The Safe Exam Browser Server web application simplifies and centralizes the configuration of Safe Exam Browser clients for exams. It interacts with a learning management or exam system for setting up and conducting e-assessments with Safe Exam Browser. It also improves security by allowing to monitor connected Safe Exam Browser clients in real time during e-assessments.
Safe Exam Browser (SEB) is an application to carry out e-assessments safely. The free-ware application is available for Windows, macOS and iOS. It turns any computer temporarily into a secure workstation. It controls access to resources like system functions, other websites and applications and prevents unauthorized resources being used during an exam. Safe Exam Browser can work with Open edX to control what a student can access during a Open edX quiz attempt. With the SEB Open edX plugin you activate the SEB support in Open edX and now only students using an approved version of SEB and the correct settings will be able to access the quiz in your Open edX course. The Safe Exam Browser is offered under a Mozilla Public License and supported by the SEB Alliance.
While the interaction with SEB is well known in Learning Management Systems (LMS) like Open edX, Moodle etc. the SEB Server is an entirely new component to set up secured online exams. It interacts with the assessments system/LMS as well as with SEB on exam clients. It supports exam scenarios on student owned devices (BYOD) and on managed devices.
SEB Server is a modern webservice with a REST API and a GUI service on top of it. SEB Server is written in Java and uses Docker for installation and setup.
SEB Server provides a range of basic functionalities:
- Built-in institutional multitenancy
- Linking of multiple Learning Management Systems (LMS). Currently supported LMS: Open edX, Moodle, OLAT, ANS
- Accessing the Course/Exam-API of a linked LMS to import a courses or exams for managing with SEB Server
- Creation and administration of SEB Client Configurations that can be used to startup a SEB and that contains SEB Server connection information for a SEB Client
- Creation and administration of SEB Exam Configurations that can be bound to an imported Exam to automatically configure a SEB Client that connects to an exam that is managed by SEB Server
- Automated SEB restriction on LMS side if the specified type of LMS supports the SEB restriction API
- Monitoring and administration of SEB Client connections within a running exam
The image below shows a very simplified diagram that locates the SEB Server in a setup with a Learning Management System (LMS) and the Safe Exam Browser (SEB). The SEB Server communicates with the LMS for managing and prepare exams as well as with the SEB Client to ensure a more automated and secure setup for high-stake exams.
New Features:
- Connection Configuration: New possibility to select existing Exams for a Connection Configuration.
- Exam: New Possibility to create an exam without LMS/Assessment Tool integration but with direct SEB link.
- Exam Configuration: Batch Delete Action.
- Exam Configuration: Added new SEB Settings from actual SEB Versions.
- Exam: Possibility to apply SEB Settings quit-passwords within the Exam Import or creation of an Exam.
- Monitoring: Two new Filter for ASK and SEB Client Version check.
- Monitoring: IP Changes of SEB clients during active session are not prevented but logged now with SEB logs.
Improvements:
- SEB Server Setup: Default Time-Zone also globally configurable besides per user.
- Exam Configuration Import: No import of hashed password any more. Preset hashed password form imported files gets deleted or reset.
- Configuration Template: Lists contains more entries, better usability.
- Exam: New force delete functionality if an Exam cannot be deleted regularly (mostly caused by LMS Setup disconnection).
- Exam: Added confirmation dialogue on Indicator deletion attempt.
- SEB Server: Log improvements.
- User Account: Possibility to setup SEB Server to set newly registered Users inactive for better control of user registration.
- User Access: Define and Implement new SEB Server feature concept that will provide dedicated user role privileges in the future.
Bugfixes:
- Exam: fixed, LMS/Assessment Tool data update end-time cannot be reset to null.
- SEB Client Connection: Fixed handshake finishing for SEBs that got missing during handshake. SEB Server invalidates unfinished handshakes now.
- Exam - SEB Restriction Details: Additional BEK is not sent to Moodle immediately.
- LMS Integration: OLAT Integration seems to not work correctly with new OLAT version any-more.
- LMS Integration: SEB Lock is not applied, when importing exam using a template.
