Virtual machines for students (Linux)?

[dagza]

Hello,

 

I've been looking at the forthcoming Linux controlled assessment from OCR and one solution I have heard of is providing students with the ability to log in to a virtual machine to conduct the Linux tasks. We run mainly Window 7 clients and I don't want to to g down the raspberry pi or Linux on a memory stick route.

 

I'm looking to make contact with a school which has had success in this area so we can ascertain whether this would be a viable solution for us.

 

Thanks

 

Darren.

[synaesthesia]

If you look up the threads regarding the use of VirtualBox you'll be able to apply exactly the same setup to a Linux distribution of choice; good starting point would be http://www.edugeek.net/forums/how-do-you-do/95325-virtualbox-image-programming-classes.html

[dagza]

That's great. Thanks a lot. I will look into it.

[robmal]

The particular OCR CA task your students will be doing requires a little more thought in the set up than that in the thread recommended above, tho I am not expert enough to guide you through it - sorry! I only know this because my Network Manager is about to tackle the same for me.

 

The CA task requires students to use command line tools to create additional users with various permissions by using command line tools. A Linux vm which returns to its previous state after use is no good as is one which can be changed by different users logging on to the host - each users settings need to be preserved for future sessions.

 

Cheers Rob

[madurham]

You could put a script into the image for students to run at the beginning of later lessons to set up the users and groups to meet the requirements. This has the benefit of not having to troubleshoot incorrect configs, unless you get the students to create their own and save into a mapped drive.

[synaesthesia]

It would be more than sufficient. You don't need to turn a VM off to add users; immutable drives don't reset everything after restarts. Then again if users have a seating plan and can use the same machine each time, just run standard VMs without immutable drives.

[3s-gtech]

Our Virtualbox setup creates a new VM for each user on a single host, which they then access via RDP. It's a good way of having persistent VMs for them, but it's potentially bulky with lots of users! We can wipe the VM if they break it. This does need a powerful virtual host available to run the solution - we had one spare - but it's going well so far.

[CyberNerd]

Koding: Web based linux virtual machines

 

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/koding/fgbjpbdfegnodokpoejnbhnblcojccal?hl=en

[jinnantonnixx]

I might misunderstand your requirements, but why not set up a Linux server (Centos or Ubuntu server, say), join the server to Active Directory and use Putty on the Windows clients to allow the students to log in with their AD logins. Done properly, the Putty sessions would give them their home directory and their work would be saved centrally on the Linux server. The students can log in via Putty from any machine to access their work. Edited July 14, 2015 by jinnantonnixx

[CyberNerd]

I might misunderstand your requirements, but why not set up a Linux server (Centos or Ubuntu server, say), join the server to Active Directory and use Putty on the Windows clients to allow the students to log in with their AD logins. Done properly, the Putty sessions would give them their home directory and their work would be saved centrally on the Linux server. The students can log in via Putty from any machine to access their work.

 

IIRC they need root for OCR, or at least be able to create and delete users.

[woodham]

The particular OCR CA task your students will be doing requires a little more thought in the set up than that in the thread recommended above, tho I am not expert enough to guide you through it - sorry! I only know this because my Network Manager is about to tackle the same for me.

 

The CA task requires students to use command line tools to create additional users with various permissions by using command line tools. A Linux vm which returns to its previous state after use is no good as is one which can be changed by different users logging on to the host - each users settings need to be preserved for future sessions.

 

Cheers Rob

 

 

Hi Rob this is what Darren's looking for can you get your NM to get in touch with me or pm me his email address

 

 

 

cheers

 

Andy

[dagza]

There is no group / user account requirement on the one I'm looking at - released June 2015. I can't post all of the details publically but it requires investigating commands such as ifconfig, traceroute and top so nothing which requires the state to be preserved between each sessions although it would be nice from an educational point of view. Edited July 14, 2015 by dagza
Typo and clarification

[dhicks]

There is no group / user account requirement on the one I'm looking at - released June 2015. I can't post all of the details publically but it requires investigating commands such as ifconfig, traceroute and top so nothing which requires the state to be preserved between each sessions although it would be nice from an educational point of view.

 

Then the solution that jinnantonnixx suggest should be fine - one VM that every pupil can log in to with their standard AD credentials. If you do require separate environments for each user, then possibly a Linux machine hosting multiple containers might be a solution - set up a separate container for each user.