2.16.1). You must also be certain to make
team assignments, otherwise, all accounts will remain assigned to default team A.
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2.16.6
Choose Lead Instructors for a Class
A lead instructor should be defined for each class. An instructor with Normal Privileges
(see section 2.15.3.1) can create and manage classes for which they are the lead. Lead
instructors may make reservations for instructor-led training sessions for the class. Lead
instructors may make lab reservations for individual students or teams, or allow the
students or teams to make reservations themselves depending on the settings selected
for the class (see section 2.16.1). The lead instructor has the option to participate in any
lab reservation associated with the class.
After selecting a class in the class manager, (see section 2.16) select the Leads option.
The accounts for all instructors in the community will be displayed. You may select
more than one lead instructor for a class.
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2.16.7
Delete Classes
To delete a class record, select a class in the class manager (see section 2.16) and select
the Delete option, as shown in the picture in the previous section. Do not delete a class
until determining that the information for the class is no longer needed.
Keep in mind that you may want to edit (see section 2.16.2) and continue to use a class
record. For example, if there will be a similar course with many of the same students
the next semester, you can simply update the class record (see section 2.16.1) and the
class roster (see section 2.16) as needed.
When deleting a class, you must choose to either retain or delete the student accounts
on the class roster along with class and team configuration files. Accounts will not be
deleted if the student is enrolled in other classes.
Select OK to proceed with the class deletion. A confirmation message will be displayed.
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2.17
System Banners
Beginning with NETLAB+ version 2011.R2, all feature options to customize banners and
headers are available on both NETLAB Professional Edition and NETLAB Academy
Edition systems
Custom branding of your NETLAB+ system allows you to use your own
logos and graphics to make your system uniquely identifiable and can
serve as an asset for your marketing strategy. The administrator may
customize the NETLAB+ user interface by modifying the settings for
displaying banners and messages. The customized messages and
banners will be displayed system-wide to all NETLAB+ users. The system will display the
default system messages if no customized items are entered.
The areas that may be customized include the Login Banner, Login Box Colors, Login
System Name, Login Text, System Page Banner, System MyNETLAB Welcome message
and the System MyNETLAB News and Announcements.
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Banner Name
Location on
Page
Description
Login Banner
Upload a custom
image file to appear
on the top of the login
page.
Login Box Colors
Change the box
colors on the left side
of the login page.
Login System
Name
Specify an optional
system name to
appear on the login
page.
Login Text
Add custom text to
the body of the login
page.
System Page
Banner
Specify custom
images and colors
that appear at the top
of each page.
System
MyNETLAB
Welcome
Message
Specify the system
wide welcome
message that
appears on top of the
MyNETLAB page.
System
MyNETLAB
News and
Announcements
Specify the system
wide news and
announcements that
appear on top of the
MyNETLAB page.
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NETLAB+ messages support embedded markup tags that can be used to apply special
formatting to your text. Many of the tags are similar to their HTML counterparts, except
curly braces are used instead of angle brackets.
2.17.1
Login Banner
The login banner is a static image or Adobe Flash animation that appears
on the top of the login page. The administrator may upload a custom
image file to appear at the top of the login page to replace the default
image.
The picture below shows the default login banner that will reside on systems that have
been updated to NETLAB+ version 2011.R2 or later.
Select the change banner button. Follow the instructions on the upload image page. As
shown, selecting the show help tips option will display information on each field.
For best results, the image file should be optimized for smallest file size and the width of
your image should be no more than 600 pixels.
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Select OK to replace the banner image file, by uploading the file name you have
specified. The new login banner will be displayed.
This new banner will be displayed on the login page for all users of your NETLAB+
system. To reset the banner to the default setting, select the Reset to Default button,
or replace the banner by selecting Change Banner.
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2.17.2
Login Box Colors
The login box appears on the left side of the login page. The colors of the
boxes, borders, and labels can be customized in NETLABPE. Color settings
may be applied to the Outer Box, Inner Box, Border and Text by selecting
the appropriate button.
Color selections may be made by entering an HTML hex code in the format of #rrggbb
(see example in the picture below) in the box marked New or by manipulating the
saturation of red, green and blue using the slider controls.
The login box on the left side of the page will display a
preview of the selected color modifications.
You may select Update to apply your new color selections,
or Cancel to keep the current selections. Use Reset to
return to the default selections.
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2.17.3
Login System Name
You may set a system name that appears at the top of the login page. This
optional field may be left blank. Setting a system name allows users to
identify the system easily. This can be particularly helpful to users that
have several different NETLAB+ systems available to them.
Simply enter the system name into the field and select OK.
A confirmation message will be displayed.
The system name will now be displayed on the login screen for all users.
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2.17.4
Login Text
Login text appears in the body of the login page, below the system name
and above the required system text. You may apply NETLAB+ embedded
markup (see section 2.17) to the text.
In this example, the default login text is being replaced with custom text NETLAB+
embedded markup has been applied to bold two words in the text.
NETLAB+ provides remote access to lab equipment and curriculum. To access, you need
a user ID and password, assigned by your instructor or local system administrator.
The system will be updated to include the custom login text once the OK button is
selected. A confirmation message will be displayed.
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The updated login text will now be displayed on the login screen for all users. Notice
also that a bold effect was applied to the words currently enrolled using the NETLAB+
embedded markup.
2.17.5
System Page Banner
This customization option allows you to adapt your system to identify your
organization and branding uniquely using custom images and colors added
to the top of each page of your system . You may select a banner
background color and upload custom images for the left and right sides of
the page.
Separate banner images for the left and right side of the page allow the display to adapt
easily to varying sizes of users web browser windows. Uploading banner images is
optional, and you may choose to upload images for the left, right or both sides.
To set an image for the left side of the page, select the Set Left Image button. Follow
the instructions on the upload image page. As shown, selecting the show help tips
option will display information on each field. For best results, the left image file should
have a height of no more than 60 pixels.
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A confirmation message will be displayed.
Select OK to proceed with the upload. The current page banner is now set with the
uploaded image.
Follow the same procedure to set the right-side image, this time selecting the Set Right
Image button. After the image file for the right side has been uploaded, the image will
be displayed as the current right banner image.
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Notice that the right image is smaller than the left; this will help us illustrate our next
example, setting a background color. To set a banner background color, select the Set
Color button.
Color selections may be made by entering an HTML hex code in the format of #rrggbb
(see example in the picture below) in the box marked New or by manipulating the
saturation of red, green and blue using the slider controls.
Select Update to apply the new banner background color, a confirmation message will
be displayed.
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After selecting OK, the banner background color will be displayed on the custom page
banner. Notice that the banner background color is visible around the smaller right side
banner.
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2.17.6
System MyNETLAB Welcome Message
You may set the system welcome message that appears on top of the
MyNETLAB page. Each community may have its own welcome message
(see section 2.14) which if specified, overrides the system welcome
message. You may apply NETLAB+ embedded markup (see section 2.17) to
the text.
To substitute your own welcome message for the default welcome message, enter your
message into the text box.
A confirmation message will be displayed.
The MyNETLAB page for all users will
now display the custom welcome message.
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2.17.7
System MyNETLAB News and Announcements
System news and announcements appear on top of the MyNETLAB page,
below the welcome message. Each community may have its own new and
announcements, which if specified, override the system-wide setting (see
section 2.14). NETLAB+ embedded markup (see section 2.17) may be
applied to the text.
To substitute your own news and announcements for the default news and
announcements (which is blank) enter the information into the text box.
After selecting OK, a confirmation message will be displayed.
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Select OK to proceed with the update. The updated news and announcements will now
be displayed for all users on the MyNETLAB page.
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2.18
Enable/Disable User Logins
This page allows the administrator to suspend temporarily all student
and instructor account access. Access should be disabled while
performing disruptive administrative tasks such as swapping hardware,
recabling or re-configuring lab equipment. The administrator may enter
a message that will be displayed to a user when they attempt to login
while the system is disabled.
When users attempt to login to the disabled system, the disable message will be
displayed.
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When user logins have been disabled, a message is displayed, directing the
administrator to the option of re-enabling user logins.
The administrator may re-enable the system by selecting Enable Logins.
2.19
Pod Assignment
Pod Assignment is a pod resource management feature, which allows pods
to be assigned and visible only to those who have been granted access. The
flexibility of pod assignment allows pods to be assigned at the community,
class, instructor, student and student team level. Pod assignment is initiated
at the system level by the Administrator. Community and class level assignments may be
delegated to instructors.
Please refer to the NETLAB+ Pod Assignment Guide for details on selecting and
implementing the appropriate pod resource management features for your system.
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2.20
Pod Rules
Pod rules can be established to restrict equipment pod access by
community and time of day. This is useful in a sharing arrangement where
a community (or Academy) is contributing towards cost recovery in return
for guaranteed access to one or more pods.
This feature can be used to grant dedicated access to one or more communities at
certain times. It can also be used to limit a community's access to specific times.
Elements of a Pod Rule
Pod: Each rule may target a single pod, or all pods.
Community: Each rule targets a single community. Multiple communities can
be targeted by creating an overlapping rule for each.
Days of Week: The days of the week to apply the rule.
Start/End Time: The start and end time to apply the rule, relative to the
specified time zone.
Time Zone: The time zone of the specified start and end time. Pod rules are
automatically adjusted on the scheduling calendar for users in different time
zones. We recommend setting each rule to the same time zone, such as the
local time zone of the system or administrator. The time zone may be subject to
daylight savings time - please see below for further explanation.
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Scope. A rule scope can be limited or unlimited. Limited scope times are not bound by
a rule. See below for further explanation:
Understanding Pod Rules
Pod rules apply to communities. To limit pod access, users and classes must first
be organized into communities. By default, there is only one default community.
Without a pod rule, a user in any community may reserve the pod at any time of
day (unless restricted by a class profile). This is the default behavior.
When a pod rule is applied, a pod becomes dedicated to users in the specified
community during the specified times. In other words, the community specified
in the rule is permitted, while all other communities are denied. By creating
overlapping rules, you may grant access to several communities.
Each rule has one start and end time. Multiple pod rules can be created if more
than one contiguous block of time is required. For example, suppose the default
community should be allowed access to pod 1 every day from 9am to 11am, and
also from 7pm to 11pm. Two rules are needed to achieve this, one for each time
range.
