A Centralized Resource Management Model for Computer Networking Laboratory Equipment Sharing among Collaborating Institutes

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Information Science and Systems (33) This project is a two-year collaborative study among three institutions consisting of a two-year community college, a regional four-year teaching university and a national comprehensive university, located in the states of Texas, Mississippi and North Carolina. It develops a framework for teaching computer networking and security labs using virtualization technologies for the distance education students and sharing lab resources among classes and institutions.The project makes innovative use of mature and off-the-shelf software applications in the delivery of lab-based distance education. The primary novelty of this project lies in its utilization of products like VMware to provide environment for working with heterogeneous operating systems, and Dynamips to emulate physical networking equipment including routers, switches, VPN severs, and firewalls to provide a rich blend of internetworking experiences for the students. The proposed equipment sharing model through a central reservation and management system solves a complex problem of scheduling, prioritizing, securely accessing, and accounting resources from multiple locations. The outcomes from this project benefit more than 20 high schools and community colleges that are listed as the local academies through the Cisco Networking Academy program. Eight faculty members are involved in this study, while more than 200 students, enrolled in the pilot undergraduate courses, are directly impacted. Anticipated outcomes include adaptation of the fundamental ideas of managing and sharing physical laboratory equipment by other STEM disciplines.