=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-2023/299-302-paper-48
|storemode=property
|title=Embedding of containerization technology in the core of the virtual computing lab
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2023/299-302-paper-48.pdf
|volume=Vol-2023
|authors=Evgeniya Cheremisina,Mikhail Belov,Nadezhda Tokareva,Andrey Nabiullin, Stanislav Grishko,Alexander Sorokin
}}
==Embedding of containerization technology in the core of the virtual computing lab==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2023/299-302-paper-48.pdf
Proceedings of the XXVI International Symposium on Nuclear Electronics & Computing (NEC’2017)
Becici, Budva, Montenegro, September 25 - 29, 2017
EMBEDDING OF CONTAINERIZATION TECHNOLOGY IN
THE CORE OF THE VIRTUAL COMPUTING LAB
E.N. Cheremisina1,a, M.A. Belov1,b, N.A. Tokareva1,c, A.K. Nabiullin1,d,
S.I. Grishko1,e, A.V. Sorokin2,f
1
Dubna State University, 19, Universitetskaya st. Dubna, Russian Federation, 141980
2
IBM UR RCIS, 10, Presnenskaya emb. Moscow, Russian Federation, 123317
E-mail: a chere@uni-dubna.ru, b belov@uni-dubna.ru, c tokareva@uni-dubna.ru,
d
nabiullin@uni-dubna.ru, e grishko@uni-dubna.ru, f alexander_sorokin@ru.ibm.com
The purpose of the paper is to share of practice of implementation in university the new cloud
technologies supported by Virtual Cloud Computing Laboratory (VCL), as IT learning platform that
integrates research, training and collaboration with business partners. The approach is considered by
an example of introduction containers technology in research and courses connected with cloud
computing. We show that complex approach is an effective and fast way to accustom students to new
technique of deployment of IT infrastructure.
Keywords: virtual computer lab, containerization, virtualization, Docker, education, training IT
specialists, cloud computing.
© 2017 Evgeniya N. Cheremisina, Mikhail A. Belov, Nadezhda A. Tokareva, Andrey Nabiullin,
Stanislav I. Grishko, Alexander V. Sorokin
299
Proceedings of the XXVI International Symposium on Nuclear Electronics & Computing (NEC’2017)
Becici, Budva, Montenegro, September 25 - 29, 2017
1. Introduction
Dubna University located in one of the most innovative place of Russia — Special Economic
Zone. Among the University’s partner enterprises - International Joint Institute for Nuclear Research
(JINR), Aviation Company Group "Progresstech", Dubna Machinery Plant, Dubna Farma, Municipal
project “Smart Dubna” and multiple software engineering organizations. One of the fist university
cloud in Russia was launched in 2009 in Dubna as IBM Shared University project based on IBM
Blade, IBM Tivoli and VMware technologies. The initial purposes of this cloud were research and
elaboration the better cloud architecture. Later on, after series of immersed researches it was
transformed into the full-functional Virtual Computing Laboratory (VCL) as a platform for full-time
and distant learning and — Dubna Open University and new direction on virtual organization design
as a part of Faculty of System Analysis and Management. The virtual computer lab provides a set of
software and hardware-based virtualization tools that enable the flexible and on-demand provision
and use of computing resources in the form of "cloud" Internet services for carrying out research
projects, resource-intensive computational calculations and tasks related to the development of
complex corporate and other distributed information systems. The service also provides dedicated
virtual servers for innovative projects that are carried out by students and staff at the Institute of
System Analysis and Control. Training highly skilled IT professionals, it is an important challenge
for the university to teach professional competencies to graduates that they will be able to use to
successfully solve a broad range of substantive problems that arise at all stages of the lifecycle of
distributed corporate information systems. Such information systems in practice, as a rule, are used
for enterprise management, workflow management in technological processes, IT infrastructure
management, creating web-solutions for high availability, data collection, and data analysis and
storage. It is obvious that in order for students to learn these professional competencies, they need to
master a large amount of theoretical material and to carry out practical exercises and research on the
development of modern information systems, their deployment and support, the effective
implementation of solutions for problem-oriented tasks, etc.
