💻 Centralized Lab Management System

This project enables an administrator to centrally manage and control all student PCs in a lab environment using secure SSH connections. It uses a Master-Slave architecture where the Admin PC communicates with multiple Student PCs over a local network.

The system features a GUI for both admin and student sides, built using Python's Tkinter, and leverages Paramiko for SSH and Scapy for network discovery.

---

🎯 Features

👨‍🏫 Admin (Master)

• 🖥️ Graphical Interface using AdminGUI.py
• 🧾 Add or remove MAC addresses and usernames in user.json
• 📤 Transfer files to all or selected Student PCs
• ⚙️ Execute custom shell commands on:
  • All connected Student PCs
  • Or only on selected machines
• 🔐 Uses Paramiko for secure SSH-based control
• 🌐 Discovers devices using Scapy (ARP scanning)

👨‍🎓 Student (Slave)

• 🖥️ Graphical Interface using StudentGUI.py
• 🛠️ Automatically configures:
  • SSH server installation
  • Firewall rules to allow SSH
• 🔐 Add or remove authorized SSH keys via GUI
• 🧹 Simple key cleanup and secure access handling

---

📁 Folder Structure

AdminGUI.py StudentGUI.py User.json

1. AdminGUI.py

• GUI-based control panel for the Admin.
• Allows adding/removing student MAC addresses in user.json.
• Performs network scanning using ARP (Scapy).
• Maps active PCs by MAC and username.
• Connects via SSH (Paramiko) to:
  • Execute shell commands (on selected or all PCs).
  • Transfer files to one or more student systems.

2. StudentGUI.py

• GUI tool for configuring student PCs.
• Automatically installs and configures SSH server.
• Opens firewall for SSH connections.
• Adds/removes admin’s SSH key to ~/.ssh/authorized_keys.
• Helps in managing key-based secure access without CLI.

3. user.json

• Stores list of student systems in the format:

[
  {
    "mac": "00:11:22:33:44:55",
    "username": "student1"
  },
  {
    "mac": "66:77:88:99:AA:BB",
    "username": "student2"
  }
]

Screenshots:

✅ Working

The Centralized Lab Management System operates in the following stages:

1. Student-Side Setup
   Each student PC runs the StudentGUI.py, which:

   • Installs and configures the OpenSSH server.
   • Opens firewall ports for SSH access.
   • Adds or removes the Admin’s public key for secure, passwordless login.

2. Network Scanning and Discovery
   The Admin runs AdminGUI.py, which:

   • Prompts for the local subnet (e.g., 192.168.1.0/24).
   • Uses Scapy to perform ARP scanning across the subnet.
   • Matches active MAC addresses with those in user.json to identify valid student PCs.

3. User Mapping and Authentication

   • For each matched MAC address, the system maps the IP and username.
   • SSH connections are established using Paramiko with key-based authentication (no password required).

4. Remote Operations from Admin GUI
   The Admin can:

   • Execute shell commands on selected or all student PCs.
   • Transfer files to one or more systems.
   • Add or remove student user details in user.json.
   • Export their public key for configuration on student PCs.

5. Concurrent Execution

   • Uses multithreading to handle multiple student PCs simultaneously.
   • Ensures faster and non-blocking execution of operations across the lab.