Central Office Service Installation

Agenda Introduction System Requirements Installing Central Office Creating COS Configuration Managing Central Office

Introduction

Central Office Testing Site Manager Beginning in the 2019-2020 school year all DRC assessments will move from the TSM version 9.2 to the Central Office TSM (COT). The COT is a powerful, integrated software that allows users to easily install, configure, and manage their online testing environment from a central location.

Benefits of the Central Office TSM Feature Description Benefits COT-Device Toolkit Device configuration capabilities and caching services can be managed form a single, central location. The COT-Device Toolkit offers a graphical, drill-down dashboard to provide easier, centralized management and control of the online test environment. Within the COT-Device Toolkit, sites can access and manage multiple testing programs from a single Windows, Mac, or Linux computer, reducing both test device configuration and setup effort and the amount of hardware required. Enhanced Security An updated security framework provides additional controls for managing access. COT Service Device uses the Portal and eDIRECT login process to provide stronger, more secure access. Silent Installation of Service Devices After installing a single COT Service Device, sites can run scripts to silently install additional COT Service Devices. Silent installation streamlines and centralizes the process of Service Device configuration and allows sites to easily create a pool of COT Service Devices within a configuration.

Benefits of the Central Office TSM Feature Description Benefits Content Management Sites can download just the specific test content that they need. With a COT Service Device, sites can download just the test content for the administrations and assessments that they need, reducing download times and device storage requirements. Content Hosting Test content is securely served to student test devices. For maximum security, COT Service Device encrypts all test content when it is downloaded to a COT Service Device.

TSM Version 9.2 vs. Central Office Feature COT Service Device Software TSM 9.2 Increased retries during content download X Content Hosting (content caching on the TSM Response caching is available for fixed-form tests (currently, COT requires a TSM to be configured in order to perform response caching) Enhanced content handling (cloud-based content distribution network) Test readiness tools for load simulation Must be configured manually to take advantage of additional system resources

TSM Version 9.2 vs. Central Office Feature COT Service Device Software TSM 9.2 Enhanced security, including stronger device access controls with sign-on validation X Small, medium, and large installation options based on testing site’s size and needs Provide status information regarding content download and device-readiness Report detailed COT Service Device status information at regular intervals to help users verify the status of test content. A single, centralized, user interface with a dashboard for test readiness, device configuration, and content caching

TSM Version 9.2 vs. Central Office Feature COT Service Device Software TSM 9.2 Supports multiple testing programs, eliminating the need for separate content hosting servers for each program X Automatically scales to use the resources available in the COS Service Device Provides option to download only the content needed for the testing site Provides option to download content to a network share location that multiple Content Hosting services can use

Testing Device Requirements

Testing Device Specifications for 2019-2020 Devices which successfully supported statewide summative and non-summative online assessments during the 2018-2019 school year will continue to provide students with a stable testing experience in the 2019-2020 school year. However, if school systems identify a need to purchase new devices, LDOE recommends districts purchase devices which meet the specifications noted below in order to ensure they will perform optimally for future assessment windows.

Testing Device Specifications for 2019-2020 Supported Operating Systems Supported Hardware Devices Screen Size Processor HDD Space Memory Resolution Windows 8.1 Windows 10 Windows 10s Touch and non-touch screen devices 9.5”+ Intel 6th Generation Product Family or Greater 20 GB or larger 4+ GB RAM 1024x768 or greater Mac OSX OS X 10.12 OS X 10.13 OS X 10.14 Non-touch screen devices only Chrome OS Chrome OS latest stable channel version N/A Apple iOS 11.X 12.X iPAD 2017, iPAD 2018, iPAD Air and IPAD Pro: 9.7”, 10.5” and 12.5” 9.7”+ Any device that has already entered into end of life will not supported for secure testing

Testing Device Specifications for 2019-2020 Supported Devices Number of Concurrent Testers Processor Memory Minimum Available LAN Bandwidth Unused Disk Space 64-bit Windows, desktop, laptop, and server devices Up to 450 Dual-core i5 at 2.4 GHz or equivalent 4GB RAM 200 Mbps 20 GB or more Up to 900 2x Dual-core i5 at 2.4 GHz or equivalent 400 Mbps Over 900 4x Dual-core i5 at 2.4 GHz or equivalent 8 GB RAM 800 Mbps 64-bit MAC OS, desktop, laptop, and server devices Up to 400 16 GB RAM

Installing Central Office

Installing COS The installable for COS can be found in eDIRECT under the General Information Tab of eDIRECT. The flexibility of COS allows school systems multiple deployment options for installation: Single COS Service Device Pool of COS Service Devices Pool of COS Service Devices with Load Balancer Hardware Device

Installing COS The chart to the right should be used when determining how to install COS.

How to Choose an Installation Option: Single COS Device The Single COS Device option works best for: Single site school systems Home bound testing School systems with less than 10 Gb WAN

How to Choose an Installation Option: Pool of COS Devices The Pool of COS Devices option works best for: School Systems with greater than 10 GB WAN School Systems wishing to consolidate COS at one or more locations School Systems testing >900 concurrent testers per COS device School Systems who do not have an external virtual or hardware load balancer School Systems with dedicated network staff to manage and monitor the COS server pool The Pool is basically a free method for achieving load balancing. Schools systems who choose this option are strongly encouraged to have a technical staff who can manage and monitor the server pool

How to Install A Pool of COS Devices Manually Steps to install a pool of COS Devices Manually: During the process of creating a COS configuration, if you would like to add the COS Service Device that you are configuring to a logical pool of devices, reply Yes to the Use an existing configuration? You can name the device to help you identify it in the COS - Device Toolkit Dashboard. The name displays anytime you view the device in COS. If you do not name the device, only the Device ID, generated by DRC, displays. Click Next when you are ready. Start entering the name of the configuration you want to use in the Link device to existing configuration field. When you locate the configuration, select it or enter it in the Link device to existing configuration field. The name of the configuration plus information about the configuration displays. Click Complete. A confirmation dialog box displays. Select Continue to use this configuration (Cancel to cancel the process).

