Now that most higher ed orgs have found ways to deliver remote access, many still struggle to share the live availability of those resources with students.
If you’re using a remote desktop gateway or VPN, LabStats’ Remote Access Dashboard can help. See the full list of supported connections.
LabStats’ Remote Access Dashboard is a central access interface that displays live computer availability. It runs on LabStats real-time usage data and allows students to view which computers are available and connect to them remotely.
If you already have LabStats, it’s easy to create a dashboard. Watch the video tutorial or follow the instructions below.
Remote Access in LabStats
In your LabStats portal:
Navigate to LabTools – Remote Access
Check the box next to “Enable Remote Access Dashboard on my campus.”
This will take you to the Remote Access Dashboard creation page, where you can:
Customize your URL (if desired)
Select what groups (labs) you want to display on the dashboard
Save your changes or make edits later
You can then view your dashboard at your chosen URL.
Remote Access Dashboard
Customizing Your Dashboard
Once your dashboard is up and running, you can customize it to help meet the needs of your students.
What to customize
Add your school logo
Add your school colors
Add instructions or links to the top of the dashboard (ie: help students connect to a VPN or link to your knowledge base)
Customize the contents of the Connection window
All of these customizations can be made by emailing [email protected]. Our team is ready and available to help you optimize your dashboard.
Customizing Your Connection Window
By default, the Remote Access Dashboard will distribute a basic RDP file for Windows machines. You can customize this to match your network structure, or to navigate to an RD Gateway that you have setup.
Connection window
To customize your connection window:
Create a functional RDP file with your desired configurations and send it to [email protected]
Share Mac Access
Remote access can be set up for macOS to macOS or between a Windows and macOS machine. Macs aren’t displayed by default, but we can enable them very quickly.
You have the option to customize the connection address. Oftentimes the default hostname is not enough to resolve, and you need the connection to use an IP Address or FQDN.
Before you get started, you’ll need an Excel spreadsheet with the hostnames of the stations in column A and your desired connection address in column B.
To customize the connection address:
Navigate to the Station Manager in your LabStats portal
Click on Import Station Remote Access Addresses
Upload your Excel spreadsheet*
*You can also do this on an individual basis by navigating to the station page of any station and clicking Edit Station. Input your desired connection address and click Save.
Other Customizations
If you want to change the remote access technologies that you use, simply let us know! We can help you change the contents of the dashboard to help students connect with your chosen solution. They won’t have the same one- or two-click functionality, but we can easily include links to download software and step-by-step instructions that you may want to share.
If you have further technical questions, feel free to reach out to us at [email protected].
