Virtual Lab Platform Architecture

 

The holSystems vLab Platform is a dynamic virtual machine provisioning engine built on Hyper-V Server 2008 R2, System Center, SQL Server, and .NET 3.5. All labs are stored in template form until a user requests a lab. Once requested, the collection of virtual machines that make up the lab are thin-provisioned onto one of many Hyper-V servers, using intelligent placement. Lab virtual machines are imported and started, and then the user application is connected to the running instance of the virtual machines. This method ensures that there are no limits placed on how many individual users may access the same lab. It also ensures that labs are placed on the least-loaded server, ensuring best performance and reliability. Labs are provisioned and made available in generally less than one minute.
Once provisioned, users are connected directly to the Hyper-V console, as if the virtual machine was running on a local system. Remote Desktop or Terminal Services is not required. All Hyper-V servers are published using a lab access gateway.

 

The workflow for a lab session is as follows:
1. The user selects a lab from www.website.com
2. www.website.com returns a custom URL to that user, specific for that lab and that lab session. The url also contains a session token to ensure the user receives credit for the lab.
3. The url automatically launches the client application and requests an instance of the lab from the lab farm management server. 
4. The farm management server instructs the lab library to create a new instance of the lab on the best available hosting server.
5. The library server creates a unique instance of the lab for the user.
6. The farm management server returns a set of connection strings to the client application.
7. The client application connects directly to the running virtual machines.