11. School Setup

Centralized Pupil files and Test files for Networked Lab Macs

It is possible to keep an entire school's pupil files on one file server and have students use Master Spell from any Mac that is on that network to access their pupil files and tests. In addition, all Macs on the same network may share the same preferences file so that all Macs may have their settings changed by only changing the settings on one Mac.

To do this, create a new folder on the server volume and name it “Master Spell Network”.

Set the privileges so that the user can read and write to the folder. You may set the “Master Spell Network" folder as a shared point if you like under AppleShare IP or you may choose to share just the folder if you are not running AppleShare IP. Make an alias of the “Master Spell Network” folder and copy it to all of the lab Macs “Master Spellƒ” folders. In OS8 and up, you may command-option drag to create aliases without disturbing their names. Make sure the name of the aliases is “Master Spell Network” and not “Master Spell Network alias”.

Copy the “Pupils” and/or “Tests” folder(s) that you would like shared, into the “Master Spell Network” folder on the server.  Whichever you do not copy will be created by Master Spell when it is launched. The “Master Spell Preferences” file will be created by Master Spell when it is launched.

To test if a Lab Mac is using the “Master Spell Network” folder on the server, launch Master Spell and look in the title bar of the test window. If it says “Network Active”, it is working. Otherwise, Master Spell is using the preferences on the Mac is was launched on and is not sharing the central preferences.

If the preferences file is newly created, you will need to enter your registration code and name by launching Master Spell on any lab Mac, selecting “About Master Spell…” from under the Apple menu, clicking the “Enter Registration Code…” button, and entering the registration information given to you.

Notes About Use

If the server volume is not mounted, Master Spell will convince the MacOS to try to mount the volume. If the volume cannot be mounted, either becasue the access privileges are not correct or the server cannot be found on the network, Master Spell will report the error and use files on the local Mac instead.

Pupil files are not locked as in-use. This means that a user can load the same pupil file on more than one machine at once. The last one to unload the pupil file records the pupil file data. The best solution for this is to enforce the pupil passwords.

Because none of the files can be in read-only directories, a bad kid can trash everything. Keep backups.