Using Student Diagnostics Utility

Using Student Diagnostics Utility

Overview

The LanSchool Classic download comes with a utility called StudentDiagnostics.exe. This utility can be used to test communication between the teacher and student in a peer to peer model of LanSchool Classic or to test the connection to the LanSchool Connection Server.

Accessing the StudentDiagnostics.exe

The StudentDiagnostics.exe comes packaged in the LanSchool Classic zip folder downloaded from the LanSchool Classic Portal.
The utility should be copied to the Teacher machine's desktop to test communication.

Windows: LanSchool Classic Zip Folder > Windows> Utilities
Mac: LanSchool Classic Zip folder> Mac> Utilities

Testing Local Installation

To confirm that the student client is installed run the Student Diagnostics utility on the student machine and click Test Local Installation to verify the Student installation. 

On Student machines this option will display:
  1. Detected IP addresses for the machine and which one LanSchool Classic will attempt to use for communication.
  2. GDIPlus information.
  3. The detected language prefix that is set on the machine. This is used by LanSchool to determine in which language to display UI.
  4. Other miscellaneous information about the machine and the LanSchool Student installation.

This option can also be used to display information about the machine where the Teacher console is running.

On Teacher machines this option will display:

  1. Detected IP addresses for the machine and which one LanSchool Classic will attempt to use for communication.
  2. GDIPlus information.
  3. The detected language prefix that is set on the machine. This is used by LanSchool to determine in which language to display UI.

Testing TCP Connection

LanSchool utilizes TCP communication on ports TCP 796 and 11796 for the majority of the features and as such, these ports are required to be open.
Testing TCP Connection should be done for peer to peer network models.
  1. Open the Student Diagnostic utility on the Teacher desktop.
  2. Click on the TCP tab.
  3. Enter the IP address of the Student in the Student Information field. 
    1. You can get this IP address information for a student machine by running StudentDiagnostics.exe on that machine and looking at the IP address that was detected and displayed with the label Using local address: on the Installation page.
  4. Leave the port at 796.
  5. If you have installed LanSchool Classic with Password Security enabled, you should check the Secure Password checkbox and enter the password in the field before performing this test.
  6. Click Test TCP Link.
Any result, excluding a successful notice, indicates that something is blocking the TCP packets from the Teacher to TCP port 796 on the Student machine. This can be caused by anti-virus software, firewalls, and/or network configuration. You will need to consult with your network admins in order to resolve this problem.

Testing Discovery, UDP Traffic

LanSchool utilizes a UDP discovery broadcast on port UDP 1053. LanSchool requires that UDP 1053 and 796 be open for communication. 
Testing UDP Connection should be done for peer to peer network models.
  1. Open the Student Diagnostic utility on the Teacher desktop.
  2. Click on the UDP tab.
  3. Enter the IP address of the Student in the Student Information field.
    1. You can get this IP address information for a student machine by running StudentDiagnostics.exe on that machine and looking at the IP address that was detected and displayed with the label Using local address: on the Installation page.
  4. Leave port at 796.
  5. If you have installed LanSchool Classic with Password Security enabled, you should check the Secure Password checkbox and enter the password in the field before performing this test.
  6. Click Test UDP Link.
Any result, excluding a successful notice, indicates that something is blocking the UDP packets from the Teacher to UDP port 796 on the Student machine. This can be caused by anti-virus software, firewalls, and/or network configuration. You will need to consult with your network admins in order to resolve this problem.

Port 1053 is not testable in Student Diagnostics but it should also be open for communication in order for all feature of LanSchool Classic to work correctly.

  1. Open the Student Diagnostic utility on the Teacher desktop.
  2. Click on the UDP tab.
  3. Enter the IP address of the Student in the Student Information field.
    1. You can get this IP address information for a student machine by running StudentDiagnostics.exe on that machine and looking at the IP address that was detected and displayed with the label Using local address: on the Installation page.
  4. Confirm port is set to 796.
  5. If you have installed LanSchool Classic with Password Security enabled, you should check the Secure Password checkbox and enter the password in the field before performing this test.
  6. Click Stress UDP Link.
The Stress UDP Link test will connect to the student on TCP port 796. It will establish a connection and then send 128 broadcast UDP packets to the student machine. The time for each packet to process is in nanoseconds.
It's best to look at the last 3/4 of the packets i.e. 100 to 127 and look at those responses. The closer to zero the better.
If the numbers are consistently high then there is something interfering with the communication between the machines. You will need to consult with your network admins in order to resolve this problem.

Testing Multicast Connection

Certain configurations of LanSchool require that LanSchool Teacher needs to be able to communicate with the Student using multicasting. This is configured in LanSchool on the teacher console in the Administer Menu>Preferences>Network Tab. 

Testing Multicast Connection should be done for peer to peer network models.
  1. Open the Student Diagnostic utility on the Teacher desktop.
  2. Click on the Multicast tab.
  3. Enter the IP address of the Student in the Student Information field.
    1. You can get this IP address information for a student machine by running StudentDiagnostics.exe on that machine and looking at the IP address that was detected and displayed with the label Using local address: on the Installation page.
  4. Leave the port at 796.
  5. If you have installed LanSchool Classic with Password Security enabled, you should check the Secure Password checkbox and enter the password in the field before performing this test.
  6. Click Check Multicast.
Any result, excluding a successful notice, indicates that there is a communication problem between the Teacher and Student. This can be caused by an incorrect network configuration. You will need to consult with your network admins in order to resolve this problem.

