Wednesday, October 16, 2013

New Options for Airserver Mirroring

The newest version of Airserver has several different security features to control who has access to display on your computer. In the previous versions, you could decide on having access for everyone or through a password. Check it out for yourself by going to the Airserver preferences on your computer. Here's a rundown of the new options. 

Airserver Preference

No password - anyone can display their device on your computer. Best if you are a trusting person because anyone in your school network can mirror at any time.

Fixed password - this is identical to the previous version. You enter your password on the computer. Anyone who wants to mirror their device would need to enter the password to get permission. 

Onscreen Passcode/Password option
Onscreen password - a great option for classroom use. When this option is selected, a four digit number appears on the computer. That number has to be entered on the iPad in order to connect. When testing, I saw that when I disconnected the iPad, I could reconnect without entering the password a second time. However, after shutting down Airserver and restarting, I had to reauthenticate with a new password. A nice option if you have different classes during the day and want only the students in your class to have mirroring access. 

Onscreen passcode - the same as above. Not certain, but I think this feature is good for devices running iOS6 or greater. So if you haven't upgraded in the last year and a half, you can't use this one.

Ask me - when this is selected, any iPad that attempts to connect to your computer will need to be given permission. You'll get a pop-up on your computer screen (two, actually) to approve an iPad for sharing audio and video. However, we've had mixed results to get the iPad to mirror. Maybe not the most reliable option.

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