Design, implementation and use of a remote network lab as an aid to support teaching computer network

Abstract

This article presents the design, implementation and use of a remote network lab as an aid to support teaching computer networks. The purpose is to enable students complement the learning of the theory with practical experimentation in networking devices from any room with Internet access. Unlike the current solutions based on mainly emulation and simulation software, the remote laboratory presented is a server and a Web application that allows the students to interact remotely with commercial network devices, such as cutting-edge switches, routers and firewall that are widely used in the workplace. This proposal reduces the expenses of installing new laboratories and moving students who are far from their classrooms. The use of the remote laboratory has been compared, by means of a quasi- experiment, to the use of traditional network labs with seniors students of computing engineering. The outcomes show a similarity between both approaches, turning the remote network lab an effective tool to support teaching computer network.