Lab Profile Direct Access

With the Skillable lab platform, you can configure student labs to launch directly into any web-based portal while keeping the instructions visible. This permits fluid training of a web application in which students are presented with interactive instructions while maintaining full interaction with the web portal, without needing to switch back and forth between programs such as a document and a web browser.

There are two common use cases for Direct Access:

• Training on a website or a web application in a web browser.

• Training on an application installed on the student's local machine.

Training in a Web Browser

When training on external web application or public cloud services, there are a number of configuration steps and decision points, depending on which Skillable features are required to be used.  If the training requires just the web application/portal to be displayed then follow the configuration information below.  However, if the requirement is to automate the external web application or enable advanced Skillable features (for example, Activities) refer to the Custom Cloud documentation.

Training on a Local Application

Instead of maintaining a virtual machine to teach an application or service that is already installed on a users local computer, you can use this technique to build learning for the application. For example, you could have students launch PowerShell on their local computer and it will run side-by-side with their instructions to permit a learning experience in an environment that they use regularly. Lab Instructions can even be designed to Interact directly with desktop apps that support URL activation, such as Visual Studio Code.

Direct Access is ideal for any training that does not need the backbone of a virtualized fabric and is oriented around a platform that is not currently integrated with the Skillable lab platform. However, to bring your training experience to the next level, you should include Cloud Credential Pools and/or Life Cycle Actions to integrate with outside platforms. For more information read our Life Cycle Action or Cloud Credential Pool documentation.

Lab Profile Configuration

Configuring a Lab profile to use Direct Access is easy and only takes a few steps.

Most labs will use one of the options below, but your lab could also use both options at the same time, if your training requires a local application, as well as training within a web browser.

Configure for Web Browser Training

1. Navigate to the Lab Profile you wish to enable Direct Access for and select Edit Profile.

2. On the Basic Information tab, select the checkbox for Override Start Page

3. Enter the URL of the website that will be used for training.

4. Ensure the Virtualization Platform option is set to None.

5. Save the Lab Profile.

6. Ensure the Lab Profile has lab instructions written.

Configure for Local Application Training

1. Navigate to the Lab Profile you wish to enable Direct Access for and select Edit Profile.

2. Set the Virtualization Platform to None.

3. Save the Lab Profile.

4. Ensure the Lab Profile has lab instructions written.