Laboratories play an important part in the practical teaching and learning methodology of modern STEM subjects such as Computer Science, including Cyber Security and Networking. In these subject areas, the laboratory may consist of a combination of computers, workstations and networking devices hosting various operating systems, services and software applications. The configuration of the laboratory may depend on the requirements of the specific subject being studied and will vary between various taught modules on a particular course. To dynamically reconfigure these laboratory systems for each session, potentially with immediate effect or for ad-hoc workshops, configuration management tools are needed for an effective deployment of the new configuration. In this situation, the needs are different to those of a standard production environment in which requirements for change are infrequent and off-the-shelf configuration management tools are more readily available. Challenges in a laboratory environment include the fast switch over from one configuration to another across a range of differing platforms by a member with expertise to master and time to adapt to the variable requirements. A case study is presented in which two Cyber Security and Networking laboratories are discussed. Initially, PowerShell scripts were used to manage the laboratory configurations, but later other options were considered as complexity of the laboratory requirements increased. Some of the alternatives are discussed. These solutions are perfectly suited to a large enterprise environment in which there is time to carefully plan changes to requirements and a dedicated team is available to implement them. However, in a smaller laboratory-based environment in which requirements are specialized, and with little time to implement them between the various laboratory sessions, these tools are less flexible and require significant staff time and expertise to manage. Whilst a graphical interface can improve the usability of configuration management tools, unless they can be easily adapted to meet the needs of a laboratory environment, they do little to reduce time and complexity. To address the need for an easy-to-use tool specific to the needs of these laboratories a bespoke application was developed that makes use of PowerShell scripts as background processes. The application can also utilise the functions of a third-party cloning tool by using an Application Program Interface (API) so that all configuration management tasks can be administered from one interface. Conclusions presented are that, whilst time was required to develop a customised application, ease of use and timeliness in management are the eventual benefits of its adoption in a busy shared multi-purpose laboratory environment.

Keywords: Laboratory, automation, cyber security, computer networks, configuration management.