Openlab is a platform which aims to provide automated testing and evaluation of students based on their source code from the assignments.

1. Openlab
Automated testing and evaluation platform of the source code from
assignments
Mihai Iachimovschi
iachimih@fit.cvut.cz
February 24, 2015
Mihai Iachimovschi iachimih@fit.cvut.cz Openlab February 24, 2015 1 / 19

2. Problem description
Students have a lot of assignments which are verified and
evaluated in a classical manner.
Mihai Iachimovschi iachimih@fit.cvut.cz Openlab February 24, 2015 2 / 19

3. Problem description (cont.)
The process of verification is very time consuming and inefficient
for the professor
Mihai Iachimovschi iachimih@fit.cvut.cz Openlab February 24, 2015 3 / 19

4. Perfect solution
Building a platform that will:
• Keep track of all assignments;
Mihai Iachimovschi iachimih@fit.cvut.cz Openlab February 24, 2015 4 / 19

5. Perfect solution
Building a platform that will:
• Keep track of all assignments;
• Track deadlines for assignments;
Mihai Iachimovschi iachimih@fit.cvut.cz Openlab February 24, 2015 4 / 19

6. Perfect solution
Building a platform that will:
• Keep track of all assignments;
• Track deadlines for assignments;
• Accept assignments submissions;
Mihai Iachimovschi iachimih@fit.cvut.cz Openlab February 24, 2015 4 / 19

7. Perfect solution
Building a platform that will:
• Keep track of all assignments;
• Track deadlines for assignments;
• Accept assignments submissions;
• Test automatically the submissions;
Mihai Iachimovschi iachimih@fit.cvut.cz Openlab February 24, 2015 4 / 19

8. Perfect solution
Building a platform that will:
• Keep track of all assignments;
• Track deadlines for assignments;
• Accept assignments submissions;
• Test automatically the submissions;
• Evaluate students based on predefined tests;
Mihai Iachimovschi iachimih@fit.cvut.cz Openlab February 24, 2015 4 / 19

9. Advantages
Having such a system will offer us features like:
• Penalization for late submissions;
Mihai Iachimovschi iachimih@fit.cvut.cz Openlab February 24, 2015 5 / 19

10. Advantages
Having such a system will offer us features like:
• Penalization for late submissions;
• Rewards for early submissions;
Mihai Iachimovschi iachimih@fit.cvut.cz Openlab February 24, 2015 5 / 19

11. Advantages
Having such a system will offer us features like:
• Penalization for late submissions;
• Rewards for early submissions;
• Saving time of professors and students;
Mihai Iachimovschi iachimih@fit.cvut.cz Openlab February 24, 2015 5 / 19

12. Advantages
Having such a system will offer us features like:
• Penalization for late submissions;
• Rewards for early submissions;
• Saving time of professors and students;
• Motivating competition between students;
Mihai Iachimovschi iachimih@fit.cvut.cz Openlab February 24, 2015 5 / 19

13. Advantages
Having such a system will offer us features like:
• Penalization for late submissions;
• Rewards for early submissions;
• Saving time of professors and students;
• Motivating competition between students;
• Helping professor to focus on teaching rather than verifying;
Mihai Iachimovschi iachimih@fit.cvut.cz Openlab February 24, 2015 5 / 19

14. Constraints
The threats that can tangle:
• Security:
A user is able to submit malicious code to the server;
Mihai Iachimovschi iachimih@fit.cvut.cz Openlab February 24, 2015 6 / 19

15. Constraints
The threats that can tangle:
• Security:
A user is able to submit malicious code to the server;
• Computing power:
Multiple users can submit unoptimized code that can be overloading
the server;
Mihai Iachimovschi iachimih@fit.cvut.cz Openlab February 24, 2015 6 / 19

16. A possible solution
Isolation?
Mihai Iachimovschi iachimih@fit.cvut.cz Openlab February 24, 2015 7 / 19

17. A possible solution (cont.)
But how to isolate properly?
Mihai Iachimovschi iachimih@fit.cvut.cz Openlab February 24, 2015 8 / 19

18. FreeBSD Jails?
FreeBSD jail?
Mihai Iachimovschi iachimih@fit.cvut.cz Openlab February 24, 2015 9 / 19

19. FreeBSD Jails?
FreeBSD jail? No.
Mihai Iachimovschi iachimih@fit.cvut.cz Openlab February 24, 2015 9 / 19

20. FreeBSD Jails?
FreeBSD jail? No.
Reasons:
• Quite old;
• Tightly tied to FreeBSD operating system;
• Limited in functionality;
Mihai Iachimovschi iachimih@fit.cvut.cz Openlab February 24, 2015 9 / 19

21. Virtualization
Classical virtualization?
Mihai Iachimovschi iachimih@fit.cvut.cz Openlab February 24, 2015 10 / 19

22. Virtualization
Classical virtualization? Maybe, but no.
Mihai Iachimovschi iachimih@fit.cvut.cz Openlab February 24, 2015 10 / 19

23. Virtualization
Classical virtualization? Maybe, but no.
Reasons:
• Too much overhead by virtualizing the hardware;
• Each virtual instance should have its own OS;
• Less efficient for our use case;
Mihai Iachimovschi iachimih@fit.cvut.cz Openlab February 24, 2015 10 / 19

24. Containerization
Containerization?
Mihai Iachimovschi iachimih@fit.cvut.cz Openlab February 24, 2015 11 / 19

25. Containerization
Containerization? Definitely yes.
Mihai Iachimovschi iachimih@fit.cvut.cz Openlab February 24, 2015 11 / 19

26. Containerization
Containerization? Definitely yes.
Reasons:
• Kernel level isolation;
• Secure;
• Highly reliable;
Mihai Iachimovschi iachimih@fit.cvut.cz Openlab February 24, 2015 11 / 19

27. Virtualization vs. Containerization
Mihai Iachimovschi iachimih@fit.cvut.cz Openlab February 24, 2015 12 / 19

28. What is a container?
A container combines two things:
• cgroups
• namespaces
Mihai Iachimovschi iachimih@fit.cvut.cz Openlab February 24, 2015 13 / 19

29. Linux cgroups
cgroups represent:
• Group of processes;
• Can be nested;
• Limits and isolates:
– CPU;
– Memory;
– Disk I/O;
– Network, etc;
Mihai Iachimovschi iachimih@fit.cvut.cz Openlab February 24, 2015 14 / 19

30. Linux namespaces
namespaces restrict your view of the system:
• Mounts (CLONE NEWNS);
• UTS (CLONE NEWUTS);
• IPC (CLONE NEWIPC);
• PID (CLONE NEWPID);
• Networks (CLONE NEWNET);
• User (CLONE NEWUSER);
Mihai Iachimovschi iachimih@fit.cvut.cz Openlab February 24, 2015 15 / 19

31. Docker
For our system we will use Docker containers.
Mihai Iachimovschi iachimih@fit.cvut.cz Openlab February 24, 2015 16 / 19

32. Docker in a docker
Mihai Iachimovschi iachimih@fit.cvut.cz Openlab February 24, 2015 17 / 19

33. Docker - multiple applications
This is how docker can execute multiple, completely isolated
applications.
Mihai Iachimovschi iachimih@fit.cvut.cz Openlab February 24, 2015 18 / 19

34. End
Thank you.
Mihai Iachimovschi iachimih@fit.cvut.cz Openlab February 24, 2015 19 / 19