We've introduced some new ways to categorise resources, which will make it easier for them to be managed and shared. 

It's now possible to add labels and tags to your Heropa instance, and then assign labels and tags to resources. In a nutshell:

Labels:

• We suggest using Labels to classify resources that are used and shared internally. 
• Once labels have been created, they can be assigned to resources in Heropa.   

Tags:

• Tags can be added to Courses and Events, and should be created when you want to classify these and have this visible in the end user Library. 

To learn how to create labels and tags, and add them to resources, see: Using Labels and Tags.

'Resources' in Heropa are any objects that are used within a virtual lab. These include: templates, environments, VM Images, policies, courses, and content.

For some time now, customers have been asking for a way to limit resources to certain sets of users. We've been working on ways to solve this, and have made some changes to Companies. Resources will be able to be shared across companies, and it will also be possible to filter access of resources to certain companies, and certain users within companies. Over the coming months, we'll be rolling out several updates to make this possible. 

If you actively use Companies to group users, then it's important that you are across these changes. Please subscribe to future updates. We'll also work directly with you to ensure you have enough information to benefit from this new capability. 

What are the changes?

1. Introduction of a company level role type

Previously, only a 'Global' role type was available to administrators. Global roles have always had, and will continue to have visibility of all companies. 

Now, a new role type called 'Company' will be available. This can be used to create roles that have visibility of a single Company, and provide users with access to perform functions for their own company.

For more information, including examples of how this can be used, see: Using roles and permissions.

2. Ability to segregate resources for users with a company role type

Previously, all resources were accessible to admin users from all companies. Last year we introduced course filtering for end users (see: Assigning a Company access to a Course), and have since been working to extend this to all resource types.

Each resource (eg. a template, environment, course, policy, etc) will have a primary company, and can then be shared with other companies. If a resource is not shared with a company, users from that company with a company role type will not be able to see it or use it. For more information, see: Sharing resources across Companies.  

How does this affect me now? 

Some UI changes have been released, however the full filtering implementation is still in progress. For now, there are two things to be aware of: 

• When creating roles, you'll need to select either a 'Global' or 'Company' role type. Please continue to use the 'Global' role type, as Company level roles can still see resources across all Companies until the filtering implementation is complete.
• When creating a new resource, you'll need to select a primary company. Use your own company to do this. You will also be asked whether you want to 'Share with all companies'. Please tick this check box until we complete the filtering implementation. New template example below: 
  

What's coming next? 

In the next few weeks we will activate the filtering of resources to company level roles. We'll let you know when this is available. We'll also reach out to make sure you have the information you need to take advantage of this new capability. 

In the meantime, if you have any questions, please speak to your Heropa contact. 

Happy 2023! We're really excited about what we're working on for you in the coming months. Don't forget to subscribe to receive these updates via email! 

✨ Brand new   

• Resource filtering and sharing: New capability that provides a way to limit resources to certain sets of users, via Companies. This is being progressively rolled out. To learn more, read this post: Resource filtering and sharing capability.
• Labels and Tags: Labels and tags can be created for your company, and can then be used to help categorise resources. Read all about it here: Manage resources using labels and tags. 

🌱 Enhancements

• Events - Shared drive: It's now possible to add / modify a shared drive to an event after it has been launched. Existing event attendees will also see the shared drive. See: Creating an event.
• Showing videos in the workspace: We've made it easier to add YouTube video URLs to show these in the workspace. Wistia videos are also now supported. See: Adding content to a course.
• Editing information: We've standardised how information about objects and resources can be edited. Modifying an object's name or description is now done via an 'Edit information' modal. Labels and tags are also managed from here.
  

🔧 Bugfixes

• Error when switching views: Fixed an issue where an incorrect screen was loading for users when switching from the User View to the Admin View.
• Editing templates: An error preventing the editing of networks within templates has been fixed. 
• End users unable to access the workspace: For users with an event seat allocated directly by a host there was a bug that sometimes disabled the "View workspace" button.
• Event creation browser load: During the creation of an event we created duplicate user configuration files that were passed to the admins browser. This had the effect of impacting performance of the UI.
• Event classroom thumbnails: We fixed an issue where user updates were not reflected in the classroom having the result of missing thumbnails.
• Video only courses: In certain circumstances users enrolled in a video only course were receiving an expired message almost immediately.

Here's some of the new things you can now enjoy using in Heropa! We'd love to hear how these are working for you! 

✨ New features

• Events: When creating a new event, you can now optionally select a time period during which no automated shutdowns of user environments will take place. This will override the policy setting related to user inactivity shutdowns.

• Editing VM networks: When modifying a VM's network rules, we automatically detect your IP address to simplify the process of adding additional inbound and outbound rules to your local computer.

