Requirements, Specifications, Dos

1
APTC Best Practices

• Requirements, Specifications, Dos Don'ts

January 2008
2
Introduction
The APTC Site installation, as such, is quite
simple. However, it requires some precautions to
avoid unnecessary actions afterwards, as well as
lengthy calls to the HD. If the basics are
diligently covered, the full APTC Site setup
requires no longer than a couple of hours. The
following slides will cover the overall process
and will focus on the most time-saving
items. Its important to inform the Sites about
all possible tips tricks to get them to the
Status 10 mark with the less possible effort
and waste of time.
3
Requirements (Server)

• IBM PC or compatible
• Pentium III, 1 GHz CPU or faster
• 512 MB RAM or more (strongly advised)
• Min. 4 GB available free space on the HDD after
  install (8 GB advised)
• Monitor
• CD-ROM (min. 8x speed)
• Network Interface Card (100 Mbit full-duplex)
• Windows 2000 (Advanced) Server (sp4) or Windows
  2003 (Standard Edition) Server (sp2). Novell
  Netware (5 or 6) is not supported for new sites.
  Old sites using it, are invited to migrate
  a.s.a.p.
• Internet Explorer 6.0 or 7.0
• Fast Ethernet 100Mbit/s Local Area Network
• Internet connection
• Virus detection software

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Requirements (Clients) Level 3 Machines

• IBM PC or compatible
• Pentium III, 1 GHz CPU or faster
• 512 MB (unshared) RAM or more
• Min. 4 GB available free space on the HDD after
  install
• SVGA 17 inch Monitor
• Video card capable of 1024x768 _at_ 32-bit color
  resolutions
• CD-ROM (min. 8x speed)
• Microsoft compatible keyboard and mouse
• Network Interface Card (100 Mbit full-duplex)
• Windows 2000 Professional (sp4) or Windows XP
  Professional (sp2)
• Internet Explorer 6.0 or 7.0
• Fast Ethernet 100Mbit/s Local Area Network
• Internet connection
• Virus detection software

5
Requirements (Printer)

• The printer must be dedicated
• Ink-jet printers are NOT supported
• Laser-jet, must be capable of a minimum
  resolution of at least 600 dpi
• The printer must be installed on the server (or
  Admin station) as Network printer and shared on
  the network
• Install the printer on ALL machines used for APTC
• The installed printer must be the Default one on
  ALL machines
• USB printers are supported, but their set-up as
  Network Printer can pose some serious challenges.
  LPT or IP printers are preferred
• Virtual printers or print to file printers are
  NOT supported
• Avoid the use of a printer server
• Do NOT use printers that are connected to another
  server or Domain Controller than the APTC server

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Best Practices for the Network Preparation

• The APTC Network requires a Domain topology
• Workgroups are NOT supported
• The APTC Domain must be a separated Domain (no
  Sub-Domain, Child-Domain, Shadow-Domain or any
  other equivalent is supported)
• The APTC server must be the (P)DC of a separate
  Domain
• All APTC clients must be joined to the APTC
  Domain
• Install MDAC 2.8 preferably before starting any
  APTC software installation
• Install MSXML 4.0 (sp2) parser preferably before
  starting any APTC software installation
• To ensure correct Pulse/Polaris communications,
  the ports 443, 11001, and 11002 must be open
  bi-directionally for all traffic (IP/UDP)
• (continued)

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Best Practices for the Network Preparation
(continued)

• If the Site uses a firewall/proxy for their
  internet connections, bypass the Proxy for the
  following URLs
• www.2test.com
• www.polaris.prometric.com
• www.pulse.prometric.com
• Do not filter files (firewall/proxy) based on
  size, name, extension, etc.
• Even though the use of a separate Admin
  workstation is technically not necessary, it is
  strongly advised to use one. This has become a
  requirement for new installed Sites starting Q3
  2007

8
APTC Site (schematic)
9
Installation Workflow
Sites without Admin Workstation. Support stopped
in Q3 2007
Sites with Admin Workstation.
10
Dos Don'ts

• Install the Server as (P)DC and follow the
  instructions there will be no need to
  create/configure any users (DTS2, DTSISO)
• Use unmanaged switches for your APTC network.
  They offer good speed and low maintenance. Do not
  clog the (APTC) network with unnecessary hardware
  and software
• Whenever possible, do not share Internet
  resources with the rest of the Company, unless
  you have lots of bandwidth to waste
• Dont use Virtual Machine software. Its not
  supported
• Dont run Pulse/Polaris using a remote
  connection. It will eventually corrupt the
  installation and it is furthermore not supported.
  Set up a separate Admin workstation instead.
• Log on to the APTC server always using the
  (Domain) Administrator account.
• Install the APTC software on the server always
  using the (Domain) Administrator account

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Dos Don'ts

• Install the APTC software on the clients (Admin
  Seats) using always the DTS2 (Domain) account
• Log on to the clients (Admin Seats) using
  always the DTS2 (Domain) account
• Avoid using Pulse and Polaris at the same time.
  They share the same database and one application
  may lock its access for the other one
• Do not install/run Pulse and Polaris on different
  machines. Use the Admin workstation only
• Ensure the Server and Admin workstation are left
  ON overnight to allow Pulse automated tasks to
  run. The Seats can be switched OFF overnight
• Remember to reboot the APTC server at least once
  a week
• Remember to have all the APTC machines with
  Regional Options set to English US
• Ensure that the short date format is always
  MM/dd/yyyy on all APTC machines

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Dos Don'ts

• All machines used for APTC testing must be
  dedicated. The server and Seats should not have
  any other software installed than the OS APTC
  and the anti-virus software and should be solely
  used for the Prometric Testing System
• The Admin workstation, though preferably
  dedicated, can be also used for other purposes,
  as long as all other APTC requirements for
  install are still met
• Avoid the use of special characters in all APTC
  activities (Sites address, candidates profiles,
  etc.). This caused more than 5000 calls to the HD
  in the last 1.5 year
• Wireless LAN is not supported
• VirtualLAN (aka V-LAN) is not supported
• Never run the TCM (Seat software) on the server.
  Its a security breach and will make the APTC
  server become unusable (files auto-deletion)

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Final Advise
Ancient Confucian truth KEEP IT SIMPLE AND IT
WILL WORK