The scope of a pod rule can be limited or unlimited.
A limited scope allows a community to access the pod ONLY on the specified
days and times. Use this scope if you want the community to have pod access
only at designated times.
An unlimited scope allows a community to access the pod on the specified days
and times, AND all other times not restricted by a pod rule. Use this scope type
if you want to dedicate pod access to a community at certain times, but not
restrict them during other times.
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The pod rule shown below indicates that XYZ Techs access to the Basic Router Pod is
limited to the time period 0000-0400 on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Friday and
Saturday.
When users are scheduling lab reservations, time periods that are unavailable to the
users community according to the currently established pod rules will be indicated
RESERVED and are not available for selection.
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2.20.1
Add a Pod Rule
A list of the current pod rules (if any) will be displayed on the pod rules page.
To add a rule to the pod rules list, select the
button at the bottom of the
pod rule list. The pod rule add/edit page will be displayed.
After completing all the fields on the form (see section 2.20), select OK to save the pod
rule. In this example, XYZ Tech has dedicated access to the Basic Router Pod during the
specified times on Thursday and Friday. No other community will be able to access the
pod during that time unless a pod rule is set to specify dedicated access at that time as
well. Since the scope is unlimited, XYZ is also able to use the pod during other times
without restrictions.
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Review the pod rule you have created. You may select Done to return to the pod rule
list.
Select Delete if you wish to remove the pod rule.
You may edit a pod rule by selecting the Edit button from the pod rule record page or by
selecting the
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2.20.2
Edit a Pod Rule
To edit a pod rule, select the
button to the left of the pod rule on the pod rule list.
The pod rule record will be displayed.
To proceed to the edit screen, select the Edit button.
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Edit the information on the page as needed, see section 2.20 for details on how the pod
rules operate.
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2.20.3
Delete a Pod Rule
To delete a pod rule, select the
list.
button to the left of the pod rule on the pod rule
The pod rule record will be displayed.
Select the Delete button to delete the pod rule.
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2.21
Lab Designer
The Lab Designer provides a means of creating a series of custom
laboratory exercises that may be made available for class use.
A lab design is a set of labs and related reference material that may include
documents, images and preset configuration files for each lab exercise. This data is
stored in a Lab Design File. Lab design files are portable. They can be shared, exported,
and installed on other NETLAB+ systems. A set of options and passwords control how
the lab design can be used.
Please refer to the NETLAB+ Lab Design Guide for more information on creating your
own custom lab exercises.
NETLAB+ Lab Design
Documents
Images
Labs
Preset Configs
JPEG
PNG
GIF
NETLAB+
NLX File
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2.23
Managing Global Lab Authorization Options
As of version 4.0.24, global lab designs are authorized per community. Systems with
multiple communities must manage access to global lab designs using the Global Lab
Authorization Options. The Global Lab Authorization Options influence the default
authorization behavior for new communities and new global lab designs. Global Lab
Authorization Options may only be set using the Administrator account.
When a NETLAB+ system is purchased by a customer who is a participant in the Cisco
Networking Academy and also provides training independently of the Cisco Networking
Academy, certain restrictions apply.
These restrictions must be followed to preserve the separation of access to copyrighted
Cisco Networking Academy curriculum content and labs.
Adhering to these restrictions is mandatory as indicated in the Academy Content Rider
for Multi-Purpose NETLAB+ Systems. Purchasers are required to indicate their
agreement to the terms of the rider on a form that is provided.
Please refer to Appendix D for instructions on managing global labs on a multi-purpose
NETLAB+ system.
To access the Global Lab Authorization Options, select the Manage Installed Labs option
on the main Administrator page. The Manage Installed Labs page may also be reached
by selecting Lab Designer and then selecting the Show Installed Lab Designs button.
Selecting the appropriate preference for global lab authorization determines how the
system will handle authorization of global lab designs when additional communities are
created and when new global lab designs are installed.
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All
When a new community is created, all existing global lab designs are
automatically authorized for use by the new community. When new global lab
designs are added, all communities are automatically authorized for all
communities. No intervention from the Administrator is required to make newly
installed global lab designs available to all communities. This option is also
appropriate for all single community systems.
Do not use the ALL option for a multi-purpose NETLAB+ system. This choice is
not appropriate for multi-purpose systems due to the licensing issues discussed
above. Please see Appendix D for instructions.
Default
When a new community is created, existing global lab designs must be manually
authorized for the new community. When new global lab designs are added,
only the default community is authorized to access the global lab design. For all
other communities, the Administrator must authorize access to allow the
communities to access the new global lab designs.
Manual
When a new community is created, existing global lab designs must be manually
authorized for the new community. For all communities, the Administrator must
authorize access to allow the communities to access the new global lab designs.
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Select the name of a global lab design to view a list of communities currently authorized
to access the lab design.
The details of the installed lab design include a list of the communities currently
authorized to use the lab design.
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Select Authorize Communities to authorize or revoke authorization to the global lab
design for any community by selecting the checkboxes next to the communities listed
and selecting either the Authorize Selected or the Revoke Selected button.
Prior to authorizing a community, you will be prompted to verify that this action is
appropriate for your organization.
Prior to revoking access for a community, you will be prompted to verify that this action
is appropriate for your organization.
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As noted in the picture above, revoking authorization to the labs will affect all classes in
the community. Should you decide to grant access again, it would be necessary for
instructors to select the lab in the global labs setting for the class. See the NETLAB+
Instructor Guide for information on editing class settings.
If lab reservations exist that reference global labs to which access has subsequently has
been revoked, the lab content will still be available during the lab reservation.
2.24
Pod Designer
Pod Designer is used to create a custom pod layout. A pod design is a
template used to create one or more actual pods on a NETLAB+ system.
Each NETLAB Professional Edition pod may be a custom pod, and each
custom pod may use a unique pod design. The NETLABPE license allows custom pods to
be used for commercial training.
NETLAB Academy Edition allows you to stand up two custom pods, each of which may
use the same pod design, or two unique pod designs.
The Pod Designer tool is used to gather the required information about routers,
switches, firewalls, PCs, control device requirements, and images. This data is stored in
a Pod Design File. Pod design files are portable. They can be shared, exported, and
installed on other NETLAB+ systems. A set of options and passwords control how the
pod design can be used. Please refer to the NETLAB+ Pod Design Guide for more details.
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NETLAB+ Pod Design
General Settings
Images
Control Settings
Lab Devices
Remote PCs
JPEG
PNG
GIF
APC
Actual Pods
NETLAB+
NETLAB+
NPD File
Server
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2.25
Equipment Pods
Equipment pods contain the lab devices that are accessed by others.
The equipment pods depicted in this guide may not be available at your
site.
NETLAB+ includes a variety of supported content options with available topologies. To view
information on the latest available, select one of the supported content options, then, select
Topologies in the menu on the right to see the topologies specific to the content:
http://www.netdevgroup.com/content/.
If you are using your NETLAB+ system to teach Cisco Networking Academy courses, you may
refer to t the guide written specifically for the pod-type you plan to install. Pod-specific
guides include:
NETLAB+ Multi-Purpose Academy Pod (MAP)
NETLAB+ Network Fundamentals Pod (NFP)
NETLAB+ Basic Router Pod Version 2 (BRPv2)
NETLAB+ Basic Router Pod Version 1 (BRPv1)
NETLAB+ Cuatro Router Pod (CRP)
NETLAB+ Cuatro Switch Pod (CSP)
NETLAB+ LAN Switching Pod (LSP)
NETLAB+ Network Security Pod (NSP)
NETLAB+ Basic Switch Pod Version 2 (BSPv2)
NETLAB+ Basic Switch Pod Version 1 (BSPv1)
NETLAB+ Advanced Router Pod (ARP)
NETLAB+ Advanced Switch Pod (ASP)
NETLAB+ Security Router Pod (SRP)
NETLAB+ Security PIX Pod (SPP
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New pods may be added to the system by following the steps detailed in the next
section.
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2.25.1
Adding New Pods
The instructions for this section should be followed for each pod the administrator wishes to
add to the NETLAB+ system.
Please complete the tasks in the sub-sections below in order. Do not physically connect
your pod to a control switch until the pod has been added to your NETLAB+ system by
following the instructions below. This is necessary in order for the control switch to be
programmed with the proper VLANs.
Select
Take All OFFLINE if any of the pods are online.
Select
Add a Pod.
The network and hardware settings depicted here are intended to provide an example
only. Your system requirements may differ according to your specific hardware
selections.
You may select the pod type to add to your NETLAB+ system from the list of pod types
provided. The pod types available on your system will vary, depending on your school's
participation in various programs with NETLAB+ supported content.
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The pod types shown in this picture are just a small sample of NETLAB+ pod types
(availability on your system will vary).
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2.25.1.1
Select Control Switch
Next, NETLAB+ will present a list of the control switches on your system. Only selections
that meet your port requirements can be made.
Next, select the ports you want to use.
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2.25.1.2
Select Access Server(s) and Lines
This section is only applicable if there are lab devices in your topology that require
asynchronous console access. Such connections are provided by access servers.
Line Number is now used as a unique identifier for access server ports.
Beginning with NETLAB+ version 2010.R3, NETLAB+ supports an expanded selection of
access servers. Since several models include multiple modules, port number is no
longer a unique identifier. Please refer to section 2.26.2 for details.
It is a good idea to use consecutive lines on one access server if possible. This practice
will make it easier to cable and troubleshoot. If consecutive lines are not available, you
can use non-consecutive lines, spanning multiple access servers if necessary.
NETLAB+ allows you to choose consecutive lines on one access server, or you can
choose Let me pick to select an access server and line for each router.
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Let me pick, allows you to make granular selections. For access servers using octal
cables, both the line number and the cable label are displayed.
Select a line number for each device.
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2.25.1.3
Select Switched Outlet Devices
This section is only applicable if there are lab devices in your topology that require
managed electrical power. Such connections are provided by switched outlet devices
It is a good idea to use consecutive outlets on one switched outlet device (SOD) if
possible. This practice will make it easier to cable and troubleshoot. If consecutive
outlets are not available, you may use non-consecutive outlets, spanning multiple SODs
if necessary.
Let me Pick, will allow you to make granular selections.
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2.25.1.4
Select Device Types
This section is only applicable if there are network devices in your lab topology. Please
specify a device model for each device displayed. Statically configured lab devices do
not appear in the selection process.
