GENI at RIT IT and Networking Oriented Classes Bruce Hartpence IST Dept., RIT

A little about RIT RIT – eight colleges RIT – eight colleges GCCIS houses CS, SE, IST, IM, Ph.D. GCCIS houses CS, SE, IST, IM, Ph.D. Neighbors: CE, Telecom, Engr Neighbors: CE, Telecom, Engr Current IST and CompSec departments grew out of a very large IT program Current IST and CompSec departments grew out of a very large IT program Somewhere in the neighborhood of 1200 undergrad, 600 grad, 55 faculty Somewhere in the neighborhood of 1200 undergrad, 600 grad, 55 faculty

Facilities Lots of open computing labs Lots of open computing labs Central to networking, sys admin and security were 5 labs dedicated to our area Central to networking, sys admin and security were 5 labs dedicated to our area The Institute actually spent money on our labs The Institute actually spent money on our labs Lots of donations Lots of donations Cascade Cascade

Classwork A vast majority of our undergrad classes are lab based A vast majority of our undergrad classes are lab based Cisco, Juniper, Extreme, Avaya, Linux, Windows Cisco, Juniper, Extreme, Avaya, Linux, Windows Labs also support coursework with desktop virtualization Labs also support coursework with desktop virtualization

Labwork As for GENI – I took a little convincing… As for GENI – I took a little convincing… Immersed in production equipment Immersed in production equipment Openflow and SDN are a little off… Openflow and SDN are a little off… Students have access to lots of equipment, hands on experience, security competitions, etc. Students have access to lots of equipment, hands on experience, security competitions, etc. Some is racked, some can be checked out from the cage Some is racked, some can be checked out from the cage As an example… As an example…

QoS Shootout

What about advanced lab work? Even without this shift, well-equipped labs don’t have all the answers Even without this shift, well-equipped labs don’t have all the answers Can I build something big? Can I build something big? Can a student check out lots of gear? Can a student check out lots of gear? Can I run long duration projects? Can I run long duration projects? Do we have tools to reduce set up time? Do we have tools to reduce set up time? Can I have a large number of VMs? Can I have a large number of VMs? Invariably…no. Invariably…no. But the campus resources are sufficient right? But the campus resources are sufficient right? Still no. Still no.

Changes to RIT Donations can dry up Donations can dry up Shift in enrollments Shift in enrollments RIT has a greater interest in supporting research and projects RIT has a greater interest in supporting research and projects Significant impact on programs Significant impact on programs Change from tuition cost models Change from tuition cost models Space allocation Space allocation Equipment refreshes Equipment refreshes

What about students? Is there a difference between undergrads and grads? Yes. Is there a difference between undergrads and grads? Yes. So what do they need? So what do they need? Our undergrads understand the lingo and the topics Our undergrads understand the lingo and the topics Many grad students have never touched a router Many grad students have never touched a router Graduate courses are typically NOT lab-based. Graduate courses are typically NOT lab-based.

GENI at RIT Lots of opportunities Lots of opportunities Graduate students Graduate students “non-lab” lab work “non-lab” lab work Several projects Several projects slowly increasing slowly increasing Classwork, some of Classwork, some of which supports growing the experiments Enterprise Computing Enterprise Computing SDN Seminar SDN Seminar

ISTE-602 Enterprise Computing Fairly broad course covering the general requirements of a large scale environment Fairly broad course covering the general requirements of a large scale environment Virtualization, networking, database, cloud, services, etc. Virtualization, networking, database, cloud, services, etc. GENI was a way to give students an understanding of scale and the systems necessary to support users and experimentation GENI was a way to give students an understanding of scale and the systems necessary to support users and experimentation

ISTE-590 SDN Seminar Lots of building blocks Lots of building blocks Virtual topologies Virtual topologies Virtualization Virtualization Traditional switching models Traditional switching models Traditional network design issues Traditional network design issues SDN architectures SDN architectures Building an SDN architecture Building an SDN architecture Experimentation with GENI Experimentation with GENI

Our experiences with GENI At first students were confused by the infrastructure (just like I was at GEC 17) At first students were confused by the infrastructure (just like I was at GEC 17) So, we made some video tutorials So, we made some video tutorials After the first assignment or so, students started to catch on After the first assignment or so, students started to catch on Remember that there is a lot of networking behind some builds. Remember that there is a lot of networking behind some builds. Students were required to complete a couple of the posted projects (ex. l2 forwarding) and then design and complete their own Students were required to complete a couple of the posted projects (ex. l2 forwarding) and then design and complete their own Some even did rspecs Some even did rspecs

Future Work and Classes Formalizing virtualization coursework Formalizing virtualization coursework Spending more time with the related open source projects Spending more time with the related open source projects Increased experimentation with GENI Increased experimentation with GENI SDN studies SDN studies WAN experiments WAN experiments IEEE Meshed Tree IEEE Meshed Tree

Future Work and Classes We can imagine a future with shrinking lab space and less equipment We can imagine a future with shrinking lab space and less equipment What if an entire advanced course sequence was taught on GENI? What if an entire advanced course sequence was taught on GENI? There is some previous work There is some previous work Could it be standardized? Could it be standardized? Would students have the same level of skill and understanding? Would students have the same level of skill and understanding?