Linux Online Virtual Environments in Teaching

Operating Systems

Olena Holovnia[0000-0003-0095-7585]

Zhytomyr Polytechnic State University, 103, Chudnivska str., Zhytomyr, 10005, Ukraine
[email protected]

Abstract. The article provides an overview of Linux ready-made online

environments based on various virtualization technologies. Linux ready-made
online virtual environments are systematized, the advantages and disadvantages
of considering groups of online virtual environments are listed. The work also
gives the comparison of standalone online Unix/Linux terminals in terms of their
possible use for a course in operating systems. The author analyzes the
experience of teaching a Linux operating system to students of different
specializations, and in particular, discusses the virtualization tools used,
including Linux online environments (Amazon EC2, Cloud 9, a virtual machine
for NDG Linux Essentials course). The study states the need for developing an
individually designed system to provide Linux online virtual environments and
elaborates the requirements to this system. The work also discusses potential
challenges which the developers of Linux online virtual environments for
teaching operating systems may face, including the problem of finding a balance
between availability and stability of virtual environments on the one hand and
the realism of students’ learning experience on the other hand.

Keywords: virtualization, Linux, operating systems.

1 Introduction

A course in operating systems (OS) usually includes practical assignments on Unix-

like operating systems (particularly, Linux). However, at the same time, university lab
computers, students’ laptops and home desktop computers mostly come with Windows
installation. That is one important reason why different virtualization technologies are
often used for a course in operating systems. These technologies enable working with
a target operating system regardless of a locally installed operating system and without
compromising the security of university lab computers. Students, who take a course,
may come to class with their own laptops, as well as use lab computers, besides in some
circumstances they take a course distantly. So, hardware configuration, host operating
system, characteristics of network connections and other conditions vary widely.
Besides, students must get feedback on their practical assignments as soon as possible,
although this task could be challenging for small teaching staff working with a large
number of students during the semester. Some degree of automation on checking and
grading of assignments would decrease the amount of routine work and give teaching

Copyright © 2020 for this paper by its authors. Use permitted under Creative Commons License Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
staff the ability to pay attention to more creative assignments. In light of the above,
Linux online virtual environment running from a web browser could make practical
assignments more independent of software and hardware. It also could help students to
get well-timed feedback on simple mistakes.
There are numerous Linux online virtual environments with different characteristics
and different underlying technologies. Most of them could be at least partially used in
teaching operating systems. Conversely, although we generally appreciate the idea of
combining multiple virtualization tools for one course, there is still the need for a basic
tool to be applied most of the time.
The purpose of the article is to investigate available ready-made Linux online
environments based on different virtualization technologies and, thus, elaborate the
requirements to an individually designed system which provides Linux online virtual
environments.

2 Related work

Available works on development and usage of online Linux virtual environments vary
greatly focusing on different approaches as well as different courses’ needs. David
Croft and Matthew England [1] describe the experience using Codio at Coventry
University in teaching programming. Students use online virtual Linux environments
provided by Codio, while teaching staff add supplemental tasks with automated
feedback. David J. Malan [2] describes moving CS50, Harvard College’s introductory
computer science course, into the cloud provided by Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud
(Amazon EC2).
Bobby Powers, John Vilk and Emery D. Berge in the work [3] present Browsix,
posing it as a framework between Unix-like operating system and a web browser.
Browsix is emulating core Unix features using JavaScript. Rémi Sharrock, Lawrence
Angrave and Ella Hamonic [4] offer WebLinux tool providing a Linux terminal and an
integrated development environment (IDE) in the browser. In this case, Linux is also
emulated using JavaScript. Aristogiannis Garmpis and Nicolaos Gouvatsos [5] suggest
an online environment including emulated Ubuntu Linux operating system with
Graphical User Interface (GUI).
Nadiia Balyk, Yaroslav Vasylenko, Vasyl Oleksiuk and Galina Shmyger [6]
describe a virtual cloud laboratory based on Apache CloudStack and EVE-NG
Community and its use for teaching the CCNA Cyber Operations course. Andrii Ya.
Batiuk, Dmytro Ye. Vankevych, Hryhorii H. Zlobin in [7] focus on an experience of
using Proxmox VE along with OpenVZ virtual containers and KVM hypervisor for
Linux System Administrating special course.
Earlier, the study on the experience of teaching OS at higher educational
establishments of the world has been done [8], showing a number of common features
of analysed OS courses, including the following.
─ The high priority of studying Unix-like OSs (ranging from teaching OSs like PintOS
to popular full-function Linux distributives like Ubuntu).
─ The use of a wide variety of virtualization tools (from full emulators like QEMU to
type II hypervisors like VMware Workstation, VMware Fusion or VirtualBox, as
well as more specific tools like Vagrant, mCertiKOS or Cygwin).
─ In many cases, the availability of at least one alternative virtualization tool along
with the one applied by default.
All the above-mentioned studies have been analysed and taken into consideration while
elaborating the requirements to an individually designed system which provides Linux
online virtual environments.

