Remote DasaLAB: Datacenter as a Laboratory for Remote Learning
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| Title: | Remote DasaLAB: Datacenter as a Laboratory for Remote Learning |
|---|---|
| Language: | English |
| Authors: | Jordi Guitart (ORCID |
| Source: | Interactive Learning Environments. 2024 32(10):7257-7277. |
| Availability: | Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals |
| Peer Reviewed: | Y |
| Page Count: | 21 |
| Publication Date: | 2024 |
| Document Type: | Journal Articles Reports - Research |
| Education Level: | Higher Education Postsecondary Education |
| Descriptors: | Distance Education, Laboratories, Computer Networks, Videoconferencing, Technology Uses in Education, Internet, Computer Centers, College Students, Information Technology, Access to Computers, Computer Simulation, Computer Software, Learning Management Systems, Foreign Countries |
| Geographic Terms: | Spain (Barcelona) |
| DOI: | 10.1080/10494820.2024.2309277 |
| ISSN: | 1049-4820 1744-5191 |
| Abstract: | The pandemic situation banned the presence of teachers and students in the classrooms disrupting the typical teaching process. Videoconferencing services have been used successfully for lectures, but they are insufficient for hands-on laboratories where the physical presence is a requirement (i.e. to access specific hardware). Enabling remote access to the equipment allows to overcome this issue, but the students must share resources (temporarily or physically) and lack full control on the equipment. This is not optimal for some subjects, such as the practical labs on datacenter management, which are increasingly being added into the IT higher education curriculum. In this paper, we present the design and implementation of a distributed laboratory environment, so-called Remote DasaLAB, to create and deploy virtual datacenters using the student's owned resources to support the practical training of students in remote (or hybrid) mode. This environment is flexible, cheap, easy to implement with available commodity resources (the students' computers) and provides full control over the platform. We also present a specific use case on leveraging Remote DasaLAB for the practical assignments of an Operating Systems subject, in which the students build a virtual datacenter composed of multiple nodes and can properly run a containerized application distributed in these nodes. |
| Abstractor: | As Provided |
| Entry Date: | 2025 |
| Accession Number: | EJ1455899 |
| Database: | ERIC |
| Abstract: | The pandemic situation banned the presence of teachers and students in the classrooms disrupting the typical teaching process. Videoconferencing services have been used successfully for lectures, but they are insufficient for hands-on laboratories where the physical presence is a requirement (i.e. to access specific hardware). Enabling remote access to the equipment allows to overcome this issue, but the students must share resources (temporarily or physically) and lack full control on the equipment. This is not optimal for some subjects, such as the practical labs on datacenter management, which are increasingly being added into the IT higher education curriculum. In this paper, we present the design and implementation of a distributed laboratory environment, so-called Remote DasaLAB, to create and deploy virtual datacenters using the student's owned resources to support the practical training of students in remote (or hybrid) mode. This environment is flexible, cheap, easy to implement with available commodity resources (the students' computers) and provides full control over the platform. We also present a specific use case on leveraging Remote DasaLAB for the practical assignments of an Operating Systems subject, in which the students build a virtual datacenter composed of multiple nodes and can properly run a containerized application distributed in these nodes. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 1049-4820 1744-5191 |
| DOI: | 10.1080/10494820.2024.2309277 |
