AB Tutor Admin Manual

AB Tutor glossary

An AB Tutor installation involves some understanding of networks and hence a number of technical terms are used in this manual. In this section, you can find simplified descriptions of many of these terms.

AB Tutor terms

Components and roles
Central Server	The Central Server is a component of AB Tutor which is maintained on remote servers by the AB Tutor team. This component is responsible for routing data between the clients and consoles, and handling policies and settings. The Central Server can be managed through the Web Interface.
Console	The Console is the component of AB Tutor which is used to control the Clients. It has a graphical interface to allow teachers to see the students' computers and allows them to create and apply policies, send actions and view events.
Client	The Client is the component of AB Tutor which allows computers to be controlled. It installs almost invisibly on machines and, via the Central Server, allows the Console User to control the Client computer.
Central Server Web Interface	This interface allows Web Admins to manage the Central Server. From here, they can create users, authorise devices and configure site wide settings.
Console User	A Console User is a role given to a User which allows them to log in to the Console and control clients. They may also be given roles allowing them to create and apply/remove Policies.
Console Admin	A Console Admin automatically has the role of a Console User, but can also configure global settings in the Console, such as Admin Policies, Global Lock Messages and so on.
Web Admin	A Web Admin has access to the Web Interface to create users and so on. This user can't access the Console, unless also given Console roles.
Console features
Policies	Policies can be thought of as rules for the Clients. These include things like website or application blocking, keyword monitoring and so on. They can be applied to computers or people, can be scheduled or set for specific networks.
Admin Policies	Console Admins can create policies which are available for all users to apply. They can also create policies which can't be applied or removed by Console Users.
Actions	Actions are things which affect the Client immediately, such as launching a program or shutting down. They can be sent by Console Users and Console Admins. Many actions can also be included in policies to allow them to be scheduled.
Groups	Groups are created through the Web Interface and are collections of devices or users. These allow them to be organised sensibly (eg, into classrooms) and to be managed together. Console Users can only interact with Clients through Groups.
Restrictions	Restrictions can be applied to Groups by Console Admins. These remove access to certain features of AB Tutor for Console Users when they are managing that Group.
Console main view tabs
Users	The users tab shows any registered users in the selected group. The users must have been registered in the Web Interface. If a Device Group is selected, registered users logged on to those devices will be displayed. If a Users group is selected, all users in that group will be shown if Show Offline is selected. If a stringmatch group is selected, nothing will be shown here as this tab only shows registered users. If a Policy is applied to a user, it will affect them and only them on any computer they log in on.
Devices	The Devices tab shows all devices in the selected group. For a Devices group, it will show all devices in the group, if Show Offline is selected. For a users group, it will show all devices which have sessions with the group's users logged in. For a stringmatch group, it will show any devices with host/usernames which match that group. If a Policy is applied to a Device, it will affect any user who logs in on that Device. Be careful applying policies to users logged in on a terminal server - if they are applied to the device, they will affect all users on that server.
Sessions	The sessions tab shows any running sessions relevant to the selected group. For a Devices group, it will show all sessions on the group's devices. For a users group, it will show all sessions with those users logged on. For a string match group, it will show all sessions matching the strings. If a Policy is applied to a session, it will just affect that user until they log off. On logoff, the policy will disappear.