Manuals/UD/DiscoverAssist User Guide
From Userful Support
This document is Chapter 7 of the Userful Desktop Administrator Guide.
DiscoverAssist is the companion administrative tool to Userful Manager. While Userful Manager allows remote configuration of global features of the system such as session types, branding, etc., DiscoverAssist allows remote administration of individual workstations, or multi-user sessions, and allows administrators to remotely perform such useful tasks as turning filtering or Internet access off and on, extending or ending sessions, sending messages, more effectively rebooting frozen sessions, and other tasks.
The DiscoverAssist Portal
On versions of Userful Desktop installed prior to the release of DiscoverAssist, DiscoverAssist must be installed via the Install Packages tool in Administrator Mode after installing Userful Desktop.
In most installations, you can access DiscoverAssist from any web browser on the local computer network at the following address: http://0.0.0.0/gui.php, replacing 0.0.0.0 with the IP address of the Userful Desktop.
When logged in at a Userful Desktop, access the DiscoverAssist portal by opening http://127.0.0.1/gui.php in the browser.
Enter the appropriate username and password, and click the login button. This login is not the email address and password used to log into Userful Manager.
Using DiscoverAssist
After logging in to the DiscoverAssist portal you will be presented with a view of available computers and stations on the local network and the number of stations on each multi-user system.
Each unique computer box running Userful Desktop will be displayed running down the left side of the window, the stations on that box will appear to its right. Graphics for additional computers appear below the entire contents of the window in Figure 7.1 are duplicated for each additional computer and separated by a horizontal line. They can be viewed by scrolling down the page.
Commands for Computers
While DiscoverAssist is designed primarily to administer the stations, it can also perform administrative tasks on the computer boxes. Figure 7.2 shows the “Select A Command” pull -down menu of available commands for each computer box. After selecting a command click the ‘Run Command’ button below the menu to execute it.
Note: Some commands may not be displayed depending on privileges and Userful Desktop configuration options.
Working With Stations
Choose particular stations to receive a command by checking the 'Select' or 'Select All' boxes. See below how to issue commands to the stations selected. Clicking 'Expand >>' exposes a subset of frequently used commands (e.g. “Add 10 Minutes”, “Message ‘Be quiet!’”, “Reset Station”). Note: As of DiscoverAssist GUI 0.8.1a BETA (2007-03-12), the 'Expand >>' functionality has been temporarily removed. Station-specific commands may now be accessed by right-clicking a station.
You may view the status of any particular station by clicking its name.
Station Commands
Further down the page under the heading “Run the following command on selected stations” is the ‘-SELECT A COMMAND-‘ drop-down menu for stations. As illustrated in Figure 7.4. Running commands on one, a combination, or all of the stations on a single computer is identical for all commands. Some commands require specific additional information. For example, the text for a customized message must be specifically entered.
NOTE: It is recommended that, initially, you observe the results by administering a nearby station, and NOT run commands on the station from which DiscoverAssist is running.
Send Custom Messages
1. Select the appropriate station(s) to receive the message using the ‘Select’ checkboxes or, if appropriate, the ‘Select All’ checkbox.
2. Once the ‘Send Message’ command is selected a field appears to the right into which your custom message is typed. Type in your message.
3. Click the ‘Run Command’ located below the ‘Send Message’ field. The following message appears on the logged in and selected stations:
The procedure for carrying out additional commands and the results are very similar.
Extend the Time of a Session
1. Select the appropriate station or stations.
2. Select the ‘Add Time’ command from the drop down menu.
3. Enter the amount of additional time in minutes.
4. Click ‘Run Command’. The station’s user will receive the following message:
The procedure for carrying out additional commands and the results are very similar.
Hard Reset
The Hard Reset command is located in the command drop down menu. The Reset Station command is essentially equivalent to a “Ctrl+Alt+Del” keyboard command with the advantage that it can performed remotely. The command “Hard Reset” is used when the “Reset Station” or “Ctrl+Alt+Del” keyboard command fail to reset a station. It resets the station at a deeper level in the software.
Common Tasks
A number of common time-saving tasks may be performed using DiscoverAssist.
Logging in Stations Without Barcode/Pin
- Select one or more stations to log in by clicking the checkbox associated with the stations.
- Scroll to the bottom of the page, then select "Log In Station as Generic User" from the list of commands. (See Figure 7.6).
- Select login options, then click "Run Command"
- The login process will start for each selected station. Depending on the number of stations selected, you may need to wait up to a minute for all stations to become logged in.
NOTE: If logging in without providing a barcode/pin combination using the above method may cause reporting tools to under report usage by individual users since time used while logged in as a generic user is not recorded as being used by those users.
Logging in Multiple Stations Simultaneously
DiscoverAssist offers the ability to log in and out multiple Userful Desktops at one time.
- For each computer on which all stations should be logged in, click "Select All" above the stations associated with that computer. You may also select or deselect individual stations by clicking their individual checkboxes. (See Figure 7.5).
Figure 7.5 Click "Select All" to select all stations on one computer.
- Scroll to the bottom of the page, then select "Log In User" from the list of commands. (See Figure 7.6).
Figure 7.6 Select "Log In". - If authentication is enabled, supply a valid barcode or barcode and PIN combination. All stations will be logged in using these credentials.
- Select login options, then click "Run Command"
- The login process will start for each selected station. Depending on the number of stations selected, you may need to wait up to a minute for all stations to become logged in.
DiscoverAssist FAQs
Q: Error: [IP ADDRESS]: This computer has no stations accessible with the supplied credentials.
A: It is likely that the username and password supplied are incorrect.
To resolve:
- Log out of DA using the 'Logout' link.
- Verify the Administrator password in Userful Manager.
- Attempt to log in to DA using the login name 'admin' (without the quotes) and the Administrator password as specified in UM.
Note: The login name is 'admin' (without the quotes), not 'Administrator' nor any other variation. You may also use the login 'staff' with the Staff password registered in Userful Manager.
Q: How are stations numbered in DA?
A: The station numbering labeling corresponds to the numbering on the Welcome Screen. Overall station number is configured in Userful Manager.
Q: Is it possible to display a screenshot of all the stations in the preview pane (without actually expanding the individual machine)?
A: We plan to officially support this in the future. Please contact Daniel@userful.com if you would like to test the development version of this feature.
Q: Why does DA show VNC stations as in use when no one was logged in via VNC?
A: The station being green-colored means the session is running, it does not necessarily mean that someone is connected via VNC. The session does not end when the VNC client is disconnected.
Q: How do I resolve a 502 or 504 error in Internet Explorer?
A: If error 502 or 504 appears as an error in its own dialog box, that indicates that there is a (usually temporary) Internet gateway error between the computer running the DA client a browser, and the Userful Desktop being administrated. DiscoverAssist versions 0.7.5b and later ignore 502 and 504 errors because virtually nothing can be done through Userful Desktop software to resolve temporary gateway errors (the gateway errors are presumed to be temporary because the browser would not have been able to connect to DiscoverAssist at all if the gateway was persistently down).
Q: Why does DA station status not update?
A: DiscoverAssist updates the status of stations on a 5-second cycle. Every five seconds, it attempts to contact the Userful Desktop computer to obtain the status of the next station. This request is made asynchronously and is non-blocking. That is, if there is no response to a request for an update, DA ignores the error. This also means that the most recent response received for a particular station, whether or not it arrived out of order, is taken to be the current state of the station. If the browser stops executing JavaScript (which runs the timer) due to another error, no further updates wiill happen until the page is reloaded.