Your selections are used to assign the appropriate NETLAB+ device driver.
Improper selections may cause errors.
NETLAB+ may offer selections that meet the port requirements, but do not support your
curriculum.
If the device model you wish to install is not available for selection, proceed to the next
section for guidance on installing generic console devices.
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2.25.1.5
Generic Console Devices
This section is only applicable if there are network devices in your lab topology.
NETLAB+ supports a wide range of devices. Selecting the appropriate device type is
important to ensure that the full range of NETLAB+ features is available to users.
Automation drivers have been created for all supported lab devices that enable the use
of NETLAB+s automation features.
If however, you wish to install a device in your pod that is not included among the
supported devices (for example, an older model that has reached EOL and is no longer
supported by the vendor) you may do so by selecting Generic Console Device as the
device model.
Generic Console Devices have the following limited capabilities:
Console access
Ability to share connections to CLI devices.
Powered off at the end of a lab reservation (if connected to a switched outlet
device).
Powered on at the beginning of a lab reservation (if connected to a switched
outlet device.).
Automation options available for user selection during a lab reservation include
power on, power off and power recycle (if connected to a switched outlet
device).
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There are several considerations to keep in mind when adding a generic console device
to a pod:
Automation features such as such as scrubbing the device and password
recovery are not available for use on generic console devices.
Since password recovery is not supported on the device, you must use discretion
in allowing user access to the pod. It is recommended allowing use by only a
trusted group of users who will not perform password changes or other actions
that may render the pod unavailable for subsequent reservations without
intervention.
Use of the NETLAB+ CLI Terminal with a generic console device will function only
with devices using a command line interface. The applet does not provide
terminal emulation such as VT100. You do have the option of using an alternate
terminal application of your choice, if your selection is compatible with the
device.
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2.25.1.6
Select Software Images and Recovery Options
This section is only applicable if there are network devices in your lab topology.
NETLAB+ scrubs the routers at the end of lab reservations or upon request. During a
scrub, NETLAB+ can recover an IOS image if it has been erased from flash.
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You have three choices for flash recovery:
Recovery Using Specified Image
During A Scrub Operation
If specified image not in flash
Restores the selected software image if that image is
not in flash.
If no image in flash (erased)
Restores the selected software image if there are no
.bin images in flash. No action is taken if flash
contains a .bin image (even if it is not the specified
one).
Never (device may become unusable)
NETLAB+ will take no action if the flash does not
contain a bootable image. In this case, NETLAB+
automated boot process will fail and manual
restoration of IOS will be required.
If you select an automatic recovery option, you must also select a software image
supported by the curriculum.
There is an additional image management setting for routers to support Pagent IOS
images. A license key must be entered in order for NETLAB+ automation to function
with routers using Pagent IOS. This setting does not appear in the New Pod Wizard and
must be made separately from a new pod installation. Please see section 2.25.2.2 for
details.
For information on upgrading a router to use Pagent IOS, please see Appendix B.
If you select a Cisco ASA security device, additional management options become
available in the device manager. These additional settings do not appear in the New
Pod Wizard and must be made separately from a new pod install. Please see section
2.25.2.3 for details..
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2.25.1.7
Select a Pod ID
Each pod is assigned a unique numeric ID.
2.25.1.8
Select a Pod Name
Each pod can have a unique name. This name will appear in the scheduler, along with
the pod type.
2.25.1.9
Verify Your Settings
At this point NETLAB+ has added the pod to its database. However, the pod has not
been brought online yet. You will need to cable up the pod and run a pod test. Next, If
your topology includes PCs, the PCs must be configured, followed by a second pod test.
These tasks are discussed in the next sections.
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After you click OK, the new pod will appear in the list of equipment pods. Click on the
magnifier button or pod ID to manage you new pod.
NETLAB+ will display the status of the pod and the high-level settings for each device,
PC, and control switch. Notice the PCs currently have a type of ABSENT. The PCs will
be implemented in section 2.25.1.12.
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2.25.1.10 Cable the Pod
NETLAB+ has a cable chart feature to help you connect the lab devices in your pod. The
chart is generated in real-time and contains port-specific information based on your
current lab device and control device settings.
The cable chart function is accessed from the pod management page.
The cable chart is continued on the next page.
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The cable chart is continued on the next page.
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Virtual machine information will not appear on the cable chart.
The Ethernet interface names show in the cable guidance will be the actual interface
names based on your selected hardware. However, the interface names shown for
serial ports are relative, not actual. Please consider this when cabling the pod.
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2.25.1.11 Testing the Pod
We recommend that you run a pod test at this point in the installation process in order
to verify that your pod is working. The pod test will detect common configuration and
cabling problems.
As of NETLAB+ version 2014.R2.Beta.1, the pod test has been redesigned and upgraded
to provide a robust interface with comprehensive diagnostic feedback including test
history, which allows you to review the results of previous tests run on the pod, please
refer to section 2.25.1.14 for details.
If the pod contains PCs, additional implementation steps will be necessary as discussed
in the next sections. Running a pod test prior to configuring the PCs is recommended so
that any issues with lab devices can be resolved before proceeding. After the PCs are
configured, you should run a second pod test, as noted in section 2.25.1.14.
Some tests may take a long time. During the BOOT IOS test, NETLAB+ may have to load
the specified IOS image if it is not in flash. IOS images can be very large and can take up
to 30 minutes to program into flash memory.
See section 2.25.1.14 for additional information on running a pod test, including an
example.
If you do not have any PCs in your topology, you may proceed to section 2.25.2 after
completing the pod test.
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2.25.1.12 Select PC Type
This section is only applicable if there are PCs in your lab topology.
At the time that the pod was created, the PC Type for each PC in the pod was given the
default setting of ABSENT (NETLAB+ version 2011.R1 and later). The appropriate PC
options must be set for each remote PC, depending on your selection of virtualization
options. The PC configuration screen is displayed by selecting the PC on the pod status
page.
PC/Virtual Type
1. ABSENT When new pods are created, the PC Type for each PC is initially set to
ABSENT. This indicates the PC is not implemented in the pod. A PC
Unavailable message can be set to display so that users with get a popup
message if they try to connect to it, informing them that the PC is not
implemented.
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Use Virtual Machine Inventory (available in NETLAB+ version 2011.R1 and later):
Use a virtual machine defined in the NETLAB+ Virtual Machine Inventory (VMI).
The VMI offers the most advanced VM configuration and automation capabilities
available in NETLAB+. VMware ESX version 4.01/4/1 with vCenter is required, as
discussed in NETLAB+ Remote PC Guide for VMware Implementation Using ESXi
versions 4.01 and 4.1 with vCenter. The Remote PC Guide includes a section,
Assigning Virtual Machines to Pods, which provides step-by-step guidance in the
process of assigning a virtual machine in the VMI to a pod.
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Basic virtualization options using VMware products. These options offer basic
'no frills' VM automation.
o VMWARE ESXi 4.0 (no vCenter) provides direct access to a VMware
virtual machine and enables automation through the VMware API. Select
this option if you are using ESXi 4.0.
o VMWARE ESXi 3.5 U3 (no vCenter) provides direct access to a VMware
virtual machine and enables automation through the VMware API. .
Select this option if you are using ESXi 3.5.
o VMWARE Server 2.0 provides direct access to a VMware virtual machine
and enables automation through the VMware API. This is the correct
setting if you are using VMware Server version 2.x.
o VMWARE Server 1.0/GSX provides direct access to a VMware virtual
machine and enables automation through the VMware API. This is the
correct setting for VMware virtual machines if you are using VMware
Server version 1.x or GSX.
You will be prompted to enter additional information for VMware specific
settings. These settings are discussed in the next section.
2. STANDALONE provides indirect access to a real PC or server resource. This
legacy option is no longer supported.
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2.25.1.13 VMware Settings
This section is only applicable if there are PCs in your lab topology.
If you are using any of the basic virtualization options (see previous section), you will be
prompted to enter VMware-specific settings. Please refer to the NETLAB+ Remote PC
Guide specific to your VMware server virtualization product selection for versionspecific details regarding these settings
Here, we show an example where VMware ESXI 3.5 U3 (no vCenter) is the virtualization
option selected. The settings are described below.
VMware Host IP Address The IP address of the VMware host system and the address
used to remotely access and control virtual machines.
VMware Host Username: Specifies an account on the VMware host system. NETLAB+
will use this account to login to the VMware host and control virtual machines through
the VMware API. For ESXi, this is an account you create using the VMware client. For
VMware Server or GSX, this is a Windows user account with administrator privileges.
VMware Host Password: The password associated with the host username.
VMware Guest Configuration File: The path of the virtual machine configuration file
(.vmx) on the VMware host. For ESXi, this path begins with a datastore, such as
"[datastore] Pod 1/winXpPro.vmx". For Server and GSX products, the path begins with a
drive letter, such as "C:\Virtual Machines\Pod 1\winXpPro.vmx".
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Guest Operating System: The operating system running on this virtual machine. The
availability of a selection does not guarantee compatibility with all labs.
Options: Select the options according to your preference for this PC:
Enable remote access to keyboard, video, and mouse
Revert to snapshot during scrub operation
Enable or disable automated features. See administrator guide for details.
Admin Status: Set admin status to ONLINE to enable this PC. You can temporarily
disable this PC by setting the administrative status to OFFLINE.
VMware Advanced Settings: Depending on your VMware server type, it may be
necessary manually enter advanced configuration settings. See the NETLAB+ Remote PC
Guide specific to your VMware server virtualization product selection for versionspecific details regarding these settings.
Pod planning and installation guides available on the NDG Website provide additional
details regarding PC settings and other pod-specific configuration requirements.
Additional resources can also be found in the NETLAB+ supported content section.
The additional information regarding remote PCs is available by referring to a NETLAB+
Remote PC Guide. NETLAB+ Remote PC Guides provide detailed, version-specific
information on the implementation of VMware virtualization and virtual machines. Use
the guide appropriate for the VMware virtualization product you have chosen to
implement on your NETLAB+ system in order to support remote PCs in your pod.
