SMART Users Network Survey

[Randy Tran]

Hi Everybody,
 

We at SMART are always looking to improve on our software products and the current focus this time around happens to be on networked enabled software.  Basically programs like Response VE and Sync.

At the moment we're looking into improving some of our testing and user experience methodologies, and would like to better emulate real world situations.  Because of this, I have a few questions I'd like to ask all of you in order to get a better understanding on what you guys (and gals) are running on your school/district networks.

 

Most of you won't be able to provide answers to these questions, but for those who can answer some or all of these questions, or even just one question, I'd like to hear from you. For those who can't answer, maybe you could forward these questions to your school's IT personnel to get these answers?  I don't expect anyone to provide specifics due to the nature of the subject - While specific answers would be great, if you can even provide a brief description, that would be good enough for us.

The questions:

• Most schools/districts if not all run a proxy server. What kind of proxy are you using? Is it a hardware proxy? Is it a branded product like CIPAfilter?
  
  
• What are the incoming and outgoing rules have you set for the firewall? What are the restrictions placed on network traffic? Is there any web content filtering?
   
• Are there any proxy settings configured on the teacher computers?
  
  
• What are the permissions and privileges of a typical teacher computer? What are the restrictions that are in place for these accounts?
  
  
• Can you give a brief description of your network's infrastructure and topology? What directory services, proxies and firewalls are in the network?
  
  
• What operating systems are used on the server and teacher computers?

Again I don't have an expectation that all questions to be answered, and I don't expect specific answers though they would definitely be most welcome. If anyone is uncomfortable with publicly posting this information but still want to answer, you can send me a private message with this information or send me an email at [e-mail] with your answers.

Thanks in advance for hearing me out, and helping us make our software products better for you, our users.

-Randy