2. Brief concept of approach
The organization of an effective process for the goal-directed training of IT experts has
demanded a speedy solution to the following problems: an often insufficient number of classroom
hours for students to cover a necessary and sufficient set of practical exercises that help students
learn complex information systems; on a typical personal computer with average capabilities it is
impossible to get real practical experience working with multi-component information systems
because the hardware requirements for such systems often go beyond what is offered on typical
home, office and laptop computers; sometimes there are difficulties installing and supporting some
information systems, and these problems cannot be solved without gaining experience about how to
use such systems. Since students of 3 – 4 years start working in one of the mentioned partner’s
enterprise their IT education has shifted from general purpose IT knowledge to project orientation
embracing requirements management, load optimization, web-services integration in cloud and many
others. In this development the implementation of containers technology in educational process
means — from one side - a new stage of virtualization in design process of large partner's corporative
IT systems, and correspondently - a new challenge for renovation and update courses curricula.
In their learning projects students focused on new technologies. In that number:
- Failover and NLB solutions;
- Hadoop infrastructure for processing and storage of extremely large data;
- Modern ERP systems and Workflow solutions including IBM WebSphere software;
- Business process management and optimization with Software AG ARIS suite;
- Business integration technologies based on Microsoft BizTalk server;
- Oracle RDBMS and OLAP analysis with Oracle Business Intelligences;
- IBM Cognos Analytic and Microsoft Analysis Services;
- Machine learning and modern cognitive technologies;
- Requirements management with IBM Rational Doors;
300
Proceedings of the XXVI International Symposium on Nuclear Electronics & Computing (NEC’2017)
Becici, Budva, Montenegro, September 25 - 29, 2017
- Web service programming and deployment with use of modern languages С#, Java,
Node.js, Python, PHP, Scala;
- Core network services and Linux based open source technologies;
- Network audit and monitoring technologies;
- Distributed load testing;
- Version control systems, release management and continuous integration;
- ITSM software including OpenStack, Boilerplates, mobile software development for
Android, iOS, SailFishOS, Tizen and etc. [1, 2].
The new practice with containers is different compared to VMware or OpenStack cases. For
the underlying operating system kernel can be used for all containers. On the one hand, it introduces
restrictions on the use of other operating systems while, on the other hand, it improves payload on the
north of a similar configuration. This can be achieved due to the specifics of the containerization
architecture, which we will examine on the example of Docker.
Docker uses a client-server architecture in which the Docker-client interacts with the Docker
daemon, enabling the operations of creating and launching containers on the server and providing
them to students. In general, a containerization system can be represented in the form of three key
components: images, registries, and containers. Images represent read-only templates that contain an
operating system based on the same kernel version as the host system with necessary pre-configured
and adapted software. These images are created, modified if necessary, and then used for deployment
of individual solitary containers. The images are stored in the registry, which is a tool for their
storage and distribution. The registry content corresponds the curriculum and laboratory plans
prepared by the teaching staff. Рublic Hubs containing a large collection of images created by
independent enthusiasts can be used to download the required images.
The containers per se are, in fact, similar to catalogues (directories) of an operating system,
where all the changes made by the user and the system software in the course of work are stored.
Each container installed from an image provides the capacity for fast creation, start, stop, move, and
delete. It also works as a safe sandbox for running applications, allowing the student to carry out any
experiments without compromising the base operating system, while maintaining the highest level of
performance. Current evolution of VCL lead to development of design templates for both corporate
IT deployment and students learning project.
3. Conclusion
The Virtual Computing Lab provides an optimal and sustainable technological, educational-
organizational, scientific methodological and regulatory-administrative environment for supporting
innovative approaches to computer education. It promotes the integration of the scientific and
educational potential of Dubna State University and the formation of industry and academic research
partnerships with leading international companies that are potential employers of graduates of the
Faculty of System Analysis and Control [3-5]. The results that the Institute of System Analysis
and Control has achieved in improving the educational process represent strategic
foundations for overcoming perhaps one of the most acute problems in modern education:
the fact that it tends to respond to changes in the external environment weakly and slowly.
References
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Proceedings of the XXVI International Symposium on Nuclear Electronics & Computing (NEC’2017)
Becici, Budva, Montenegro, September 25 - 29, 2017
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