3 Elaborating the requirements to Linux online virtual

environment for teaching the operating systems course

To formulate the requirements to the system which would provide Linux online virtual
environments we need to analyse the needs of the course, taking into account its
possible future development.

3.1 Previous theoretical and practical research

Our previous work [9] develops the methodology for using Unix-like OS virtualization
technologies in training bachelors of Informatics based on the varied approach to
applying before-mentioned technologies.
The approach involves combining several virtualization tools for meeting individual
features of a course, individual students’ needs and ensuring hardware and software
fault tolerance. The work specifies the procedure for selecting virtualization tools in
teaching OS to bachelors of Informatics. Following the suggested methodology, the
study also developed the Operating Systems and System Programming handbook for
future bachelors of Informatics and methodological guidelines Virtualization
Technologies in Teaching Operating Systems to Bachelors of Informatics for teachers
of higher educational establishments. During the implementation of the methodology
in Zhytomyr Ivan Franko State University (2016–2018) we have been using the
following tools.
─ Oracle VirtualBox
─ Amazon EC2 t2.micro instances
─ Cloud 9 IDE
─ Laptops with Linux (Ubuntu distributive)
The situation with Cloud 9 IDE is described in subsection 3.3. Amazon EC2 instances
were used as a supportive tool mainly because of low network bandwidth causing
considerable latency.
3.2 Reflection on recent practical experience
Later experience involved teaching two courses in operating systems in Zhytomyr
Polytechnic State University (from September 2019 till now).
The first course, Unix/Linux Operating Systems, was held from September 2019 to
December 2019 and was attended by third-year students of Computer Engineering and
Cybersecurity specializations.
The second course, Operating Systems, started in February 2020 and was attended
by second-year students of Computer Engineering, Cybersecurity, Software
Engineering specializations.
Throughout the mentioned courses, the students and the teaching staff were using
multiple tools for practical assignments. These tools are listed below and include both
locally installed applications and remotely accessed environments.
─ Virtual machine from NDG Linux Essentials course [10] (available on CISCO
Networking Academy)
─ Oracle VirtualBox
─ Laptops with Linux (namely Ubuntu and Arch distributives)
─ Amazon EC2 t2.micro instances (intermittently)

Experience of teaching these two courses revealed the need for a virtual environment
which would provide access to fully functioning Linux installation, supporting most of
the course practical assignments.
Concerning Unix/Linux Operating Systems course, virtual machine from NDG
Linux Essentials met almost all the requirements of the course, except networking (and,
thus, manipulating software packages) and the impossibility to save students’ files
between reboots.
According to the needs of our current courses in operating systems, the list of major
features an online environment should have is as follows.
─ The support of most administrative and non-administrative commands the typical
Linux installation would have.
─ Giving administrative privileges to students inside the virtual environment.
─ The support of basic networking operations (changing network configuration, ping
etc.).
─ The support of uploading/downloading files to/from virtual environments.
─ The ability to keep guest OS up-to-date.
─ The support of bash scripting.
─ The ability to save students’ files in guest OS between reboots.

3.3 An overview of available ready-made Linux online virtual environments

Online tools for working with Unix/Linux operating systems through the web browser
or other networking clients vary greatly depending on the functionality they provide,
conditions they are available on, underlying technologies et al. All the Unix/Linux
online virtual environments could be divided into the following groups.
─ Standalone online Unix/Linux terminals.
─ Online IDEs which include Unix/Linux terminals.
─ Full-function Unix/Linux virtual environments in the cloud.

Standalone online Unix/Linux terminals. These terminals are often free of charge.
They also are not necessarily based on a real OS kernel. A considerable part of
standalone online terminals emulates the effect of some commands through JavaScript.
However, other online Unix/Linux terminals are based on full emulators (e. g. QEMU),
and thus give the user more realistic experience. Examples: JSLinux [11], Copy.sh
Virtual x86 [12], Webminal [13], Linuxzoo [14] (based on full emulation), JS/UIX [15],
Weblinux [16], Browsix [17], CB.VU [18] (simplified emulation).
The Table 1 gives a comparison of different standalone online Unix/Linux terminals.
The main advantage of standalone online Unix/Linux terminals is their easy
accessibility. Among the disadvantages of these terminals are a limited set of
commands available, obsolescence, limitations of root access and/or of network access.
Furthermore, since most of standalone online Unix/Linux terminals appear to be
projects developed and supported by few enthusiasts, there are some doubts about the
future of these projects.