Testing Discovery

The Discovery test will perform a broadcast discovery to the student machine.
  1. Open the Student Diagnostic utility on the Teacher desktop.
  2. Click on the Discovery tab.
  3.  Enter the IP address of the Student in the Student Information field.
    1. You can get this IP address information for a student machine by running StudentDiagnostics.exe on that machine and looking at the IP address that was detected and displayed with the label Using local address: on the Installation page.
  4. Leave the port at 796.
  5. If you have installed LanSchool Classic with Password Security enabled, you should check the Secure Password checkbox and enter the password in the field before performing this test.
  6. Click on Test Discovery.

If the student machine responds, it will send back a reply with its IP address, the channel number it is configured for and how long it took to respond.

The teacher machine then performs a Multicast Discovery to the student machine on Channel 0.

If the student machine responds, it will send back a reply with its IP address, the channel number it is configured for and how long it took to respond.

The teacher machine will then perform another Multicast Discovery to the student machine on the same channel the student is configured for.

If the student machine responds, it will send back a reply with its IP address, the channel number it is configured for and how long it took to respond.


The Student Diagnostics utility will then try to discover all of the teachers on the local network.

 If a teacher machine responds, it will send back a reply with its IP address, the channel number it is configured for and how long it took to respond.

The Student Diagnostics utility will then perform a Multicast Discovery on Channel 0.

If a teacher machine responds, it will send back a reply with its IP address, the channel number it is configured for and how long it took to respond.


Testing Limiting

The limiting information test will check the student machine to see if any limit function are active.
  1. Open the Student Diagnostic utility on the Teacher desktop.
  2. Click on the Limiting tab.
  3.  Enter the IP address of the Student in the Student Information field.
    1. You can get this IP address information for a student machine by running StudentDiagnostics.exe on that machine and looking at the IP address that was detected and displayed with the label Using local address: on the Installation page.
  4. Leave the port at 796.
  5. If you have installed LanSchool Classic with Password Security enabled, you should check the Secure Password checkbox and enter the password in the field before performing this test.
  6. Click on Limiting Information.
The teacher machine will connect to TCP port 796 on the student machine and ask for its current configuration for limiting.
If the student is being limited for web, apps, printers, USB, audio or Task Manager then it will report the teacher's IP that is doing the limiting.

Monitoring Traffic

You can use the Traffic tab to monitor different types of LanSchool Classic network traffic remotely on the chosen machine. When using this option the channel that is used during the monitoring is the channel that was selected to be used in either the Teacher Console or Student application when they were installed on the machines being tested.


  1. Open the Student Diagnostic utility on the Teacher desktop.
  2. Click on the Traffic tab.
  3. Enter the IP address of the Student or Teacher machine in the Student Information field. 
    1. You can get this IP address information for a student machine by running StudentDiagnostics.exe on that machine and looking at the IP address that was detected and displayed with the label Using local address: on the Installation page.
  4. Leave the port at 796.
  5. If you have installed LanSchool Classic with Password Security enabled, you should check the Secure Password checkbox and enter the password in the field before performing this test.
  6. Choose the traffic type you wish to monitor.
  7. Click on Monitor Traffic.

The teacher machine will connect to TCP port 796 on the selected machine and will begin monitoring LanSchool Classic network traffic of the selected type and will display that in the output window.


To view all LanSchool Classic debug information for given machine, choose the Output Debug Msg option. This will redirect all debug messages (log messages) from the chosen machine to the output window. This is the same as enabling LanSchool Classic logging on the physical machine, but can be done remotely for any LanSchool machine.

Debug

You can use the Debug tab to monitor different types of LanSchool Classic debug messages remotely. This is the same as enabling LanSchool Classic logging on the physical machine, but can be done remotely for any LanSchool machine, and the displayed messages can be filtered based on their message type and severity.

Open the Student Diagnostic utility on the Teacher desktop.

  1. Click on the Debug tab.
  2. Enter the IP address of the Student or Teacher machine in the Student Information field. 
    1. You can get this IP address information for a student machine by running StudentDiagnostics.exe on that machine and looking at the IP address that was detected and displayed with the label Using local address: on the Installation page.
  3. Leave the port at 796.
  4. If you have installed LanSchool Classic with Password Security enabled, you should check the Secure Password checkbox and enter the password in the field before performing this test.
  5. Choose select the checkbox next to each of the message types you wish to monitor.
  6. Choose the Severity Level from the comb-box.

As soon as a severity option is selected the teacher machine will connect to TCP port 796 on the selected machine and will begin displaying matching LanSchool Classic debug messages from the chosen machine in the output window.

Testing Connection to the LanSchool Connection Server

If you are unable to locate a particular Student or Teacher client on the LanSchool Connection Server status window, it may be that the communication between the client and server is not successful.
  1. Open the Student Diagnostic utility on the Teacher desktop.
  2. Click on the Connection Server tab.
  3. Enter the IP address of the LanSchool Connection Server in the Connection Server Information box.
    1. You can get the IP address for the LanSchool Connection Server by opening the main status page on the machine where the LanSchool Connection Server (LCS) is running. The IP address the LCS is using is displayed on that page.
  4. Leave the port at 8080 unless the default port has been changed.
  5. Click Test Connections. 
Any result, excluding a successful notice, indicates that there is a communication problem between the Teacher and Student. This can be caused by anti-virus software, firewalls, and/or network configuration. You will need to consult with your network admins in order to resolve this problem.