Installing CMHelper on a VM

The CMHelper app allows the Course Manager Learning Console to interact with VMs in the lab end user’s Skytap environment. It can be installed on Windows VMs or Linux VMs with a graphical user interface.

Notes

CMHelper must be installed on the target VMs in the lab end user's Skytap environment for the following Learning Console features to work correctly:

Interactive command Manual shortcuts and lab actions.
Send to VM(s) for attachments in the Resources tab and files in the File Drop tab.

User experience for the following Learning Console features is enhanced when CMHelper is installed on the target VMs in the lab end user's Skytap environment:

File Drop.
Copyable text in the Manual.

The Learning Console can interact with VMs with CMHelper installed only if the VMs are connected to an automatic network and outbound Internet access is enabled in the environment. For more information about creating a Skytap environment configured for the lab end user or preparing a template for lab environments, see Preparing a template.
For more information about inserting a command shortcut or copyable text in a Manual, see Inserting a command shortcut or Inserting copyable text.
For more information about adding lab actions to a course, see Adding lab actions to a course.
For more information about adding attachments to a course or event, see Adding attachments to a course or Adding attachments to an event.
For more information about installing CMSysHelper on a VM, see Installing CMSysHelper on a VM.

Step 1 – Find the latest version of CMHelper

To find the latest version of CMHelper

From the Course Manager navigation bar, click Help. The Help drop-down menu displays.
Right-click Download CMHelper for your desired operating system.
Copy the link URL.

Step 2 – Install CMHelper on a VM

You can install CMHelper on Windows and Linux VMs.

Installing CMHelper on a Windows VM

The CMHelper Windows installer is a .exe file. The package can be installed for the current Windows VM user or all users and automatically runs when the user signs in to the VM.

To install CMHelper on a Windows VM

In the Skytap environment that will be used to prepare the lab template, sign in to a Windows VM with an internet connection.
Open an internet browser.
Paste the CMHelper link URL into the browser. The Windows installer downloads.
Open the installer, and complete the installation process.

Installing CMHelper on a Linux VM

The Linux version of CMHelper supports Ubuntu and other Linux distributions, with the following caveats:

CMHelper is distributed as an AppImage binary and can be used only in Linux distributions that support AppImage. For more information about distribution support, see AppImage.
CMHelper can run only within a graphical environment such as X11/Xorg. It’s not available in console-based sessions.

To install CMHelper on a Linux VM

In the Skytap environment that will be used to prepare the lab template, sign in to a Linux VM with an internet connection.
Open an internet browser.
Paste the CMHelper link URL into the browser. The tarball downloads.
Extract the AppImage binary from the tarball to a convenient location, such as /usr/local/bin/.
Mark the binary as executable using chmod +x.
Configure the executable to run when the user signs in to the VM. For more information, see:
- Gnome instructions from Ubuntu
- KDE instructions

Step 3 – Confirm that CMHelper is running on the VM

The CMHelper app is running on a VM if the application icon displays in the VM desktop icons.

When you sign in to a VM in a Skytap environment not provisioned by Course Manager (for example, one that will be used to prepare a lab template), the CMHelper desktop icon is red.
When a lab end user signs in to a VM in a Skytap lab provisioned by Course Manager, the CMHelper desktop icon is blue.

If the CMHelper desktop icon isn’t blue in a Skytap lab provisioned by Course Manager, some features in the Learning Console may not work correctly and the lab end user should contact an administrator.