For details on Remote PC Integration including resources to assist you in the selection of
virtualization products, please see:
http://www.netdevgroup.com/support/remote_pc.html
Currently available NETLAB+ Remote PC Guides include:
NETLAB+ Remote PC Guide for VMware Implementation Using ESXi versions 4.01
and 4.1 with vCenter
NETLAB+ Remote PC Guide for VMware Implementation Using ESXi Version 3.5
Please refer to the NETLAB+ Documentation Page for a complete list of Remote PC
Guides, including the latest releases.
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2.25.1.14 Testing the Pod (Test 2 after PC Implementation)
As of NETLAB+ version 2014.R2.Beta.1, the pod test has been redesigned and upgraded
to provide a robust interface with comprehensive diagnostic feedback including test
history, which allows you to review the results of previous tests run on the pod.
The pod test provides a detailed evaluation of the operational status of the equipment
in the pod (both virtual and real hardware) and will identify configuration and cabling
problems.
Select the option to perform a pod test. A pod must be offline in order to run the test.
The Pod Test window displays a summary of Test History. You may examine the results
of previous pod tests by clicking on any Pod Test ID or select the option, Start New Pod
Test.
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Some tests may take a long time to run. During the BOOT IOS test, NETLAB+ may have
to load the specified IOS image if it is not in flash. Some images are very large and can
take up to 30 minutes to program into flash memory.
Excerpts of a pod test are shown below. Notice that some portions of the pod test may
run simultaneously. Other portions will indicate that they are scheduled to run,
meaning they will run once another, related portion of the test has completed.
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You may view the log for the entire pod test by selecting Log in the lower-right corner of
the top header of the test display, or view log portions specific to an individual device.
Portions of the log are color coded to allow you to easily spot key information regarding
results, as shown in the log excerpt below.
You can continue to review logs and watch the test progress or select Leave Page and
Continue Running.
Only one pod test may be run at a time. If you want to test another equipment pod, you
must wait for the current test to end.
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Here is an excerpt of a pod test in progress for a pod that includes virtual machines.
Please note that the pod test provides information on the virtual machines (VMs) that
have been implemented in the Virtual Machine Inventory only. VMs that have been
configured using earlier versions of virtualization products no longer supported by
VMware will continue to function in the pod, but no information will be displayed for
them in the pod test. You can review information on Virtualization Product Support
Status on the Remote PC support page.
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If you cannot resolve an issue and decide to contact technical support, please cut and
paste the text from the LOG and include it with your e-mail.
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2.25.2
Modifying Device Settings
If it is necessary to make modifications to device settings that were selected during the pod
installation, select the appropriate pod on the Equipment Pods page.
In order to modify settings, the pod must be offline. You have the option to
select
Take All OFFLINE to bring all the pods offline or select a single pod and take
the pod offline on the pod specific page.
The network and hardware settings depicted here are intended to provide an example
only. Your system requirements may differ according to your specific hardware
selections.
Select the pod, which contains the device(s) requiring setting modifications using the
magnify button
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to the left of Pod Id. In this example, we have selected, Pod 1.
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2.25.2.1
Modifying Device Settings for Routers, Switches and Firewalls
Select a device to modify using the magnify button to the left of the device name. In
this example, we are examining the settings for R3.
See sections 2.25.1.4 and 0 for details on making device-setting selections for your
equipment.
There is an additional image management setting for routers to support Pagent IOS
images. A license key must be entered in order for NETLAB+ automation to function
with routers using Pagent images. Please see section 2.25.2.2 for details.
There are additional image management settings for Cisco ASA devices and Generic
Console Devices that can be set after pod installation has been completed. Please see
section 2.25.2.3 and 0 for details.
Please note that the pod must be offline in order to modify these settings. After
completing modifications, remember to select the management option to bring the pod
online and make it available for reservations.
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2.25.2.2
Modifying Device Settings for Routers Using Pagent IOS
If your device selections include routers using Pagent IOS, it will be necessary to enter
the license key for these devices after the pod installation has been completed. This
additional management option becomes available for selection when the device is
selected on the Equipment Pods page.
Select the router to display the management options.
A license key must be entered into the Activation Key field for all routers using Pagent
IOS in order for NETLAB+ automation features to function.
For information on upgrading a router to use Pagent IOS, please see Appendix B.
This optional field may be left blank for routers not using Pagent IOS.
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2.25.2.3
Modifying Device Settings for Cisco ASA Security Devices
If your device selections include Cisco ASA security appliances, it will be necessary to
select device settings for these devices after the pod installation has been completed.
These additional management options become available for selection when the device
is selected on the Equipment Pods page.
Select the device to display the management options.
Here, we describe the options that are available for selection for ASA devices, in
addition to the other device option settings referred to in the previous section.
Image Recovery Local Interface: This setting must match the port, which is connected
to the cable, which is connected to the control switch that is defined as the Image
Recovery Control Port. The correct setting for this interface is set during pod installation
and should not require modification.
Security Device Manager Image: The software image providing the Security Device
Manager software. In order for these image files to be available for selection, they must
first be uploaded to the system. Note that the SDM image is tied to specific versions of
the ASA software image. NETLAB+ does not check for compatibility between the two
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images. Administrators should check the vendors release notes specific to their
selected device to insure compatibility.
Security Device Manager Options. This option determines when the SDM image is
recovered. A selection of "never" means that the SDM image will not be managed by
NETLAB+.
Activation Key. Cisco ASA software requires an activation key. If specified, NETLAB+
will configure the activation key during the scrub process.
As a precaution, administrators should write down their activation keys prior to
installing Cisco ASA or PIX devices in NETLAB+.
Please note that the pod must be offline in order to modify these settings. After
completing modifications, remember to select the management option to bring the pod
online and make it available for reservations.
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2.25.2.4
Modifying Device Settings for Generic Console Devices
If you would like to use a lab device that is not supported by NETLAB+, it may be
possible by selecting Generic Console Device option in the Device Type pull down menu.
This option provides user console access to an unsupported device during a lab
reservation. This option also supports the console-sharing feature; therefore, several
users could access the console at the same time.
A generic console device has several limitations:
Automated scrub, password recovery, and configuration management are not
performed. The device will not be reset to a clean configuration between lab
reservations. If a user changes a password to an unknown value, a manual password
recovery will be necessary.
The NETLAB+ CLI Terminal is designed for command line interfaces and do not provide
terminal emulation. If your device requires terminal emulation (such as VT100), users
must use a terminal application that supports the required terminal emulation (this can
be set in their profile settings). Because terminal emulation uses screen formatting and
invisible control codes, the NETLAB+ console sharing and archive features may exhibit
unpredictable behavior.
Generic console devices may be controlled by a switched outlet. This is determined by
the pod design. See below for details.
Generic console devices are unmanaged. Due to the limitations outlined above, you
should only deploy this option in environments where users are experienced and
trusted. Users should be briefed on these limitations and the proper procedures for
using the device without causing problems for others.
Configuring a Generic Console Device
Step 1. Select the desired device from the Equipment Pods page, and click the GO
button.
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Step 2. Select Generic Console Device from the Device Type pull down menu. Click OK
on the popup to confirm this change.
Step 3. In the Device Type Users Will See field, type in a brief description of the actual
device. This provides a more descriptive name for the device that will be displayed for
users when accessing the pod during a lab reservation.
Step 4. Set the asynchronous communication parameters for the access server line.
NETLAB+ will initialize the access server line using these parameters at the beginning of
each lab reservation.
It is recommended that flow control remain set to none. If hardware flow control is
selected and cabling and hardware are not configured correctly for hardware flow
control, the access server port may will hang and require and require a manual access
to the access server to clear the line.
Switched Outlet
The switched outlet settings are displayed for reference only. The pod design
determines whether a switched outlet is allocated for the device. The following table
describes switched outlet behavior.
Pod design allocates a
switched outlet:
Pod design DOES NOT allocate
switched outlet:
Power Source
Switched Outlet
Uncontrolled Outlet
At beginning of lab
Power On
Always On
At end of lab
Power Off
Always On
During lab
User Controlled
Always On
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If this is a custom pod and you have access to the pod design, you may control whether
or not a switched outlet is allocated. This setting is a function of pod design. Please
refer the NETLAB+ Pod Design Guide for details.
If you are using a NETLAB+ standard pod, or you do not have access to the pod design,
you may plug the device into an uncontrolled outlet if you do not want switched outlet
behavior. However, if a switched outlet is allocated, it cannot be reclaimed.
2.25.2.5
Modifying PC Settings
In order to modify the settings for a PC that has been installed in the pod, Select the PC
using the magnify button to the left of the PC name. In this example, we are examining
the settings for PC A.
Please note that the pod must be offline in order to modify these settings. After
completing modifications, remember to select the management option to bring the pod
online and make it available for reservations.
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2.26
Control Devices
Control devices are equipment required for NETLAB+ to function, but
these devices are not accessible to students and instructors. Control
switches provide NETLAB+ with internal connections. Access servers
provide console access to lab devices Switched outlet devices are
automated power management units.
2.26.1
Control Switches
Control switches perform several functions in NETLAB+ including, Ethernet
connections for the NETLAB+ server, access server, and switched outlet device.
Control switches can provide a temporary TFTP path for automated management of
IOS images in lab devices. Control switches function as virtual Ethernet hubs in lab topologies
when the lab is active.
Control switches are not accessible by lab users. The number and type of control switches
required for a NETLAB+ system is dependent on the number and type of equipment pods that
are hosted.
Select to manage an existing control switch. (See section 2.26.1.2)
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2.26.1.1
Adding a Control Switch
Select the option to Add a control switch, from the Configure Control Switches screen.
The Add Control Switch Screen will be displayed.
Select a switch ID and switch type, then click Add Switch. Based on your selections, you
will be able to view and set other parameters for the switch on the next screen.
Edit the information for this control switch as needed, and then click OK. Some of the
values cannot be changed. Normally NETLAB+ reserves port 17 to 24 on a 24-port
control switch. To meet your specific port requirements, (see the Installing The Control
Plane Section of the NETLAB+ Installation Guide) you may change the range of reserved
ports being used on the switch.
The Control Switch Management screen will be displayed. Proceed to the next section
for information on Control Switch Management.
NETLAB+ automatically sets control switch passwords as shown. You will need to enter
these passwords if you wish to access the command line interface of the device at a
later time.
Console Password: router
Enable Password: cisco
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2.26.1.2
Control Switch Management
The Control Switch Management screen displays a diagram showing the port assignments for
the selected switch.
