LAB Breakout Session Summary

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LAB Breakout SessionSummary

• Shiv Kalyanaraman,
• Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
• shivkuma_at_ecse.rpi.edu
• http//www.ecse.rpi.edu/Homepages/shivkuma

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Issues Discussed

• 1. Programming vs Configuration style lab classes
• Understanding and engineering appreciation vs
  Vendor-Specific Skills
• 2. Tools
• Virtualization/Real environments
• 3. Large Lab classes how to scale

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List of Lab Foci

• 1. Application Perspective (programming on top of
  networks sockets etc)
• 2. Program inside the network components (eg
  AQM, QoS, TCP tweaks)
• 3. Measure networks
• 4. Configuration (not CCNA)
• Not consumed by syntax
• Multi-vendor perspective
• Spectrum of possibilities depends upon
  objectives
• 5. Application/E2E Measurements

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Tools/Mechanisms

• 1. Simulation
• Individual components (parameter analysis/corner
  cases)
• Scale/Control/Abstraction
• OS vs Networking communities
• Class size can be larger
• Hybrid Virtual/Real Simulations
• Startup costs and templates to get class started
• Packages ns-2, Opnet, SSFnet, GloMoSim, custom
  simulation
• 2. Visualization independent of tool

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Virtualization Real H/w-S/w Environments

• Level of virtualization
• A) Application-level
• B) Virtual Topologies (X-bone)
• C) Multiple OS-Images (Ensim, Vmware)
• D) Emulab automated physical patch panel
• E) Planetlab distributed version of above
• Scale/Concurrency limited by number of physical
  machines, switch speeds and link speeds
• F) Touching/feeling/seeing/playing with real
  hardware
• G) On-the-fly vs Scheduled resource usage
• Open labs vs Closed lab setups
• H) Click Router Toolkit
• I) Intel IXA Platform

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Scalability

• Startup time and resources (especially professor
  time)
• Basic components are cheap
• Leverage repository of labs/curriculum
• FAQs
• IEC repository