The Open Source Virtual Lab: a Case Study

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The Open Source Virtual Lab a Case Study
University of Milan Department of Information
Technology
Authors E. Damiani, F. Frati, D. Rebeccani,
M. Anisetti, V. Bellandi
and U. Raimondi
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Introduction

• Thanks to Internet technologies, it is now
  possible to offer courses (and laboratories) on
  the web that satisfy all functionalities of
  conventional courses.
• Providing hands-on experience by using computer
  and making exercises on network configurations
  and security-related issues are essential for
  Information Technologies education.

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The Goal

• Fully Open Source Virtual Laboratory
• Remote Access
• Integration with CdL online platform of
  University of Milan

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System Description

• The system is composed by
• e-Learning platform, that allows the access to
  courses contents, to the Virtual Lab and the
  interactions with tutors and teachers
• Virtual Laboratory, that implements an
  informatics laboratory which provides students
  with a real working environment it consists of a
  VMs pool, a virtualization server and a firewall
• student web browser, that allows to connect and
  interact with the platform and runs an applet to
  connect to the assigned VM.

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Virtual Lab Framework

• The system framework of Virtual Lab can be
  examined focusing on three aspects
• Hardware
• Virtualization software
• Virtual Machines

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Hardware

• Two different real machines
• Virtual Lab Server with
• Spacious storage
• Big RAM memory
• Firewall
• Preserve virtual server performance
• Increment system security
• Isolate virtual machines from external
  environment

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The Virtualization Software Xen

• Created by University of Cambridge
• Its paravirtualized virtual machine monitor (
  hypervisor ) permits to achieve performance close
  to native hardware.

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Virtual Machines

• Virtual Machine is an isolated duplicate of a
  real machine
• VM works in a sealed environment
• VMs are based on Gentoo Linux distribution

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Network Configuration

• Students of the same academic year share the
  same subnet
• Static IP (10.0.0.x) is assigned to each VM
• VMs share a common gateway

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Firewall Configuration

• Protect the server from external attacks
• Isolate VMs from the external net
• A VM can communicate with any VM on any port
• Only ssh connections with the external net are
  permitted
• Connections from student computer are forwarded
  to the relative VM
• Each student is associated to a specific server
  port

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System Architecture
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Platform connection (1)

• VMs on demand
• VM activation based on student ID
• Open a ssh session
• Start a ssh client applet (MindTerm)
• Stop VMs when students close ssh session

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Platform connection (2)
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Future Works

• Enhancement in VMs management
• Nightly back-up of students home directory
• Scripts for software updates and new packages
  installation
• New and more complex network topologies
• Each student will own a private subnet (e.g.
  three VMs that act as client computer, web
  server, and firewall)

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• Thank You!