The specific settings depicted here may differ from the settings at your site.
Several management options are accessed from this screen.
You must configure the IOS software on the control switch before it can be
used by NETLAB+. To perform this task, we assume that:
Your NETLAB+ server and control switches are turned on
Everything is cabled correctly, see section 2.25.1.10
All ports in the path between the control switch and the NETLAB+ server are up (green)
You have connected a PC or terminal to the console port of the control switch and you are at
the Switch> prompt
Carefully follow the steps listed on the configure control switch screen.
The specific settings depicted may differ from the settings for your site.
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Tell me if the switch is configured and working properly.
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Edit the information for this control switch, and then click OK. Some of
the values cannot be changed. After editing the information as needed, select OK.
Remove this Switch from NETLAB+.
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2.26.2
Access Servers
An access server provides console connections to lab equipment. Using this
approach, users can access lab gear even when no configurations have been
loaded in the lab devices. NETLAB+ proxies all connections through the access
server. This special proxy allows simultaneous sharing of console ports and allows all
users to access the lab environment using a single IP address and single remote access
port.
Line Number is now used as a unique identifier for access server ports.
Beginning with NETLAB+ version 2010.R3, NETLAB+ supports an expanded selection of
access servers, Since several models include multiple modules, port number is no
longer a unique identifier. Instructions for adding/modifying pods and access servers
throughout this guide use access server line numbers for identification.
You can easily view the line number of any access server port. Please see section
2.26.2.2 for details.
Details on supported access server configurations and general usage guidelines can be
found at: http://www.netdevgroup.com/support/control_devices.html#access_server
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Select to manage an existing access server. (See 2.26.2.2)
Select to add an access server, proceed to the next
section.
2.26.2.1
Adding an Access Server
Select Add an Access Server from the Configure Access Server screen. The New Access
Server screen will be displayed.
Select an access server ID and type, and then click Add Access Server.
You may change the access server's type as needed, only if the same line numbers in use
exist on the new access server. Proceed to the next section for information on Access
Server Management.
NETLAB+ automatically sets access server passwords as shown. You will need to enter
these passwords if you wish to access the command line interface of the device at a
later time.
Console Password: router
Enable Password: cisco
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2.26.2.2
Access Server Management
The Access Server Management screen displays a diagram showing the port assignments and
line numbers for the selected access server. As shown below, you can easily view the line
number by hovering your mouse over any port.
The specific settings depicted here may differ from the settings at your site.
For access servers using octal cables, the octal cable label is displayed with the line number.
Another example of viewing line numbers by hovering the mouse over a port.
Several management options are accessed from this screen.
You must configure the IOS software on the access server before it can be
used by NETLAB+. To perform this task, it is assumed that:
Your NETLAB+ server, access server, and control switches are turned on
Everything is cabled correctly, see section 2.25.1.10.
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All control switch ports in the path between the access server and the NETLAB+ server are up
(green)
You have connected a PC or terminal to the console port of the access server and you are at
the Router> prompt
Carefully follow the steps listed on the configure access server screen:
The specific settings depicted may differ from the settings for your site.
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Tell me if this access server is configured and working properly.
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Change the access server type. You may change the access server's
type only if the same line numbers in use exist on the new access server.
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Remove the access server from NETLAB+.
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2.26.3
Switched Outlets
The power of each managed device in a NETLAB+ equipment pod is connected
to a switched outlet device.
The device provides three functions:
Reboot devices during NETLAB+ automated operations.
Allow users to control power of a lab device (making password recovery
possible).
Power off devices when not in use to reduce energy and cooling requirements.
Details on supported switched outlet devices and general usage guidelines can be found
at: http://www.netdevgroup.com/support/control_devices.html#switched_outlet
Select to manage a device. (See section 2.26.3.2)
Select to add a switched outlet device.
Proceed to the next section.
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2.26.3.1
Add Switched Outlet Device
Select Add Switched Outlet device, from the Configure Switched Outlet Device Screen.
Select an ID and Type, and then click Add Device.
You may change the switched outlet device's type. Proceed to the next section for
information on Switched Outlet Device Management.
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2.26.3.2
Switched Outlet Device Management
The Switched Outlet Device Management screen displays a diagram showing the
assignments to each outlet.
Several management options are accessed from this screen.
You must configure the TCP/IP settings on a switched outlet device
before it can be used by NETLAB+. To perform this task, we assume that:
Your NETLAB+ server, switched outlet device, and control switches are turned on
Everything is cabled correctly, see section 2.25.1.10
All control switch ports in the path between the switched outlet device and the
NETLAB+ server are up (green)
Carefully follow the steps listed on the Configure Switched Outlet Device screen.
The specific settings depicted may differ from the settings for your site.
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Tell me if this device is configured and working properly.
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Modify the switched outlet device type.
Remove this device from NETLAB+.
2.27
Lab Device Software Repository
Use this utility to manage lab device software images (i.e. Cisco IOS, SDM,
etc) in NETLAB+'s image repository. Certain automated operations will
install the specified images on lab devices via TFTP, as needed. All files
must have a .bin extension.
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Select to delete image files that you have selected in the
Delete column.
Refresh the list after deleting files.
Files marked in use cannot be deleted because they have been chosen as images to be
used for devices in the pod(s). NETLAB+ depends on these images during a scrub
operation. To enable deletion of these images, you must eliminate the dependency by
assigning different images to be used with the devices in the pod.
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You can upload system images with a .bin extension from your local machine to
NETLAB+s TFTP Directory.
In order to upload a system image to NETLAB+, the image must exist on your local PC. If
the image is not on your PC, you will need to obtain it from the appropriate source (i.e.
log into Cisco CCO and go to the Software Center)
Do not rename Cisco software images! NETLAB+ examines the file name to determine
compatibility during pod configuration.
Specify the file name on your PC machine (example: C:\My Documents\c2500-d-l.1205.T.bin) or click the Browse button to bring up a file dialog box.
Select after you have specified a file name.
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2.28
Network Configuration
The Network Configuration utility displays detailed statistics pertaining
to the inside and outside network interfaces and allows these settings to
be updated where appropriate. General Network Settings include
hostname, default gateway, primary DNS, alternate DNS, remote access
ports and web server port configuration.
Starting with NETLAB+ version 2014.R2.Beta.1, NETLAB+ provides several options for
web server port configuration. This includes the option to configure connectivity
through SSL, which is preferred and in some cases required, according to the security
policy for many organizations.
Settings to the interface status may also be updated, details on updating these settings
are provided in the subsections below. This utility also includes the option to Test
Outbound Access page (see section 2.28.5).
2.28.1
General Network Settings
The top portion of the Network Configuration page displays the General Network
Settings. To modify a setting, select the
described below.
button to the right. Each field is
Use caution when changing network configuration settings. Under some circumstances,
if you enter an incorrect value, the erroneous setting may result in your system no
longer being accessible using the configuration utility. It would then be necessary to
make corrections through the physical console.
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Hostname: It is recommended that you change the host name for your system.
The value should be either a valid hostname or fully-qualified domain name. To
prevent your NETLAB+ server from being flagged as an e-mail spam source, you
should enter a fully qualified domain name that is also registered in your DNS
server (both forward lookup and reverse IP entries).
When making changes to an IPV4 address in any of the fields below, keep in mind that
all IPV4 address octets must be between 0 and 255. Neither the network or host
portion of the address may be all 0s or all 1s.
Default Gateway: The IPv4 address of the default gateway. The gateway
address should be on the same IPV4 network as one of the externally facing
Ethernet interfaces. The inside network (eth1) is not routable.
Primary DNS: Enter the IPV4 address of the primary Domain Name Server
NETLAB+ should use. This server is consulted first for all name-to-IP lookups.
Alternate DNS: Enter the IPV4 address of the alternate Domain Name Server
NETLAB+ should use. When either Primary DNS or Alternate DNS is selected,
both fields will be displayed and available to modify.
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Remote Access Port: Configure the specified TCP port(s) that will be used for
remote device access, remote PC access, and chat functions. Enter a list of TCP
ports separated by commas, in the order they should be tried by the user client.
Each port may be a number from 1 to 65535. Ports 22, 80, and 443 are reserved
for other functions. The factory default port is 2201. All of these ports MUST be
opened in the firewall at the NETLAB+ site. One of these ports must be open
between the client and NETLAB+ for client connections to succeed.
Active SSL Certificate: Beginning with NETLAB+ version 2014.R2.Beta.1, HTTPS
connections may be configured for the NETLAB+ web server, which requires an
active SSL certificate. Details are provided in the next section.
Webserver Ports: NETLAB+ is shipped with the default http port 80 set.
Webserver port configuration options are discussed in the next section.
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2.28.2
Web Service Port Configuration - SSL is Available
Starting with NETLAB+ version 2014.R2.Beta.1, NETLAB+ provides several options for
web server port configuration. This includes the option to configure connectivity
through SSL, which is preferred and in some cases required, according to the security
policy for many organizations.
NETLAB+ is shipped with the default HTTP port 80 set.
.
You may continue to use your NETLAB+ system through port 80 (HTTP only). Please be
aware that future versions of NETLAB+ may require an SSL connection be configured.
Notice that an active SSL certificate is displayed. This self-signed certificate is included
for the purposes of allowing you to perform administrative functions and manage
updates to certificates as needed (as discussed later in this section, this self-signed
certificate must be replaced if you enable HTTPS).
You may see the certificate by selecting View Certificate.
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To update the Web Service Port Configuration, select Change Port Configuration.
Warning: Changing this setting may result in an unreachable user interface and/or
system if the TCP port(s) you enable are blocked at the site firewall. Avoid changing this
setting remotely because recovery may require physical console access. Before
proceeding, NDG recommends that you enable remote access for NDG support. Either
open SSH (port 22) at the site firewall, or enable Technical Support Over Remote Access
Port(s). Do this before changing your settings.
If you opt to change your Web Service Port Configuration to enable HTTPS, consider
using the redirect option (shown below). This allows your an SSL connection to your
system regardless of if users specify "HTTP" or "HTTPS" when entering the hostname or
address into their browser. This does, however, require you to open both port 443 and
port 80.
If you enable HTTPS, you must have a signed certificate. If you do not configure an
active signed certificate, your NETLAB+ users will be interrupted with browser security
warnings each time they access the NETLAB+ system. The warnings will be similar to the
picture below (warnings vary depending on browser/version).
