Remote networking laboratory development

Having opportunities to practice basic computer systems and computer networking tasks are important for students to understand underlying concept and to develop the necessary skills. Remote Access Laboratories are a way to allow students off-site hardware access to systems and hardware. This paper introduces a basic networking remote laboratory experiment and related learning activities. It addresses technical implementation but more importantly also focuses on intended learning outcomes. In contrast to most published remotely accessible learning activities on networking, this project targets basic networking kills rather than advanced tasks such as backbone router configuration. The practical learning activities relate to an introductory computer systems and communication protocol course. The networking rig will be used in academic as well as practical laboratory classes. This paper introduces the system design and discusses the learning activities.