Student Control Panel is a system administration utility to enable a teacher to easily control the machines in their class, by utilising the following features:
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Remote program execution
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Simple message sending
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Remote application closure
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Quick access to the lockdown editor
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Remote logout execution
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Process listings for each user
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Plugin framework to expand functionality
When first loaded, SCP shows the clients currently logged onto the server on the right hand side, along with their IP address and username, as in Fig 1. This list is dynamically updated and will change as users log into and out of the system. Clicking on an entry in this list will highlight it, and enable certain functions in the user interface. Clicking on a user will also fill the window on the right with all the processes that are running in that users session.
You can end a users applications by first choosing a user, selecting a process from the right hand side, and then clicking on the "End Process" button. You will then be asked to confirm your actions and, upon confirmation, a message is sent to the clients session asking for the program to terminate. (Note: You can select multiple users here)
If desired, you can log a user out of their session, by first selecting a user and click on the "Disconnect" button. You will then be asked to confirm your actions and, upon confirmation, a message is sent to end the users session. This will log the user out of their current session. (Note: You can select multiple users here)
You are able to send short messages to users, for example, "You have 5 minutes left of this lesson". To do this, first select a user and then click on the send message button. You will then be presented with a box to type in your message. Upon clicking "Ok", the message will be sent to the selected user. (Note: You can select multiple users here)
It is also possible to start an application or process in a clients session from SCP. To do this simply select the user, and click on the "Execute" button. You will then be presented with a dialog box to enter a command to be run in the users session. Upon clicking "Ok", a message will be sent to the users session asking for the chosen command to be run. (Note: You can select multiple users here)
By selecting only a single user and right clicking on that user, you are able to use the context menu to "Lockdown" a specific user. Clicking lockdown will open Pessulus, the gnome lockdown editor. Ticking and unticking options in Pessulus will enable and disable certain functions for the user. Ticking the padlock next to an option will make it unchangeable by the user. This is called a mandatory setting. Pessulus has been altered for integration with SCP so that mandatory keys are now per user, instead of per system. For further help with Pessulus, please refer to the Pessulus documentation.
The plugin framework allows you to expand the way SCP works. By selecting a set of users in the left hand panel you can right click in the left hand area and be presented with a context menu. In this menu there will be an option called "Plugins" and from that there is a list of all the plugins shipped with SCP. Currently this set only consists of a single plugin, which will is used purely as an example. For the more advanced user, please see the example plugin file here *******************. Put simply, a plugin consists of a class and a registration function. The plugin is provided with a list of users, which you can use to write a plugin to perform operations based on that list.