To add a signed certificate to your NETLAB+ system, proceed with one of the following
methods, depending on if you have already have a certificate or need to obtain a
certificate.
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If you do not have a certificate: You will generate a certificate request through
NETLAB+ and send the request to the Certificate Authority (CA) of your choice.
Once you receive a signed version from the CA you will update the certificate in
NETLAB+. See section 2.28.2.1 for details.
If you already have a signed certificate and private key for your organization:
(This can be a domain-level certificate). You will proceed by adding the
certificate and private key to your NETLAB+ system as described in section
2.28.2.2.
2.28.2.1 Generate a Certificate Request and Replace an Unsigned Certificate
with a Signed Certificate
First, you will generate a certificate request and submit it to the CA of your choice.
1. Navigate to Network Configuration > Webserver Ports > Manage Certificates.
You will see the self-signed certificate that is included with NETLAB+.
2. Click Add Certificate.
3. Select the option to generate a certificate signing request, temporary certificate
and new private key and press Next.
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4. Fill in the fields on the form with the information appropriate for your site and
Press OK.
NETLAB+ has generated a new private key, certificate signing request, and self-signed
certificate.
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5. Select the option, Download Certificate Signing Request.
6. A file with an extension of .csr has been generated and should be accessible via
the list of downloaded files in your web browser. You may submit this file to the
Certificate Authority (CA) of your choice. Typically, a small annual fee is charged
by the CA for this service.
After you receive a signed version of your certificate from the CA, you will use it to
replace the unsigned version.
1. Navigate to Network Configuration > Webserver Ports > Manage Certificates.
2. You will be replacing the self-signed certificate that you created. Notice that the
SYSTEM_DEFAULT certificate is indicated to be the active certificate, this is
necessary since you cannot replace an active certificate. (If the
SYSTEM_DEFAULT is not currently the active certificate, select it and the option
to Make Active before proceeding).
3. Select the self-signed certificate you created.
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4. The SSL Certificate Summary is displayed. Select Replace Certificate.
5. Paste the signed certificate you received from the CA into the New Certificate
text box, including the header and footer lines and select OK.
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6. Return to the Manage Certificates page. Verify that your certificate now
indicates it is signed (as shown below).
If the status of the certificate does not indicate signed, it may be necessary to log off
the system and close your browser window. The status will be updated when you enter
the system again.
7. Select the signed certificate.
8. Select the Make Active option.
9. The signed certificate is now active.
10. Verify that your browser address now indicates HTTPS. It may be necessary to
log off the system, close your browser window and then re-enter the system.
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2.28.2.2
Add a Certificate and Private Key to NETLAB+
If you have a signed certificate and private key for your organization (it may be a domain
level certificate), you will add the certificate and private key to your NETLAB+ system.
1. Navigate to Network Configuration > Webserver Ports > Manage Certificates.
You will see the self-signed certificate that is included with NETLAB+.
2. Click Add Certificate.
3. Select the option for having an existing certificate and private key and then
select Next.
4. Paste your certificate, including the header and footer lines, into the Certificate
textbox.
5. Paste your private key, including the header and footer lines, into the Private
Key textbox.
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6. Press OK.
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7. Return to the Manage Certificates page.
If your certificate is not displayed in the list, it may be necessary to log off the system
and close your browser window. The certificate will be listed when you enter the
system again.
8. Select the signed certificate.
9. Select the Make Active option.
10. The signed certificate is now active.
11. Verify that your browser address now indicates HTTPS. It may be necessary to
log off the system, close your browser window and then re-enter the system.
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2.28.3
Interface Status
The Interface Status is shown in the second section of the Network Configuration page.
The Interface status displays settings pertaining to both the inside and outside interface.
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The following fields provide information for both the inside and outside interfaces:
Interface: The system interface name.
NETLAB+ Role: The role that the interface plays for this NETLAB+ system.
Link State: The current link state of the interface.
o UP The interface is up (link detected).
o DOWN The interface is down (link not detected).
o ADMIN_DOWN The interface is administratively down.
If the driver's interface does not support this information, the link-state value
will be undefined.
Admin State: The desired administrative link state of the interface.
o UP The interface is administratively enabled.
o DOWN The interface is administratively disabled.
Note: Currently this value will always be UP. There is no method to disable an
interface.
Speed: The current link speed if the current interface link state is UP. A value of
null/undefined is returned if the interface link state is down or if the driver does
not support this information. A virtual appliance may report 10000 as it is a
software network interface.
Duplex: The current link duplex (if the interface link state is up). A value of
null/undefined is returned if the interface link state is down or if the driver does
not support this information.
Auto negotiation: The auto negotiation state of link speed and duplex. A value
of null/undefined is returned if the interface link state is down or if the driver
does not support this information.
MAC Address: The current MAC layer address of the interface.
IP Address: The current primary IPV4 address bound to the interface as reported
by the kernel.
Subnet Mask: The current primary IPV4 subnet mask bound to the interface as
reported by kernel.
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The IP Address and Subnet Mask may be configured for the Outside Interface.
2.28.4
Kernel Statistics and Driver Statistics
Kernel and driver statistics may be viewed by selecting the Show button in the Kernel
Statistics and Driver Statistics sections. In the picture below, the Kernel Statistics are
shown. Selecting the Hide button would hide this portion of the display, in the same
manner as the Driver Statistics.
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2.28.5
Test Outbound Access
Use the NETLAB+ Outbound Network Test to verify the outbound firewall requirements
have been met. This test can also be accessed from the console interface. This test is
available from the Network Configuration utility (see section 2.28)
NETLAB+ must be able to send certain types of data through the network in order to function
properly. This outbound traffic includes DNS lookups, outbound mail and HTTP to NETLAB+
Central Services.
The Outbound Firewall Test will determine if the interface, gateway and DNS are reachable. It
will also test the servers ability to communicate with NETLAB+ Central Support. Failure of
any of these tests will indicate a network problem and should be corrected for proper
functionality of NETLAB+. A successful test will indicate OK for all test types.
This is an outbound test only.
Since this is only an outbound test, it will not determine if inbound clients can access the
NETLAB+ server. Inbound access problems must be addressed on a client-by-client basis,
since this will involve the clients ability to reach the NETLAB+ server via HTTP and remote
access ports.
Detailed firewall connectivity requirements are explained in the NETLAB+: CSS,
Connectivity and Firewall Considerations white paper available at:
http://www.netdevgroup.com/support/netlab_css_connect.html
The results of the Outbound Network Test will be displayed.
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2.29
Disk Status
Disk Status displays the capacity and usage of storage volumes on the
NETLAB+ server appliance.
NETLAB Professional Edition systems are delivered with two hard disks and RAID 1
mirroring. An identical copy of each volume is maintained on each disk. If the system
encounters unrecoverable problems with a disk partition in a RAID 1 volume, that
partition is marked faulty and no longer used. However, the system will continue to
function without data loss as long if the other partition on the same volume is healthy.
The status of RAID disk volumes are displayed on systems equipped with RAID 1. A
healthy RAID system will display a green light beside each disk volume.
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A red light beside a disk volume indicates a partition failure, which cannot be corrected
without manual intervention. Please contact NDG technical support staff if you see a
red light on this page.
Replacing a hard disk will not automatically initialize the disk and return it to the RAID
volume. Please contact NDG for assistance.
NDG also receives alerts through CSS if a RAID 1 partition has failed. Please keep your
contact information up to date so that we may notify you in this event.
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2.30
Usage Reporting
Usage reporting provides valuable feedback on the use of your NETLAB+
system. The ability to review the use your NETLAB+ system is receiving
provides helpful information to share within your organization, and can be
a helpful indicator of when to consider expanding your system.
There are several levels of reporting available, each with a variety of sorting and
grouping options:
Community Usage: Total number of labs and lab hours, grouped by community.
User Usage: Total number of labs and lab hours per user.
Class Usage: Total number of labs and lab hours per class.
Pod Usage: Total number of labs and lab hours per equipment pod.
2.30.1
Community Usage Reporting
The total number of labs and lab hours, grouped by community is
displayed when community usage reporting is selected. The report may
be customized by selecting options on the menu page.
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Start Date and End Date: An optional start date and end date may be selected.
The information displayed will be limited by the selected date range. If no date
range is selected, the report will contain information starting from earliest
available through the present.
Sort By: The information is sorted by default according to lab hours, but may be
changed to total labs, community ID or community name.
Select Search to view the reporting results.
Notice that community usage is reported from Earliest to Now since no start or end
dates were specified. The sort field may be changed by clicking on a heading field.
Here, we will change the report to sort by Name.
The statistics reflect only current communities since the time they were created. No
information is displayed for communities that have been deleted from the system.
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2.30.2
User Usage Reporting
The total number of labs and lab hours is reported for each user. This
level of reporting includes a variety of options that provide a high level of
flexibility. The report may be customized by selecting options on the
menu page. Field descriptions may be displayed by selecting show tool
tips.
Start Date and End Date: An optional start date and end date may be selected.
The information displayed will be limited by the selected date range. If no date
range is selected, the report will contain information starting from earliest
available through the present.
Community: By default, the report contains information on users from all
communities. You have the option to filter the report to a single community.
User ID: Enter a value to filter on a particular user ID. An asterisk (*) may be
used to match multiple records. For example, student* will match any user ID
starting with the word student.
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User Name: Enter a value to filter on a particular user name. An asterisk (*) may
be used to match multiple records. For example, Smith* will match any user ID
starting with the word Smith.
Count: This option determines if team usage is also counted in each users total
lab hours.
Show: Use this option to show or hide users with zero lab hours.
Sort By: The information is sorted by default according to lab hours, but may be
changed to total labs, user ID or user name.
Group By: Determines if results are grouped by communities. This option has
no affect unless the all communities option is selected in the Community
option above.
Select Search to view the reporting results.
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As shown in the example of community reporting in the previous section, the sort field
can be changed by clicking on a heading field.
The statistics reflect only current communities since the time they were created. No
information is displayed for communities that have been deleted from the system.
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2.30.3
Class Usage Reporting
Class usage reporting displays the total number of labs and lab hours for
instructor-led training (ILT), individual labs, and team labs for each class.
The report may be customized by selecting options on the menu page.
