Teaching IP networking fundamentals in resource constrained educational environments

Many educational institutions suffer from a lack of funding to keep telecommunications laboratory classes up to date and flexible. This paper describes our Remote Unix Lab Environment (RULE), a solution for exposing students to the latest Internet based telecommunications software tools in a Unix like environment. RULE leverages existing PC laboratories (often based on Microsoft's Windows) to enable student access to Internet Protocol (IP) networked hosts for telecommunications coursework and research projects. Re-use of existing PC labs substantially decreases the cost of introducing hands on teaching of Unix based Internet services into curricula. We discuss our experiences of deploying, using and provisioning RULE since early 2003. RULE itself is a handful of FreeBSD hosts, mounted in a small back room, utilising FreeBSD's 'jail' functionality to create multiple virtual hosts.