Selecting cloud computing software for a virtual online laboratory supporting the Operating Systems course

Abstract

The article provides a survey on cloud platforms suitable for a virtual online laboratory, which contains Linux online environments and is intended to support the Operating Systems course. The study justifies the choice of utilizing private cloud as a deployment model and IaaS as a service model and substantiates the decision to create specially tailored cloud environments adapted for educational needs in contrast to applying ready-made IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) cloud services given by providers. The related works on cloud platforms for teaching operating systems are analyzed. The study also makes a review of the authors' previous research on virtualization tools and environments for the Operating Systems course and Cisco CyberSecurity Operations course. The basic and additional requirements for cloud computing software for virtual online laboratory supporting Operating Systems course have been elaborated. Finally, the work makes the comparison of Eucalyptus, OpenStack, CloudStack and OpenNebula cloud platforms and substantiates the selection among these cloud computing software the platforms of the first and the second choice.