It would be useful to be able to push or pull individual files from the virtual machines. Especially with cybersecurity ranges that have unpatched/vulnerable software or malware it is sometimes desirable to keep the lab completely offline while allowing students to push files to the VM and pull notes or log files from it afterwards.
When working with on-prem VMWare ranges in the past I've successfully used InitiateFileTransferFromGuest/InitiateFileTransferToGuest in the VMWare API to do this through VMWare Tools on both Linux and Windows guests.
| Who would most benefit from this idea? | Lab Developers or Lab Authors |
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What is the problem you are trying to solve?
Allowing participants to download or upload files from VMs without needing internet connectivity or a "drop box" style service. |
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Thanks for taking a minute to send along this suggestion! Our Product Group has given this an initial review and assigned this a status of "Future Consideration." This status mean this Idea is not yet on our roadmap, but will be part of our normal prioritization processes.
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I think to address customer security concerns and to maintain our robust DLP there should be an option at the Org level to determine if this feature is enabled for the Org (off by default), and then an individual opption on the Lab Profile that would allow Upload, Download or both. This then ensures a customer does not have to just trust the Lab Developer.
This has implications for our customers who must meet high security compliance requirements, such as financial institutions. These customers want to LIMIT or DENY the students' ability to upload or transfer data from the local machine. Any solution that is implemented to make it easier to transfer data from a local workstation to a VM needs to also provide the ability to disable this ability on a lab profile basis.
This idea could be enhanced by allowing the lab developer to specify filters and source/destination location for the files so that the end-user can only upload/download specific files or types of files. The upload functionality could simply be an extension of the current "Load files" functionality found on the Resources tab but brought to the Instructions tab. This would reduce the number of clicks a user would have execute the upload from 6 to 2 and keep the user focused on the instructions within the lab. This would significantly improve the Simply and Sexy appeal of the upload functionality.
Current process
Select the Resources tab
Select the "Load files" link
Drag and drop files from the local machine or select using the "Select files" button
In the Lab VM, open the file explorer
Select the DVD drive
Copy the file(s) to the desired location
Proposed process
Drag and drop files from the local machine or select using the "Select files" button
Select the Copy button
The Lab Dev should be able to specify the file filter and the max number of files for the upload
The Lab Dev should also be able to specify the destination folder or allow the user to select a folder
I have a customer who would like to have the ability to directly collect the configuration files, logs and fscapture images of the products they install. This would be particularly useful for inserting these files into their training documentation so that they do not have to use Google Drive, Drop Box etc. and internet email.