Transcript Title Slide

APTC
Best Practices
Requirements, Specifications, Do’s & Don'ts
January 2008
Introduction
The APTC Site installation, as such, is quite simple.
However, it requires some precautions to avoid unnecessary actions
afterwards, as well as lengthy calls to the HD.
If the basics are diligently covered, the full APTC Site setup requires no
longer than a couple of hours.
The following slides will cover the overall process and will focus on the
most “time-saving” items.
It’s important to inform the Sites about all possible “tips & tricks” to get
them to the “Status 10” mark with the less possible effort and waste
of time.
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Requirements (Server)
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IBM PC or compatible
Pentium III, 1 GHz CPU or faster
512 MB RAM or more (strongly advised)
Min. 4 GB available free space on the HDD after install (8 GB advised)
Monitor
CD-ROM (min. 8x speed)
Network Interface Card (100 Mbit full-duplex)
Windows 2000 (Advanced) Server (sp4) or Windows 2003 (Standard
Edition) Server (sp2). Novell Netware (5 or 6) is not supported for new
sites. Old sites using it, are invited to migrate a.s.a.p.
Internet Explorer 6.0 or 7.0
Fast Ethernet 100Mbit/s Local Area Network
Internet connection
Virus detection software
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Requirements (Clients) – Level 3 Machines
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IBM PC or compatible
Pentium III, 1 GHz CPU or faster
512 MB (unshared) RAM or more
Min. 4 GB available free space on the HDD after install
SVGA 17 inch Monitor
Video card capable of 1024x768 @ 32-bit color resolutions
CD-ROM (min. 8x speed)
Microsoft compatible keyboard and mouse
Network Interface Card (100 Mbit full-duplex)
Windows 2000 Professional (sp4) or Windows XP Professional (sp2)
Internet Explorer 6.0 or 7.0
Fast Ethernet 100Mbit/s Local Area Network
Internet connection
Virus detection software
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Requirements (Printer)
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The printer must be dedicated
Ink-jet printers are NOT supported
Laser-jet, must be capable of a minimum resolution of at least 600 dpi
The printer must be installed on the server (or Admin station) as
Network printer and shared on the network
Install the printer on ALL machines used for APTC
The installed printer must be the Default one on ALL machines
USB printers are supported, but their set-up as Network Printer can
pose some serious challenges. LPT or IP printers are preferred
Virtual printers or “print to file” printers are NOT supported
Avoid the use of a printer server
Do NOT use printers that are connected to another server or Domain
Controller than the APTC server
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Best Practices for the Network Preparation
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The APTC Network requires a Domain topology
Workgroups are NOT supported
The APTC Domain must be a separated Domain (no Sub-Domain,
Child-Domain, Shadow-Domain or any other equivalent is supported)
The APTC server must be the (P)DC of a separate Domain
All APTC clients must be joined to the APTC Domain
Install MDAC 2.8 preferably before starting any APTC software
installation
Install MSXML 4.0 (sp2) parser preferably before starting any APTC
software installation
To ensure correct Pulse/Polaris communications, the ports 443, 11001,
and 11002 must be open bi-directionally for all traffic (IP/UDP)
(continued)
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Best Practices for the Network Preparation (continued)
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If the Site uses a firewall/proxy for their internet connections, bypass
the Proxy for the following URLs:
– www.2test.com
– www.polaris.prometric.com
– www.pulse.prometric.com
Do not filter files (firewall/proxy) based on size, name, extension, etc.
Even though the use of a separate Admin workstation is technically not
necessary, it is strongly advised to use one. This has become a
requirement for new installed Sites starting Q3 2007
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APTC Site (schematic)
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Installation Workflow
Sites without Admin
Workstation.
Support stopped in
Q3 2007
Sites with Admin
Workstation.
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Do’s & Don'ts
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Install the Server as (P)DC and follow the instructions: there will be no need
to create/configure any users (DTS2, DTSISO)
Use unmanaged switches for your APTC network. They offer good speed
and low maintenance. Do not clog the (APTC) network with unnecessary
hardware and software
Whenever possible, do not share Internet resources with the rest of the
Company, unless you have lots of bandwidth to waste
Don’t use Virtual Machine software. It’s not supported
Don’t run Pulse/Polaris using a remote connection. It will eventually corrupt
the installation and it is furthermore not supported. Set up a separate Admin
workstation instead.
Log on to the APTC server always using the (Domain) Administrator account.
Install the APTC software on the server always using the (Domain)
Administrator account
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Do’s & Don'ts
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Install the APTC software on the clients (Admin + Seats) using always the
DTS2 (Domain) account
Log on to the clients (Admin + Seats) using always the DTS2 (Domain)
account
Avoid using Pulse and Polaris at the same time. They share the same
database and one application may lock its access for the other one
Do not install/run Pulse and Polaris on different machines. Use the Admin
workstation only
Ensure the Server and Admin workstation are left ON overnight to allow
Pulse automated tasks to run. The Seats can be switched OFF overnight
Remember to reboot the APTC server at least once a week
Remember to have all the APTC machines with Regional Options set to
English US
Ensure that the short date format is always MM/dd/yyyy on all APTC
machines
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Do’s & Don'ts
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All machines used for APTC testing must be dedicated. The server and
Seats should not have any other software installed than the OS + APTC and
the anti-virus software and should be solely used for the Prometric Testing
System
The Admin workstation, though preferably dedicated, can be also used for
other purposes, as long as all other APTC requirements for install are still
met
Avoid the use of “special characters” in all APTC activities (Site’s address,
candidate’s profiles, etc.). This caused more than 5000 calls to the HD in the
last 1.5 year
Wireless LAN is not supported
VirtualLAN (aka V-LAN) is not supported
Never run the TCM (Seat software) on the server. It’s a security breach and
will make the APTC server become unusable (files auto-deletion)
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Final Advise:
Ancient Confucian truth:
KEEP IT SIMPLE
AND IT WILL WORK
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