The differences between old and new.

VirtualExam (vx)
Differences between old and new

VX differs from the old/historical/existing priv gaol environment in a number of ways.

1. Rather than run on the local computer and hence be obliged to run only on CSE conformed lab computers, the VX environment runs on one or more CSE hosts with the keyboard, mouse and display being provided by a VNC client, such as TigerVNC, running on the host in front of which the student sits. This means that students can face any ol' computer, and not necessarily a CSE computer, as long as it can run a VNC client. This expands the scope of exams to include lab computers in other schools, computers running Mac OSX, Microsoft Windows computers, non-CSE maintained Linux computers, tablets and mobile phones (however cumbersome these last two may be in practice!).
2. A consequence of the above which bears mentioning is that the priv gaol environment runs on the same computer in front of which the student is sitting and, therefore, the student has the computer to themselves. In the VX environment multiple students will be using the same backend exam server. This has consequences for resource sharing and resource isolation — such as CPU, disk and network I/O and memory.
3. The priv gaol tends towards a default allow security policy with all applications and networking allowed unless specifically denied. The VX environment is designed towards a default deny policy with applications and networking generally denied unless specifically allowed.