In this lesson, we're going to cover some basic information
that you need to know about our lab environment.
Now, when you take your course here at diontraining.com,
you're getting a premium course experience
that includes numerous hands-on labs for you
to practice the things you're learning in the videos within
a safe, secure, and cloud-based lab environment.
Now, as you progress through the course,
you're going to reach lessons that allow you
to launch a lab within our environment
and interact with Windows desktops, Windows servers,
Linux servers, network infrastructure,
penetration testing systems,
and much more based on the specific certification exam
you're studying for and preparing to take.
Now, we believe that these labs are an invaluable additional
resource in your journey
to not only pass your certification exam,
but also to learn how to be a better technician,
administrator, or analyst inside
of your cybersecurity career.
Now, these labs that we're going to use in our courses were
actually designed, built, and operated by CompTIA,
but they are going to be integrated directly into your course
experience at diontraining.com.
These labs are actually the exact same labs you would get if
you went over to CompTIA's store
and bought the Cert Master Lab product directly from them.
But with us, you're getting them integrated as part
of your certification course package here diontraining.com.
Now, the Cert Master Labs are designed
to enhance your understanding of the course materials
by providing you with a hands-on experience
that mirrors the tasks that you would be asked
to perform on the job in the real world.
Now, as you navigate through these labs, you're going to engage
with the concepts and processes that are vital
to mastering the performance based questions
or PBQs that you may encounter on your exam come test day.
Now, it's important to note that the labs are going to provide
a much richer and more extensive experience than
what you're going to get on exam day
When you take a PBQ.
For example, in the lab environment,
you're often given 30, 60,
or even 90 minutes to complete a lab
and do a lot of different tasks.
But when you're working on a PBQ on the exam,
you'll usually only be able to spend about five
to 10 minutes or so to solving that problem.
For this reason, it's important that you realize
that our labs are really designed
to teach you the skills you need
to be successful out in the real world,
and they're not designed simply to teach you
how to pass a PBQ.
All that being said, if you can master these labs,
you will have no problems with any of the PBQS
that CompTIA may throw at you come exam day.
Now, since these labs are operated
and supported by CompTIA directly, I wanted
to go over your support options in case you need any
assistance while you're working on a particular lab.
Now, as a general rule,
if you're having technical issues doing something in the
lab, you should go to the right hand most panel of the lab
and located there is going to be the instruction area.
From here, you're going to see three tabs,
and you need to click the right most tab,
which is labeled as help.
From here, you'll click on the support link,
and this will open a ticket directly with CompTIA.
Now, whenever you click on that link,
you're going to get redirected to the CompTIA support page,
and you'll be able to submit your question
or issue directly to them for these lab issues, any kind
of technical problems you're having,
or any kind of misunderstanding with the instructions
that are provided in the lab environment.
Now for 95% of the issues you may have with the lab,
contacting CompTIA directly is going to get you the fastest
and best support to overcome your issues.
Now, for the other 5% of issues you may experience, such
as not understanding a concept being taught by the lab,
if you need clarification on the
material or if the lab itself
simply won't load when you try to click the Launch Lab link,
then you need to contact the Dion Training
Support team for assistance.
You can contact us directly inside of the course platform
by clicking on the discussion or Q and A tab,
or by emailing us directly to support@diontraining.com.
When you submit your support request
to our team at Dion Training, please include a screenshot
of any errors you're seeing, including your full screen
so we can see what operating system
and web browser you're using to access the labs.
If you'd like to send us a short video showing us the issue
you're having, you can use a screen recording software like
Loom or Descrip for free, that will allow you
to demonstrate the issue you're having,
and this allows us to get a faster
and more thorough response back to you
to get your issues solved.
So now that you know what to do when you run into a snag
with the labs, please remember that for technical issues
or issues within the lab environment itself,
you should be contacting CompTIA first,
using the embedded help function within the lab environment,
but for instructional or conceptual issues,
or if the lab environment simply won't load, then I want you
to contact my team at Dion Training using the Q and A
discussion tab
or emailing us at support@diontraining.com.
Now, another issue we often see students have
with the lab is that it fails to open
because it gives you an error saying
that another lab is already running.
Now the system is designed
so you can only have one lab running at a time.
Whenever you load a lab lesson, you see a short description
of that lab on the screen and a link to launch that lab.
Now, whether or not you click
that link doesn't really matter.
The lab has already begun to load in the background for you.
So if you navigate away to another lesson,
that other lesson still thinks your lab is open.
So before you ever leave a lab screen,
you should always launch the lab fully
and then exit out of the lab
by using the exit button within the
upper corner of your screen.
If you don't do that, you may have an issue loading your
next lab when you get there.
Now, if you're experiencing issues with your labs, we know
that this can be a frustrating experience
because the labs are a critical part
of your learning experience, and these kind
of hiccups can really disrupt your flow during your
studying, but if you keep in mind our two support channels
available to you based on the type of issue you're having,
we're going to be able to get you back up
and running much more quickly.
Remember, these labs are a stepping stone
to not only passing your certification,
but also ensuring that you are prepared for the challenges
of working as an information technology, cybersecurity,
or networking professional out in the field.
They are your playground for learning, experimenting,
and gaining confidence in your skills.
So as we embark on this journey together,
I want to encourage you to dive into the labs full
of curiosity and determination.
Use these labs to solidify your knowledge, to practice
and to prepare and always remember whether you have a
technical issue or a conceptual question.
The CompTIA support team
and the Dion Training Support team are just a click away
to help you.