Online integrated development environments (IDEs) which include Unix/Linux

terminals. These tools’ main function is writing code. However, some online IDEs also
include Linux terminal with programming commands installed. Some other online
IDEs do not provide a terminal, but allow writing and running bash scripts. Root access
and networking from the virtual environment are usually provided in paid online IDE
services.
Examples: Codio [19], Cloud 9 [20], Codeanywhere [21], Paiza.io [22] etc. Among
the advantages of online IDEs is multifunctionality and usually more recent Linux
releases than in standalone online terminals. The disadvantages of these environments
include a stronger focus on programming than on administrating causing that some
components are not available.
Terms of use of free online IDEs may be changed. That was the case with Cloud9
IDE. Originally the service offered a virtual machine with Ubuntu Linux, full-function
terminal and an IDE for collaborative programming for all the registered users. Later,
due to numerous security violations from these virtual machines, the provider changed
the terms. According to the new terms, users have to connect virtual machines from
other services.

Full-function Unix/Linux virtual environments in the cloud. These environments

are virtual machines or virtual containers in the cloud, usually with administrative rights
and network available. Commonly such services conform to the IaaS model
(Infrastructure as a Service). Some of the IaaS services offer a long free trial period and
special programs for educational institutions. Examples: Amazon EC2 [23], Google
Cloud Platform [24], Microsoft Azure [25]. The main advantage of the full-function
Unix/Linux virtual environments in the cloud is access to most of OS commands,
including administrative and networking. The main disadvantage is that regular usage
is non-free.

Table 1. Comparison of standalone online Unix/Linux terminals

Service name
Virtualization / Guest OS Options
and developers
Progress saving: Yes, through
VFsync
Networking: Yes, bandwidth up
Full emulator (compiled to JavaScript) /
JSLinux, to 40 kB/s, up to two
Linux 4.12.0 (Buildroot), Linux 4.15.0
Fabrice Bellard connections per public IP
(Buildroot, Fedora 29)
address
Root privileges: Yes
GUI: Yes
Progress saving: No
Networking: No, emulates few
CB.VU, Very simplified emulator (JavaScript) / networking commands (e. g.
Colin Barschel None, emulates few Unix commands ping)
Root privileges: No
GUI: No
Progress saving: Partially yes
JS/UIX,
Simplified emulator (JavaScript) / None, (demo version)
mass:werk,
emulates limited number of Unix Networking: No
Norbert
commands Root privileges: Yes
Landsteiner
GUI: No
Progress saving: No
Full emulator (compiled to JavaScript) /
Copy.sh Virtual Networking: Yes, in some cases
ReactOS, FreeBSD 10.2, Oberon 2.3.6,
x86, (e. g. Linux 3.18)
Arch Linux, KolibriOS, Linux 2.6, Linux
Fabian Hemmer Root privileges: Yes
3.18, OpenBSD, Solar OS; supports OS
et al. GUI: Yes, in some cases (e. g.
images, uploaded by a user
KolibriOS)
Progress saving: No
Simplified emulator (JavaScript) / None,
WebLinux, Networking: No
emulates limited number of Unix
Rémi Sharrock Root privileges: Yes
commands
GUI: No
Browsix, Progress saving: No
Bobby Powers, Emulation of Unix abstractions through Networking: No
John Vilk, browser API (JavaScript) Root privileges: No
Emery D. Berger GUI: No
Progress saving: Yes
Networking: Yes, with restrictions
Webminal Full emulator / Ubuntu Linux Root privileges: Yes, in paid
accounts
GUI: Yes, in paid accounts
Progress saving: No
Linuxzoo, Networking: No
Full emulator (QEMU) / CentOS 7
Gordon Russel Root privileges: Yes
GUI: Yes, through Java VNC
3.4 The requirements for Linux online virtual environments for teaching the
operating systems course
The analysis of free ready-made Linux online virtual environments currently available
along with the analysis of an experience of teaching courses in operating systems
showed the need for an individually designed system to provide Linux online virtual
environments. The environments should meet the following requirements.
─ Realism. Linux, virtualized through the environments, should behave the same way
the real system would behave most of the time (throughout most of the practical
assignments).
─ Relevancy. The system should meet the requirements of the course.
─ Availability. Virtual environments should be available to all the students attending
the course after they had successfully proved their affiliation with the university.
─ Stability. Failures need to be addressed properly and within a predictable time.
─ Scalability. The system should be able to evolve for enabling new features or
supporting larger hardware capacity. New features we are particularly interested in
is the automation of simple assignments checking and grading (e. g. the correctness
of commands used).
─ Security. Security threats should be minimized. The effective mechanisms of
dealing with potential security breaches need to be developed.

