PearsonAccess Hardware and Software Guidelines. [For online testing requirements, see the TestNav Hardware and Software Guidelines]

Transcription

1 PearsonAccess Hardware and Software Guidelines [For online testing requirements, see the TestNav Hardware and Software Guidelines] Copyright 2014, Pearson Education, Inc. Published March 4, 2014

2 1.0 Document Revisions Overview Who Should Use This Guide Technical Support System Requirements Additional Software Considerations Intermediate Network Devices Firewall Proxy Servers/Content Filtering Proxy Environments Domain Names of 10

3 1.0 Document Revisions Date Change March 4, 2014 Added the link to the TestNav 8 Hardware and Software HTML page. July 29, 2013 Updated browser chart in the System Requirements section. March 8, 2013 Clarified where to locate the computer or network requirements for online test delivery using the TestNav test delivery application. Microsoft, Windows, and Internet Explorer are registered trademarks of Microsoft Inc. Firefox is a trademark of the Mozilla Foundation. Safari is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. Mac is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. Adobe and Acrobat are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe System Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. TestNav is a trademark of Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved. 3 of 10

4 2.0 Overview PearsonAccess Hardware and Software Guidelines The PearsonAccess Hardware and Software Guidelines presents technology guidelines for the computers you use to access the various administrative services and functions within PearsonAccess. This document does NOT contain the computer or network requirements for online test delivery using the TestNav test delivery application. The TestNav 6 hardware and software requirements are located on the following page: The TestNav 7 hardware and software requirements are located on the following page: The TestNav 8 hardware and software requirements are located on the following page: By following the PearsonAccess guidelines herein, you will ensure optimal performance for your computer system as you perform tasks necessary for administering assessments in PearsonAccess. This document covers the following topics: Who should use this guide Who to call for technical support Recommended hardware Recommended software/browser combinations Domain names for firewalls and proxy servers. 2.1 Who Should Use This Guide All users of the system should refer to the guidelines presented here. Users typically refer to educators, test administrators, teachers, and others who have a User Account in PearsonAccess. Students who take online tests do not access the system through the portal. Instead, they use the TestNav test delivery application. If you are responsible for setting up and configuring test delivery computers and networks,refer to the following links: The TestNav 6 hardware and software requirements are located on the following page: The TestNav 7 hardware and software requirements are located on the following page: The TestNav 8 hardware and software requirements are located on the following page: 4 of 10

5 2.2 Technical Support PearsonAccess Hardware and Software Guidelines For technical support, please contact the Pearson Support Center during the following days and time: Monday - Friday Eastern: 7:00am 8:30pm Central: 6:00am 7:30pm Mountain: 5:00am 6:30pm Pacific: 4:00am 5:30pm Customer Phone Colorado [email protected] Florida [email protected] Georgia [email protected] Maryland [email protected] Mississippi N/A Oklahoma [email protected] PARCC [email protected] Tennessee [email protected] 5 of 10

6 3.0 System Requirements The minimum requirements for all workstations accessing PearsonAccess are listed below. Windows Operating Systems Internet Explorer 7.0 Internet Explorer 8.0 Internet Explorer 9.0 Internet Explorer 10.0 Chrome* Firefox* XP (SP 3) Vista 7 8 * The current release version for both Firefox and Chrome at the time of our software's release are tested and supported. Newer release versions of Firefox and Chrome should also work, but remember not to make software or technology changes during an online test administration. Macintosh Operating Systems Safari 5.0 Safari 6.0 Chrome* Firefox* Mac OS X 10.5 Mac OS X 10.6 Mac OS X 10.7 Mac OS X 10.8 * The current release version for both Firefox and Chrome at the time of our software's release are tested and supported. Newer release versions of Firefox and Chrome should also work, but remember not to make software or technology changes during an online test administration. Chrome on OS X is only supported for Intel hardware. Mac OS X 10.7 and 10.8 users who install the Java for OS X update from Apple on student workstations will not be able to use the Chrome browser. The update prevents proper functioning of the test pre-caching. Pearson continually monitors and evaluates the recommended and supported software requirements for PearsonAccess. As vendors release newer versions of their products, we update the recommended operating systems and browsers accordingly. 6 of 10

7 4.0 Additional Software Considerations To view and print documentation, use Adobe Reader version 7.0 or higher. For online testing requirements and recommendations for TestNav, refer to the TestNav Technology Guidelines document posted on the PearsonAccess Support page. 7 of 10

8 5.0 Intermediate Network Devices This section presents guidelines for schools using firewalls and proxy servers when attempting to access the PearsonAccess domain only. Refer to the following links for TestNav test delivery network device and firewall considerations: The TestNav 7 hardware and software requirements are located on the following page: The TestNav 8 hardware and software requirements are located on the following page: Firewall If there is a firewall between the workstations being used to access PearsonAccess and the Internet, the following destination/protocol/port combinations must be allowed through the firewall: Domain Name Protocol/Port TCP/http port: TCP/http port: TCP/http port: 80 TCP/http port: 80 TCP/http port: 80 TCP/http port: TCP/http port: 80 TCP/https port TCP/http port: TCP/http port: 80 TCP/https port: 443 TCP/http port 80 TCP/https port of 10

9 5.2 Proxy Servers/Content Filtering When accessing PearsonAccess, the following URLs must not be blocked on any proxy servers or by any software that is used for Internet content filtering. Domain Name Protocol/Port TCP/http port: TCP/http port: TCP/http port: 80 TCP/http port: 80 TCP/http port: 80 TCP/http port: TCP/http port: 80 TCP/https port TCP/http port: TCP/http port: 80 TCP/https port: 443 TCP/http port 80 TCP/https port Proxy Environments Many school districts use proxy servers in their network environments. Proxy servers are placed between client nodes and the Internet and are used to forward requests from internal nodes to the Internet. Proxy servers may perform some or all of the following functions: Protocol Filtering to control which protocols are forwarded to the Internet User Authentication to control who can access the Internet Machine Authentication to control which workstations can access the Internet Content Filtering to control which Internet content users can access Content Caching to speed up access for frequently visited sites In order for an application to access the Internet in a proxy server environment, the application must know the hostname and port number of the proxy server. Once the application is made aware of the proxy server, it sends all requests for network services to the proxy server for processing. The proxy server receives the incoming requests and must determine what to do with them. If all of the functions listed above have been implemented, the proxy server will: Verify that the protocol of the request is serviceable (e.g., ICMP, UDP, etc., may be blocked by the proxy server). Ask user to authenticate that the proxy server does not already recognize him/her as being logged in. 9 of 10

10 PearsonAccess Hardware and Software Guidelines Verify that the source address of the request is on the list of allowed workstations. Verify that the requested network object is not blocked by an Internet content filter. (Most Internet content filter vendors provide lists of sites organized by category that administrators can decide to block or allow.) Check the proxy server s local disk to see whether the requested object exists in cache. (If the object is in cache, the proxy server will send it directly to the requestor without having to access it from the Internet.) Assuming that the request passes all of the above steps, the proxy server then stores a record of the request in memory and issues its own request for the same object out to the Internet. When the reply returns to the proxy server, the server matches the reply to the original request stored in memory and forwards the reply to the original requestor Domain Names When accessing PearsonAccess, school and district systems must be configured to accept s from the following address domains: 10 of 10