Product & Technology Overview

Product & Technology Overview

Updated August 29, 2011

Table of Contents

Introduction ............................................................................................................ 2 Product Architecture Overview ................................................................................... 2 Definitions .............................................................................................................. 2 System Requirements............................................................................................... 2

Operating Systems ......................................................................................... 2 Web Browsers ............................................................................................... 2 Internet Connection........................................................................................ 2 Hardware ...................................................................................................... 3 Screen Resolution .......................................................................................... 3 Plug ins and Players ....................................................................................... 3 Hard Disk Space Requirements ........................................................................ 3 Internet Explorer Settings ......................................................................................... 3 Firewall Settings ...................................................................................................... 4 MyITLab Folder and File Structure .............................................................................. 4 MyITLab Simulation Files: Initial Download of Core Simulation Files....................... 5 MyITLab Simulation Files: Question-Level Files and Data ..................................... 6 MyITLab Simulation Files: Hard Disk Space Requirements .................................... 7 Technical Support .................................................................................................... 7 Appendix A: MyITLab Simulation Core Files.................................................................. 8 MyITLab 2007 Core Files ................................................................................. 8 MyITLab 2010 Core Files ............................................................................... 17

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Introduction

This document is intended for computer lab administrators and others responsible for installing and supporting MyITLab. It provides an overview of the product architecture, system requirements, and other useful information related to running MyITLab in your school computer labs.

Product Architecture Overview

The MyITLab product architecture consists of a server environment that houses the Web pages [Web application] through which MyITLab is administered by instructors and accessed by students [the MyITLab learning management system] and a set of executable files and assets [the MyITLab simulation], which are downloaded and reside locally on each client computer [workstation] using MyITLab. The MyITLab server and the MyITLab simulation communicate with each other over the Internet using the HTTP protocol. A user logs in to the MyITLab server through a browser [for example, Internet Explorer] and works with web pages to activate or launch specific content from the MyITLab simulation.

When a customer begins using a MyITLab product, Pearson Prentice Hall will work with the instructors at your school to set up a Program Administrator account and a series of instructors accounts.

Key information about setting up your school computer labs to run MyITLab is outlined below.

Definitions

MyITLab server: the web and database server environment, hosted by Pearson Prentice Hall MyITLab learning management system: the Web pages [Web application] through which MyITLab

is administered by instructors and accessed by students

MyITLab simulation: the set of executables and assets, which are downloaded and reside locally

on each client computer [workstation] using MyITLab.

MyITLab product: a specific product, based on the MyITLab product architecture, that provides

access to a specific set of MyITLab content

workstation: a client computer on which MyITLab is used

System Requirements

Each client computer [workstation] running a MyITLab product must meet the following minimum system requirements:

Operating Systems One of the following operating systems must be installed and running:

Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 Microsoft Windows Vista Microsoft Windows 7

Note: MyITLab can be run on a Mac with an Intel-based architecture, running under Windows via a program such as Boot Camp or Parallels.

Web Browsers Internet Explorer 7 Internet Explorer 8 Internet Explorer 9

Internet Connection MyITLab is best used with a broadband connection [cable or DSL] or higher. Dial-up/56K modem connection is the minimum requirement, which may result in slow download times trying to run simulation activities.

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Hardware Memory (RAM)* Windows XP: 512MB or higher recommended Windows Vista: 1GB RAM Windows 7: 1GB RAM Sound Card Any MCI compliant sound card

*Note: The increases in the requirements for Vista are due to the additional memory and CPU overheads imposed by the operating system itself.

Screen Resolution MyITLab is best viewed with a screen resolution of 1024x768 pixels. 800x600 screen resolution is supported for the Student view of MyITLab (except Active Help Desks, which only run at 1024x768). The MyITLab simulation will scale down to the smaller screen size. Larger screen resolutions also are supported; simulation will scale up to the larger screen size. DPI setting should be set to 96 DPI (Normal size in Windows XP; Default scale in Windows Vista and Windows 7).

Plug ins and Players MyITLab uses the following plug ins:

MyITLab ActiveX control Adobe FlashTM Player version 9 or higher Adobe Reader version 7.0 or higher

Note: Depending on the content you upload or add to your MyITLab course, you and your students may need additional plug-ins and players [for example, QuickTime, PowerPoint Viewer, and so on].

Hard Disk Space Requirements Hard disk space requirements vary based on the specific applications and questions you are using in MyITLab. More information is outlined below.

Internet Explorer Settings

Certain Internet Explorer options and security settings can disable or interfere with MyITLab functionality. To ensure that browser-level options or policies do not affect MyITLab, Pearson Education recommends the following settings.

Privacy, Sites: Add *. and *. as an allowed site Privacy, Pop-up Blocker: If blocking pop-ups, add *. *. and

*. as an allowed site.

Security, Trusted Sites: Add *. *. and *. as trusted

sites and ensure that the Medium Low or Low security level is assigned to the Trusted Sites zone. Uncheck the "Enable Protected Mode" checkbox [Windows Vista and Windows 7 users only].

