A remotely accessible networking laboratory

This paper describes Lander University's efforts to create a remotely accessible networking and telecommunications laboratory. By supplying remote access, the laboratory provides an authentic laboratory experience, gives greater access to equipment, and opens the laboratory to asynchronous and distance education uses. To create a viable laboratory, the issues of security, management, and authenticity had to be addressed. A tiered architecture was used to provide security--the inner experimental network is hidden behind an outer network that controls access. Both were positioned behind a router that provides filtering and network address translation. A number of techniques used to simplify management and provide greater authenticity were evaluated and are also described in this paper.