Scholastic Education Technology Programs System Requirements
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Scholastic Education Technology Programs Version 2.3.x System Requirements & Technical Overview Scholastic Achievement Manager and Scholastic Education Technology Programs The Scholastic Achievement Manager (SAM) is the learning management system and technology platform for Scholastic Education Technology programs. SAM provides administrators with the ability to implement and monitor applications on a district-wide basis. SAM also has district-wide capabilities such as district reporting, adequate yearly progress (AYP), demographic grouping and reporting, and AYP demographic filtering. For the teacher, SAM provides multiple supports for classroom management and data-driven instruction. Scholastic Education Technology Programs Code X Digital* READ 180 Next Generation Do The Math®/Progress Space rSkills® Tests Do The Math Now!/Progress Space rSkills Tests College & Career Edition Scholastic Expert 21® (including xSkills)* Scholastic Achievement Manager (SAM) Expert Space Scholastic Central* FASTT Math® Scholastic Math Inventory College & Career Edition FASTT Math Next Generation Scholastic Phonics Inventory Fraction Nation® Scholastic Reading Counts!® iRead™* Scholastic Reading Inventory College & Career Edition MATH 180®* (including mSkills) System 44® Enterprise Edition Nextpert™ System 44 Next Generation READ 180® Enterprise Edition Programs marked with an asterisk (*) are available only on servers hosted by Scholastic Data Centers. Contact Scholastic Technical Support at 1-800-283-5974 for specific questions regarding these requirements or any of the information contained in this document. Copyright © 2014 by Scholastic Inc. All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc. PDF0634 (PDF) SCHOLASTIC, SCHOLASTIC ACHIEVEMENT MANAGER, READ 180, SYSTEM 44, FASTT MATH, POWERED BY SAM, FRACTION NATION, MATH 180, IREAD, RSKILLS, DO THE MATH, SCHOLASTIC EXPERT 21, NEXTPERT, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc. Other company names, brand names, and product names are the property and/or trademarks of their respective owners. IPAD is a registered trademark of Apple, Inc. Scholastic Education Technology Programs Version 2.3.x System Requirements & Technical Overview Technology Platform Scholastic Education Technology programs are built using Internet and industry-standard technology in order to provide capacity for high levels of concurrent usage and reliability. They use standard Internet components that simplify setup and optimize issues surrounding student access to servers. Clients run in standard web browsers and connect to servers over HTTP or HTTPS. Scholastic Education Technology programs require a persistent connection to a server computer hosted by the district or a Scholastic data center. This server, the SAM Server, combines the functions of an application server (running programs) with a database server (managing and storing data). Installations using more than one SAM Server at the district level may require an additional aggregation server to gather, manage, and store data from across the different SAM Servers (this is not required of districts using a Scholastic data center to host the SAM Server). Scholastic Education Technology programs use browser-based clients. This requires large media files (video, etc.) be sent to the client over the network. To reduce network congestion, Scholastic strongly recommends installing one or more Scholastic Media Accelerators (SMA) (page 9). The recommended system requirements outlined in the following sections are based on a certification process in which applications are put through a rigorous set of tests to determine their stability, performance, and compatibility with each other and with a wide variety of hardware and software environments. Scholastic lists requirements that have been tested and will be supported by Scholastic should issues arise. Noncertified configurations may be compatible with Scholastic Education Technology programs, but Scholastic cannot guarantee support for these configurations. Scholastic Education Technology Programs v2.3.x Updated 07.07.14 • 2 System Requirements & Technical Overview PDF0634 (PDF) TM ® & © Scholastic Inc. All rights reserved. Scholastic Education Technology Programs Version 2.3.x System Requirements & Technical Overview Server Requirements Local District Servers System requirements for locally installed SAM Servers: • Operating System: Macintosh OS X Server 10.7.3 through 10.9.x; Windows Server 2003 (32 bit), Windows 2008 (64 bit), Windows Server 2012 (64 bit); Novell SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 (64 bit); 64-bit operating systems recommended • Memory: 4 GB RAM (more for higher concurrency levels) • Processor: Intel Xeon dual-core (higher speed/more cores for higher concurrency levels) • Hard Drive: 20 GB free for single-school servers, 200 GB for large multi-school servers • Internet: SAM Servers must have Internet access Scholastic recommends multi-core Intel Xeon processors (or equivalent) operating at 2.0 GHz or better for servers. Faster processors, more cores, and more memory all contribute to the ability of the server to handle higher numbers of concurrent users and larger databases. Scholastic Education Technology programs may be installed on virtual servers using virtualization software such as VMWare ESX4.x. Resources for the Scholastic VM should be dedicated, not shared. Contact Scholastic Technical Services if planning a deployment using virtual servers. Scholastic Education Technology programs are not supported on servers using these operating systems: • Windows 2000 Server, Windows NT • Macintosh OS X Server 10.0 through 10.7.2 • Novell Netware, SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 or 10 Scholastic Education Technology programs are not compatible with Power PC Macintosh servers. For installations that serve a large number of concurrent users or 100,000+ active student accounts, additional SAM servers may be required (see Concurrency, page 6). Scholastic Data Centers Districts using a Scholastic Data Center to host their SAM Server do not require a locally installed server, but require an SMA (page 9). The hosted SAM Server uses an SSL connection to communicate with workstations. Scholastic automatically installs new programs and updates, backs up user data nightly, and stores all user data, including backups, in encrypted format. Contact Scholastic Technical Support with questions regarding server requirements. Scholastic Education Technology Programs v2.3.x Updated 07.07.14 • 3 System Requirements & Technical Overview PDF0634 (PDF) TM ® & © Scholastic Inc. All rights reserved. Scholastic Education Technology Programs Version 2.3.x System Requirements & Technical Overview Workstation Requirements Scholastic Education Technology version 2.3.x programs run on student and teacher workstations that meet the following requirements: • Browser: Internet Explorer 9.x, or later; Safari 6.x or later; Firefox 27.x or later; Chrome 24 or later • Operating System: Macintosh OS X 10.7.3 through 10.9.x; Windows XP SP3, Windows 7 Professional, Windows 8.x; Chrome OS version 32 or later* • Memory: 1 GB to 2 GB of RAM, based on OS version • Processor: Intel dual-core or later (Power PC Macintosh computers not supported) • Network: Network Interface Card supporting TCP/IP (wireless networks, including 802.11a, 802.11g, or 802.11n, are supported, but performance may be limited by the network’s bandwidth capacity) • Screen: 1024 x 768 resolution or higher • Plug-ins: Flash 11.4 or later (set to allow the microphone), Adobe Reader or Adobe Acrobat 9 or later • Other: Headset with microphones required on student workstations for use with READ 180 Next Generation, READ 180 Enterprise Edition, System 44 Next Generation, System 44 Enterprise Edition, FASTT Math Next Generation, MATH 180 and iRead; headphones required for FASTT Math Enterprise Edition, Fraction Nation, and Scholastic Phonics Inventory *-–For important information regarding Chromebook devices, see page 6. Thin Client workstations are not certified or recommended for Scholastic programs. Scholastic Education Technology version 2.3.x programs support a wide range of client workstations running many different processors and operating systems. As a general rule, any workstation or laptop purchased in the last four years should be capable of running any Scholastic Education Technology program. Districts considering using older workstations should consider the following factors: Workstations, laptops, or netbooks with Intel Atom processors (or equivalent) may or may not be suitable for running Scholastic Education Technology programs, depending on the processor’s version, clock speed, and supporting hardware. Scholastic recommends testing any Atom-based system with the application(s) you intend to use. Note for Districts Using Internet Explorer 8 or Windows XP: Staring with Scholastic Education technology programs version 2.3, Scholastic no longer supports using Internet Explorer 8 with its programs. Version 2.3 programs require Internet Explorer 9 or later. Windows XP does not allow users to upgrade to Internet Explorer 9. Districts using Windows XP will not be able to run Internet Explorer 9 on their workstations. Scholastic recommends using Chrome 24 or later or Firefox version 27 or later on workstations using Windows XP. Scholastic Education Technology Programs v2.3.x Updated 07.07.14 • 4 System Requirements & Technical Overview PDF0634 (PDF) TM ® & © Scholastic Inc. All rights reserved. Scholastic Education Technology Programs Version