- LMS Integration: Semicolon in short name of a course in Moodle leads to error message when importing an exam.
- LMS Lookup: Illegal Thread Access Error on LMS Lookup Page.
- Monitoring: ASK: List of sent ASK per SEB Client sometimes shows empty rows.
- Monitoring: SEB Version check caching issue .
- Monitoring: Low page load on sorted SEB connection table for finished or archived exams.
- Monitoring: Monitoring table selection stick to actual selection when updating.
- Forms: Password plaintext view: special chars are masked incorrectly.
- Configuration Template: Wrong deletions on SEB Server update with migration.
Docker-Image:
Exact release version: docker pull anhefti/seb-server:v1.6.0 (sha256:878f411ee3df84019f2b167ad4fd29ecad77c90063b2ced4e16e69edab74805e)
Stable minor version: docker pull anhefti/seb-server:v1.6-stable
The table below shows available and upcoming SEB client versions that has SEB Server integration support and are compatible with particular SEB Server versions. There is an entry for each platform with a beta or testing release date and an official release date.
SEB Server Version 1.6.X
| Platform / OS | Release Version |
|---|---|
| SEB Client for iOS | 3.3.2 |
| SEB Client for Mac | 3.3.2 |
| SEB Client for Windows | 3.7.0 |
SEB Server Version 1.5.X
| Platform / OS | Beta/RC Version | Release Version |
|---|---|---|
| SEB Client for iOS | ASK: 3.3 | 3.1 (ASK: 3.3) |
| SEB Client for Mac | ASK: 3.3pre | 3.1 (Zoom: 3.2/ASK: 3.3) |
| SEB Client for Windows | -- | 3.5.0 |
For a complete guide to install SEB Server please go to SEB Server Installation Guide
For a complete SEB Server user guide please go to SEB Server User Guide
The SEB Server is currently build and maintained by ETH Zürich and by the Swiss MOOC Service that is founded by leading Swiss universities EPFL, ETH, SUPSI, USI and HES-SO. The Swiss MOOC Service was financially supported from 2018-2020 by the Swissuniversities´ P5 program.
We want to make contributing to this project as easy and transparent as possible, whether it's:
- Give us a star
- Reporting a bug
- Submitting a fix
- Proposing new features
- Becoming a SEB Alliance member
We use github to host code, to track issues and feature requests, as well as accept pull requests. And we use Github issues to track public bugs. Report a bug by [opening a new issue]();
Before enter a new bug-report, ensure the bug was not already reported
Please fill and provide all the information suggested by the bug-report template Great Bug Reports tend to have:
- A quick summary and/or background
- Steps to reproduce
- Be specific and give sample code if you can. Can also be Pseudocode.
- What you expected would happen
- What actually happens
- Notes (possibly including why you think this might be happening, or stuff you tried that didn't work)
We Use Git-Flow for Code Contributions
Pull requests are the best way to propose changes to the codebase. We use Github Flow. We actively welcome your pull requests:
- Fork the repo and create your branch from development. The development branch always has the newest changes.
- If you've added code that should be tested, add tests.
- If you introduce new API also add clear documentation.
- Ensure the test suite passes.
- Make sure your code lints.
- Issue that pull request!
Use a Consistent Coding Style
Have a close look to the existing code stile that is used within SEB Server and adapt to it as close as possible. We reserve the right to adapt contributed code to the code style matching SEB Server code style before or after a pull request.
Any contributions you make will be under the Mozilla Public License Version 2.0
In short, when you submit code changes, your submissions are understood to be under the same Mozilla Public License that covers the project. Feel free to contact the maintainers if that's a concern.
Becoming a SEB Alliance member
The SEB Alliance is the body which sustains ongoing funding of the Safe Exam Browser open source project to continue its maintenance, development and support activities. ETH Zurich provides the infrastructure for the management and the software engineering of the SEB project and appoints an alliance manager who will provide administrative support to the SEB Alliance, and ensure the day-to-day running of the SEB Alliance. ETH Zurich leads the Alliance and offers different contribution levels to parties interested in the evolution of the SEB open source project.
More information about joining the Alliance is available in our benefits and documents section.