🌱 Enhancements

• Events: Classroom panel enhancements: We've made some awesome improvements to the Classroom panel to make it easier for hosts and instructors when running a virtual event. Read all about it here: An improved classroom experience
• New ‘VM shutdown’ notification: Users with an inactive workspace are now automatically alerted 10 mins prior to their VM being shutdown by the policy, allowing them to cancel the automatic shutdown.
• User registration form: It’s now possible to add a second, separate URL for new users to review when registering their account with Heropa. For example, links to a separate Terms of Service and Privacy Policy can now be included in the registration form. See: Configuring user settings in Configuring settings.

🔧 Bugfixes

• Enrolling users in Courses: Fixed an issue preventing users from being enrolled in a Course via the Course detail / Enrollments tab.  
• Branding: Resolved intermittent issues saving images in the Branding module. 
• Protected environments: Options were available allowing VMs within a protected environment to be protected or unprotected. These have been removed. 

We’re excited to share that we’ve made some changes to the virtual classroom to make it easier for event hosts and instructors to manage their classrooms. Thanks for your feedback which helped shape these improvements, we hope they help you.

Firstly, we’ve re-organized the Classroom screen so that you can see more of your users' environments. The thumbnail aspect ratio has been modified to better match the most common connection size. This allows for an increased density in the classroom, while also reducing the pixel distortion.

To view or join a workspace, simply hover over a thumbnail. This replaces the previous methods. 

All other existing capability has been retained, with the following improvements added: 

• If a user is idle in the workspace, the thumbnail will show a small orange timer on the top right corner of the user panel, indicating how long they have been inactive 
  
• If you suspect the displayed user status is incorrect or a thumbnail is missing, try selecting ‘Refresh user status’ on the thumbnail. This will send the user a message notifying them to refresh their browser, which can often resolve any connection issues. 
  
• You can optionally show and hide the bottom panel of each thumbnail - containing the IP address and VM name - to free up space if needed. To show this information, use the bulk action 'Show details'.

One request we had from customers running Events in Heropa was for a way to easily share files with event participants during an event.

Introducing... Shared drive! 🎉   

Events can now be configured to include a shared drive. When configured, Windows VMs in the event will show a shared drive to facilitate file sharing during the event. Hosts, instructors and participants can view or download files in the drive, as well as add and remove files. 

For more information, see: Creating an event.

Video content can now be included in a course to provide supporting content to a self-paced lab. Vimeo, Wistia and YouTube videos are supported.

Once a video has been added to a course, it can be viewed by clicking the button at the top of the workspace. 

To add video content to a course, see: Adding content to a course - Adding a video

Over the weekend we released the following updates to Heropa. We look forward to your feedback!  

✨ Features

• Pin VMs: We've made it easier to access VMs you work with regularly via a new Pin VM feature. See: Working with VMs in the workspace.
• AWS status check: A tool has been created to help troubleshoot failed connections to AWS VMs. See: AWS VM status check.
• Notify users by email when a new environment is created: Select to notify a user via email when a new environment is created for them. See: Creating and launching an environment.
• Copy content sections: At a section level, content can now be copied and inserted into into other content, making it easier to re-use content. See: Creating content.

🌱 Enhancements

• Events - Classroom thumbnails: Thumbnails are now retrieved directly from the server without requiring local user workspace information. This should result in a significant improvement in the delivery of thumbnails in the Classroom view.
• User session management: Some general enhancements to user session management were implemented to better recycle stale user sessions.
• Deleting a VM within an Environment: When deleting a VM, the name of the VM is now shown to the user prior to deletion.
• Dashboard role permission optimisations: It's now possible to restrict a role's visibility of the Dashboard. See: Using Roles and Permissions.

🔧 Bugfixes 

• Terraform updates are now asynchronous: Updates to existing environments incorrectly showed a failed / rollback status. This was due to the synchronous implementation of Terraform updates to AWS. We have now implemented asynchronous updates, removing the false positive failure status.
• Updating Environments: Row actions available for specific environment states were incorrect and could lead to unwanted actions being available for selection. These have now been updated so only applicable actions based on the environment state can be selected.
• User timeline: For some users, timeline information was not visible in the User Details / Timeline tab due to required data fields being missing. This has now been resolved. 
• Reconnecting to disconnected VMs in the workspace: This was only updating once a successful connection was established, and not showing the attempted reconnection in progress. This has now been resolved.

We've just introduced a troubleshooting tool to help understand the cause of a failed connection to an AWS virtual machine. 

In the Heropa workspace, if an AWS VM is disconnected, you'll now see a 'Status check' button.

Selecting this will run a backend status check, returning vital information from the AWS API to assist in understanding why the VM is disconnected. 

This includes a status check, system and instance checks, and a console screenshot. 

See Troubleshooting VM connections.

Thanks for all your feedback and suggestions on how you'd like for it to be easier to work with multiple VMs in the workspace. 

The result is a new feature where VMs can be pinned to the top of the workspace, making them more accessible and easier to move between those VMs that you work with regularly.

Up to 4 VMs can be pinned along the top of the workspace panel, and remain pinned until they are unpinned.

See: Working with environments in the workspace.