Virtual cloud network laboratory based on IaaS for university IT education

摘要

This paper describes an approach to creating virtual cloud network laboratories, which are used to study network technologies, operating systems and system administration in higher education institutions. The virtual network topology is built after visual drawing in a browser, then result data is stored in JSON format, which is used for automatic deployment of virtual nodes through OpenNebula cloud system API. After the network deployment, the OpenFlow protocol is used to provide connectivity of virtual network nodes, located on different physical servers. This protocol is supported by Open vSwitches on each physical server and HP 3500 switches in the real network. A small data center was deployed to conduct the experimental research. Under the conditions of high load and long delay between the client request and the complete response, remote control stream rate remains stable providing comfortable working conditions with a remote GUI system. The experiment results show the efficiency of using cloud systems in IT education.