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Network Best Practices and Recommendations

Each user typically uses up to 1 Mbps of bandwidth to download and use SAM training content. Therefore, a class with 30 students should have ideally a minimum 30 Mbps of available capacity during training sessions. Exam and project sessions require significantly less bandwidth.

Available Bandwidth

Each user typically uses up to 1 Mbps of bandwidth to download and use SAM training content. Therefore, a class with 30 students should have ideally a minimum 30 Mbps of available capacity during training sessions. Exam and project sessions require significantly less bandwidth.

For optimal performance, Cengage recommends 4 Mbps per user.

Running SAM Alone

SAM is a media-rich application that requires plenty of bandwidth and critical system memory to provide the best user experience. Do not run other applications during SAM sessions, especially during exams.

Using Social Networking Applications with SAM

Social networking applications running during a SAM session can have a negative impact on overall workstation performance. Disallow or block these applications on workstations when students use SAM.

Firewall Settings

If your institution utilizes a firewall, confirm that standard HTTPS 443 is open for the following sites:

  • https://sam.cengage.com
  • https://samcpws.cengage.com
  • https://samcp.cengage.com

Traffic Shaping

If your institution does traffic shaping and URL prioritization, prioritize the SAM URLs over other network URL traffic improve SAM performance.