What are Fresh-Start, Trainer, Participant and Standalone Machines?
DaDesktop is an advanced training platform that gives you access to cloud machines for training courses, along with admin tools to easily manage the Desktop machines for each course.
To make this possible, DaDesktop uses several similar, yet distinct Desktop machine types to support these courses.
Here's an overview of the different machine types.
Fresh-Start Machine
A 'Fresh-Start' machine is the one the trainer uses to create and develop the course material. Once it's ready, the Fresh-Start machine is copied to all participants' desktops for the course they're taking. You can think of a Fresh-Start as a 'Golden Image' that can be reverted if any issues come up on either the trainer's or participants' machines.
Trainer machine
A 'Trainer' machine is what the trainer uses to deliver the course material to participants during the course. This machine's state will differ from the Fresh-Start, as the software applications and libraries for the course subject are typically installed, configured, and run by the trainer(s) as part of the course.
If more than one trainer is leading a course, there will be multiple trainer machines.
Participant machine
A 'Participant' machine is what each participant uses during the course to install, configure, and work through exercises under the trainer's supervision.
Fresh-Start, Trainer and Participant machines are usually automatically deleted shortly after the course ends. So there's one more type of machine available that isn't tied to a course—you can keep it for as long as you need, and it's called a 'Standalone'.
Standalone machine
A 'Standalone' machine isn't necessarily used during the course itself. It 'stands alone' as a separate machine you can use before or after the course, or simply on its own without any course connection. The Standalone is especially flexible in this regard.
Common reasons to create a Standalone desktop include:
- Preparing training course material that can be reused repeatedly outside of a course, or kept for later use when needed.
- When you need a versatile machine with a different operating system (Linux, Windows) to try out ideas in a safe environment.