Howdy all!
Rob, Mike K., myself, and others have been talking about ways to
improve the networking technology used in the CIS program @ North
Central State College. We are currently using VirtualBox as a platform
for the students to install and learn various operating systems, and to
use those systems to study and learn networking topics. The VMs
created/used in one class are not generally available for subsequent
classes or quarters.
The goal is to design a solution where the students can develop their
own persistent virtual networks. As they progress through the program,
they would install multiple virtual machines as client systems (Windows,
Linux, and others), and others as servers (Windows, Linux, and others).
They would also build-out their virtual networks with Virtual Hubs,
Switches, Routers, Wireless Access Points, etc.
One of the things I would like to see in this environment is the
ability to run multiple VMs that would simulate real-world systems.
These systems would generate simulated network traffic, with simulated
users sending simulated e-mail, transfering simulated files, browsing
the (simulated?) Web, etc. These machines would not need a GUI, or any
real user-oriented applications; all simulated traffic would be
scripted.
Since there could be many of these machines running at the same time,
they would need to have a very small memory and CPU foot-prints. Fast
boot-times would also be nice.
There are multiple ways that this solution could be implemented; for
each VM we could use:
1) bootable floppy images
2) LiveCD/DVD images
3) PXE and boot the VMs from a virtual server
4) virtual hard drives
5) something like OpenWRT for Intel/AMD CPUs
If we are going to have multiple copies of the boot media, then it
should be relatively small. If we are using one shared, read-only file
as our boot device, then size may not matter, as much. I have found
that multiple VirtualBox VMs can use a shared, bootable ISO file as
their CD/DVD drives.
Thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions?
Chuck
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