Field descriptions may be displayed by selecting show tool tips.
Start Date and End Date: An optional start date and end date may be selected.
The information displayed will be limited by the selected date range.
Community: By default, the report is grouped by community. You have the
option to filter the report to a single community.
Select Search to view the reporting results.
In this example, a class usage report has been created for a single community, within a
selected date range.
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2.30.4
Pod Usage Reporting
Pod Usage Reporting displays the total number of labs and lab hours for
each pod that is installed on your NETLAB+ system. The report will only
contain statistics for currently installed pods. Pods that have been
deleted from the system will not be included. The report may be
customized by selecting options on the menu page.
Start Date and End Date: An optional start date and end date may be selected.
The information displayed will be limited by the selected date range.
Sort By: The information is sorted by default according to lab hours, but may be
changed to total labs, Pod ID, pod name or pod type.
Select Search to view the reporting results.
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Here, we will modify our results by selecting the pod ID field as our sort field.
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2.31
Manage Curriculum
NETLAB+ can provide web hosting for curriculum. This page includes
options to add or remove curriculum modules and to select curriculum
authorization options appropriate for your system.
As of version 4.0.24, curriculum is authorized per community. Systems with multiple
communities must manage access to curriculum using the Curriculum Authorization
Options explained below. The global Curriculum Authorization Options influence the
default authorization behavior for new communities and new curriculum. Curriculum
management may only be performed using the Administrator account.
Certain restrictions must be followed to preserve the separation of access to
copyrighted Cisco Networking Academy curriculum content and labs.
Please refer to Appendix C for instructions on managing curriculum on a multi-purpose
NETLAB+ system.
Curriculum management may only be performed using the Administrator account using
the Add/Remove curriculum function.
Select the Curriculum Authorization Options button to display the selection of
authorization preferences. The preferences for curriculum authorization determine
how the system will handle authorization of curriculum modules when additional
communities are created and new curriculum modules are installed (see section 2.31.3)
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All
When a new community is created, all existing curriculum is automatically
authorized for use by the new community. When new curriculum is added, the
checkboxes indicating that a community is authorized to use the curriculum are
automatically checked on for all communities. No intervention from the
Administrator is required to make installed curriculum modules available to all
communities. This option is also appropriate for all single community systems.
Do not use the ALL option for a multi-purpose NETLAB+ system. This choice is
not appropriate for multi-purpose systems due to the licensing issues discussed
above. Please see Appendix C for instructions.
Default
When a new community is created, existing curriculum must be manually
authorized for the new community. When new curriculum is added, the
checkbox indicating that a community is authorized to use the curriculum is
automatically checked on for the default community only. For all other
communities, the checkboxes must be checked on to allow the communities to
access the new curriculum.
Manual
When a new community is created, existing curriculum must be manually
authorized for the new community. When new curriculum is added, the
checkboxes must be checked on to allow communities, including the default
community, to access the new curriculum.
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2.31.1
View a Curriculum Module
You may view any of the modules by clicking on the name of the module in the installed
curriculum list (see section 2.31); however, you will be prompted to enter a NETLAB+
user ID and password. You may use a valid instructor ID, student ID or the
Administrator account.
The selected curriculum will then be displayed.
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2.31.2
Edit Curriculum Module Settings
The curriculum modules currently installed on the system are listed on the Manage
Curriculum page.
To edit modules currently installed, select the Edit button
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You may wish to update the Curriculum Name and Version and the Language fields in
order to display the information on the main curriculum screen.
In the Authorized Communities section, each community that you wish to grant access
to view the curriculum content must have the check box next to the community name
checked on. You may check on and/or uncheck the boxes as needed.
You may also update the Allow Access settings for the module to allow instructors
and/or student access the material.
Select Cancel to return to the main curriculum screen with no action, Update to
implement any changes you have made, or Delete to remove the module from the
system.
2.31.3
Add New Curriculum Modules
Again, working from Manage Curriculum page, select
to add
a new curriculum module. Follow the directions given on each step of the three-step
process.
Use the name of the file (without the .zip extension) as the Module Identifier. The
Curriculum Name and Version and the Language information that you enter will be
displayed in the curriculum module list.
In the Authorized Communities section, each community that you wish to grant access
to view the curriculum content must have the check box next to the community name
checked on. You may check on and/or uncheck the boxes as needed. The initial settings
that are displayed depend upon your selection of curriculum authorization options (see
section 2.31).
You may choose to allow instructors and/or students to access the curriculum through
NETLAB+ by selecting the Allow Access settings.
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Depending on the file size and speed of your connection, it may take a while for the
upload process to complete. Remain on the page until the upload has completed.
A message will indicate successful upload of the curriculum module.
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2.32
Academy Sharing Portal
The NETLAB+ license allows Cisco Networking Academies to share
access to their system with other Cisco Networking Academies. You can
also charge cost recovery (within the guidelines of the Cisco Networking
Academy).
Participation in the sharing portal is optional. This service is provided at no additional
cost to NETLABAE customers with a current maintenance agreement. Academies that are
not current on their maintenance agreement will need to update their maintenance
agreement in order for their information to be displayed on the portal.
Prior to enabling advertising on the web portal, it is recommended that you verify the
status of outbound HTTP connectivity by testing outbound access (see section Appendix
A.2).
Complete the form in order to begin advertising your Academy on the portal and select
Update Settings to save changes. All information is subject to review by NDG.
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The information will be added to the Academy Sharing Portal.
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The Academy Sharing Portal is available at:
http://www.netdevgroup.com/content/cnap/sharing/
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Appendix A
Console Configuration
Initial server configuration tasks are performed using a menu-driven console interface.
These tasks establish necessary IP connectivity prior to using the web-based
administrator interface.
To perform basic IP configuration, you will need to connect to the NETLAB+ console
interface. There are two acceptable ways to do this:
Connect a VGA monitor and keyboard to the designated ports on your system. This
method is preferred because you are able to observe the server when it is booting.
Connect the monitor and keyboard before powering on the server.
Establish a serial port connection from another PC, laptop, or terminal using the servers
built-in serial port and communications software (such as Hyper Terminal). The serial
port does not become active until the server has booted. The appendix specific to your
server hardware contains the correct serial port settings.
If you are using a serial connection, the console will not respond until the server has
booted. Press the ENTER key. When asked if you want to login, respond Yes. You will
be prompted to enter the administrators password. The system default administrator
password is netlab.
Each menu item has a hot-key identified by brackets.
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The NETLAB+ server will require a static IP address. If you are using Network Address
Translation (NAT) at your site, you will need to allocate a unique external IP address to
NETLAB+ and open a static mapping between the external and internal NETLAB+ IP addresses.
You must assign a unique static IP address.
Enter I to access the NETLAB+ IP Configuration menu and begin IP Configuration of the
server.
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Any Current Values will be displayed. Any new values configured during your session will be
displayed in the New Value column. The values will be applied once you choose [X] Exit to
save and apply the new values.
Choose [me] to configure the IP address you will use at your site. This IP address must be
compatible with your LAN network address space. At the prompt, enter the IP address in
dotted decimal format.
Next, enter values for the subnet mask and default gateway. The default gateway address
must be on the same network as the IP address and subnet mask you assign.
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A Domain Name Server (DNS) provides host name to IP address resolution. Enter the IP
address of the primary and backup DNS servers. You are required to enter a primary DNS.
The backup, or secondary DNS, is optional but highly recommended.
Proceed to the next section if you would like to define remote access ports to use in place of
the default remote access port selection, port 23.
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Otherwise, in order to complete the configuration process you must select [X] Exit to save the
newly configured values for your server. Once the new values have been saved, you should
run a [T] Network Test. Details of the Outbound Firewall Test are discussed in Appendix A.2.
Appendix A.1
Define Remote Access Ports
The factory default port used by NETLAB+ for remote device access, remote PC access and
chat functions is TCP port 2201 (existing systems with software prior to 2009.R1.beta.2 will
have the former default setting of 23). Chat functions will be available in a future software
release. At some organizations, it may be desirable to select a different port, in order to
remain compliant with your organizations security policies. You may select one or more port
numbers to be used in place of the factory default.
A Remote Access Test is performed during each user login. This test will fail if a
connection using the TCP port(s) cannot be established. If you define more than one
port for use as the outbound TCP connection, the test will attempt to establish a
connection using each port number, in the order they are listed, until the Remote
Access Test detects a successful connection. The system will keep track of which port
results in successful access and will use that port first for the users next login.
Select [A] and enter a list of TCP ports separated by commas, in the order they should be tried
by the user client. Each port may be a number from 1 to 65535.
Port 22, 80, and 443 are reserved for other functions and cannot be used as Remote
Access ports.
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Here, ports 2301 and 23 have been entered as Remote Access Ports.
It is critical that the ports you specify are opened in the site firewall, or the client may
experience delays and/or port test failures during user login.
You must [X] Exit to save the newly configured values for your server. Once the new values
have been saved, you should run a [T] Network Test. Details of the Outbound Firewall Test are
discussed in the next section.
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Appendix A.2
Outbound Firewall Test
NETLAB+ must be able to send certain types of data through the network in order to function
properly. This outbound traffic includes DNS lookups, outbound mail, and HTTP to NETLAB+
Central Services.
The Outbound Firewall Test will determine if the interface, gateway and DNS are reachable. It
will also test the servers ability to communicate with NETLAB+ Central Support. Failure of
any of these tests will indicate a network problem and should be corrected for proper
functionality of NETLAB+. A successful test will indicate OK for all test types.
This is an outbound test only.
Since this is only an outbound test, it will not determine if inbound clients can access the
NETLAB+ server. Inbound access problems must be addressed on a client-by-client basis,
since this will involve the clients ability to reach the NETLAB+ server via HTTP and remote
access ports.
Any errors reported during the test should be evaluated and corrected. Most errors are
caused by firewall configuration issues.
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When your test runs correctly, you can exit the NETLAB+ System Console interface and
continue with your NETLAB+ installation tasks. You can choose to logout from your main
menu. Do not shut down or power off the server at this time.
The Outbound Firewall Test may also be accessed from the web interface.
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Appendix B
Upgrade a Router to Use Pagent IOS
In order to support the requirements of certain curriculums, it may be necessary to
upgrade a router to use Pagent IOS. Pagent is an enhanced Cisco IOS image that
includes IP traffic generation features. The Pagent toolset functions on top of the
typical Cisco IOS image, but comes bundled with the IOS image.
