Organization of online hands-on exercises made easy with the nmaas Platform
Read the DocsAlternatively, organize a pilot on the managed instance by issuing an
Access RequestWhat is Virtual Lab?
Organizing hands-on exercises for students is often a challenging and time-consuming task for educators. It entails hardware provisioning, configuration, application deployment, user management,and integration with existing platforms such as learning management systems (LMS).
nmaas Virtual Lab leverages the features of the nmaas Platform to establish a secure, multi-tenant, cloud-based environment for conducting and taking part in various hands-on exercises in an educational context.
Everything you would expect
Easy user on-boarding
Lab participants can be on-boarded in one of two ways. Lab managers can import the list of users using a CSV export file, useful in cases when the information is already available in an existing LMS. Alternatively, lab participants can register by themselves leveraging the SSO integration and logging in with their institutional accounts.
Seamless application deployment
Lab participants can deploy any application from the application catalog in their own isolated environment. Lab managers can also deploy applications in bulk for multiple lab participants at once and later share the access details, making the use of nmaas transparent to end-users.
Full control over the application catalog
Administrators can specify which applications are available for deployment to what users, whitelisting only the applications that are required for the on-boarded courses, conserving resources, and increasing the security of the platform.
Simple extensibility, maximum efficiency
The nmaas catalog can be extended with additional applications as needed, from various subject areas. The only prerequisite is that the application can run in a container. Idle applications can optionally be shut down and brought back up upon the next access request.
A sneak peek at nmaas Virtual Lab...
Bulk user on-boarding and bulk application deployments
Lab managers can register new users more easily by simply doing an import of the list of course participants from their learning management systems. nmaas for Virtual Lab can also be used for less experienced lab participants, where the lab manager deploys the applications beforehand and shares only the access details later, removing the need for lab participants to have direct access to the web interface.
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An infinite number of application catalogs with Domain Groups
Domain groups act as logical containers for multiple domains, whitelisting applications available for deployment. A domain group usually maps to a given course, while a domain is associated with a single student in a real-world context. A given domain can be part of multiple domain groups at once and all whitelisted applications across all domain groups would be available for deployment.
Learn moreBite off more than you can chew... On purpose...
Make the most out of the existing compute resources by shutting down applications that are left idle, supporting more students with less hardware. Lab participants (un)fortunately do not work on their lab assignments 24/7, so no need to have the application running all the time.
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How to get started?
Explore nmaas for Virtual Lab yourself
For organizing small scale virtual lab pilots (around 20 students), fill out the dedicated vLAB request form on the managed vlab.dev.nmaas.eu instance. Alternative, deploy nmaas on your own infrastructure right away.
Learn moreContact us through nmaas mailing lists
nmaas@lists.geant.org: If you want to reach the core nmaas team and discuss usage options, deployment scenarios, or for any general inquiry
nmaas-users@lists.geant.org: Discussions related to nmaas usage and development (subscribe here)
nmaas-announce@lists.geant.org: Announcements shared by the nmaas team with the community (subscribe here)
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