How to Install A Pool of COS Devices Using Deployment Steps to install a pool of COS Devices Using Deployment: Select a configuration from the Configurations tab that has at least one location that does not use a TSM for Content Caching and select the Deployment tab. To create a deployment configuration file for Service Devices, click Create Central Office Service Unattended Installer Scripts. Click Save to create a configuration file or Cancel to cancel the process. For a Windows Service Device, select the silent.cmd and silent.qs files, right‑click and select Copy To... and copy the files to the same directory where the COS installation file (coinstaller.exe) is located. Navigate to the directory containing the files. To install COS silently for Windows, double‑click the silent.cmd file. After the silent installation process completes, navigate to the COS Configuration tab. Click on the name of the configuration you updated to display configuration details and click the Service Devices tab. If your new Service Device is displayed, the silent installation is complete.

How to Choose an Installation Option: Pool of COS Devices with a Load Balancer The Pool of COS Devices with Load Balancer option works best for: School Systems with greater than 10 GB WAN School Systems wishing to consolidate COS at one or more locations School Systems testing >900 concurrent testers per COS device School Systems with load balancing software

How to Choose an Installation Option: Pool of COS Devices with a Load Balancer Steps to Install a Pool of COS Devices with a Load Balancer: After you complete the Configuration wizard for the first COS device by following the normal progression of steps, open your new configuration by clicking on its name in the COS dashboard and navigate to the Content Hosting page. From the Content Hosting page, perform steps A–E. Set the Do you have a load balancer? toggle to Yes. Using the Content Management Device drop‑down menu, select which pooled COS device will populate content into your shared storage location. Because you only added the first COS device to the pool, there will only be one choice. Later, you can add a different device and select it. In the Shared Content Path field, enter the shared content path to your share content location (i.e., the network share location). In the Load Balancer IP Address field, enter the internal IP address of your local load balancer. This IP address must be accessible from all of your testing devices. Click Update Configuration.

Installing COS To install COS, follow the steps below: Click the COS installer link to download the COS installation wizard. After the file is downloaded, navigate to the Downloads folder and double-click on the coinstaller.exe file. The default location for the COS software in C:\ProgramFiles\CentralOffice and the default location for COS to store downloaded content is C:\ProgramFiles\CentralOffice\content_fs: The proxy host window displays. This window allows you to specify a separate proxy server for the COS Service Devices. Click Install. The installation process can take 10-20 minutes. The configure service ports will appear. COS requires four port number, even if the device being configured will not use all of them. You usually can use the default port values* of 55222, 55223, 55224, and 55225. After you select your ports, but before you click Next, click Test to verify that the ports selected are available on the device. *Note: Depending on the security measures implemented in your school system, these ports may also need to be opened and active within other devices/settings (firewalls, DMZ) within the school network as well as the server being registered in DNS

Special Settings for Installing COS Feature Device Description Game Bar Windows 10 Sites must disable the Game Bar feature on Windows 10 devices before testing, either manually or by using group policy. Cortana For Windows 10 devices, Cortana must be disabled for testing, either manually or by using group policy. Microphone iPAD The first time sites launch INSIGHT on an iPAD, they must enable the microphone even if they are not taking a speaking test. Keyboard Chrome Before students start taking a writing test using a Chrome device, the testing site must verify that the device’s keyboard configurations are correct for online testing. Trackpad Macbook Before testing, sites must manually disable both Look up and Three finger drag/gestures functionality. Timeout Settings Mac (OS X and macOS) For Mac computers, it is important that various timeout settings are set to work with the INSIGHT timeout value to avoid timing out during testing.

Creating a Central Office Services Configuration

Central Office Configuration After you have installed COS you must create an initial COS configuration. See the steps below for instructions for creating a COS configuration. Log-into eDIRECT and accept the licensing agreement. Name your COS Service Device. If you do not name your COS Service Device DRC will generate a random Device ID. Name the configuration and select auto update. Select the testing program, district name, and school name. Select Content Management and Content Hosting to Yes. Click Complete.

Central Office Configuration Once COS is installed correctly a green circle will appear on the configuration screen.

Central Office Configuration If INSIGHT is not installed on the device follow the directions below to add a device to a configuration: Install INSIGHT Select Assign Device to ORG Unit Enter the ORG ID and select register

Central Office Configuration If INSIGHT is installed on the device follow the directions below to change a device to a COS configuration: Log-in to eDIRECT and select Central Office Select the testing program and site of your current TSM Select the TSM name and then Testing Devices Select the devices you wish to move to COS and then actions>move devices Enter the ORG ID for your new COS and hit move.

Managing Central Office

Content Management Use the Content Management tab to enable/disable Content Management and change the selected administration and accommodations. Use the Content Management if the COS service used to management the delivery of the test content to each site. At least one COS Service Device must have Content Management enabled to manage the download of test content from DRC cloud-based storage.

Content Hosting Use the Content Hosting tab to enable/disable Content Hosting and to enable load balancing. Content Hosting is the COS service used to provide content to student testing devices. Content Hosting authenticates content requests, decrypts content, and aggregates items into forms.

Next Steps

Next Steps and Resources Date Action April 1, 2019 Updated technology user guide, including COS, posted in eDIRECT. May 1, 2019 COS downloadable available in eDIRECT. June 30, 2019 Last day to test using TSM version 9.2. 2019-2020 School Year All summative and non-summative testing will be conducted using the COS Service Devices.