The University of Colombo School of Computing (UCSC) provides network connectivity to more than 10,000 students and is an active member of LEARN, the first Internet Service Provider in Sri Lanka.
Although UCSC has been allocated an IPv6 address block, IPv6 has not yet been deployed at UCSC due to the lack of applications and operating systems that support IPv6 and a lack of understanding of these applications. To facilitate IPv6 deployment, we will need to conduct training programs. This scenario is very similar to many other organizations in the region.
IPv6 application testing and education tools are required, making the deployment of a network test bed very costly, even using emulators and other simulator solutions.
Most of the current tools available focus on the IP network layer. Contrary to popular belief, based on the TCP/IP reference model, the applications are aware of the IP layer. Therefore, any change in the IP layer, such as the introduction of IPv6, can break applications. Therefore, it is important to evaluate how different applications and operating systems behave in IPv6 networks. Such an evaluation is an essential step in planning IPv6 deployment.
Virtual networks of virtual machines have been used for teaching and testing purposes. However, often such environments have to be manually configured and deployed, making them unscalable. At present there are no such open source or commercial software to provide this functionality.
This project proposes a method to build a low-cost IPv6 test bed, which can be used to test IPv6 applications and security. The Virtual IPv6 Test Bed (VIP Test Bed) will be built based on a virtualization concept that will create a cost effective test bed. Eventually this can be used as an education tool.
The objectives of the project are to:
The direct beneficiaries of this project are IPv6 application developers, researchers and teachers, network operators, and security auditors.
In the first phase of the project, UCSC staff will be trained in IPv6 network deployment and application development. A VIP application development laboratory will be purchased and system architecture will be designed and verified. Existing Open Source IPv6-enabled applications, such as web browsers and servers, will be used to test the VIP test bed. At the same time, a user manual and installation guide of the VIP test bed will be developed, based on the lessons learned from the experience. These lessons will be used in IPv6 training programs. In addition, new IPv6-enabled applications will be developed for demonstration purposes. These applications and the other IPv6-enabled applications will be tested according to developed plans, for the purpose of continuous improvement. IPv6 training programs will be conducted via the VIP test bed learning lessons. The VIP test bed performance and usability will be evaluated at the last stage of the project and the findings will be used to plan new features according to user requirements.
The test bed consists of virtual machines, which run different operating systems as required. The process of deploying this network is automated. The researcher or teacher can define the required system configuration to test interactions between Linux applications and Windows applications under various network topologies. A user-friendly interface will define and launch the required IPv6 test bed. Additional tools will be provided to collect the required measurements.
In September 2002, the University of Colombo School of Computing (UCSC) was established by merging The Institute of Computer Technology and The Department of Computer Science (both of the University of Colombo,) as Sri Lanka’s first centre of higher learning and computing. This enrolment may also increase in the coming years. Three M.Sc programs in Computer Science, Information Technology, and Advanced Computing, which have admitted a total of 200 students, were launched in 2002. UCSC M.Phil and Ph.D programs were also introduced in 2002. Computer Science course modules are also available for first, second, third, and fourth year students of the Physical and Bio Science streams of the Faculty of Science. UCSC’s vision is to be a centre of international repute in training in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).
UCSC’s primary goal is to prepare students for careers in Information and Communication Technology as Software Developers, Systems Analysts, Network Administrators, Database Administrators, Web Developers, IT Managers, IT Strategic Planners, and IT Policy Makers.
UCSC has been a pioneer in cooperating with the Internet Society (ISOC), the Canadian International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the Japan International Corporate Agency (JICA), the Swedish Agency for International Development Cooperation (Sida)/The Department for Research Cooperation (SAREC), and the Swedish Program for Information and Communication Technology in Developing Regions (Spider) in the area of computer science by establishing some major ICT projects.
For more information about UCSC visit, www.ucsc.cmb.ac.lk