Apple Remote Desktop: Management Tool Plus Teaching Assistant
Choosing Mac OS X this summer as our default operating system for new computers
was a relatively easy choice for my institution. The benefits—stability,
ease-of-use, security, and interoperability—all far out-weighed the complication
it presented. A sticking point for us was our regular use of Apple Network Assistant
(ANA) for remotely assisting our clients and managing our labs; we needed a
MacOS X equivalent. With the release of Apple Remote Desktop (ARD) in February
2002, Apple addressed that need.
The beauty of ARD is its simplicity and the features it provides faculty for
use in the classroom. For instance, in the absence of a good projection system,
ARD allows a professor to demonstrate a skill or lecture by sharing her computer
screen with all of the other computers in the classroom. A professor or lab
attendant can also view up to four screens at once on their computer screen,
or they could cycle through all of the computers in the room—4 screens
at a time—in order to keep tabs on student progress. There are also real-time
chat features that allow individual faculty and students to hold private discussions,
allow a student to “raise a hand,” or allow a professor to send out
classroom alerts, such as an approaching time limit on an exam.
To ensure students’ attention, a professor also has the ability to monitor
computer use in the class or to lock out access to students’ computers
during a lecture or presentation. And for the easy distribution of class material,
a professor could send out materials to all of the computers at once. These
same tools can also allow administrators to remotely assist client machines,
perform upgrades, and even run software and hardware reports.
In my experience, ARD has worked exactly as I have expected. It is obvious
that this initial release was aimed at bringing tools that were available under
OS 9 to OS X. In managing my labs and client computers, I have found that screen
sharing, file distribution, and remote application launching are the most valuable
tools. It is much more efficient for me to share or control a client’s
computer in order to work on a problem than it is to walk to each client machine
to do the same work. Also, the fact that ARD is available in both MacOS X and
MacOS 9-8.1 versions allows us to manage multiple Mac operating systems from
the same workstation. (As an aside, one reason I’ve become excited about
ARD is that with some custom AppleScripts I have developed, I can remotely launch
one AppleScript that will send off a series of events to erase files on a lab
computer or computers, and reinstall all of the necessary system and application
software, all from my office computer.)
Upgrading to ARD is painless. You can install it over the current installation
of ANA and it will pick up the current settings, passwords, and information
fields automatically.
Although ARD provides the same basic functionality that ANA provided, there
are a few useful features missing. For instance, some of the workstation configuration
features are gone. Unlike ANA, you do not have the ability to change the ARD
administrator’s password on the client machines, nor can you set the Energy
Saver, Screen Resolution, or Date & Time settings. These features are useful
when setting up a lab, in that they allow much of the setup to be handled en
mass rather than setting up each workstation individually.
Also, currently missing from ARD as well as ANA is a robust software installation
tool. The file copy features work well for what they do, but don’t allow
for the installation of software, or an operating system, which have different
pieces going to different places on the local hard drive or which require administrator
access (in OS X.). In order to install a piece of software like this, the support
staff would have to figure out which files needed to be placed where, and to
transfer those files individually to the client computers. This still saves
time on the installation process, but it is tedious and hopefully can be addressed
in the future.
Finally it would be nice to see ARD combined with other Apple software to provide
simple workstation re-imaging that can be done automatically and remotely, rather
than having to develop our own solution, as I did.
ARD is an enabling technology from Apple. It provides helpful tools that give
faculty many choices in incorporating technology into their course. Those same
tools can then be used by IT or help desk staff to improve efficiency and reduce
costs. And it is one of the last tools many people have been waiting for before
making the transition to MacOS X.