Welcome to the ilab2 winter 11 portal...

The ilab² is the master level practical exercise of the Chair for Network Architectures and Services at the Technische Universität München.

The exercise covers the following modules:

• IN8903: Praktikum im Bereich Technische Informatik (10 ECTC)
• IN2106: Master-Praktikum (10 ECTC)

If you want to apply for the exercise you can do this here.

If you are a bachelor student the ilab is the right practical exercise for you.
The ilab covers basic networking aspects with exercises about the content of our lecture "Grundlagen: Rechnernetze und Verteilte Systeme".

Content

This exercise covers advanced network topics.
You can find a description of the modules running in this semester here.

We accept ten students with sophisticated background in computer networks.
You will form teams of two people.

Each exercise is correlated to a staff member as tutor.
So you will have a highly qualified expert for each exercise!

Course of a Lab Module

The iLab follows a special learning scheme:

1. Each module begins with an overview lecture that introduces into the topic. The goal of the lecture is to get information about the topic from a wider range as it would happen in a "normal" lecture.
2. After the group lecture the individual preparation phase starts. Supported by multiple choice questions each team member works through the theoretical background by reading articles and looking up things she does not know already. This so-called "Prelab" gives all necessary information for the practical part: the lab.
3. The practical part is done by two students that form a team. Two people are optimal as they can support and exchange in a way that both are heavily involved. More to this in the section below.

All hand-ins are filled out during the practical part. So you do not have to hand other things (like reports) later.

Team Factor

An important aspect of the exercise is the team aspect. All people are different and so they have different approaches and experiences with the lab modules.

A key factor for good team work in the practical part is a good individual preparation. The practical phase is meant as a cooperation of two theoretical experts. You become a theoretical expert via the introductory lecture and especially your individual preparation phase.

Both of you will have focussed on different aspects in the preparation and so you can assist each other and extend your both's knowledge permanently through the other. The benefit can be very high as everyone experiences an approaches things differently. You lose this experience now, especially for the discussions about the answers.

During the practical part you will experience two different ways of solving things and hopefully have intense discussions about the answers your team will give. This active discussion about the topics will help you to memorize the learned content even better.

Schedule of a module

The lecture (~1h) usually takes part at the end of the week. You will have access to the theoretical material for your individual preparation already before the lecture.

Then you can directly start with your individual preparation. As it contains mainly reading students often start doing it on the weekend.

For the practical part you usually have one week time plus one week for backup. During the backup phase the next exercise starts already.

You will have your exercise testbed reserved for one whole day in the week. This gives you a lot of freedom to visit lectures or to do other things on that day as well.

You can find the current schedule here.

Technical equipment

As you will spend some time with the equipment we tried to make it as comfortable as possible for you. You have big screens for each team member. The room is designed more like a living room than a laboratory. Everything is designed for you to enjoy.

Our testbed consists of six Ubuntu-PCs with 5 network interfaces each (one wireless).
Additionally we have two Cisco 881 routers.
You can find a drawing here.

Application

If you are willing to accept the challenge and perform a little different practical exercise: we are looking forward to your application!

If you know someone who might be interested, tell her/ him!