However, the listed requirements pose serious challenges that need to be overcome.

The challenge of a wide choice. There are different virtualization technologies and
platforms that could be applied to complete the job. Analysing them and selection of
an appropriate among a great variety of options is a resource demanding task.

The challenge of implementing. Design, development and support of the target system
is another resource-demanding task.

The challenge of network isolation. The mentioned above problem of Internet access
from inside the online Linux virtual environment is typical for all virtualized systems
which are publicly available. Granting root/sudo access to students may produce serious
security challenges. The problem is greatly exacerbated if network access is also
provided.
The popular solution lies in making virtual environments isolated from the internet.
Students may reach virtual terminals via the internet to input commands (e. g. through
the web browser), but the internet access from within the virtual environment itself is
forbidden. Such an approach is entirely appropriate for teaching the vast majority of
Operating Systems course units, while it is inadequate for practising on network
configuration or installing software from network repositories.
Another possible solution to the network access problem is getting real personal data
of the online user, who works with virtualized OS remotely. Notably, cloud service
providers, giving virtual machines in the cloud with both root access and networking
available (Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure etc.),
affiliate user account with a valid credit card number. This does not guarantee the
legitimate use of an account, but facilitate investigation of possible security violations.
The third solution lies in giving students limited network access within the online
virtual environment (enough for testing network configuration). A local repository for
learning commands like apt may also be organized.

The challenge of a “playground”. Conversely, another question arises: will the always-
on system specially tailored for the learning needs be able to give students an
experience of dealing with some problems real administrators may face? We find it
crucial to find an optimal balance between stability and realism. Will such a
“playground” environment be enough to motivate students to continue learning Linux
after they finish the course? Given the foregoing, some assignments may be still done
using less predictable tools like VirtualBox-based virtual machines. This affects some
requirements for online Linux virtual environment. Namely, if certain assignments will
be done outside the environment, then:
─ a command-line interface may be enough for the online environment (even if the
course include assignments on the Linux GUI);
─ an implementation plan may start from isolated environments without the ability to
reach the network from inside out, as long as these environments may be easier to
manage on this stage.

The challenge of a transition. Besides the expenditure of resources on design,

development and implementation of the system, the latter will imply a phase of
transition. The transition from using tools described in subsection 3.2 to using online
Linux virtual environments could be smoothed by applying additional tools, which need
to be prepared in advance according to the varied approach mentioned earlier. These
additional tools may include some previously used tools (e. g. locally installed
hypervisors) as well as online Linux terminals (e. g. virtual machines from NDG Linux
Essentials course, Webminal etc).

4 Conclusions

The work has made a survey on Linux online environments based on various
virtualization technologies with the objective to elaborate the requirements to an
individually designed system which provides such environments.
Linux ready-made online virtual environments are organized into three major
groups: standalone online Unix/Linux terminals; online integrated development
environments (IDEs) which include Unix/Linux terminals; full-function Unix/Linux
virtual environments in the cloud. The main advantages and disadvantages of each
group, as well as a comparison of standalone online Unix/Linux terminals, is done.
We also analyzed our previous and current teaching experience to find out online
tools that proved efficient and the reasons why they still do not meet part of the course
needs.
 The study concluded the need for designing and implementing a virtual Linux
environment with remote access to meet individual requirements of the Operating
Systems course. The virtual Linux environment should be realistic (supporting most
Linux commands through real execution, not imitation); relevant (meeting
requirements of the course); available (accessible through the internet, for everyone
who can prove his or her affiliation with the university); stable (failures should be
addressed effectively); scalable (support increasing hardware capacity, be able to
evolve); secured (security threats should be minimized, security breaches should be
effectively handled). Another point of interest concerns the partly automation of
practical assignments, including training and grading.
Future studies should focus on the investigation of virtualization technologies
suitable for Linux online environment, including private open-source cloud platforms.

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