Since this process involves several steps that will require your time and attention, make
certain you are committed to running Pagent on the router for the foreseeable future.
Once the process is completed, you will appreciate the advantage of having NETLAB+
automatically enter the required activation key for Pagent. Having this task automated
by NETLAB+ eliminates the need to enter this key with each use, as others must do who use
Pagent independently of the NETLAB+ system.
Before starting this process, please make certain that:
A pod has been installed on your NETLAB+ system. See the Adding New Pods
section 2.25.1 for details on pod installation.
The pod includes a router on which you would like to load Pagent.
The router has sufficient DRAM and Flash to meet your requirements.
When selecting a router on which to load Pagent, you must be careful to select a router
that has adequate DRAM and Flash to allow you to use the IOS feature set needed to
support your curriculum requirements. This is necessary to assure that you will be able
to run the IOS and any profiles that are created.
Appendix B.1
Obtain a Pagent IOS Image
A Pagent IOS image must be uploaded to the NETLAB+ system. If you do not have an
image file, and you are a Cisco Networking Academy instructor, you may download an
image file in the Tools section in Academy Connection, if not please contact your CISCO
Representative.
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Appendix B.2
Upload the Pagent Image to the NETLAB+ Server
In order to load the Pagent IOS image you must upload the file from your local machine
to NETLAB+s TFTP directory. The name of the file must meet the format restrictions;
rename the file if necessary to comply with the following rules:
The file name must have a .bin extension.
The file name cannot contain any + characters. You may wish to substitute
with a _ character.
The length of the file name cannot exceed 45 characters.
The examples in this chart show how typical Pagent IOS image file names may be
renamed in order to be uploaded to NETLAB+.
Pagent Image name not meeting the name Pagent Image name changed to meet
format requirements.
the name format requirements.
C2801-tpgen+adventerprisek9mz.PAGENT.4.3.0
C2801_advipserk9_mz_PAG_4_3_0.bin
c2801-tpgen+ipbase-mz.PAGENT.4.3.0
C2801_ipbase_mz_PAG_4_3_0.bin
Appendix B.3
Modify the Device Settings on the Router to Use Pagent
The device settings on the router must be modified in order to use the Pagent IOS image
that was uploaded in the previous step. Please see section 2.25.2.1.
Two settings on this page must be modified.
The Image Recovery Option must be set to recover if the specified image is not in
flash.
If you have your Pagent activation key, enter it in the activation key field.
The Pagent Activation key must be entered in order for NETLAB+ automation processes
to run on the pod. In addition, other NETLAB+ automatic features such as password
recovery will depend on this key.
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Please note that the pod must be offline in order to modify these device settings. After
completing modifications, remember to select the management option to bring the pod
online and make it available for reservations.
If you have entered the key, you may proceed to the verification step, Appendix B.5.
If you do not yet have a key to enter, please continue to the next step.
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Appendix B.4
Obtain a Pagent Activation Key
In order to obtain the key, you will be required to report the Machine ID, which is a
unique number based on the equipment hardware of your router. This procedure must
be done from an Instructor Account. Please see section 2.15 for details on creating an
instructor account.
Please follow these steps:
1. Sign in to the NETLAB+ system with an instructor account. See the Initial Login
section of the NETLAB+ Instructor Guide for more information.
2. Create a lab reservation on the pod that contains the router with the Pagent IOS
image. Details on making a lab reservation are available in the Reserve An
Equipment Pod for Your Own Use section of the NETLAB+ Instructor Guide.
3. At the scheduled time, enter the lab session. See the Enter a Lab Session section
of the NETLAB+ Instructor Guide for more information.
4. Establish a console connection to the router. You may refer to the Remote
Console Connection section of the NETLAB+ Instructor Guide.
By examining the output on the router as the router is booting up, you should see some
evidence of Pagent. You should see the Machine ID displayed, as shown in the pictures
below. Write down this number, and have it available for reference when you request a
Pagent Activation Key. If you are a Cisco Networking Academy instructor the procedure
for requesting the key may be downloaded in the Tools section in Academy connection,
if not please contact your Cisco representative.
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If you see no evidence of Pagent, it will be necessary to perform a scrub on the router.
A very convenient way of performing a scrub on the router is to select the scrub device
option on the Action tab as shown below.
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After obtaining the Activation Key from Cisco, return to section 2.25.2.1, where you will
again access the modify device settings Administrator function to enter the Activation
Key.
Please note: When loading the IOS file name, you should consider this:
Since typically the IOS + Pagent file may be greater than 32 MB, you have to take
into account that some versions of the rommon (specifically 12.3(8r)T8) have a
bug where files of that size cannot be handled, and while loading the IOS, you
may see a TIMED OUT error as shown in the image below. In order to resolve
this issue please upgrade the rommon to 12.4 or greater.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.................. [TIMED OUT]
FTP: Operation terminated.
rommon 13 >
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Appendix B.5
Verify that Pagent has been Successfully Loaded
In order to verify that the Pagent Activation Key has been entered into the system you
will once again sign into your instructor account, make a lab reservation, attend the lab
session and establish a console connection to the router, following the steps described
in Appendix B.4.
This time, observe the dialog displayed during the boot up process. You should see the
NETLAB+ automation process respond to the prompt for the activation key as showed in
the picture below.
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After entering the key, NETLAB+ will allow you to configure not only the router with the
regular IOS commands, but also the traffic generator. In order to verify that Pagent is
accessible and has been loaded correctly, please follow the process shown on the
picture below.
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Appendix C
Curriculum Management for Multi-Purpose NETLAB+ Systems
When a NETLAB+ system is purchased by a customer who is a participant in the Cisco
Networking Academy and also provides training independently of the Cisco Networking
Academy, certain restrictions apply. These restrictions must be followed to preserve the
separation of access to copyrighted Cisco Networking Academy curriculum content and
labs.
Your multi-purpose system will have at least two communities, one used for the Cisco
Networking Academy, and one to support training programs not affiliated with the Cisco
Networking Academy. As of version 4.0.24, curriculum is authorized per community.
Systems with multiple communities must manage access to curriculum using the
Curriculum Authorization Options as described in section 2.31.
All communities on your multi-purpose system must fall into one of two categories:
Community used to support the Cisco
Networking Academy
Community used for any other training
program
The community is granted access to some
or all of the Cisco Networking Academy
curriculum modules that have been
installed on the system.
The community is not granted access to
Cisco Networking Academy curriculum
modules that have been installed on the
system.
The community may be granted access to The community may be granted access to
any other third party or custom
any other third party or custom curriculum
curriculum content belonging to your
content belonging to your organization.
organization.
The community is granted access to some or
all of the labs designed for use with the Cisco
Networking Academy (see Appendix D).
The community is not granted access to labs
designed for use with the Cisco Networking
Academy (see Appendix D).
The community may have access to any other The community may have access to any other
third party or custom labs belonging to your
third party or custom labs belonging to your
organization.
organization.
The community has a student population
comprised of Cisco Networking Academy
students only. Student ids within this
community are assigned to students enrolled
in the Cisco Networking Academy.
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The community has a student population
enrolled in training other than the Cisco
Networking Academy.
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The recommended course of action for curriculum management:
Use your default community for training within the Cisco Networking Academy. This will
allow you to take advantage of the DEFAULT authorization setting that requires the
least administrative intervention to maintain curriculum on your system.
Update the curriculum authorization options (see section 2.31) to the DEFAULT setting.
Keep in mind that DEFAULT refers to how the selection affects the setting for the
default community on your system. The advantage to using this setting is that the
default community will be automatically authorized to access to curriculum modules
when they are added to the system.
If you have additional communities that are being used to support the Cisco Networking
Academy, you will need to check on the curriculum authorization checkbox (see section
2.31.3) to allow the communities to have access as needed whenever new curriculum is
added to your system.
If your default community is not being used with the Cisco Networking Academy, you
should select the MANUAL option so that the authorization checkbox is not checked on
for the default community when new curriculum is added.
If the MANUAL option is selected, it will be necessary to authorize access for any
communities requiring access to the curriculum, including the default community, when
new curriculum modules are added to your system.
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Be aware that a student who is enrolled in the Cisco Networking Academy and also
participating in training at your organization that is not part of the Academy will need to
have two separate student accounts, one in a community used to support the
Academy, and one in a community used for other training. While this may be an
inconvenience, please keep these factors in mind:
The multi-purpose NETLAB+ system was designed to be a cost effective solution to allow
organizations to effectively have two systems for the price of one.
The requirement of maintaining separate communities and thus, separate student
accounts for Academy and non-Academy training is not a technical issue but rather a
requirement to maintain compliance to restrictions on access to copyrighted material
not owned by NDG.
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Appendix D
Global Lab Management for Multi-Purpose NETLAB+ Systems
When a NETLAB+ system is purchased by a customer who is a participant in the Cisco
Networking Academy and also provides training independently of the Cisco Networking
Academy, certain restrictions apply. These restrictions must be followed to preserve the
separation of access to copyrighted Cisco Networking Academy curriculum content and
labs.
Your multi-purpose system will have at least two communities, one used for the Cisco
Networking Academy, and one to support training programs not affiliated with the Cisco
Networking Academy. As of version 4.0.24, global lab designs are authorized per
community. Systems with multiple communities must manage access to global labs
curriculum using the Global Lab Authorization Options as described in section 2.23.
Please refer to Appendix C for instructions on community and curriculum management
for multi-purpose systems and a discussion of the impact on student accounts.
The recommended course of action for global lab management:
Update the Global Lab Authorization Preference (see section 2.23) to the DEFAULT
setting. Keep in mind that DEFAULT refers to how the selection affects the setting for
the default community on your system. The advantage to using this setting is that the
default community will be automatically authorized to access the global lab designs
when they are installed.
When new global lab designs are installed, it will be necessary to authorize access for
any other communities requiring access to the new labs as described in section 2.23.
If your default community is not being used with the Cisco Networking Academy, you
should select the MANUAL option so that the default community is not automatically
authorized to access global labs when they are installed.
If the MANUAL option is selected, it will be necessary to authorize access for any
communities requiring access to the new labs, including the default community, when
new global lab designs are added to your system.
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