Content, Content Advisor: If Content Advisor is enabled, add ,

MyITLab. and *. as approved sites.

If a third-party pop-up blocker is installed, either add MyITLab. as an allowed site

or disable the pop-up blocker while using MyITLab.

If you plan to use Research Navigator []--which is also part of your

MyITLab access--you may want to add *. to your Trusted Sites list.

For more information on these settings, please reference the MyITLab Simulation Deployment Guide available on the Lab Admin support page on .

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Firewall Settings

MyITLab communicates via the HTTP protocol via Port 80, so workstations that are accessing MyITLab must be able to communicate via this port. The full domain name and IP address for the core MyITLab servers are:

Name: myitlab. Address: 209.202.161.240 Additional servers referenced as part of the login and registration process and as media hosting include:

Name: myitlab. Address: 209.202.161.246

Name: login. Address: 209.202.161.140

Name: register. Address: 209.202.161.139

Name: media. Address: 209.202.161.170

Other firewall settings that may be appropriate to consider for your computer lab: Allow iexplore.exe access to *. (or myitlab. or the MyITLab IP address, 209.202.161.240, depending on your firewall)

Allow TAIT30.exe access to *. (or myitlab. or the MyITLab IP address 209.202.161.240, depending on your firewall)

Also note that some firewalls may restrict the type of files downloaded from the Internet. Filters preventing the following types of files from downloading should be removed:

.cab .mp3 .xml

For more information on these settings, along with details on checking for a proxy server, please reference

the MyITLab Simulation Deployment Guide available on the Lab Admin support page on .

MyITLab Folder and File Structure

MyITLab is designed to: be used by multiple users at the same time. run even with users that possess the bare minimum of credentials.

The folder location for the MyITLab files was determined to ensure that the simulation can be used by any time of user (guest, power user). Rather than putting the files in the Program Files folders (which does not permit write operations by most categories of users), the files are written to a folder in the roaming part of the user profile in the All Users or ProgramData folder. This ensures that:

MyITLab resources can be updated, so that the application can "heal itself" ("healing" refers to the process wherein updated .dlls, binaries and content files are automatically downloaded to a user's machine in the event a bug is identified or a question update is required).

Users do not have to have administrative privileges to run MyITLab. MyITLab has been designed to run under non-administrative privileges and "heal" itself, as noted above.

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Workstations do not experience any file locking issues with mp3 files, .xml files and other such resources, as the application allows multiple users to run the same application concurrently.

The machine does have to be configured to allow users to write to a shared folder. Instead, MyITLab is built with a policy of "install and run", where no changes are required to file or folder permissions to ensure that MyITLab will work correctly on a workstation.

MyITLab Simulation Files: Initial Download of Core Simulation Files When you download the MyITLab player simulation files via the MyITLab Simulation File download site, the MyITLab Installation Wizard, or by launching an exam or training via MyITLab, a number of files are downloaded to the hard drive of the workstation. These folder locations are as follows:

Windows XP :\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\myitlab (or myitlab2010)

Windows Vista :\ProgramData\myitlab (or myitlab2010)

Windows 7 (if the ActiveX is not run in Protected Mode) :\ProgramData\myitlab (or myitlab2010)

Note: Separate folders are used depending on if you use MyITLab 2007 or MyITLab 2010 content. Other than a difference in the folder name, the rest of the location is the same.

Important: The MyITLab ActiveX control can be installed and run from within Windows Vista or Windows 7

protected mode. We strongly recommend that you turn off Protected Mode to run MyITLab under Windows Vista or Windows 7 for the reasons below: It is important to note that users utilizing Windows Vista must clear their Temporary Internet files

folder if they had utilized an earlier version of the ActiveX with protected mode disabled. This is due to the fact that files downloaded with protected mode disabled are granted a security access token that is incompatible with the security token generated when the application is run within protected mode. Clearing Internet Explorer's cache may result in the loss of files that have been downloaded previously within the aforementioned folder as the system treats these files as Temporary Internet Files. This can have a negative important on performance, as users will have to download the simulation files each time they launch an exam or training via MyITLab.

All discussions of folder structure and files from here forward assume the workstation is running Windows XP, Windows Vista (not running in Protected Mode), or Windows 7 (not running in Protected Mode).

If the MyITLab folder does not exist at the time a user starts the MyITLab simulation download, then folders are created in the location:

Windows XP: :\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\myitlab (or myitlab2010)

Windows Vista: :\ProgramData\myitlab (or myitlab2010) Windows 7: :\ProgramData\myitlab (or myitlab2010)

A second "resources" folder is created in the location:

Windows XP: :\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\myitlab\resources (or myitlab2010\resources)

Windows Vista: :\ProgramData\myitlab\resources (or myitlab2010\resources) Windows 7: :\ProgramData\myitlab\resources (or myitlab2010\resources)

A detailed list of the files placed in these folders is listed in Appendix A. The files are initially downloaded over the Internet as a series of compressed .cab files. These files then uncompress on the hard drive to a total size of ~474MB.

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