Work in progress - Automation of a computer networking laboratory

A dedicated networking laboratory is used by students on a computer networking degree program so that they can undertake practical work without affecting the main University network. Images of the laboratory computers are maintained on a server and deployed when major updates or reconfigurations of the computers are required. Improvements can be made in the configuration and management processes. Automation can help realize some of these improvements. A server based application for automating the networking laboratory, named Remote Configuration Console, has been developed using PowerShell scripts and Microsoft Visual C#. This paper discusses the design and development of the application and its effectiveness in improving the configuration and management processes. This paper concludes that the application has been successful in improving the efficiency of processes and that the knowledge gained during development can be used to inform the curriculum of the computer networking program itself. Future work will involve investigating how this can be achieved and also validating the results of this work during the academic year.