Installing the LanSchool Connection Service

Installing the LanSchool Connection Service

Overview

The LanSchool Connection Service is based on client-server architecture. The LanSchool Connection Service reduces the need for configuration changes to routers and wireless access points to support wired/wireless environments and VLANs.

The LanSchool Connection Service requires a dedicated server or workstation is required to host the LanSchool Connection Service. Refer to LanSchool System Requirements for full details.

Installing the LanSchool Connection Service 

  1. In My Computer, go to the LanSchool product download location and double-click LCS.msi in the Windows\ConnectionServer folder. 



  2. Select Next
    .


  3. Read the license agreement, select I accept the terms in the license agreement, and then select Next.



  4. (Optional) Select a security mode option if desired. Select Enable a security mode to enable selection of one or both security modes. If Password Secure Mode is selected, then both teacher and student installations require that password to subscribe to a channel. If Active Directory Secure Mode is selected, then the LCS must be a member of the domain and can see the LanSchool Teachers Group.



  5. If desired, select Allow problem reports to be sent to Stoneware, Inc. to send anonymous and confidential problem reports. Select Next .
    .


  6. Select Install.



  7. Select Finish to complete the installation.



    When the installation finishes, a new LanSchool Connection Server shortcut is added to the Start menu and Desktop. Run the shortcut or go to http://localhost:8085/ to view the server state.



Additional LCS Configuration Options

Configure Automatic Updates for Teacher and Student Clients

The LanSchool Connection Service (LCS) can be configured to automatically deliver updated versions to Windows or macOS devices with LanSchool Teacher or LanSchool Student already installed and configured. See Updating LanSchool Remotely for more details.

Configure Multiple NICs on the LanSchool Connection Server

If the server has more than one network adapter (NIC), it is best to specify which IP Address the server will listen on. 
  1. Open Windows Registry Editor (regedit.exe)
  2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\LanSchool .
  3. Create two new String (REG_SZ) values:
    1. IPSubnet  (value equals their host IP address e.g - 192.168.1.0)
    2. IPSubnetMask  (value equals their IP subnet mask e.g - 255.255.255.0)
  4. Restart the LCS Service via Windows Services. 

Changing the default port used by the LanSchool Connection Service

If the server has another piece of software using TCP port 8080 you can create a registry key on the server and student machines to have them communicate on a different TCP port.

On the Server running the LanSchool Connection Service

If the following registry value exists on the Connection Server, it will read that value and bind to that port number, instead of 8080 :
  1. Open  Windows Registry Editor  ( regedit.exe ).
  2. Navigate to  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\LanSchool .
  3. Create one new  String (REG_SZ) value: ConnectionServerPort  <NewPortNumber>.
  4. Restart the LCS Service via Windows Services.

On the Student Machines running LanSchool

Once the ConnectionServerPort is is set on the LCS machine, you will need to also modify the registry on the student machines and set the port number in the following Registry value to match the one that was set for the connection server, above. 
  1.      32bit:  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\LanSchool ConnectionServerPort  REG_SZ  <NewPortNumber>
  1.      64bit:  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\LanSchool ConnectionServerPort  REG_SZ  <NewPortNumber>
This can be automated by scripting the student install as follows:

msiexec /i student.msi /qn ADVANCED_OPTIONS=1 LCS=192.168.1.149:<NewPortNumber>

Enabling Automatic Assignment of Teacher Channels

The LCS can auto-assign teacher channels. You can specify a range to use and the LCS will rotate through the range to assist with channel assignment. This can be very useful in scenarios where you do not want to have the teachers deal with the manual administration of channel settings. 

With each teacher on a unique channel, teachers can use Class Lists to pull rosters of students into their channels as needed.

This feature requires that all teachers be running LanSchool Teacher version 9.0.1 or later.

To enable this on the LCS, create the following registry keys and restart the LCS Server:
  1.    Create the following registry keys:
    •  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\LanSchool DynamicChannelStart REG_DWORD = #### (Decimal)
      (e.g. 1000, the start of auto channel range)
    •  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\LanSchool DynamicChannelStop  REG_DWORD = #### (Decimal)
      (e.g. 5000, the end of auto channel range)

  2. From services.msc, restart the LanSchool Connection Server.
The teachers must be first installed with a channel number that is within the channel range. Ensure the range is large enough to accommodate all teachers using the LCS.

Example

Assume a dynamic channel range of 1000 to 5000 is set and that all teachers are currently set to channel 1001 at the time of install.
  1.     The first teacher connects to the LCS stays on channel 1001 because it is in the dynamic range and is currently unused.
  2.     The second teacher that connects to the LCS is moved to a random channel within the dynamic range (e.g. 3500), because 1001 is currently in use.
  3.     The process repeats for each teacher that connects to the LCS.
  4.     Once moved to a channel within the dynamic range, the teacher stores that new channel in registry and connects to that channel in the future.
If a teacher manually changes their channel back to a number within the dynamic range, they will not be moved again. This is to support scenarios in which schools may wish to have two teachers on the same channel. Be aware that this could cause undesired channel conflicts.



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